Bow-wow Music Lover (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, and A-to-Z Post

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To enjoy more blogs participating in the A to Z Challenge, click here.     

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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!

At an outdoor concert, children run and puppies prance.  This one enjoyed the music, until it felt nature call.

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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 Maps.                    

   

When I was young, on road trips

we followed the Triple-A map.

Now we have a GPS, 

it's on our phone an app.

Still I taught my children

of maps, the paper kind,

and most of them learned well,

only Bigger Girl has her own mind.

She had trouble reading maps,

has no sense of direction,

"I get lost in a shoe box!"

she says with wry inflection.

If she had to go somewhere,

and only a map would do,

I wrote out the directions,

and sent younger sister, too!

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Today is:

American Circus Day -- the first circus in the US opened this day in Philadelphia in 1793

Anniversary of the Second Republic -- Republic of Guinea

Day Sacred to Bona Dea and Day of Proserpina's Rise from the Underworld -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Don't Go to Work Unless it's Fun Day -- and unless you have a really great job, we know your decision

Find-A-Rainbow Day -- a day to paint bright and colorful wishes for your friends, family, and sweetheart; if you actually find a rainbow in the sky, that's a plus, send a pic to the RainbowBrite site

Hanshi a/k/a Cold Food Festival -- China (second day of the Quingming Festival)

National Chocolate Mousse Day

Overcome a Handicap Day -- on the day, in 1981, when one-legged Canadian high jumper Arnie Boldt cleared 6 feet 8¼ inches, only about a foot under the world record at the time

Pony Express Day -- US; inaugurated this day in 1860

Second Republic Day -- Guinea

Shower Dance -- Fairy Calendar

St. Irene of Thessalonica's Day (Patron of girls, peace)

St. Richard of Chichester's Day (called Ricardus, ri for ridens meaning "laughing", car for carus meaning "dear", dus for dulcis meaning "sweet"; Patron of coachmen and of the Diocese of Chichester, Sussex, England)

Tweed Day -- a day to consider the costs of political corruption, on the birth anniversary of "Boss" Tweed

World Party Day -- anyone and everyone is invited to join the party  

Anniversaries Today:

Isle Royale National Park is established in Michigan, US, 1940

Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England, 1043

Birthdays Today:

Amanda Bynes, 1986

Leona Lewis, 1985

Cobie Smulders, 1982

Jamie Bamber, 1973

Jennie Garth, 1972

Picabo Street, 1971

Robert Chapin, 1964

Eddie Murphy, 1961

David Hyde Pierce, 1959

Alec Baldwin, 1958

Bernie Parent, 1945

Tony Orlando, 1944

Leona Lewis, 1943

Marsha Mason, 1942

Wayne Newton, 1942

Jane Goodall, 1934

Calvin "Baby Vet" Graham, 1930

Max Frankel, 1930

Virgil "Gus" Grissom, 1926

Jan Merlin, 1925

Marlon Brando, 1924

Doris Day, 1924

Herb Caen, 1916

Sally Rand, 1904

Henry Robinson Luce, 1898

Leslie Howard, 1893

John Burroughs, 1837

William Magear "Boss" Tweed, 1823

Edward Everett Hale, 1822

Washington Irving, 1783

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Endgame"(Play), 1957

"TV Guide"(Publication), 1953

Today in History:

Edward the Confessor is crowned king of England, 1043

The US Pony Express begins its first run, 1860

Gottlieb Daimler receives a German patent for his engine, 1885

Trial of the libel case instigated by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality, 1895

The US House of Representatives accept the "American's Creed," a patriotic contest winner by William Tyler Page, as the official creed of the US, 1918

The building of the RMS Queen Mary is commissioned, 1929

President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, 1948

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, 1968

The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, 1973

Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default, 1975

Conventional-Train World Speed Record: a French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record, 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), 2007

Australia formally adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2009

Following the News International phone hacking scandal, James Murdock resigns as Chairman of BskyB, 2012

France outlaws the hiring of models who do not meet new Body Mass Index (BMI) minimums for a certain period of time before and during a modeling job; the law aims to prevent promotion of anorexia among models and people who emulate them, 2015

Captain Brett Crozier is cheered as he leaves his ship after being fired for requesting more help for his sailors infected with Covid19, 2020