Company (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!

Ms. G and i sometimes end up at a shelter which cares for cats and dogs.  Once while there, i needed to use the facilities, and it was occupied by a sweet little girl who'd been abandoned at a grocery store.  She was a love bug who just wanted to be petted.  It was okay, when your name is "mommy," you know you don't get to go potty by yourself anyway and it's no big deal.

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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 often 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 Buzzards.                         

A funny word is "buzzard,"

it is used colloquially

to talk about the vultures which

near carrion you often see.

But true buzzards are raptors,

the scientists class them as hawk,

yes buzzards and vultures are different,

don't confuse them, or they may squawk!

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Two vultures over their carrion

did stop a moment to pray,

"Lord, thank you for the meal,

and the car which prepared it today!"

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Today is:

Act Happy Week begins -- acting happy releases the body chemicals that aid health, mental and physical

Big Bird Day -- it's his birthday, and he's still only 6 years old!  (wish i could figure out that trick)

Bockbier/Bock Beer Day -- bock is the German word for strong, so a day to honor very strong, very dark, sweet, heavy beer

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Day -- birth anniversary of children's author Bill Martin

Dia de Benito Juarez -- Mexico (una Fiestas Patrias)

Equinox -- related celebrations (21:24 UTC)

     Akitu Festival begins -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar

     Chunfen -- China

     Festival of Dumuzi -- Ancient Sumerian Calendar (return of the god of life and death to be with the goddess of life and bring the spring)

     Festival of Iduna -- Ancient Norse Calendar (goddess of spring, keeper of the apples of youth for the gods)

     Haru-no-Higan -- Japanese Buddhist

     Harvest Festival and Coming Forth of the Great Ones from the House of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

     Jare -- Old Slavic Calendar

     Kukulcan Snake God in Chichen Itza -- Yucatan (the snake shadow appears only at the equinox, and celebrations are held before and after)

     Maslenitsa -- Asatru/Slavic Pagan Calendar

     Ostara/Mabon -- Wicca/Pagan, Ancient Norse Calendar, Old Anglo-Teutonic Calendar

     Pacha Pucuy -- Ancient Inca Calendar ("Earth Ripening")

     Shunbun no Hi -- Japan

     Taoist festival of Shen -- Deities of water, East, and Spring

Extraterrestrial Abductions Day -- another silly made up one, but try telling that to the people who believe in it!

Great American Meat Out Day -- go vegetarian today!    

Independence Day -- Tunisia

International Day of the Francophonie /  Journée internationale de la Francophonie

International Day of Happiness -- UN

International Earth Day -- the traditional date, still observed in many countries

Kiss Your Fiancé/Fiancée Day -- do you really need to be reminded to do this? a wedding planner thinks so, that you should stop today and focus on each other, not the wedding

Labour Day -- Christmas Island

Lajos Kossuth Day -- Hungary

Martyrdom of Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi -- Pakistan

National Cherry Blossom Festival -- Washington, DC, US (through April 14; Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival and parade on April 13)

National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day -- nnaapc.org

National Jump Out! Day -- sponsored by Discovery Girls Magazine and Fundex Games; encouraging kids to get out and get active

National Ravioli Day

Nowruz/Nauruz/Novruz Bairam/Norooz (begins at sunset) -- Iranian diaspora, Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians; Afghanistan; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Iran (Persian New Year); Iraq; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Tajikistan; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan

     celebrations go on for up to seven days or more

     Naw Ruz -- Baha'i (New Year, and an end of the time of fasting; begins sunset)

Otago Provincial Anniversary -- Otago, New Zealand

Proposal Day® -- a day for singles to propose to their true love; on the equinox, equal night and day symbolizing equal commitment

Shunki-Korei-Sai -- Shinto (rite to honor ancestral spirits, around the vernal equinox)

Smile Rejuvenation Day -- another one from the ecard companies, make someone smile today

St. Cuthbert of Lindisfane's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors, shepherds; England; Durham, England; Lancaster, England; Northumbria, England; against plague and plague epidemics)

Wellderly Day -- and the start of Wellderly Week, focusing on the health of the elderly

Won't You Be My Neighbor Day -- in honor of Mr. Rogers' birth anniversary

World Frog Day -- an initiative, on the first day of spring, to remind people of our fragile ecosystems and the disappearance of our amphibian friends   

World Storytelling Day -- to celebrate the tradition of oral storytelling

Zipper Day -- the 'Separable Fastener' by Gideon Sundback was patented this day in 1917

Birthdays Today:

Louis "Louie" Vito, 1988

Fernando Torres, 1984

Kathy Ireland, 1963

David Thewlis, 1963

Holly Hunter, 1958

Spike Lee, 1957

Theresa Russel, 1957

Jimmie Vaughan, 1951

William Hurt, 1950

Bobby Orr, 1948

Pat Riley, 1945

Paul Junger Witt, 1943

Brian Mulroney, 1939

Lois Lowry, 1937

Hal Linden, 1931

Fred "Mr." Rogers, 1928

Carl Reiner, 1922

Marian McPartland, 1920

Bill Martin, Jr., 1916

Ozzie Nelson, 1906

B.F. Skinner, 1904

Frederick Winslow Taylor, 1856

Henrik Ibsen, 1828

Ovid, BC43

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Uncle Tom's Cabin"(Publication date), 1852

Today in History:

Sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, 141

Maximus Thrax, who never set foot in Rome, becomes the first of the Foreign or Barracks Emperors of the Roman Empire, 235

A Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction is thought to be the "cause of plague epidemic," 1345

Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment, 1616

France and Spain sign an accord for fighting protestantism, 1627

Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne, 1739

The Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings, 1760

After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule, 1815

US and Siam sign commercial treaty, 1833

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published in Boston, 1852

An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina, 1861

The first AC power plant in the US begins commercial operation, in Massachusetts, 1886

In the first known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10, 1897

The first international figure skating championship takes place, in New Haven, Connecticut, 1914

Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity, 1916

The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, 1923

A test of a practical radar apparatus is made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany, 1934

The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established, 1964

Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, 1985

Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering, 1990

Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader, 2004

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years, 2005

Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop, 2006

In Morocco, thousands rally to demand and end to corruption and more civil rights for the Moroccan people, 2011

The Indian rivers Yamuna and Ganges are declared to be "living entities" by a court in the state of Uttarakhand, 2017

Finland is the world's happiest country, South Sudan is world's least happy, according to annual World Happiness Report, 2019

Japanese organizers of the Tokyo Summer Olympics confirm that overseas spectators will not be allowed because of the pandemic, 2021