Sometimes She Rides, Sometimes She Pushes (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Futuristic Landscape

***********************************

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!

Sometimes she rides, sometimes she pushes, and sometimes she pulls.

***********************************

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.     

***********************************

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 Futuristic Landscape.   I wrote a free verse poem, matching stanzas by the number of words in each line, 5, 3, 1, 1, 5, 1.               

What the landscape will be

in the future

depends

solely

on how we treat it

today.

If we treat it with

the respect it

truly

deserves

we can expect a good

outcome.

If we run headlong with

no concern for

the

outcome

we all can only blame

ourselves.

Future themes are:

May 11 Futuristic Landscape (Today!)

May 18 Balcony

May 25 Scooter

June 1 Blue

(All themes are from the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and Other Arts Facebook group.)

***********************************

Today is:

Blow Bubbles for Your Cat Day -- internet generated entertainment urged for human and feline like

Cormorant Fishing Festival -- Nagara River, Gifu, Japan (traditional fishing with trained cormorants is celebrated nightly under the light of blazing torches through mid-October)

Eat What You Want Day -- since none of the "experts" can totally agree on what's good and what isn't, today, ignore them all! sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Holiday of the City of Miskolc -- Miskolc, Hungary

Hostess Cupcake Day -- the Hostess Cupcake, the first commercially produced cupcake, went on sale on this day in 1919

Lemuralia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (second day)

Lokadagur -- Iceland (Final Day, festival to mark the end of the fishing season in the south-west of the country)

National Mocha Torte Day

National Technology Day -- India

National Train Day -- US (celebrated on the anniversary of the 1869 completion of the first transcontinental railroad)

Nisga'a Day -- Nisga'a (one of the First Nations of Canada [ effective date of treaty])

One Day Without Shoes -- originally sponsored by Toms Shoes, to raise global awareness for children's health and education, which can be compromised when they do not have shoes  

Root Canal Appreciation Day -- Dr. Chris Kammer, the 'rock and roll dentist', declared this day back in 2005 because he said the much maligned procedure saves millions of teeth a year and needs an image makeover     

St. Gengulf's Day (Patron of knights, separated spouses, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness; against unhappy marriages)

St. Mamertus' Day (first of the Ice Saints, whose days are supposed to herald the last frost)

Te Aso o te Tala Lei -- Tuvalu (Gospel Day)

Tubeless Tire Day -- B. F. Goodrich Company announced the development of a tubeless tire on this day in 1947

Twilight Zone Day -- no, it didn't premier on this day, nor was Rod Serling born or died on this day; it's today on the internet for no particular reason except that someone decided to celebrate it today

Witching Day -- Isle of Man (Mayday Eve based on the OS calendar, be careful of the spirits today)

Women's Check-up Day 2026 -- US (always the Monday after Mother's Day, encouraging women to be proactive about their health   

Anniversaries Today:

Sammy Davis, Jr., marries Altovise Gore, 1970

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded, 1927

Glacier National Park established, MT, US, 1910

Minnesota becomes the 32nd US state, 1858

Birthdays Today:

Corey Monteith, 1982

Jonathan Jackson, 1982

Natasha Richardson, 1963

Boyd Gaines, 1953

Robert Jarvik, 1946

Mort Sahl, 1927

Bernard Fox, 1927

Foster Brooks, 1912

Phil Silvers, 1911

Salvador Dali, 1904

Martha Graham, 1894

Irving Berlin, 1888

Charles Warren Fairbanks, 1852

Chang and Eng Bunker, 1811

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Once Upon a Mattress"(Musical), 1959

Today in History:

Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman Empire and is also called Nova Roma and Byzantium, 330

Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam, 1647

Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented European to sail into the Columbia River, 1792

The waltz is introduced into English ballrooms, and becomes popular in spite of being called "riotous and indecent," 1812

William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westward from Sydney, opening the interior of Australia for settlement, 1813

Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British, 1857

Luxembourg gains its independence, 1867

U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana, 1910

Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies, 1924

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded, 1927

Siam officially changes its name to Thailand for the second time, 1949

Israel joins the United Nations, 1949

In Baltimore, Maryland, the first heart-lung transplant takes place, 1987

In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions, 1995

IBM Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format, 1997

In Nepal, Sherpa Apa Sherpa achieves a new record by climbing Mount Everest for the 21st time, 2011

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, reveals the latest Dragon space capsule; the craft is reusable and will allow astronauts to control re-entry and landing; the development suggests that full commercialization of the space industry will soon be a reality, 2014

The British Medical Journal publishes two new studies which show eating processed foods leads to an early death and ill health, 2019

The Falcon 9 rocket launches carrying the Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station, making SpaceX the first private company to launch astronauts into space, 2020

The US government approves the building of the first offshore wind farm in the country, 2021

A rare very strong solar storm reaches Earth prompting the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a geomagnetic storm warning, 2024