Poser (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and 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!

Little Brown Anole stopped to pose.

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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 Loneliness.                         

The world was just beginning

to see the coming mess,

and many of us were happy

we really must confess,

Not happy a pandemic was

about to shut us down,

but for introverts, staying home

wasn't any reason to frown.

Our dear friends on the other side

of the introvert/extrovert scale

were about climbing the walls to be

locked away from hill and dale.

They paced and prowled as animals

locked in too small a cage,

while introvert friends were happily

reading page after page.

The extroverts were lonely and

there was nothing they could do,

so for introverts like me,

here is a little clue.

When extrovert friends are ailing,

or they've caught the latest crud,

when they are stuck alone somewhere,

they're lonely, so be a bud.

Don't leave them just to languish,

call and cheer them, save the day,

introvert, put down your book,

your extroverts aren't okay!

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Today is:

Advice-to-the-Lovelorn-Day -- date, in 1896, the New Orleans Picayune first published the advice column of Dorothy Dix, Mother Confessor to Millions; it eventually ran in 300 papers for 55 years

Sempach Battle Commemoration -- Lucerne, Switzerland (remembrance of the battle in 1386 includes a solemn procession to the battlefield and services in the chapel)

Bonfire Night -- Northern Ireland (precursor to The Twelfth a/k/a Orangemen's Day)

Bowdler's Day

China National Maritime Day -- People's Republic of China

Convenience Store Day -- the first Seven Eleven opened on this day in 1927 in Dallas, TX; it was open 7am to 11pm, thus the name

Day of the Flemish Community -- Flemish community of Belgium, commemorates the Battle of the Golden Spurs of 1302

Feast of Theano, Philosopher, Mathematician, wife of Pythagoras, patron of vegetarianism (date approximate, supposedly when she was born)

Feast of Min -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Free Slurpee Day at Seven-Eleven -- if you have these stores where you live, stop by between 11am and 7pm to get a free 11.7oz. Slurpee (TM) today

Imamat Day -- Ismailism

International Town Criers Day

Naadam Festival -- Mongolia (a/k/a Revolution Day/National Day, traditional sporting events nationwide, but best at Ulaanbaatar, through the 13th)

National Blueberry Muffin Day

National Cheer Up The Lonely Day -- begun by Francis Pesek of Detroit, Michigan; he chose to spend his birthday as a day to promote kindness, especially the forgotten at nursing homes and shut ins who have no visitors

National Culture Day and Uniwaine / Unaine Day -- Kiribati (Senior Citizens' Day, specifically Elderly Men's Day / Elderly Women's Day)

Reading Guilt Day -- the day you are supposed to start reading that book you only read the Cliff's Notes on in school

St. Benedict's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, cavers/speliologists/spelunkers, civil engineers, coppersmiths, farm workers/farmers, Italian architects, monks, people in religious orders, people who are dying, school children, servants who have broken their masters belongings, students; Europe; Heerdt, Germany; Norcia, Italy; Subiaco, Italy; against erysipelas, fever, gall stones, inflammatory diseases, kidney disease, nettle rash, poison, temptations, and witchcraft)

World Population Day -- UN

Birthdays Today:

David Henrie, 1989

Marie Sernehold, 1983

Michael Rosenbaum, 1972

Justin Chambers, 1970

John Henson, 1967

Greg Grunberg, 1966

Rod Strickland, 1966

Al MacInnis, 1963

Lisa Rinna, 1963

Richie Sambora, 1960

Richie Sambora, 1959

Suzanne Vega, 1959

Mark Lester, 1958

Sela Ward, 1956

Leon Spinks, 1953

Stephen Lang, 1952

Bonnie Pointer, 1951

Beverly Todd, 1946

Giorgio Armani, 1934

Tab Hunter, 1931

Harold Bloom, 1930

Yul Brynner, 1920

E.B. White, 1899

John Quincy Adams, 1767

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Space Oddity"(Single release), 1969

"The Newlywed Game"(TV), 1966

To Kill A Mockingbird(Publication date), 1960

Today in History

Admiral Zheng He sets sail on his first exploratory expedition for the Ming Dynasty, 1405

Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec, 1616

Jews are expelled from Little Russia, 1740

Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire, 1750

Captain James Cook begins his third voyage, 1776

Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille, 1789

French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery (he discovered 36 over the next 27 years, more than any other person), 1801

Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel, 1804

Waterloo railway station in London opens, 1848

Tijuana, Mexico, is formally founded, 1889

The Lumière brothers demonstrate film technology to scientists, 1895

Babe Ruth makes his Major League debut, 1914

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, 1960

The first U.S. space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, 1979

According to the UN, the Earth's population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark, 1987

The United States announces it will reestablish full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, 1995

Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit", is caught in the Bahamas after a 2 year manhunt, 2010

Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery on September 23, 1846, 2011

Pluto's fifth moon is discovered, 2012

The oldest stone tools outside of Africa are discovered in Lantian country, western China, estimated to be 2.12 million years old, 2018 

Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft lands on the Ryugu asteroid 300km (185 miles) from earth for a second time to collect samples, 2019

The final Volkswagen Beetle cars roll off the assembly line in Pueblo, Mexico, ending worldwide production of the vehicle after 80 years, 2019

Rare mass anti-government protests in Cuba because of economic hardship and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lead to widespread arrests, 2021