Playdate (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and New Lease (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!

Coda and Lulu, once again, had a fun time that was hard to capture in photos.

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

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

QuoteFancy

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

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, we hope she comes back soon.   Charlotte/Mother Owl participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let Diane know!

This week the theme is New Lease.                        

"We need a new lease," he heard her mutter.

It was much to his surprise.

She'd just come in, fed the dog and sat down,

So he started to look with new eyes.

The place had become a bit shabby,

They'd lived there a bit of a while,

And though the place wasn't awful,

It was certainly out of style.

He began to look at lease listings,

And even at homes for sale,

Maybe they'd find a rent-to-own,

A new nest that wasn't so stale.

As they talked over really moving,

They looked 'round at all of their stuff,

The thought of moving each scrap, well,

That idea was really rough.

That got them started to looking

At items they could be purging,

If it's gone, we don't have to move it,

Was what he kept on urging.

They finally found a wonderful

Place to be their nest,

When they finally got settled,

They knew it had been for the best.

"I'm really glad I heard you that day,

When you said we need a new lease.

Even the dog has a yard of his own,

We can settle here in peace."

She looked at him and her eyes grew wide,

And then she started to laugh.

"I was wondering what got into you,

Now I see it was all a gaffe!

Not that I'm sad for how it turned out,

It's the best place we've lived since we wed,

But I'd just come in from walking the dog,

And 'We need a new leash,' is what I said!"

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

Today is:

All Hallow's Day a/k/a All Saint's Day -- Christian, and a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church; a recognized holiday (although not necessarily a day off work) in Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovena, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, East Timor, Ecuador, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea, Holy See, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Monaco, New Caledonia, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of the Congo, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Wallis and Fortuna)

Apaturia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (three day Phratriai brotherhood festival; dates approximate)

Bulgarian National Revival Leaders' Day -- Bulgaria

Cake Appreciation Day -- while i can't find a reason or sponsor for this, i'm sure the Cake Appreciation Society would approve     

Cook for Your Pets Day -- did the dogs lobby for this? 

Coronation Day of Fourth Druk Gyalpo -- Bhutan

CrossQuarter Day

Day of the Innocents -- Mexico (first Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead)

Gooseberry Humble's Tummy-Rumbling Contest -- Fairy Calendar

Graveyards Day -- a traditional day to tend the graves of ancestors

I Am So Thankful Month begins -- before the "holiday" frenzy, spend not just a day, but a month, practicing gratitude

Haryana Day -- Haryaha, India

Independence Day -- Antigua & Barbuda(1981); North Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic, from the Ottoman Empire)

International Coaches Day -- no one claims to have started this; if you have, or had, a great coach in your life, let him/her know

Job Action Day -- a day for workers and job seekers to put job or career in the forefront, make plans, and take action 

Kalends of November -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

     Pomonia -- Festival to Pomona

Kanhada Rajyothsaya -- Kamataka, India (Kamataka Formation Day)

Kite Festival of Santiago Sacatepequez -- Santiago Sacatepequez, Guatemala (kite flying in the graveyard to scare away evil spirits)

Liberty Day / D. Hamilton Jackson Day -- US Virgin Islands

Marlborough Provinical Anniversary Day -- Marlborough, New Zealand

NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writer's Month, write one if you have it in you!

National Author's Day -- US

National Calzone Day

National Family Literacy Day® -- US (but no matter where you live, turn off the tv, pick up a good book! National Center for Family Literacy)

National French Fried Clam / Deep Fried Clam Day

National Stress Awareness Week -- UK (International Stress Management Association; through Friday) 

National Vinegar Day

No Driving with Cell Phones Day -- the first law against talking on a hand-held device while driving went into effect in NY, US, on this day in 2001

Old Celtic New Year

Olive Festival -- Galilee, Israel (through the month, especially centered around Kawkab and Hurfeish, with open houses, oil production tours, feasts, lectures, concerts, dance performances, and olives galore)

Ozark Mountain Christmas/Branson Festival of Lights -- Branson, MO, US

Plate Tectonics Day -- birth anniversary of Alfred Wegener, who came up with the theory of continental drift

Recreation Day -- Tasmania, Australia

Remembrance Day -- Slovenia

Revolution Day/National Day -- Algeria

Samhain -- Celtic, 3rd Station, and Wicca, Northern Hemisphere (Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere)

State Foundation Day --  Andhra Pradesh, India; Karnataka, India; Kerala, India

Traffic Director's Day -- Traffic Directors Guild of America (those who are Traffic Managers, Inventory Control Specialists, Revenue Managers, or many other terms in the broadcasting and mobile industries, including radio and TV traffic directors, who always schedule your favorite shows when you just can't watch, and put more and more commercials in when they can; on the Monday nearest the anniversary of the first commercial radio broadcast in Pittsburgh in 1922)     

World Vegan Day -- International 

Anniversaries Today:

The Prime Meridian is set at Greenwich, England, 1884

Boston Female Medical School opens, 1848

Birthdays Today:

Penn Bagdley, 1986

Toni Collette, 1972

Jenny McCarthy, 1972

Fernando Valenzuela, 1960

Rachel Ticotin, 1958

Lyle Lovett, 1957

Dan Peek, 1951

Larry Flynt, 1942

Gary Player, 1935

Betsy Palmer, 1926

James Jackson Kilpatrick, 1920 

Alfred Wegener, 1880

Stephen Crane, 1871

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Foreigner"(Larry Shue comedy), 1984

Hello Kitty, 1974 (condsidered her "birth date")

"Top Banana"(Mercer musical), 1951

Ebony Magazine(First edition), 1945

"Harvey"(Mary Chase comedy), 1944

"The Constant Wife"(Maugham play), 1926

"Emperor Jones"(O'Neill play), 1920

The Crisis: A Record of The Darker Races(Magazine of the NAACP, first edition edited by W.E.B. DuBois), 1910

"John Bull's Other Island"(Shaw comedy), 1904

Harper's Bazaar(Magazine, first edition), 1867

Today in History:

The name "Austria" is first used for Ostarrichin, 996

King John of England begins imprisoning Jews, 1210

The Duke of Brabant orders the execution of all Jews in Brussels, claiming they were poisoning wells, 1349

First exhibit of the works of Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1512

The Netherlands is hit by a flood disaster, resulting in the deaths of thousands, 1570

Shakespeare's "Othello" first presented, 1604

Shakespeare's "The Tempest" first presented, 1611

An earthquake in Lisbon leaves over 50,000 dead, 1755

The Stamp Act goes into effect in the British colonies, 1765

George Washington gives his "Farewell Address" and the Continental Army is dissolved, 1783

John Adams becomes the first Us president to move into the (still not quite finished) White House, 1800*

*Note: It was still called the Executive Mansion at this time

The first published reference to poker, as a Mississippi riverboat game, 1834

The Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse, which is still in use, is lit for the first time; its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for 19 miles in good conditions, 1859

Passage of the first US Civil Rights Bill, 1866

First publication of "Harpers Bazaar", 1867

The US Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) begins operations, with 24 locations, 1870

Edward Scripps and John Sweeney found Penny Press (now the Cleveland Press), 1878

The Gaelic Athletic Association is founded at the Hayes' Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary, 1884

Dr. Roux of Paris introduces a vaccine for diphtheria, 1894

Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia, 1894

The National Geographic Magazine publishes its first picture of bare breasted women (from a Zulu tribe), 1896

The first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public, 1897

Sigma Phi Epsilon, the largest national male college fraternity in the US, is established at Richmond College, 1901

Parris Island becomes the officially designated Marine Corps Recruit Depot, 1915

The Ottoman Empire is officially abolished, 1922

Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century" in horse racing, 1938

The first animal conceived by artificial insemination, a rabbit, is displayed, 1939

American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography, 1941

The first issue of Ebony Magazine is published, by John H. Johnson, 1945

Charles Cooper of the Celtics becomes the first black NBA player, 1950

The first hydrogen nuclear device is exploded, by the US, at Eniwetok Atoll, 1952

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante wears a protective mask for the first time in an NHL game, 1959

The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens, 1963

The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X, 1968

Honda becomes the first Asian automaker to build cars in the US, 1982

Serbia joins the United Nations, 2000

First part of the Gomery Report, which discusses allegations of political money manipulation by members of the Liberal Party of Canada, is released in Canada. 2005

Astronomers claim to have detected light from the first stars in the universe by studying high-energy radiation data, 2012

Australian scientists announce the discovery of three new marsupials in Queensland, all shrew-like antechinus species, 2013

Palau becomes the first country to ban sunscreen because of the chemicals in them which bleach coral reefs, 2018