Sweet Storm (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!

Some may remember a few weeks ago i arrived at the shelter to find a kitten, probably about 3 months of age, abandoned in a carrier on the doorstep in the rain.  Once she calmed down and was fully vetted, Storm turned out to be a little love.

She was not easy to photograph as she kept wanting to be petted!

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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.     

RockPaperCynic

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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 Stuffed Animals.                         

To stuffies my children did cling,

for blankies were never their thing.

I still have a few,

I keep them in view,

I admit they just make my heart sing!

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When the children were young

and had toys everywhere

you could find stuffed animals

in about every chair.

There were piles in the corners,

they sat on each bed,

we tried to corral them,

they ran wild instead.

Now children are grown,

and the stuffies, well that

has been replaced by

each overstuffed cat!

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Today is:

Balloon Ascension Day / Aviation in America Day -- the first manned free balloon flight in the US was on this date in 1793 at Philadelphia

Clean Off Your Desk Day -- me and what army? (Note:  some sites put this as always on Jan. 9, some the second Monday of January; either way, my question remains)

Duelo Nacional -- Panama (Martyrs' Day)

Eugenio Maria de Hostos' Day -- Puerto Rico (birth anniv. obs.)

Feast of All Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of the Most Holy Black Nazarene -- Quiapo District, Manila, Philippines (culmination of the celebrations; a 400-year-old Catholic procession with a black life-sized wooden statue of Jesus)

Festival of the Agonalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (gifts given to Janus)

Hatsu-Ichi -- Maebashi, Japan (a daruma -- good luck doll -- market, to start the year off right)

"I Will Stay" Day -- Brazil (anniversary of the start of the Independence Movement in 1922)

National Apricot Day

Peace Agreement Day -- South Sudan

Plough Monday -- UK (farm work is resumed the Monday following the 12 Days of Christmas, and ploughs are brought to the church to be blessed)

Positively Penguins Day -- a day to celebrate all things penguin

Republic Day -- Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Seijin-no-hi -- Japan (Adult's Day, or Coming of Age Day; celebrating all who have reached age 20, full legal adult age, in the past year)

Static Cling/Static Electricity Day -- on some sites, listed as April 26; i can only ask why it's listed anywhere for any reason

St. Marciana's Day (Patron of those with wounds)

Stepfather's Day -- not official, but it should be, there are some great stepfathers out there

Stuffed Animal Laundry Day -- give that old bear a bath!

Toka Ebisu -- Japan (parades and shrine rituals through Japan, but especially in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka; through the 11th)

Anniversaries Today:

Connecticut becomes the 5th US State, 1788

Birthdays Today:

Sergio Garcia, 1980

Dave Matthews, 1967

Joely Richardson, 1965

Mark Martin, 1959

Imelda Staunton, 1956

J.K. Simmons, 1955

Crystal Gayle, 1951

Jimmy Page, 1944

Joan Baez, 1941

Susannah York, 1941

Byron Barlett "Bart" Starr, 1934

Bob Denver, 1935

Judith Krantz, 1928

Lee Van Cleef, 1925

Les Paul, 1915

Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick), 1914

Richard Nixon, 1913

Simone De Beauvoir, 1908

Chic Young, 1901

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, 1859

Gracie Fields, 1898

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"It Takes a Thief"(TV), 1968

"Rawhide"(TV), 1959

"Dear Abby"(newspaper column), 1956

"Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze"(Film), 1894

Today in History:

Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, 475

Seven hundred Jews, believed to be causing the Black Death, are burned in their homes in Basel, Switzerland, 1349

The first sighting of manatees by a European (Columbus), 1493

Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London, 1768

The first hot-air balloon flight in the US lifts off in Philadelphia, 1793

Income Tax is introduced in the UK (to fund the war against Napoleon), 1799

Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral, 1806

Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery, 1816

The Daguerrotype photo process is announced at French Academy of Science, 1839

Thomas Henderson makes the first measure of stellar parallax, of Alpha Centauri, 1839

The Astor Library opens in NYC, 1854

The first hostilities of the Civil War, at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, 1861

The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow, 1880

New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts, 1894

Alfred Tennyson's son, Hallam, the Second Baron Tennyson, becomes the second Governor General of Australia, 1903

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., the first historically black intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity to be officially recognized at Howard University is founded, 1914

The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated, 1916

Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain, 1923

A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Quebec, Montreal, kills 78 children, 1927

Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians, 1964

Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh, 2005

Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group sign a peace agreement in Naivasha, Kenya, 2005

Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice determines they can defer the latest inauguration of President Hugo Chavez while his cancer operation recovery continues, 2013

Car manufacturer Hyundai unveils a model of a proposed walking car for first responders, 2019