A Fabulous Foursome (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday

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A blessed and beautiful Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate, and to all others, Happy 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!

Since Uncle J moved in, Grandma and Grandpa's house now has 3 dogs.  Lulu has always mostly gotten along with Jack and Abby, but they were only visiting then.  We'll see how it goes long term.  

This past Saturday, i took Jock down there, too, and a good time was had by all (although i never could quite get all 4 in a photo at once, even with Sweetie trying to help me).

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Sparks is the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, who wanted us to post something positive and uplifting at the start of the week.  While she no longer blogs, i like to post an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.  

   

source

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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog semi-break and her poetry 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 Independence Day or Sidewalk Egg Frying Day.                         

Independence Day

use your freedom for the good

of all that you meet

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"It's hot enough to fry an egg

on the sidewalk!" people say,

and some are even trying on this

Independence Day.

There really is a contest held

every Fourth of July,

and if you ever get a chance

you really should go by.

People come with gadgets

and gismos of every kind

the perfect way to harness

solar power they try to find.

They cook eggs using sunshine

concentrated any way they can,

to use any but solar power

can't be part of the plan.

In Oatman, Arizona is

this contest really neat,

although i am not sure the eggs

i'd really want to eat.

If you ever get down there

be sure to take an hour

and go see sidewalk egg frying

using only sunshine power.

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Today is:

Buffalo Bill Day -- he staged his first Wild West show on July 4, 1883

Bullion's Day -- Anglican tradition, the translation of the relics of St. Martin of Bullion; rain today means rain for the next 20 days, according to the legends

Day of Pax -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Caricom Day -- Guyana; Saint Vincent and Grenadines 

Carnival Monday -- Saint Vincent and Grenadines 

Constitution Day -- Cayman Islands

Earth at Aphelion -- @08:10 UTC (Earth at its furthest distance from the sun)

Filipino-American Friendship Day -- Philippines; U.S.

Garibaldi Day -- Italy

Heroes Day -- Zambia

Independence Day -- US and Territories(1776)

Independence from Meat Day -- don't be a slave to tradition! sponsored by Vegetarian Awareness Network

Jumping on the Mattress Night -- Fairy Calendar

King Tupou VI's Birthday -- Tonga

Liberation Day -- Rwanda

National Barbecue Spareribs Day

National Country Music Day -- US

Old Midsummer Eve -- by the Julian Calendar

Sidewalk Egg Frying Day -- you can do this anywhere that it's hot enough, but for the real deal, plan to go to the Solar Egg Frying Contest, held annually on July 4 on old Route 66 in Oatman, Arizona, US, where the rule is you must use solar heat only

St. Elizabeth of Portugal's Day (Patron of brides, charitable societies, charity workers, charities, difficult marriages, falsely accused people, peace, queens, tertiaries, victims of adultery, victims of jealousy, victims of unfaithfulness, widows; invoked in time of war; Coimbra, Portugal)

St. Ulrich's Day (Patron of peaceful deaths, pregnant women, weavers; Augsburg, Germany; Creazzo, Italy; against birth complications, dizziness, faintness, fever, frenzy, mice, moles, vertigo)

Stone Skipping Tournament -- Windermere Pointe Beach, Mackinac Island, Michigan, US (open to all, come skip some stones and have a blast!)

World's Greatest Lizard Races -- Chaparral Park, Lovington, NM, US (cheer the lizards and iguanas as they race down a 16-foot ramp, and yes, trophies will be awarded!)

Anniversaries Today

Tuskegee Institute opens, 1881

Birthdays Today

Becky Newton, 1978

Koko, 1971 (gorilla who spoke sign language)

Pamela Howard "Pam" Shriver, 1962

Signy Coleman, 1960

Geraldo Rivera, 1943

George Steinbrenner, 1930

Al Davis, 1929

Gina Lollobrigida, 1927

Neil Simon, 1927

Eva Marie Saint, 1924

Ann Landers, 1918

Abigail Van Buren, 1918

Mitch Miller, 1911

Gloria Stuart, 1910

George Murphy, 1902

Rube Goldberg, 1883

Louis B. Mayer, 1882

George M. Cohan, 1878

Calvin Coolidge, 1872

Stephen Foster, 1826

Hiram Walker, 1816

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"American Top 40"(Radio), 1970

"Honky Tonk Women"(Single release), 1969

"America the Beautiful"(Publication date), 1895

Today in History

A supernova is observed by the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians near the star Tauri; for several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day, and its remnants form the Crab Nebula, 1054

Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye, 1534

The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (Quebec, Canada), 1634

City of Providence, Rhode Island forms, 1636

The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress, 1776

The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, opens, 1802

The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American public, 1803

Construction of the Erie Canal begins in Rome, New York, 1817

The world's first long-distance railway, the Grand Junction Railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool, 1837

The Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end, 1840

Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, 1845

The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, titled Leaves of Grass, is published, 1855

Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, 1862*

The Anglo-Zulu war ends, 1879

The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States, 1886

The first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia, 1886

Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, so that year there were 367 days in this country, with two occurrences of Monday, July 4, 1892

The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole, 1894

Dorothy Levitt was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a 'motor race', 1903

African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match sparking race riots across the United States, 1910

First flight of the Lockheed Vega, 1927

Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, tells a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth" as he announces his retirement from major league baseball, 1939

After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States, 1946

The first broadcast by Radio Free Europe, 1950

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law, 1966

NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars, 1997

The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1, 2005

The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks, 2009

Discovery of a picture of the Biblical Samson and a Hebrew inscription in an ancient synagogue in the Galilee region of northern Israel is announced, 2012

Scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider announce the discovery of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson, 2012

Unesco grants World Heritage Status to vineyards in Champagne, France along with Singapore's Botanical Gardens, Diyarbakir Fortress (Turkey) and Maymand Caves (Iran), 2015

NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully enters Jupiter's orbit, 2016

North Korea tests first successful intercontinental ballistic missile into Sea of Japan, 2017

Chinese technology company Baidu announces it has begun mass production of self-driving buses, the 14-seat Apolong, 2018

Mad Magazine announces it will stop publishing new material after 67 years, 2019

Researchers reveal there are 14 living descendants of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, 2021