Big Buddy (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!

At one monthly ladies' circle meeting (i attend two different ones), we get the pleasure of this Buddy's company.

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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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Our dear friend Diane is taking a break

accommodations we must make

we miss her poetry and wit

so carry on as Poetry Monday's a hit!

Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Charlotte/Mother Owl and i are keeping it going while she takes a blog break, we hope temporarily.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let us know!

This week the theme is Flight.                       

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Back last century

two men said we could now fly

and yes they were Wright

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He wanted to join the circus

his act would be quite an event,

the ringmaster held an audition

right there in the big top tent.

He climbed the trapeze ladder

and threw himself into the air

and before he got to the ground

started flapping his arms with flair.

He fluttered and then he flew

he soared to the big tent top,

he flapped and flew all over

and landed with graceful stop.

The ringmaster just looked at him

with a rather odd sidelong view,

and said, "After all the buildup,

bird impressions are all you do?"

*******

Future themes are:

1/29 flight (today!)

2/5   basket

2/12 toes

2/19 spice

2/26 ants

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Today is:

Auckland Provincial Anniversary -- Auckland, New Zealand

Bubblegum Sculpture Day -- commonly listed on ecard sites, and not to be confused with National Bubble Gum Day, coming in February

Carnation Day -- in honor of William McKinley; also on the date of his assassination each year, Sept. 14

Curmudgeons' Day -- W.C. Field's birth anniversary

National Corn Chip Day

National Puzzle Day -- because they are just fun

Nelson Provincial Anniversary Day -- Nelson, New Zealand

Sahid Diwash -- Nepal (Martyrs' Day)

St. Constantius of Perugia (Patron of Perugia, Italy)

St. Gildas the Wise's Day (one of the earliest British historians)

Thomas Paine Day/Freethinkers' Day -- birth anniversary of Thomas Paine

Tuxedo Cat Appreciation Day (different from National Tuxedo Cat Day in November)

Anniversaries Today:

Establishment of The Seeing Eye, 1929 (first US guide dog school)

Kansas becomes the 34th US state, 1861

Birthdays Today:

Adam Lambert, 1982

Jonny Lang, 1981

Andrew Keegan, 1979

Sara Gilbert, 1975

Heather Graham, 1970

Bobby Phillips, 1968

Nick Turturro, 1962

Greg Louganis, 1960

Oprah Winfrey, 1954

Teresa Teng, 1953

Ann Jillian, 1950

Tom Selleck, 1945

Katharine Ross, 1942

Germaine Greer, 1939

John Forsythe, 1918

Victor Mature, 1913

Huddie William "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, 1885

W.C. Fields, 1880

Anton Chekhov, 1860

William McKinley, 1843

Henry Morton Stanley, 1841

Thomas Paine, 1737

Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Sweet Charity"(Musical), 1966

"Dr. Strangelove"(Film), 1964

"Sleeping Beauty"(Cartoon movie), 1959

"The Potting Shed"(Play), 1957

"All My Sons"(Play), 1947

"The Raven"(publication date), 1845

"Idomeneo"(Mozart Opera), 1781

"The Beggar's Opera"(Gay Ballad Opera), 1728

Today in History:

The first performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1595

John Beckley of Virginia is appointed the first Librarian of Congress, 1802

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" is first published, 1845

The Victoria Cross is established to acknowledge bravery, 1856

Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, 1886

Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch, 1891

Walt Disney starts his first job as an artist, earning $40/week with the KC Slide Co, 1920

North America's first guide dog school, The Seeing Eye, is incorporated in Nashville, Tennessee, 1929

The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced, 1936

The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced, 1963

Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so, 1989

President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear weapons testing, 1996

La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire, 1996

The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing, 2005

Ken Dryden's #29 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens, 2010

American snowboarder Shaun White achieves the first ever SuperPipe perfect score (100) in Winter X Games history, 2012

Archaeologists discover the oldest Roman Temple (6th C BC) at Sant’Omobono, 2014

Scientists announce they have discovered how to convert normal cells into stem cells in mice, 2014

Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident, 2015

The Norwegian government proposes building a floating road tunnel as part of a new roadway between Kristians and Trondheim, 2019

Nigerian farmers win a landmark case against Shell Oil at the Court of Appeal of the Hague with the company required to clean up oil spill residues in the Delta region, 2021