Sunpuddling Abigail (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!

If there's a cozy place, Abigail will find it.

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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.     

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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 as well as trying to recover from a major storm in her area 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 Treasure.          

               

the treasure you seek

might not actually be

the treasure you need

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I'm looking for a treasure!

the small child says with glee,

and looking around with wonder,

finds treasure easily.

I'd love to look for treasure but

with my pragmatic mind,

I do not look as children do

and treasure do not find.

It's time to change my thinking,

seeing with the eye of a child,

I'm believing if I'll do that

life will be an adventure wild!

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Today is:

Advent of Inanna -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (date approximate; equivalent to Ishtar, Assur, Astarte, Isis, and others; a female warrior and fertility goddess)

Berchtoldstag -- Alsace; Liechtenstein; Switzerland (a celebration of the goddess Perchta, or Bertha, guardian of animals and member of the Wild Hunt) related observance

     St. Berchtolds' Day -- Liechtenstein Bank Holiday; Switzerland Regional Holiday (because of the close association of his name with Perchta,  Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen's founding of Bern, Switzerland, is commemorated today; while not an official saint of any church, his day has become a big festival for children)

Blacks and Whites Carnival -- Colombia (through the 7th; manic and messy tradition, includes people painting themselves black one day, white the next, with a Grand Parade at some point during the week)

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Day -- The Andrews Sisters recorded the song this day in 1941 (yes, before the US entered the war; it was for the movie "Buck Private" with Abbot and Costello)

Carnival Day/Last Lap -- Saint Kitts and Nevis

Dainichi-do Bugaku -- Kazuno, Japan (11 traditional bugaku dances at the shrine; dates back as far as 718)

Festival of Sleep Day -- begins this evening; celebrate by sleeping in tomorrow because it is assumed we could all use some extra z's after the holidays

Genshi-sai (First Beginning Ceremony) -- Imperial Palace and various shrines, Japan (a dance and musical art performed to round out the New Year's celebration)

Handsel Monday -- Scotland (traditionally a day to exchange small tokens of good luck with friends and neighbors; celebrated in rural areas on the Monday after Jan. 12, where they did not want to deviate from the OS/Julian Calendar)

Happy Mew Year for Cats Day -- because felines must have a day to celebrate the New Year, and they cannot share; sponsored on behalf of felines everywhere by Wellcat Holidays

Jour des Aieux -- Haiti (Founder's Day, sometimes translated Ancestry Day)

Kaapse Klopse -- Cape Town, South Africa (Minstrel Carnival; through January and most of February, but the main parade is today)

Kakizome -- Japan ("first writing", a day to do the first calligraphy written at the beginning of the New Year; often a resolution or poetry asking for a good year)

National Cream Puff Day

National Motivation and Inspiration Day -- US

National Science Fiction Day -- Asimov's birth anniversary

Ninth Day of Christmas

Nyilo -- Bhutan (Winter Solstice)

Positive Postcard Day -- some people now say you should fight the post-holiday let-down by sending someone an uplifting postcard; the original project said to have positive postcards to yourself, with instructions here  

Run It Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes It Day -- try something new today, in the spirit of the new year

Second Day of New Year -- also a holiday in many countries

"Someday We'll Laugh About This" Week begins -- to remind us to keep our perspective; sponsored by The Humor Project

St. Adelard's Day (Patron of gardeners; against fever, typhoid)

St. Basil's Day/Basil the Great -- Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches (yes, the Eastern Churches celebrated him yesterday; Patron of hospital administrators, reformers; Cappadocia; Russia)

St. Macarius' Day (Patron of of confectioners, cooks, pastry chefs)

Takai Commision Holiday -- Niue

"Thank G-d It's Monday" Day

Victory Day -- Cuba

Anniversaries Today:

Georgia becomes the 4th US State, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Kate Bosworth, 1983

Taye Diggs, 1972

Christy Turlington, 1969

Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968

Tia Carrere, 1967

Gabrielle Carteris, 1961

Alan Beckwith, 1952

Wendy Phillips, 1952

Christopher Durang, 1949

Dennis Hastert, 1942

Jim Bakker, 1939

Roger Miller, 1936

Isaac Asimov, 1920

Sally Rand, 1904

Barry Goldwater, 1902

Martha Carey Thomas, 1857

James Wolfe, 1727

Today in History:

The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire, 366

Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names, 1235

Spain recaptures Granada from the Moors (Granada Day), 1492

The first American revolutionary flag is displayed, 1776

The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded, 1881

"The Liberator", and abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston, 1831

The British reestablish rule in the Falklands, 1833

The first US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania, 1842

Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust, 1882

Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer, 1890

A record 19'2" alligator is shot in Louisiana by E. A. McIlhenny, 1890

Pres. T Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola Miss, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black, 1903

The American anarcho-syndicalist union known as the Industrial Workers of the World forms, 1905

The Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa, 1908

Lithuania gains independence, 1919

The US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls, 1929

Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R., 1959

Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth, 2004

Mauritius bans the use of plastic bags, 2013

The WHO reveals it will classify gaming addiction as a mental health condition in its next Classification of Diseases, 2018

After India passes a law requiring women be allowed access to all shrines equally with men, two women enter Sabarimala shrine in Kerala State, sparking protests, 2019