Younglings (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, and Jam! (Monthly Poetry Group), an A to Z Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.

He has handed hosting duties off to Sandee, of Comedy Plus, and it's simple to join, just follow the link to Sandee's page for the rules and the code.

The young kittens are starting to arrive at the shelter.

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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      

Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:

1. In May, I may _________.

2. Ten years ago, I was _________.

3. I hope for a future in which _________.

4. I would probably last _________ days in solitary confinement.

1. In May, I may   get caught up on a few things around the house, and then again, the Blue Fairy may also swoop in and do it for me!  (If The A-mighty put me on this Earth to accomplish a certain number of things, right now i am so far behind i will never die.)

2. Ten years ago, I was   just ramping up my cleaning business as all the children were in school and the eldest two could drive, so they were a bit less dependent on me in that sense.

3. I hope for a future in which   there is a future, period.

4. I would probably last   only a very few  days in solitary confinement.   Even introverts need others, as much as we might not like to admit it.

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It's time for the Monthly Poetry Group, hosted by Karen at Baking in a Tornado.  Participants write a poem about a topic one of us chose.  This month, i chose Jam.  Be sure to go check out all the poems.

Jam is such a tasty treat

It leaves the tongue so merry,

So many kinds from which to choose,

Some but not all of them berry.

There's banana jam, for real,

Goes great with peanut butter,

If Elvis liked PB with banana,

This would've made his heart flutter!

The jams that have a little heat,

Those are lots of fun,

A bit of jalepeno and taste buds

Tingle, every one.

The homemade jams at markets

Are often quite unique,

If you want something like muscadine,

Those places you must seek.

There is one kind i have to say

Makes me madder'n email spam,

The one i hate, loathe, and despise

Is the horrible Traffic Jam.

The other participants:

Karen at Baking in a Tornado:  It's My Jam     

Diane at On the Border     

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Today is:

Arbor Day -- US

Arita Ceramic Fair -- Arita, Japan (finest porcelain in Japan; during Golden Week until May 5)

Carnival Day -- Sint Maarten

Cheng Cheng Kung Landing Day -- Taiwan (anniversary of the landing in Taiwan of Ming Dynasty loyalist Cheng Cheng Kung to oust the Dutch colonists)

Feast of the Secret Masters -- can't find any real info on this one, and why should i if it's such a secret, but it is fun to think about

Fish Cleaning Night -- sponsored by David Letterman (it's okay if you don't have an audience, or Mariel Hemingway)

Global Youth Service Day -- annual campaign to mobilize children and youth to make a difference (through Sunday)    

Hairball Awareness Day -- sponsored by Furminator (which product actually does work, by the way) and Hills Pet Nutrition

International Dance Day -- International Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a UNESCO partner

Jumatul Bidah/Wida -- Bangladesh; JK, LA, India

Lailat al Kadr (Lailat al Qadr) -- Islam (Night of Destiny; began at sundown yesterday, through sundown tonight, although local observances may vary and governmental days off vary from country to country)

Milk-Curdling Sunday -- Fairy Calendar (Gremlins)

National Adult Public Skipping Day -- because somebody out there either wants you to feel like a kid again, or make a fool of you

National Shrimp Scampi Day

"Peace" Rose Day -- an explanation of this name for the Rosa 'Madame' A. Meilland variety

Poem in Your Pocket Day -- carry your favorite with you to share with friends and family to celebrate National Poetry Month     

Remembrance of Victims of Chemical Weapons -- on the day chemical weapons were outlawed in 1997

Ridvan, Ninth Day -- Baha'i (one of the festival days on which work and school should be suspended)

Runic Half Month of Lagu (water) begins

Showa No Hi -- Japan (Showa Day, the birth anniversary of Emperor Showa, begins the Golden Week holiday period of four major national days, through May 5)

Solar Alignment at Teotihuacan, City of the Gods -- Teotihuacan, Mexico (the ritual cave opening aligns to the sunset on Aug. 12 and Apr. 29, the same horizon position of the setting of the Pleiades)

St. Catherine of Siena's Day (Patron of fire prevention, firefighter, nurses, nursing services, people ridiculed for piety, sick people; Europe; Italy; Theta Phi Alpha Sorority; Allentown, PA, US; Siena, Italy; Verazze, Italy; against bodily ills/sickness, fire, miscarriages, sexual temptation)

World Wish Day -- from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, marking the date in 1980 that local police let seven-year-old leukemia patient Chris Grecicius be an officer for a day, sparking the idea of the Make-a-Wish Foundation

Zipper Day -- while i can't confirm it, the modern zipper was supposedly patented on this day in 1913

Anniversaries Today:

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, marries Catherine "Kate" Middleton, 2011

Mike Nichols marries Diane Sawyer, 1988

Princess Irene marries Prince Carel Hugo de Bourbon Parma, 1964

Birthdays Today:

Andre Agassi, 1970

Uma Thurman, 1970

Carnie Wilson, 1968

Eve Plumb, 1958

Michelle Pfeiffer, 1958

Daniel Day-Lewis, 1957

Kate Mulgrew, 1955

Jerry Seinfeld, 1954

Nora Dunn, 1952

Dale Earnhardt, 1951

Johnny Miller, 1947

Zubin Mehta, 1936

Lane Smith, 1936

Rod McKuen, 1933

Robert Gottlieb, 1931

Celeste Holm, 1919

Tom Ewell, 1909

Hirohito, 1901

Duke Ellington, 1899

William Randolph Hearst, 1863

Oliver Ellsworth, 1745

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hair"(Musical), 1968

"ABC's Wide World of Sports"(TV), 1961

"Young Dr. Malone"(Radio), 1940

"There Shall be No Night"(Play), 1940

Roget's Thesaurus(Publication date), 1852

Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major(Mozart K. 454), 1784

Today in History:

The Moors arrive at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, 711

Joan of Arc arrives at Orleans to relieve the siege, 1492

Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet, 1587

Eleven Dutch ships depart for the conquest of Peru, 1623

The Ming Dynasty occupies Taiwan, 1661

James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia, 1770

The French Fleet prevents Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope, 1781

Peter Roget publishes the first edition of his Thesaurus, 1852

The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus  – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin, 1882

Gideon Sundbach of Hoboken, NJ, receives a patent for the zipper, 1913

The North Sea floodgate at Ijmuiden, the biggest in world, officially opens, 1930

The telephone connection of England-Australia goes into service, 1930

The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast airs, and episode of "Space Patrol" shown over ABC affiliate KECA in Los Angeles, 1953

The first military nuclear power plant opens, in Ft. Belvoir 1957

A cyclone strikes the Chittagong  district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless, 1991

Oldsmobile  builds its final car ending 107 years of production, 2004

Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation, 2005

Economic losses mount and class action lawsuits are filed as the U.S. Coast Guard plans a controlled burn to remove spilled oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010

The International Chemical Weapons Convention deadline for chemical weapon stockpiles comes into effect, 2012

German Measles is declared eradicated from North and South America, the first world regions to do so, 2015

The animated series “The Simpsons” surpasses "Gunsmoke"'s 635-episode count to have highest episode count of any series on TV, 2018

A mile-wide asteroid, 1998 OR2, passes within 3.9 million miles of Earth, 2020

The world's longest pedestrian bridge (516 metres / 1,700 feet) opens inside northern Portugal's Arouca Geopark, 2021