Flutter, But Stop a Moment (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!

I asked the butterfly to flutter, but first to stop for a moment, and got these.

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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 Watermelon.                        

It was our favorite day

at summer camp every year,

when the trucks pulled in piled high

the whole place gave a cheer.

The pickup truck beds were packed

with watermelon in huge piles,

the counselors would start cutting,

and soon we were wearing sticky smiles.

*******

Eating watermelon

is delightful and peachy keen,

just remember you start on the red

and stop when you get to the green!

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My children loved watermelon,

and made such a sticky, sweet mess,

we had to make a rule about,

where to eat it and how to dress.

Whenever their father brought home

the delightfully messy fruit

they'd go outside by the garden hose

each clad in a bathing suit!

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Today is:

Basketball Day -- birth anniversary of James Naismith

Birth of Tiamat -- Ancient Babylonian Calendar (mother of gods, goddess of primeval chaos; date approximate)

Constitution Day -- Dominican Republic; Tajikistan; Tatarstan, Russian Federation

Electric Razor Day -- Jacob Schick patented the first electric razor on this day in 1937

Finnish Swedish Heritage Day -- Finland

Green March Day -- Morocco; Western Sahara

Gustavus Adolphus Day -- Sweden

Halfway Point of Autumn

International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict -- UN

International End Gossip Day -- the founder of this didn't want to be gossiped about, and left no trace

Job Action Day -- a day for workers and job seekers to put job or career in the forefront, make plans, and take action 

Marching Band Day -- birth anniversary of John Philip Sousa

Marooned Without A Compass Day -- internet generated; how's your sense of direction?

National Day -- Tonga(obs.)

National Nachos Day / I Love Nachos Day

Recreation Day -- Tasmania, Australia

Saxophone Day -- Adolphe Sax birth anniversary

St. Illtyd's Day (Abbot, reputed cousin of King Arthur)

St. Leonard's Day (Patron of barrel makers/coopers, blacksmiths, captives, childbirth, coal miners, coppersmiths, greengrocers, horses, imprisoned people, locksmiths, miners, porters, P.O.W.'s, prisoners; Castelmauro, Italy; Conegliano, Italy; Kirkop, Malta; against burglaries, robberies/robbers)

Traffic Director's Day -- Traffic Directors Guild of America (those who are Traffic Managers, Inventory Control Specialists, Revenue Managers, or many other terms in the broadcasting and mobile industries, including radio and TV traffic directors, who always schedule your favorite shows when you just can't watch, and put more and more commercials in when they can; on the Monday nearest the anniversary of the first commercial radio broadcast in Pittsburgh in 1922)     

Birthdays Today:

Ethan Hawke, 1970

Pat Tillman, 1976

Rebecca Romijn, 1972

Thandie Newton, 1972

Ethan Hawke, 1970

Kelly Rutherford, 1968

Lance Kerwin, 1960

Maria Shriver, 1955

Nigel Havers, 1949

Glenn Frey, 1948

Sally Field, 1946

Mike Nichols, 1931

Walter Perry Johnson, 1887

James Naismith, 1861

Ignace Paderewski, 1860

John Philip Sousa, 1854

Cesare Lombroso, 1835

Adolphe Sax, 1814

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Good Morning America"(TV), 1975

"The Phil Donahue Show"(TV), 1967

"Meet The Press"(TV), 1947

Today in History:

Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in Texas, 1528

Spain grants independence to the Dominican Republic, 1844

Scenes of Clerical Life, the first work of fiction by the author later known as George Eliot, is submitted for publication, 1856

Canada celebrates its first official, national Thanksgiving Day, 1879

Mohandas Gandhi is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa, 1913

Colonel Jacob Schick patents the first electric razor, 1928

Edwin Armstrong presents his paper "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation" to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers (hello, FM radio!), 1935

Parker Brothers acquires the forerunner patents for MONOPOLY from Elizabeth Magie, 1935

Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility, 1944

The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation, 1962

Cuba and the United States formally agree to begin an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States, 1965

Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara, 1975

Australians vote to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum, 1999

Sweibodzin, Poland announced the world's largest statue of Jesus, called Christ the King, has been completed, 2010

Tammy Duckworth becomes the first disabled woman and first person born in Thailand to be elected to US Congress, 2012

Officials crack down on foreigners working illegally in Saudi Arabia and over 16,000 are arrested, 2013

According to a UN report, ISIS left behind over 200 mass graves containing thousands of victims in the area they once controlled, 2018

According to a study of over 400 million records on Ancestry and published in the journal Genetics, less than 10% of human longevity is due to our genes, 2018

The US Powerball jackpot rises to a world record of $1.9bn, 2022