Tsunami (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and The Best (Poetry Monday)

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Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee at Comedy Plus.

Join us every Monday for Awww...Mondays.  Post a picture that makes you say Awww... and that's it.

Make sure you get the code from Sandee's site, linked above, and leave a link to your post so we can visit you.  What better way to start the week than with a smile!

Don't let the fact that he's asleep fool you, this kitten is named Tsunami for a reason:

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Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog break, we mourn with her over the loss of her husband.   Charlotte/Mother Owl always participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in some days, too.  Spike's Best Mate often leaves a wonderful poem in the comments on one of our blogs.

This week the theme is My Favorite Car.                         

We've had cars of all shapes and sizes,

Makes and models galore,

No need to give each detail,

That would be a bore.

It's hard to pick one favorite,

But the best i have to say,

Has a really good engine,

Makes four tires all go the same way!

A radio is a bonus,

Listening is a pleasure,

And if it has good A/C,

Well that makes it a treasure.

The best is not always the one

Has features by the tons

When it comes right down to it,

My favorite car just runs!

(When anyone asks what i want in a car, i always say the same thing, an engine that makes all four wheels go the same direction at the same time, a radio, and an air conditioner, and i'm willing to negotiate the last two!)

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Today is:

A Room of One's Own Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays, for all of those who just want a space to call their own; on the birth anniversary of Virginia Woolf

Around the World in 72 Days -- this date in 1890, Nellie Bly broke the fictional Phileas Fogg's record and went around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds

Big Rock Day -- discovery of the Cullinan diamond (3,106 carets) this day in 1905

Bubble Wrap® Appreciation Day

Clean Out Your Email Inbox Week -- cure your email e-ddiction, get rid of the old stuff clogging up your inbox; see InboxDetox for details 

Conversion of St. Paul -- Christian

     Observe the Weather Day -- a beautiful St. Paul's Conversion day means a prosperous year, precipitation means an expensive year, clouds mean much loss of livestock, and wind means war looms in the year ahead

Dydd Santes Dwynwen -- Wales (For St. Dwynwen, Patron of lovers, especially Welsh lovers, and sick animals; the Welsh Valentines Day)

Elementary School Teacher Day

Feriae Sementivae -- Ancient Roman Calendar (a Feast of Spring, asking protection for seeds sown in the fall, and those to be sown in spring)

Festival of Constructive Energy -- another internet generated day with no explanations

G. F. Betico Croes Day -- Aruba

IV Nurse Day -- US (sponsored by the Infusion Nurses Society)

January 25 Revolution Day -- Egypt

Luanda City Day -- Luanda City, Angola

Macintosh Computer Day -- debuted this day in 1984

National Heroes' Day -- Cayman Islands

National Irish Coffee Day

National Voters' Day -- India

Old Disting -- Norse Calendar (date approximate; a market day held at the same time as a sacrifice to the female powers.)

Robert Burns' Night -- Scotland; Newfoundland (celebrated with a Burns' Supper and reciting poetry)

     Dinner Party Day -- for Bobby Burns, of course

St. Ananias of Damascus' Day (Saint who baptized St. Paul)

Wellington Provincial Anniversary Day -- Wellington, New Zealand (obs.; trad. date 22nd)

Winter-een-mas -- a holiday for gamers, begun by Tim Buckley; through the 31st

Anniversaries Today:

Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn, 1533 (secret wedding)

Moscow University is established, to coincide with St. Tatiana's Day, 1755

Birthdays Today:

Alicia Keys, 1981

Ana Ortiz, 1971

China Kantner, 1971

Dinah Manoff, 1958

Leigh Taylr-Young, 1945

Etta James, 1938

Corazon Aquino, 1933

Dean Jones, 1931

Edwin Newman, 1919

Florence Mills, 1896

Virginia Woolf, 1882

William Somerset Maugham, 1874

Robert Burns, 1759

Robert Boyle, 1627 (O.S. date)

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Rent"(Musical), 1996

"M*A*S*H*"(Film), 1970

"One Hundred and One Dalmatians"(Cartoon film), 1961

"Metamorphosen, Study for 23 Solo Strings"(Strauss composition), 1946

"The Guiding Light"(Radio), 1937

"R.U.R./Rossum's Universal Robots"(Play), 1921 (the word "robot" enters the world lexicon)

"Wedding March"(Mendelssohn, Op. 61), 1858

"La Cenerentola"(Rossini Opera), 1817

Today in History:

Founding of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1554

Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu, 1573

The Treaty of Utrecht marks the beginning of the Dutch Republic, 1579

Eliakam Spooner of Vermont patents the first seeding machine in the US, 1799

The first US engineering college opens, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, NY, 1825

Sojourner Truth addresses the First Black Women's Rights Convention, in Akron, Ohio, 1851

Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" is first played, at the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria, to crown prince of Prussia, 1858

The soda fountain is patented by Gustavus Dows, 1870

Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company, 1881

Bilu, a Russian Zionist organization, forms, 1882

Nellie Bly beats Phileas Fogg's time around world by 8 days (72 days), 1890

The first US transcontinental telephone call is made when Alexander Graham Bell in NY calls Thomas Watson in SF, 1915

The League of Nations is founded, 1919

The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games, 1924

At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented, 1949

The first scheduled transcontinental flight in the US takes place, an American Airlines flight from California to New York, 1959

The Clementine space probe launches, 1994

Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile, 1995

During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country, 1998

Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star, 2006

Tropical cyclone Oswald makes landfall in Queensland, Australia, causing mass flooding, 2013

A British rowing team becomes the first female crew and the first crew of four to cross the Pacific, from San Francisco, California to Cairns, Australia in 257 days, 2016

Kisenosato is made yokozuna, becoming the 72nd Grand Champion of Sumo, and the first native Japanese to hold the title since 1998, 2017