Hello (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and 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!

Pippi says hello:

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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 and is sorely missed.   Charlotte/Mother Owl always participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in some weeks as well.  Spike's Best Mate often leaves a wonderful poem in the comments on one of our blogs.

This week the theme is Peanut Butter Day.                  

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it,

'Cause peanut butter's nice

When served in lots of different ways,

And even over rice.

Just get some on a spoon

When your energy is low,

You'll find yourself feeling better,

Ready to get up and go.

It's an all time favorite

And adds a flavor bold,

In a sandwich, cookie, or pie,

For PB, you're never too old.

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Today is:

Baba Marta Day -- Bulgaria (Grandmother Spring Day, martenitsa are worn until you see a stork or a tree blooming.)

Beer Day -- Iceland (marks the end of the prohibition of beer in 1989)

Be Positive, Do Something Positive Day -- the way to start Optimism Month

Bravo Day/Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day -- Marshall Islands

Casimir Pulaski Day -- Illinois, US (celebration of the Polish-American Revolutionary War Hero)

Guam History and Chamorro Heritage Day -- Guam (formerly Discovery Day / Magellan Day)

Hamilton Lavity Stoutt Holiday -- British Virgin Islands (in lieu of Mar. 7)

Labour Day -- WA, Australia (a/k/a Eight Hour Day)

Chalandra Marz -- Engandine, Switzerland (various cities of this province have the traditional spring event where costumed young people, ringing bells and cracking whips, drive out the demons of winter)

Day to Mourn Victims of Land Mines -- anniversary of the day they were outlawed worldwide in 1999

Dia de Andaluca -- Andalucia, Spain

Dia de las Islas Baleares -- Iberia, Spain

Elves, Woodworkers, and Mechanics' Day -- Fairy Calendar

First Day of Autumn -- Australia (they go by months, not equinoxes, like the rest of the world used to)

Humorists Are Artists Month begins -- any coincidence this spells HAAM?

Independence Day -- Bosnia and Herzegovina(1992)

International Association for Women of Color Day -- on the first day of Women's History Month  

International Wheelchair Day -- a day when wheelchair users celebrate the positive impact a wheelchair has had in their lives 

Martisor -- Romanians and Aromanians, especially in Romania and Moldova (similar tradition to Baba Marta; first days of March are Zilele Babei, Days of the Old Woman, when Old Woman Winter, Baba Dokia, who lives in the mountains, might come back with ferocity.)

National Fruit Compote Day

National Heroes' Day -- Paraguay

National Horse Protection Day / World Horse Day -- sponsored by the Animal Miracle Foundation  

National Peanut Butter Lovers' Day -- different from National Peanut Butter Day, which is January 24

National Pig Day -- sponsored by Ellen Stanley and Mary Lynne Rave, who want you to know that pigs are amazing animals that place fourth on the animal intelligence list!

Navii's Day / Vjunitci -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar (a Day of the Dead, bringing sacrifices and inviting the ancestors to attend the feast)

New Year's Day -- Ancient Roman Pre-Julian Calendar; related observances

     Birthday of Mars Pater (Feriae Marti)

     Chalanda Marz -- Kalends of March (now a festival in Egandine, Grisons Canton, Switzerland, in which the children ring bells to ring out the winter)

     Matronalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Women's Festival to Juno)

     Renewal of the Vestal Fire

Nineteen Day Fast -- Baha'i (begins at sundown)

Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day -- in remembrance of the destruction of Bikini Atoll

Omizutori Matsuri -- Todai-ji Temple, Nara, Japan (Water-Drawing Festival of 1,200 year old Buddhist ceremonies, through the 14th)

Peace Corps Birthday / National Day of Action -- US

Peanut Butter Lovers' Day -- according to some foodie sites

Plan a Solo Vacation Day -- Solo Travel Portal wants you to dream big and plan what you would do if you could get away, solo.

ReFIRED, Not Retired Day -- the day to get Fired Up about Life, Part II; you aren't retired, you are reFIRED!

Republic Day -- NE, Switzerland

Samiljeol  (March 1st Movement Remembrance Day) -- South Korea

Self-Injury Awareness Day -- International (for information about self-injury, or to get started getting help, go here)

St. David of Wales' Day (Patron of doves; Patron of Wales, where it is called Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant)

Time for a Cuppa -- UK (raising awareness of dementia and raising funds for research; through March 8) 

World Civil Defense Day -- International Civil Defense Organisation    

Yap Day -- Micronesia (festival celebrating the heritage of the Yap peoples)

Anniversaries Today:

Johnny Cash marries June Carter, 1968

Yellowstone National Park established, 1872

Nebraska becomes the 37th US State, 1867

Howard University in Washington, D.C., is chartered, 1867

Ohio becomes the 17th US State, 1803

Birthdays Today:

Justin Bieber, 1994

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, 1974

Javier Bardem, 1969

George Eads, 1967

Russell Wong, 1963

Nik Kershaw, 1958

Timothy Daly, 1956

Ron Howard, 1954

Catherine Bach, 1954

Alan Thicke, 1947

Dirk Benedict, 1945

Roger Daltry, 1944

Robert Conrad, 1935

Harry Belafonte, 1927

Pete Rozelle, 1926

Donald "Deke" K. Slayton, 1924

William M. Gaines, 1922

Richard (Purdy) Wilbur, 1921

Ralph Ellison, 1914

Harry Caray, 1914

David Niven, 1910

Glenn Miller, 1904

Watsuji Tetsuro, 1889

Oskar Kokoschka, 1886

Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1848

Frederic Chopin, 1810

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Sophisticated Ladies"(Musical), 1981

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"(Musical), 1979

"Believe It or Not"(TV), 1949

"Captain America Comics #1"(Comic book), 1941

"Native Son"(Publication date), 1940

Today in History:

Romulus, first king of Rome, celebrates the first Roman triumph after his victory over the Caeninenses, following the Rape of the Sabine Women, BC752

Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army, enters Athens, BC86

Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis, conquerors Damascus, 1260

The Unitas Fratrum is established in the village of Kunvald, on the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. It is to date the second oldest Protestant denomination, 1457

23 Huguenots are massacred by Catholics in Wassy, France, marking the start of the French Wars of Religion, 1562

The Uppsala Synod is summoned to confirm the exact forms of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, 1593

Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu, 1633

Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are arrested for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692

"The Spectator" begins publishing, in London, 1711

The first US census is authorized, 1790

Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba, 1815

Rebecca Lee Crumpler becomes the first African-American female to earn a medical degree, 1864

Yellowstone becomes the world's first national park, 1872

E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York begins production of the first practical typewriter, 1873

Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri, 1893

Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity, 1896

Battle of Adwa, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) defeats invading Italians, the first defeat of a colonizing European nation by an African colony, 1896

Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from an airplane, 1912

The Republic of China joins the Universal Postal Union, 1914

The March 1st Movement, demonstrations for independence from Japan, begins in Korea, 1919

Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped, 1932

The Hoover Dam is completed, 1936

US Steel raises workers wages to US$5/day, 1937

Trans-Canada Air Lines (forerunner of Air Canada) begins transcontinental operations (between Vancouver and Montreal), 1939

The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations, 1947

Chiang Kai-shek resumed the presidency of National China on Formosa, 1950

The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States, 1954

The Peace Corps is established, 1961

Villarrica Volcano begins a strombolian eruption causing lahars that destroy half of the town of Coñaripe, Chile, 1964

Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface, 1966

Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1992

Yahoo! was incorporated, 1995

The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500 kilograms (9.5 tons), 2002

The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague, 2003

English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station, 2006

The tomb of a 700 year old female mummy, discovered by road workers, opened in Taizhou, Jiangsu, China, 2011

Two Guatemalan military officers are convicted of sexual slavery during country's civil war, the first ever prosecution of sexual slavery during an armed conflict, 2016

The discovery of the gene for grey hair (IRF4) is announced by Scientists from University College London in "Nature Communications", 2016

The earliest evidence for figural tattoos (bull and sheep) on two naturally mummified bodies from Egypt’s predynastic period (3351-3017BC) is published in "Journal of Archaeological Science", 2018