Keeping Up With the News is Very Important (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Tractors

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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!

It's important to stay well informed, especially with the "intellectual section," as Brother-in-Law calls the funnies.  Annie and Sid the Capybara took a few moments to get where they could both be comfy.  

Then she decided she really needed more room.

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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 Tractors.

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the tractor started

a new life in drug sales he

was a farm-assist

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She was leaving her husband, a farmer

for a man she thought was better,

she did it the old-fashioned way

by sending a John Deere letter!

(For any who don't know, a "Dear John/Dear Jane" letter means a note to tell the person, "I am breaking up with or divorcing you," and John Deere is a prominent brand of tractors and farm equipment.)

*******

The warranty on his tractor expired,

the tractor he most admired,

and though people did scoff

when the wheel fell off

he simply had it re-tired.

*******

Future themes are:

Aug 3 Tractors (Today!)

Aug 10 Bluebells

Aug 17 Sunny Days

Aug 24 Photography

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

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Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Equatorial Guinea

August Bank Holiday -- ACT, NSW, Australia; Ireland; UK

August Monday/Culturama -- Saint Kitts and Nevis 

Carnival Monday -- Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba 

Carnival Monday -- Anguilla (August Monday); Antigua and Barbuda (J'ouvert); British Virgin Islands (Festival/Emancipation Monday)

Civic Holiday -- Canada

     British Columbia Day --BC, Canada

     Heritage Day -- AB, Canada

     Provincial Day -- NB, Canada

Dia de la Bandera -- Venezuela (Flag Day)

Emancipation Day -- Bahamas; Dominica; Granada; Montserrat; Turks and Caicos Islands (Obs.)

Farmer's Day -- Zambia

Feast of Caligo, the mother of Chaos -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate, and this is as good a day to celebrate chaos as any other)

Fete National de l'Arbre -- Niger (Independence Day, 1960)

Fiesta de San Salvador -- San Salvador, El Salvador

Frídagur verslunarmanna -- Iceland (Commerce Day)

Golpe de la Libertad -- Equatorial Guinea (Freedom Day)

Grab Some Nuts Day -- almonds and walnuts are especially good for you

International Friendship Day (original date proposed by Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, back in 1935 because it is the center of the largest lull between major holidays; the UN celebrates it on July 30 and many countries celebrate on the first or second Sunday in August)

Kadooment Day -- Barbados (huge carnival celebration of the end of the Crop Over festival, celebrating the end of the sugar cane harvest)

Kanto Matsuri -- Akita, Japan (a four-day festival, praying for good harvest, purification ceremonies, and feats of skill)

National Children's Day -- Tuvalu

National Watermelon Day

National Youth and Children's Day -- Kiribati

Picnic Day -- NT, Australia

Pidjiguiti Day -- Guinea-Bissau (Colonization Martyr's Day; Anniversary of the Killing of Pidjiguiti)

St. Lydia Purpuraria's Day (Lydia the "seller of purple" who was Paul's first convert in Philippi; Patron of dyers)

St. Nicodemus' Day (member of the Sanhedrin and secret disciple who helped bury Jesus)

Birthdays Today:

Evangeline Lilly, 1979

Blaine Wilson, 1974

Isaiah Washington, 1963

John McGinley, 1959

Jay North, 1951

John Landis, 1950

Martha Stewart, 1941

Martin Sheen, 1940

Steve Berkoff, 1937

Tony Bennett, 1926

Leon Uris, 1924

P.D. James, 1920

Margaret "Maggie" Kuhn, 1905

John T. Scopes, 1900

Ernest Taylor "Ernie" Pyle, 1900

Elisha Graves Otis, 1811

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Primetime Live"(TV), 1989

"Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)"(Single release), 1963

"Chu Chin Chow"(Musical), 1916

"William Tell"(Opera), 1829

Today in History:

Tiberius, Roman Empire general, defeats the Dalmatians at the river Bathinus, 8

Columbus sets Sail for the "Indes", departing from Palos, Spain, 1492

John Rut, at St. John's, Newfoundland, sends the first known letter from North America, 1527

Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes, 1678

First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps, 1811

Harvard defeats Yale in the first intercollegiate rowing race, 1852*

Second Māori War begins in New Zealand, 1860

The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company is founded, 1900

The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus travels beneath the Arctic ice cap, 1958

President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia, 2005

After last months extensive flooding, North Korea finally asks the United Nations for food aid, 2012

The International Olympic Committee approves baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding to be included in the 2020 Games, bringing the total number of sports to 33, 2016

Singer Tony Bennet celebrates his 95th birthday with the first of two performances at Radio City Music Hall, NYC, 2021

The Ascent skyscraper in Milwaukee is certified as the world's tallest timber building at 25 stories, 2022

Researchers at Yale University bring the brains and hearts of dead pigs back to life, with tremendous implications for organ transplants and stroke sufferers, as well as bringing up ethical questions about the definition of death, 2022

American swimmer Katie Ledecky ties Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most decorated female Olympian of all time, winning her 9th individual gold medal, 2024

Krasheninnikov Volcano in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula erupts for the first time in 600 years, possibly triggered by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia a few days earlier, 2025

*In fact, it was the first American intercollegiate athletic event ever.