Condiment Crew (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!

These kittens are The Condiment Crew, Mustard, Mayo, Ketchup, Relish and Gherkin.  Yes, people at the shelter do run out of idea names sometimes, why do you ask?

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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 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 Pineapple.                         

Many years ago the family went

to Hawaii for a week,

looking forward to time away

adventure we did seek.

We did some of the usual things

the many tourists do,

beaches and volcanos,

a summer dream come true.

And oh, the food was glorious!

Each meal was such a treat,

one thing i asked for at every meal

was pineapple so sweet.

I had looked so forward to

fresh pineapple from the state

where the most of it was grown,

and i tell you it was great.

I noshed on fresh pineapple from

a local grower's field

and at the end of seven days,

well, i did have to yield.

Being in Hawaii a week

was certainly a thrill,

but of the luscious pineapple,

well, i had had my fill!

(Yes, i'd go back and enjoy eating them again, they're delightful at the source.)

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Today is:

Aspirin Day -- Bayer received its US patent for the medicine on this day in 1900

Day of Selene -- Ancient Greek Calendar (goddess of the moon, date approximate)

Equirria -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Cavalry Horse Festival)

Fairtrade Fortnight begins -- UK (a chance to get involved in making sure farmers in developing countries have fair wages and good working conditions)   

Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows/Gabriel Possenti (Patron of clerics, students, young people; Abruzzi, Italy; Catholic Action)

Great Lent begins-- a/k/a Clean Monday, Ash Monday, Pure Monday, Monday of Lent, Shrove Monday, Collop Monday, Rose Monday, Merry Monday or Hall Monday, and (in Cypress) Green Monday -- Orthodox Christian

Independence Day -- Dominican Republic(1844)

Majuba Day -- South Africa (celebration of the Boers victory at Majuba Hill)

National Kahlua Day

National Strawberry Day -- no, i don't know why this isn't in June, when the berries are best; maybe the person who put it here had too much Kahlua

No Brainer Day - this day is for me! created by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, "America's Premier Eventologist"

Polar Bear Day -- as declared by Polar Bears International

Read Five Pages in the Dictionary Day -- internet generated, and am i the only one who likes the idea?

Runic Half Month Tyr commences (cosmic pillar)

St. Galmier of Lyon's Day (Patron of locksmiths)

The Hop -- Fairy Calendar

Threepenny Day -- Eton College, England (By the last will of two Provosts in the 16th century, each boy receives a threepenny piece on this day -- enough to buy half a sheep back then.)

Anniversary Today:

African Burial Ground National Monument is established, 2006

Birthdays Today:

Josh Groban, 1981

Chelsea Clinton, 1980

Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, 1971

Grant Show, 1963

Adam Baldwin, 1962

Michael Bolton, 1953

Alan Guth, 1947

Mary Fran, 1943

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 1942

Howard Hesseman, 1940

Ralph Nadar, 1934

Elizabeth Taylor, 1932

Joanne Woodward, 1930

Ariel Sharon, 1928

John Connally, 1917

James Thomas Farrell, 1904

John Steinbeck, 1902

Gene Sarazen, 1902

Marian Anderson, 1897

David Sarnoff, 1891

Hugo La Fayette Black, 1886

Alice Hamilton, 1869

Ellen Terry, 1847

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807

Constantine I, 272

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What Makes Sammy Run?"(Musical), 1964

"Road to Utopia"(Film), 1946

Today in History:

The first Russian Embassy arrives in London, 1557

The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland, 1560

Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci, 1626

Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I, 1670

The Pacific island of New Britain is discovered, 1700

Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire, 1812

The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti, 1844

Composer Robert Schumann is saved from a suicide attempt in Rhine, 1854

Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland, 1861

The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships, 1870

Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman to earn a law degree, from Howard University, 1872

Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway, 1912

Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14, 1940

The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over, 1964

The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973

People magazine is published for the first time, 1974

U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated", 1991

A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, 2002

The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years, 2007

Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, 2010

Wikileaks begins releasing 5 million emails from Stratfor, a private intelligence company, 2012

At Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his farewell address, 2013

The smallest baby boy ever born who grew enough to be released from the hospital goes home from a Tokyo hospital, after an original birth weight of 268g (9.45oz), 2019

Doctors announce the world's second known case of semi-identical twins, a boy and girl from Brisbane, Australia, 2019

Astrophysical Journal publishes the results of a study of the largest cosmic explosion ever detected from a supermassive black hole in the Ophiuchus galaxy, 2020