New Little Sister (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 added another dimension to their already complicated lives — they got Cookie, the chocolate Labrador Retriever, a little sister.  She looks like another King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, like Noonie, the elderly dog they had when i started working for them.

Meet Emmie, and her big sister Cookie is never far away.

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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

but 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 Happy News.                       

"I understand you have happy news!"

a man to his friend did say.

"An unclaimed horsed has wandered

onto your farm today!"

Said the friend, "Happy or sad news,

who can say?"

"I understand you have sad news,"

 a man to his friend did say.

"The horse that came unbidden

has suddenly run away."

Said the friend, "Happy or sad news,

who can say?"

"I understand you have happy news!"

a man to his friend did say.

"The horse came back with a friend

he'd gathered along the way!"

Said the friend, "Happy or sad news,

who can say?"

"I understand you have sad news,"

a man to his friend did say.

"You gave one horse to your son who

when thrown broke a leg straight away."

Said the friend, "Happy or sad news,

who can say?"

"I understand you have happy news!"

a man to his friend did say.

"The king's soldiers took all our able-bodied sons,

but your son, for his leg, got to stay!"

The friend, "I am content,"

was all he did say.

Future themes are:

Mar. 25 happy news (today!)

Apr. 1 shelf

Apr. 8 order

Apr. 15 tape

Apr. 22 running

Apr. 29 quiet

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Today is:

Anniversary of the Arengo and the Feast of the Militants -- San Marino

Annunciation of the Virgin Mary -- Roman Catholic Christian

     Lady Day/Quarter Day -- England; Ireland; Wales (traditional New Year's Day)

     Varfrudagen -- Sweden (waffle day)

Day of the Shining Ones of Heaven move Upstream -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of King Amenhotep I -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (rituals depicting his death and burial, performed for the Deir-el-Medina workforce; date approximate)

Full Worm Moon -- also called Leaf Moon, Seedling Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sap Moon, Light Snow Moon, White moon, Virgin Moon, Paschal Moon, or Lenten Moon; considered the last full moon of winter

     Madin Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

     Taubaung Full Moon -- Myanmar

Hilaria -- Ancient Roman Empire ("Day of Joy", honoring Attis)

Hola Mohalla -- Sikh (3-day grand festival)

Holi -- Hindu (Festival of Color, begins at sundown, through sundown tomorrow, where everyone gets doused with colored water, or powder, or paint, or all of them; it's been described as an iridescent madhouse)

     officially recognized holiday in Guyana; India; Nepal; Suriname

     Phagu Purnima / Basanta Utsay -- Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Independence Day -- Cyprus; Greece(1821)

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade -- UN

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members -- UN

International Waffle Day -- based on Sweden's tradition of having waffles on Annunciation Day

Medal of Honor Day -- US (first one awarded this date in 1963)

Mother's Day -- Slovenia

National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy -- Greece; US

National Lobster Newburg Day

National Pecan Day -- anniversary of George Washington's planting of Pecan trees at Mt. Vernon in 1775

National Waffle Day -- possibly also International Waffle Day, depends on the site you search

Old New Year's Day -- until 1751, British Empire

Otago Provincial Anniversary -- Otago, New Zealand

Revolution Day -- Greece (anniversary of the revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1821)

Sacrifice to Kronos -- Ancient Greek Calendar (private sacrifices to Kronos; date approximate)

Seward's Day -- Alaska, US

St. Dismas' Day ("Dismas" is the name given to the unnamed "Thief on the Cross", crucified next to Jesus according to Biblical accounts, and who repented; Patron of condemned/death row prisoners, funeral directors/undertakers, penitent criminals, prisoners, reformed thieves; Merizo, Guam)

Struggle for Human Rights Day -- Slovakia

The Tichborne Dole - in Alresford, Hampshire, UK; since 1150, a gallon of flour is given to every resident by the Tichborne family head on this day, to avoid a curse

Tolkien Reading Day -- sponsored by The Tolkien Society on the anniversary of the fall of Sauron

Birthdays Today:

Danica Patrick, 1982

Lee Pace, 1979

Sheryl Swoopes, 1971

Sarah Jessica Parker, 1965

Marcia Cross, 1962

John Stockwell, 1961

Mary Gross, 1953

Paul Miles, 1952

Bonnie Bedelia, 1948

Elton John, 1947

Bonnie Bedelia, 1946

Paul Michael Glaser, 1943

Aretha Franklin, 1942

Anita Bryant, 1940

Gloria Steinem, 1934

James Lovell, 1928

Eileen Ford, 1922

Simone Signoret, 1921

Howard Cosell, 1920

Norman Borlaug, 1940

David Lean, 1908

Bela Bartok, 1881

Arturo Toscanini, 1867

Gutzon Borglum, 1867

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Barrymore"(Play), 1997

"Cagney & Lacey"(TV), 1982

Today in History:

The first Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus, 31

According to legend, Venice, Italy is born today at noon, 421

Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France, leading to his death on April 6, 1199

Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland, 1306

Sir Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America, 1584

Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Co., 1609

Lord Baltimore founds Catholic colony of Maryland, 1634

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens, 1655

Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000, 1669

The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire, 1807

The Swansea and Mumbles Railway in England, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world, 1807

Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism, 1811

Greeks revolt against the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence, 1821

In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers, leading to factory reform laws, 1911

The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811, 1917

The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 1948

The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), 1957

Canada's Avro Arrow makes its first flight, 1958

Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, 1965

The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch, 1979

The world's first wiki, a part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham, 1995

The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease, 1996

Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police, 2006

In southwest China, environmental and health concerns among residents are raised when 1,000 dead ducks pulled from the Sichuan River, 2013

The world's largest banana split ever, at 8,040 metres long, is made in Innisfail, Australia, 2017

Doctors perform the first ever organ transplant from a live HIV+ patient to an HIV+ recipient, a kidney transplant in Boston, MA, US, 2019

NASA has to cancel a planned all female spacewalk because it doesn't have enough space suits in the right size, 2019

The Renaissance masterpiece The Ghent Altarpiece (1432) by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck goes on display, after a seven-year restoration, in St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, 2021

A rare, long-track tornado travels 170 miles from Rolling Fork to Armory, Mississippi leaving a trail of devastation, 2023