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

Some kitty thinks she's a monkey and is always trying to climb her cage.  She does get higher than this, but every time i try to take a picture of her at the top of her cage, she scoots back down.

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

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.     

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

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 Name Your Car.                         

What to name your car is

a matter of great import.

Now, don't just call it, "Mr. Car,"

that's being a poor sport.

Your car is what will take you

hither and yon all through the day,

just ask your car what to call it,

and listen to what it will say.

My Sweetie drives a "Land Yacht,"

and Lunceford is its name,

those big old Lincoln Towncars

are stuffy but never lame.

Bigger Girl was driving Cicero

then it's frame in an accident bent,

so she bought Bessy LowKey,

an ancient "scratch and dent."

#1 Son has an old Acura,

given by a friend for a song,

not big or bright or flashy,

but White Goose moves him along.

#2 Son now has a great job

and he bought a used SUV,

his motorcycles scare this mama.

so Happy Honda brings me glee.

Little Girl still drives Talulah,

though her glamor has worn thin,

like a trouper she goes on with the show

which to me is a very big win.

As for me, i needed something

and i ended up needing it quick,

a mechanic friend had a Pontiac

and for now it does the trick.

It's been slow in giving me clues

as to what it wants to be called,

it's designed a lot like a sports car

but has uncomplainingly hauled

This janitor and church lady,

it can run but seems okay

with my keeping it to lower speeds

as it's only so fast i will play.

That's why i'm calling it Slow-Moe

as it takes me all over town

as well as on the highways,

so far it's not letting me down!

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

Today is:

Buttering-Up Semi-Finals -- Fairy Calendar

Child Health Day -- US (as established by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928)

Country Inn, Bed-and-Breakfast Day

Festival of Bacchus/Dionysus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (tasting the old and new wine and celebrating the harvest)

Independence Day -- Iraq

Kae Chun Jul -- Korea (National Foundation Day, BC 2333)

Labour Day -- ACT, NSW, & SA, Australia

Morazan Day -- Honduras (Soldier's Day, trad.)

National Butterfly and Hummingbird Day -- internet generated; celebrate these beauties today, no matter where you are

National Carmel Custard Day

Oschophoria -- Ancient Greek Calendar (in honor of the return of Theseus after killing the Minotaur; deities celebrated were Dionysius and either Athena or Ariadne, depending on the source cited; date approximate)

Pageantry in Oslo -- Oslo, Norway (Storting [Parliament] convenes to decide the date for its ceremonial opening, which is usually the following weekday, when the King opens the session in the presence of the Corps Diplomatique, preceded and followed by a military procession between the Royal Palace and the Storting.)

Peat-Cutting Day -- Falkland Islands (Spring Holiday)

Queen's Birthday -- QLD, Australia

Relief of Leiden Day -- Netherlands

Reunification Day/Unity Day-- Germany

Sts. Ewald the Black and Ewald the Fair's Day (Patrons of Westphalia)

Techies' Day -- give your techies some well-deserved appreciation

Territory Day -- Christmas Island

Thanksgiving Day -- Saint Lucia

World Architecture Day -- International Union of Architects     

World Habitat Day -- UN (Habitat for Humanity) 

Birthdays Today:

Neve Campbell, 1973

Gwen Stefani, 1969

Janel Maloney, 1969

Clive Owen, 1964

Jack P. Wagner, 1959

Dennis Eckersley, 1954

Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1954

Dave Winfield, 1951

Lindsey Buckingham, 1949

Roy Horn, 1944

Chubby Checker, 1941

Erik Bruhn, 1928

Gore Vidal, 1925

James Herriot (James Alfred Wight), 1916

Harvey Kurtzman, 1902

William Crawford Gorgas, 1854

George Bancroft, 1800

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"L.A. Law"(TV), 1986

"Scarecrow and Mrs. King"(TV), 1983

"Quincy"(TV), 1976

"The Dick Van Dyke Show"(TV), 1961

"The Andy Griffith Show"(TV), 1960

"The Pat Boone Show"(TV), 1957

"The Real McCoys"(TV), 1957

"Captain Kangaroo"(TV), 1955

"The Mickey Mouse Club"(TV), 1955

"Father Knows Best"(TV), 1954

"Our Miss Brooks"(TV), 1952

"The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"(TV), 1952

"The Maltese Falcon(Film, NYC release), 1941

Today in History:

The state of Gojoseon (modern-day Korea) is founded by Dangun Wanggeom during the reign of the Chinese emperor Yao, BC2333

The siege and battle of Alesia is ended by the surrender of Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls, to Julius Caesar, BC52

Julius Caesar's assassins suffer a decisive defeat at the First Battle of Phillipi, BC42

Jews are expelled from Eger, Bohemia, 1430

The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor, 1712

British Captain James Cook anchors in Alaska, 1778

General Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters, 1795

George Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day will be held on Nov. 26, 1789

American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances; it is the last time he is seen in public before his death, 1849

J.S. Thurman patents a motor-driven vacuum cleaner, 1899

The first conference on wireless telegraphy agrees to adopt SOS as the warning signal and sign of distress, 1906

Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles in Vienna, Austria, found the Pravda newspaper, 1908

Mrs. W.H. Felton, of Georgia, becomes the first woman seated in the US Senate, 1922

A V-2 /A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany is the first man-made object to reach space, 1942

The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon, 1952

Germany is reunified, 1990

Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy is attacked by one of the show's tigers, 2003

Archaeologists on the Egypt-Gaza border find the first evidence of a 2,000-year-old city, 2010

The Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves," 2017

The first exomoon, a moon outside of this solar system and about the size of Neptune, is discovered 8,000 light-years away by astronomers at Columbia University, 2018