I’m Working! (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Clam

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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! 

Our little Annie likes to sit with an old adding machine or keyboard and tell me, "I'm workin'!"  If i ask what kind of work, she says, "Codin'!" (Coding, she hears her mom talk about it when she's working.)

She loves to wear an old pair of cheap reading glasses.

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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 has left it to us

and we're not going to make a fuss,

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 Clam.

This poem is a repeat, because i like it and it fits the theme.

(With apologies in advance, i couldn't help myself, nor did i want to.)

Sam the Clam and Tom Turtle were

the very best of friends,

though they were very different

and they came to different ends.

They spent much time together,

Tom was slow and Sam was quick,

that really didn't matter to these

friends through thin and thick.

One day, well it happened

before anything he could do,

Sam was run over by a dune buggy,

poor Tom left alone and blue.

A turtle's life is long, you know

but even their life goes by,

and one day old Tom woke up

with the Pearly Gates right nigh.

He got up to the portal just

as quickly as he could go,

and yelled to St. Pete, "Where's 

my friend Sam!" with nary a hello.

St. Peter looked at Tom and

with sadness in his eyes,

said, "Tom, I hate to tell you this,

though it should be no surprise.

"Your best friend Sam was a fast one

in all ways, both good and bad,

he didn't make it up here,

it makes all of us sad."

Tom stood there quietly as

he got halo, harp and wings,

then St. Peter told him news

to make his heart just sing.

"Tom there's an elevator

that goes from here down there,

you can go and visit, but

 you really must beware.

"The last elevator back here

starts up exactly at five,

don't get caught down there at night,

to be prompt you must strive!"

Tom turned to the elevator and

without any hesitation

tried his wings and bumped around

getting used to the gyrations.

He practiced a bit of flying while

in the elevator going down,

he didn't become an expert but he

didn't feel like such a clown.

Once he got to the nether world,

he garnered plenty of looks,

but he was determined to find

his friend no matter what it took.

He asked a group there standing,

"Is my friend Sam the Clam around here?"

They began to snicker and then to laugh,

they guffawed and started to cheer.

"Just fly down that road there,"

one said when he was able,

Tom simply flew they way they said,

their other words uninterpretable.

As he went he asked others,

"Do you know where Sam I can find?"

They all just laughed, pointing down the road,

Tom so intent, their laughs he didn't mind.

Then suddenly around a curve he came,

he couldn't believe what he saw,

a huge sign on big building,

"Sam Clam's Disco!" the place's biggest draw!

Tom flew right in as fast as

those wings could him now carry,

he called, "Is my friend Sam in here?"

despite the doorkeepers scary.

An office door burst open,

Sam came out in a stew,

"Who's making all that racket?"

Then, "Tom! Is it really you?"

The friends they hugged a good while,

then sat down to a meal and a chat,

Tom told what happened since 

Sam had gone, tales of this and that.

They'd been having such a good time

reminiscing, catching up, it was great

then Sam suddenly looked at the clock

and said, "Tom, you're gonna be late!"

Tom jumped up from the table,

Sam said, "Come visit tomorrow,

but don't you get caught here at night,

or it will be to your sorrow!"

Tom went flying back down

the road as quick as he could,

got through the door right before it closed,

just like they said he should.

When he got back up, the doors opened

and he saw St. Peter waiting there,

The saint breathed a huge sigh,

"Tom, you gave me quite a scare!

"I thought you'd lost track of time

and wouldn't be there for five sharp.

It's great to see you made it, but

Tom, where is your harp?"

Tom looked dazed for a moment,

then he burst into song,

and if you know the tune then

you all can sing along:

I Left My Harp In Sam Clam's Disco!

Future themes are:

Oct 26 Clam (Today!)

Nov 2 Big bird

Nov 9 Planes

Nov 16 Fairy tales

Nov 23 Earthquake

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

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Today is:

Angam Day -- Nauru ("Day of Fulfillment"; a celebration of overcoming hardships)

Armed Forces Day -- Benin

Day of the Ancients -- Asatru/Pagan Slavic Calendar

Day of Mourning -- Libya

Exaltation of the Shellfish -- Pontevedra, Spain (can confirm they celebrate this each year, cannot find confirmation on this specific date)

Full Hunter's Moon/Full Blood Moon/Full Sanguine Moon (some also consider this the true Harvest Moon, if last month's came too early)

     Boun Ok Phansa and Ventiane -- Laos (end of "Buddhist Lent" and a traditional boat race festival starting tomorrow with hundreds of decorated candle-lit floats made of paper set adrift in the rivers)

     Kojagrat Purnima -- Nepal (end of Dashain)

     Thadingyut Full Moon/"Buddhist Lent" ends -- Myanmar (begins at sunset, through tomorrow)

     Vap Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

International School Library Day   

Labour Day -- New Zealand

Ludi Victoriae Sullanae -- Roman Empire (celebration of the victories of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, through Nov. 1)

Mule Day -- anniversary of the first importation of donkeys to the US, which George Washington used to breed the first mules in the Americas

National Chicken Fried Steak Day

National Day -- Austria

National Gospel Day -- Cook Islands

National Mincemeat Pie Day

October Bank Holiday -- Ireland

Peniamina Gospel Day -- Niue (celebration of the conversion of the islanders to Christianity)

Pretzel Day

Pumpkin Day -- time to get one for the 31st, if you haven't already

St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki's Day (Patron of soldiers; Thessaloniki, Greece)

     Greek day to broach the wine barrels and taste the new season's wine in honor of this saint

Sts. Lucian and Marcian's Day (Patrons of converts, possessed people)

Workaholic Stop and Smell Something Day -- internet generated day to encourage workaholics to stop and consider what they might be missing

Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night -- some organizers even have howling parties

Anniversary Today:

Grand opening of the Erie Canal, 1825

Birthdays Today:

Sasha Cohen, 1984

Keith Urban, 1969

Tom Cavanagh, 1968

Natalie Merchant, 1963

Cary Elwes, 1962

Dylon McDermott, 1962

Jeff Probst, 1962

James Pickens, Jr., 1954

Lauren Tewes, 1954

Hillary Rodham Clinton, 1947

Pat Sajak, 1947

Jaclyn Smith, 1947

Ivan Reitman, 1946

Pat Conroy, 1945

Bob Hoskins, 1942

Jackie Coogan, 1914

Mahalia Jackson, 1911

Abby Greene Aldrich Rockefeller, 1874

Joseph Hansom, 1803

Georges Danton, 1759

Domenico Scarlatti, 1685

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"St. Elsewhere"(TV), 1982

Doonesbury(Comic strip), 1970

The Village Voice(newspaper, first issue), 1955

"Mourning Becomes Electra"(Play), 1931

Today in History:

Comet 55P/1366 U1 (Tempel-Tuttle) approaches 0.0229 AUs of Earth (2.1 million miles and 3.4 million kilometers)--marking the third closest approach of any comet to our planet in recorded history, 1366

First use of lead pencils, 1492

William Penn accepts the area around the the Delaware River from the Duke of York, 1682

The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, and the Minute Men begin to organize in the colonies, 1774

King George III goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution, 1775

Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution, 1776

The first of the "Federalist Papers" are published, calling for ratification of the US Constitution, 1787

The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created, 1795

Hamilton Smith patents a rotary washing machine, 1858

Soccer football rules are standardized and rugby starts as a separate game, 1863

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona, 1881

First use of a "getaway car" after a robbery in Paris, 1901

The first Soviet (worker's council) formed, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1905

Margaret Sanger arrested for the obscenity of advocating birth control, 1916

The Maharaja of Kashmir agrees to allow his kingdom to join India, 1947

Mother Teresa founds her Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, 1950

Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France, 1958

The world sees the far side of the Moon for the first time, in pictures taken earlier in the month by the Soviet Luna 3, 1959

The last natural case of smallpox is discovered in Merca district, Somalia, 1977

"Baby Fae," born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, receives a controversial heart transplant from a baboon, dies of kidney infection 21 days later, 1984

The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum, 1992

Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty, 1994

Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament, 1999

The water level at Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest water control and utilization project, reaches full capacity, 2010

China blocks the New York Times from searches and social media in response to an investigation into Premier Wen Jiabao, 2012

The World Health Organization classifies processed meat as carcinogenic, 2015

Jacinda Adern is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand, becoming the world’s youngest female head of government, 2017

NASA announces tests show there is more water on the Moon than was previously thought, in both sunlit and shadowed regions, 2020

The Varso Tower, a supertall skyscraper in Warsaw, Poland, is completed and becomes the tallest building in the European Union, at 310 meters, 2022

Buddhist monks from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and their dog, Aloka, begin a planned 2,300 mile peace walk to Washington, D.C, 2025