Cookie and her Piggy (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. SE and Mr. DE have a dog, Cookie.  We love Cookie, enjoy her company when we clean the house, slip her extra treats (cleaning lady's prerogative) and Cookie loves her family and us and her favorite toy, Piggy.

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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.  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 The Bus.                       

The first school bus i remember

was a 16 passenger van,

they crammed it full of kids,

and then one day, oh man!

The driver took an illegal left

and in the nice big crash

i achieved my first ever "shiner"

i don't recommend such a bash.

The big, yellow bus took over,

with kids all raising a fuss

i'd sit in the din and do homework,

get home and there was no muss.

It's how i learned not to let the

craziness make my world unstable,

and learned to write while moving,

and even make it readable.

The college bus was two miles

of uninterrupted reading,

watching for my stop was

the only thing i was heeding.

Now i can't take the bus

to work because there's be no room

to drag along my work things,

buckets and mop and broom.

But before any of the others,

i remember a magical ride,

when a very young girl with her Nana

got to pull the bell cord with pride

to let the downtown bus driver

know the next was our stop,

i'd love to ride again with her,

as off on errands we'd hop.

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Today is:

Absurdity Day -- an internet generated absurd holiday

Africa Industrialization Day -- UN

Air Your Dirty Laundry Day -- internet generated, and be careful with this one!

Beautiful Day -- Fairy Calendar

Clean the Cat Hair Out of the Vacuum Cleaner Day -- internet generated, and always tops on my chore list

Dia de la Soberania Nacional -- Argentina (Sovereignty Day)

Day of Sekhmet and the Purifying Flame -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Day of National Sovereignty -- Argentina (commemorates the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado)

Dia da Consciencia Negra -- Brazil (Black Consciousness Day)

Globally Organized Hug A Runner Day aka G.O.H.A.R.D

Learn When To Start Thawing the Turkey Day -- US (USDA "Let's Talk Turkey" hotline 800-535-4555; Butterball "Turkey Talk-Line" 800-323-4848)

Name Your PC Day -- mine is Ol' Bessy, a/k/a Old Crankypants; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays  

National Military Families Recognition Day -- US (by Presidential Proclamation in 1993, the Monday before Thanksgiving Day) 

National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

Praetextatus and Paulina's Day -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Guardians of the Eleusinian Mysteries, pagan activists and devotees who tried to save Roman religions; date approximate)

Revolution Day -- Mexico 

St. Edmund the Martyr's Day (Patron of kings, torture victims, wolves; East Anglia, England; against plagues)

Teachers' Day -- Vietnam

Transgender Day of Remembrance -- memorial for those who have been killed because of transphobia

Universal Children's Day -- UN

Zumbi Day -- Brazil (death anniversary of Zumbi dos Palmares, a day of Afro-Brazilian consciousness, as he was a hero and freedom fighter)

Anniversaries Today:

The Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London, 1947

The first municipal airport in the US opens, in Tuscon, AZ, 1919

Birthdays Today:

Sabrina Lloyd, 1970

Ming-Na Wen, 1967

Sean Young, 1959

Bo Derek, 1956

Steve Dahl, 1954

Richard Masur, 1948

Duane Allman, 1946

Judy Wooodruff, 1946

Veronica Hamel, 1943

Joe Biden, 1942

Dick Smothers, 1939

Don DeLillo, 1936

Richard Dawson, 1932

Estelle Parsons, 1927

Kaye Ballard, 1926

Robert F. Kennedy, 1925

Nadine Gordimer, 1923

Gene Tierney, 1920

Robert Byrd, 1917

Alistair Cooke, 1908

Chester Gould, 1900

Edwin Hubble, 1889

Karl von Frisch, 1886

Kenesaw Mountain Landis, 1866

Selma Lagerlf, 1858

Sir Wilfred Laurier, 1841

Thomas Chattertn, 1752

Oliver Wolcott, 1726

Susanna Wesley, 1669 (mother of John, Charles, and 17 other children)

Peregrine White, 1620 (born on the Mayflower)

Maximinus, Roman Emperor, 270

Debuting/Premiering Today:

Beatles Antology 1(album release), 1995

The Day After(TV movie), 1983

"A Soldier's Play"(Fuller Pulizer winning play), 1981

"Cabaret"(Musical), 1966

"The Seven Year Itch"(Play), 1952

"The Children's Hour"(Play), 1934

"The Goldbergs"(Radio), 1929

The Sheik(Film, with Rudolph Valentino), 1921

"Das Lied von der Erde/The Song of the Earth"(Mahler symphony), 1911

"The Doctor's Dilemma"(Play), 1906

"Fidelio"(Opera, Beethoven Op. 72), 1805

Today in History:

Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire, 762

Zumbi, the last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares of Brazil, is executed, 1695

New Jersey becomes the first state to ratify the US Bill of Rights, 1789

Curacao's government forbids slave work on Sunday, 1795

Howard University is founded in Washington, D.C., 1866

US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports, 1914

The first municipally owned airport in US opens, in Tucson Az, 1919

In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation, 1962

The SETI Institute is founded, 1984

Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released, 1985

The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million, 1989

In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage, 1992

The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched, 1998

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level in eleven years, 2008

NATO agrees to begin handing over Afghanistan's security to the Afghan military, 2010

The UN World Meteorological Organization announces the 2011 greenhouse gasses reached record levels, 2012

A vote of the General Synod of the Church of England approves women to be ordained bishops beginning the next year, 2013

Atlanta's Georgia Dome, once the world's largest covered stadium, is destroyed in a controlled implosion, 2017

The Oxford Dictionary word of the year is "climate emergency," 2019

New York state activates the National Guard to assist with historic snow levels of up to 6 1/2 feet around the Buffalo area, 2022