But I'm Hungrier Than You! (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week and Poetry Monday, Quince

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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!

Orson and Wells were so hungry...

How hungry were they?

Every time Orson stuck his head in the bowl, Wells took his paw, put it in Orson's face and pulled him back, and Orson returned the favor every time Wells tried to eat.

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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 Quince.                       

Quincidentally

the pear-fectly delightful

quince is my fav'rite

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Tart

and tangy

makes great jam

and even better pies,

Quince!

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A quince looks like a pear

but if you eat, beware!

It's rather sour and tart,

you may like it best as part

of your jam or jelly or pie

but go on, give it a try.

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Future themes are:

July 21 Quince (Today!)

July 28 Building

August  4 Lonely

August 11 Biscuits

August 18 Don't Be Afraid

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Today is No Pet Store Puppies Day!  You can Take The Pledge to not shop at any pet store that sells puppies, because they are almost certainly from puppy mills. 

Thanks to Barb Kowalik and The Cat Blogosphere for the event badge.       

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Today is:

Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera / Muñoz-Rivera Day -- Puerto Rico (obs.)

Coldest Day Ever -- the lowest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89.2 *C (-128.6 *F; 184.0 *K) at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica on this day in 1983

Feast of Damo -- Ancient Greek Calendar (keeper of secrets of philosophy; daughter of Greek sages, Pythagoras and Theano, date approximate)

Global Hug Your Kids Day -- the person who started this no longer has a website or Facebook page, but the date is still noted on many holiday listing websites

Hemingway Birthday Celebration -- Hemingway Museum, Oak Park, IL, US

Independence Day / National Day -- Belgium(1830)

Kazanskaya -- Russia (Feast of Our Lady of Kazan)

La Guelaguetza a/k/a Los Lunes del Cerro -- Oaxaca, Mexico (folk dance, music and costumes, an extension of the celebrations of the Lady of Carmel, which used to be the feast of Xilonen, goddess of tender corn; now celebrated on two consecutive Mondays)

Lakota Sun Dance -- Lakota Native Americans (festival of the sun god Wi, with offerings to Maka (mother earth) and Haokah (father sky), both aspects of Creator Tukaskanskan; dating approximate, as outsiders are usually no longer allowed at these multi-day ceremonies)

Liberation Day -- Guam (1944; from Japan)

Lucaria -- Ancient Roman Calendar ("Feast of Clearings", with prayers said as land was cleared for planting)

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day -- the day to work out any troubles with people you care about, so that you "get out of the doghouse"

National Junk Food Day

President's Day -- Botswana

Racial Harmony Day -- Singapore

Sapporo Summer Festival -- Odori Park, Sapporo, Japan (through Aug. 20, the park becomes a beer garden)

Schoelcher Day -- French West Indies; Martinique (Schoelcher worked for abolition)

St. Lawrence of Brindisi's Day (Patron of Brindisi, Italy)

St. Praxedes' Day (Patron of single laywomen)

Tug-Of-War Tournament Day -- if you have a problem with someone today, solve it with an old fashioned tug-of-war!

Umi No Hi -- Japan (Ocean Day / Marine Day)

Birthdays Today

Hatty Jones, 1988

Josh Hartnett, 1978

Justin Bartha, 1978

Lance Guest, 1960

Matt Mulhern, 1960

Jon Lovitz, 1957

Michael Connelly, 1956

Robin Williams, 1951

Garry Trudeau, 1949

Cat Stevens, 1948

Kenneth Starr, 1946

Tony Scott, 1944

Edward Herrmann, 1943

Janet Reno, 1938

Norman Jewison, 1926

Don Knotts, 1924

Kay Starr, 1922

Isaac Stern, 1920

Marshall McLuhan, 1911

Ernest Hemingway, 1899

John Joseph "Johnny" Evers, 1881

Today in History

Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, BCE 356

A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt, 365

The first landing of French troops on the coast during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight, 1545

Twenty-four-year-old Scottish physician and explorer Mungo Park became the first European to see the Niger River, the third longest river in Africa, 1796

In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown, 1865

At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West, 1873

Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land, driving a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium, 1904

In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100, 1925

Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission, 1969

After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed, 1970

The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at -82.9*C (-129*F), 1983

The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years, 1997

NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135, 2011

India scraps a proposed tax on feminine sanitary products after a campaign by activists, 2018

Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed announces the completion of Stage 1 of the controversial filling of the Blue Nile River dam, 2020

In the largest decline since WWII, life expectancy in the US falls by 1.5 years overall (3 years for Hispanic Americans. 2.9 for Black Americans), 2021

A 2,000-year-old stone used for grinding spices and still smelling of nutmeg is unearthed in Óc Eo, south Vietnam, the earliest evidence of the use of curry in Mainland Southeast Asia, 2023