Paw Pats (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Festival of Lights (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!

The two cats in side by side cages at the shelter kept sticking their paws out and gently touching each other.  No hisses, just gentle pats back and forth, it was cute.

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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, 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 Hanukkah or Holidays.          

               

About Hanukkah i have learned

It's about the oil that burned,

One day's worth eight days and nights,

That's why it's a Festival of Lights.

Pagans had suppressed the Jews again

(And will such bigotry never end?!?)

Leaving their Temple a terrible mess,

For the holy lamp one day's oil, no more, no less.

It would take a whole week to purify

More oil, it's enough to make you cry.

You finally get your Temple back,

Waiting longer's like a torture rack.

They decided not to wait!

Light it up and celebrate!

Even if it's just one day,

We'll be glad more's on the way.

But then a miracle, hear them shout!

The one day's oil did not run out,

Until they'd purified another batch,

Which takes a week to start from scratch!

That's why Jews celebrate with oil,

Fried Hanukkah foods, not baked or broiled,

Celebrate for eight full days

All of G-d's miraculous ways.

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Today is:

Akibasan Gongen Hibuse Matsuri -- Odawara, Japan (ritual giving thanks for fire and water)

Day of Quito -- Ecuador (founding of the city in 1534)

Days of Reckoning Begin -- Fairy Calendar (no, they will not tell us what they reckon)

Dia de la Constitucion Espanola -- Spain (Constitution Day)

Give a Secret Gift Day -- obviously in honor of the original St. Nicholas

Independence Day -- Aland Islands(1917); Finland(1917)

King Tupou I Day -- Tonga

Microwave Oven Day -- patented this day in 1945

Mitten Tree Day -- remembering when mittens, along with maybe a knit cap or scarf, were the big gift to find hanging from the Christmas tree

National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women -- Canada

National Gazpacho Day

National Miner's Day -- US

Pawnbrokers' Day -- on St. Nicholas' Day, in his role as Patron Saint of pawnbrokers

Sindhi Topi and Ajrak Day -- Sindh, Pakistan

St. Nicholas of Myra's Day (Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, archers, bakers, barrel makers, boatmen, bootblacks/shoe shiners, boys, brewers, brides, captives, children, coopers, dock workers/longshoremen, fishermen, grooms, judges, lawsuits lost unjustly, maidens, mariners/sailors, merchants, penitent murderers, newlyweds, old maids, parish clerks, paupers/poor people, pawnbrokers, perfumers, pilgrims, prisoners, scholars, schoolchildren, spinsters, students, penitent thieves, travelers, unmarried girls; Greek Catholic Church in America; Greek Catholic Union; University of Paris; Varangian Guard; Greece; Russia; also dozens of cities around the world; against imprisonment, robberies, robbers)

      Christkind -- Central and Southern Europe (the traditional gift giving day, instead of Christmas)

Birthdays Today:

Andrew J. Howard, 1969

Macy Gray, 1969

Janine Turner, 1962

Andrew Cuomo, 1957

Peter Buck, 1956

Randy Rhoads, 1956

Steven Wright, 1955

Tom Hulce, 1953

JoBeth Williams, 1953

Craig Newmark, 1952

James Naughton, 1945

David Ossman, 1936

Wally Cox, 1924

Dave Brubeck, 1920

Agnes Moorehead, 1906

Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1898

Ira Gershwin, 1896

Lynn Fontanne, 1887

Joyce Kilmer, 1886

William S. Hard, 1870

John Singleton Mosby, 1833

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Star Trek VI- The Undiscovered Country(Film), 1991

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"(TV special), 1964

"Talent Scouts"(TV), 1948

"Du Barry Was a Lady"(Porter musical), 1939

"La damnation de Faust"(Berlioz opera, Op, 24), 1846

Today in History:

The Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev, 1240

Don Alfonso V of Aragon grants Barcelona the right to exclude Jews, 1424

The first edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica is published, in Scotland, 1768

Harriet Tubman escapes slavery, 1849

The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery, 1865

The first crematorium in the Us begins operation, in Washington, Pennsylvania, 1876

London becomes the first city to license taxicabs, 1897

One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence, 1922

U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that the James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene, 1933

The Vanguard rocket, the first US attempt to launch a satellite, fails, 1957

The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, 2001

NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars, 2006

Belgium's new federal government is sworn in after 541 days of negotiations, 2011

Pope Francis gives his assent to a proposal to create a permanent post on the Pontifical Commission on cases of sin and sexual abuse of minors, 2013 

President Trump officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announces plans to move the US Embassy there, 2017

Details of the most distant black hole yet discovered, 13billion light-years away and 800X larger than our Sun, are published in the journal Nature, 2017

The Japanese space capsule Hayabusa-2 lands safely back on earth in Australia, carrying the first significant rock samples from an asteroid, the Ryugu, 2020