Growing Kittens (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Cheer (Poetry Monday)

***********************************

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!

These kittens are getting too big for their hammock.

One had to just settle for under the hammock.

***********************************

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

LUVZE

***********************************

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 at least once a month, too.  Spike's Best Mate often leaves a wonderful poem in the comments on one of our blogs.

This week the theme is Cheer The Lonely.                

Chesterton did say it,

He seems to be right,

It's easy to be heavy,

Hard to be light.

That's why it is important

To put on a happy face

And try to cheer up others,

It takes a special grace.

It has an added bonus,

That i am sure you'll find,

When you try to cheer others,

You will be cheered in kind!

***********************************

Today is an anniversary.  Click on the link only if you are not squeamish about medical topics and talk of death.   

***********************************

Today is:

Different Colored Eyes Day -- people with heterochromia, celebrate!

Etch-a-Sketch Day -- the toy was first manufactured on this day in 1960, timed to hit toy shelves for Christmas that year

Independence Day -- Kiribati(1979; a/k/a National Day); Sao Tome & Principe(1975)

International Town Criers Day

Kronia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, a festival for Kronos, part of which included masters and slaves switching places for a meal)

National Pecan Pie Day

Orangemen's Day (a/k/a Twelfth Day) -- Northern Ireland (Battle of the Boyne commemoration)

Rainmaker Day -- Salem, Oregon (while it is understood that in Salem, you are more likely to rust than sunburn, from 1892 until 2006, no measurable rain fell on this date in this normally wet city)

Simplicity Day -- sponsored by www.doonething.org on Thoreau's birthday, highlighting the concepts in the book Voluntary Simplicty by Duane Elgin, and advocating finding sustainable ways to live

St. John Gualbert's Day (Patron of foresters and forest workers, park services and parks)

St. Veronica's Day (Patron of laundry workers and photographers)

Anniversaries Today

Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr, 1543 (the lucky wife who outlived him)

Birthdays Today

Erik Per Sullivan, 1991

Michelle Rodriguez, 1978

Brock Lesnar, 1977

Anna Friel, 1976

Kristi Yamaguchi, 1971

Lisa Nicole Carson, 1969

Rolonda Watts, 1959

Mel Harris, 1957

Paul Guilfoyle, 1955

Cheryl Ladd, 1951

Jamey Sheridan, 1951

Richard Simmons, 1948

Denise Nicholas, 1945

Christine McVie, 1943

Bill Cosby, 1937

Van Cliburn, 1934

Andrew Wyeth, 1917

Curly Joe DeRita, 1909

Milton Berle, 1908

Pablo Neruda, 1904

R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895

Oscar Hammerstein II, 1895

George Washington Carver, 1861

George Ohr, 1857

George Eastman, 1854

Henry David Thoreau, 1817

Josiah Wedgwood, 1730

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Northern Exposure"(TV), 1990

"Family Feud"(TV), 1976

"Evening At Pops"(TV), 1970

"The Adventures of Sam Spade"(Radio), 1946

"Baseball's Sad Lexicon (Tinker to Evers to Chance)"(Publication date), 1910

Today in History

England is unified by Athelstan of England, 927

Saladin's garrison surrenders to Conrad of Montferrat, ending the two-year siege of Acre, 1191

Fray Diego de Landa, acting Bishop of Yucatan, burns the sacred books of the Maya, 1562

Ostrog Bible, the first printed Bible in a Slavic language, is published, 1580

The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario, 1812

The Commonwealth Franchise Act, granting women's suffrage in Australia, is given royal assent and takes effect, 1902

Pune, India floods due to failure of Khadakvasala and Panshet dams; half of the city is submerged and the death toll exceeded 2000, 1961

A fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States, 1973

Boris Yeltsin quits the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1990

Israel invades Lebanon in response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, 2006

A ticket holder in Britain wins the largest EuroMillions jackpot in history, 161,653,000GBP, 2011

The Rolling Stones, English rock band, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its first performance at the Marquee Club in Oxford Street, London, 2012

Malala Yousafzai addresses the United Nations, calling for worldwide access to education, 2013

A giant iceberg, about 6,000 sq km in length, breaks away from Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 2017

Shrinkhar Chillal, holder of the world's record for growing the longest fingernails (909.6cm/29.84ft), has the nails cut off after growing them for 66 years, 2018