Morgan (Feline Friday), Friendly Fill-Ins, Nature Friday, and Flashback Friday

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Feline Friday was originally started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude (may he rest in peace), and i'm going to believe it's because he liked cats.

He handed hosting duties off to Sandee at Comedy Plus, and now she has entrusted it to me.

Feline Friday is simple to join.  All you have to do is: Post a picture, drawing, cartoon or video of a cat (they may be silly or cute).  Then add your link!

One thing for sure is this is a fun and easy meme to do.  So come and join us in Feline Friday.

What better way to start the weekend than with a feline!

Morgan volunteered to pose for photos and did his best.  Not bad for a first time, although he moved enough it was hard to keep him centered.

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Friendly Fill-Ins are easy to do. There are four statements: the first two statements are provided by Ellen of 15AndMeowing, and the final two are offered by Lorianne The Menagerie Mom of Four-Legged Furballs. They try to make sure the statements will be fun to both answer and share. The linky will be posted at or about 12:00 AM on Friday. Please head over to one of their sites, link up, and share your thoughts!      

Here are this week's statements with my responses underlined:

1. I think the word or phrase ____________________ is overused.

2. I am embarrassed to admit that I _______________________.

3. I wish I could convince _________ to _________.

4. I could _________ even if I were blindfolded.

1. I think the word or phrase   "at the end of the day"   is overused.

2. I am embarrassed to admit that I   have been studying Spanish for a couple of years now and can still only speak a little, and not conversationally.  I seem to have a mental block.

3. I wish I could convince   Grandma   to   quit getting out of bed by herself, she keeps falling.

4. I could   clean a toilet   even if I were blindfolded.

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Nature Friday is hosted by LLB in Our Backyard.  Simply post a picture of the natural world, and link up!   

A lovely spring morning, we were taking a walk.

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Flashback Friday is hosted by FiveSibes.  Come hop along memory lane with us!  

Kida was helping a foster kitten by doing quality control on the kitten food, sampling to make sure it was good.

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Today is Endangered Species Day!  

A day to foster awareness of the growing threats faced by endangered species and spotlight conservation efforts, as well as promote actions to help save species from extinction.     

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

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Today is:

Aoi Matsuri -- Kyoto, Japan (Hollyhock Festival, a pageant reproducing ancient imperial processions)

Bike to Work Day 2026 -- the League of American Bicyclists have urged you to celebrate this day the third Friday of May ever since 1956   

Cold Sophie's Day (5th Ice Saint; according to Nordic legend, this day may be very cold, but there will be no more frosts after this)

Flip Your Mattress Day -- because it's a good thing to do

Hyperemisis Gravidarum Awareness Day -- bringing attention to morning sickness that becomes life-threatening    

Ides of May -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances

     Feast of Maia and Vesta

     Mercuralia -- festival for Mercury

     Sacrifice day to the Tiber River

Independence Day -- Paraguay(1811)

International Conscientious Objectors' Day

International Day of Families -- UN

International MPS Awareness Day 

International Virtual Assistants' Day -- acknowledging the dedication, experience, expertise, and determination of virtual professionals    

Kan Phuetchamongkhon -- Thailand (Royal Plowing and Farmers Day) 6th day 4th lunar month

La Corsa del Ceri -- Gubbio, Italy (festival on the eve of the saint day of the city's patron, St. Ubaldo)

Mother's Day -- Paraguay

National Chocolate Chip Day

National Defense Transportation Day -- US (remembering the contributions of people working in the transportation industries)

National Pizza Party Day -- as declared by Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza, on the 3rd Friday of May; Garlic Jim's holds a contest for school students to nominate their favorite teacher, and the winning teacher gets a free pizza party for the class on this day

National Safety Dose Day -- cannot confirm they sponsor a day any more, but the Safety Dose people still want us to remember that more is not necessarily better when it comes to taking medicines, and to dose them correctly for children

Nylon Stockings Day -- they went on sale at stores around the US this date in 1940

Over the Rainbow Day -- birth anniversary of Lyman Frank Baum

Police Officer/Peace Officer Memorial Day -- US (National Association of Chiefs of Police sponsor the main memorial event at the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum in Titusville, FL, but there may be services where you are also)

St. Dymphna's Day (Patron of epileptics, family happiness, incest victims, martyrs, mental asylums/hospitals, mental health caregivers and professionals/psychiatrists/therapists, mentally ill people, nervous disorders, neurological disorders, possessed people, princesses, rape victims, runaways, sleepwalkers, those who have lost parents; against sleepwalking, epilepsy, insanity, mental disorders, mental illness)

St. Hallvard's Day (Patron of Oslo; protector of innocence and virtue)

St. Isidore of Madrid's Day (a/k/a Isidore the Farmer; Patron of agricultural workers/farm workers/farmers/field hands/husbandmen/ranchers, day laborers, livestock, rural communities; Angono, Philippines; Asturias, Cebu, Philippines; Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines; Carampa, Peru; Castalla, Spain; Cuz Cuz, Chile; Digos, Philippines; Estepona, Spain; La Celba, Honduras; Leon, Spain; Lima, Peru; Lucban, Philippines; Madrid, Spain; Malaybalay, Philippines, diocese of; Morong, Philippines; Nabas, Philippines; Orotava, Spain; Pulilan, Philippines; Pulupandan, Philippines; Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico; San Isidro, Argentina; Saragossa, Spain; Sariaya, Philippines; Seville, Spain; Tavalera, Philippines; Tayabas, Philippines; United States National Rural Life Conference; against the death of children)

     Carabao Festival -- San Isidro, Pulilan, and Angono, Philippines (second day and main festival; on St. Isidore of Madrid's Day; the farming communities celebrate their beasts of burden and have them blessed)

     Municipal Holiday -- Madrid

     San Isidro Day -- Mexico

St. Sophia of Rome's Day (considered by some to be among the Ice Saints, and invoked for protection against frost)

Straw Hat Day -- just as you don't wear white after Labor Day, you don't wear straw hats before today, the unofficial start of summer and the official start of straw hat season    

Teacher's Day -- Mexico; South Korea

Tuberous Sclerosis Global Awareness Day  

Yom Yerushalayim -- Israel (Jerusalem Day; began sunset yesterday, ends at nightfall)

Anniversaries Today:

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, 1567

Airmail service begins between NYC, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, 1918

Birthdays Today:

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 1981

David Krumholtz, 1978

David Charvet, 1972

Sam Trammell, 1971

Emmit Smith, 1969

Giselle Fernandez, 1961

Dan Patrick, 1956

Lee Horsley, 1955

George Brett, 1953

Chazz Palminteri, 1951

Brian Eno, 1948

David Cronenberg, 1943

Lainie Kazan, 1942

Madeleine Albright, 1937

Trini Lopez, 1937

Anna Maria Alberghetti, 1936

Jasper Johns, 1930

Richard Avedon, 1923

Eddy Arnold, 1918

Max Frisch, 1911

James Mason, 1909

Joseph Cotten, 1905

Abraham Zapruder, 1905

Katherine Anne Porter, 1890

Arthur Schnitzler, 1862

Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, 1860

Pierre Curie, 1859

L. Frank Baum, 1856

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Esclarmonde"(Opera), 1889

Today in History:

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is sentenced to death, 1536

Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod, 1602

Johannes Kepler confirms his discovery of the third law of planetary motion, 1618

James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun, 1718

The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France, 1756

Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5-6 meters, during one of the first attempted flights, 1793

George III survives two assassination attempts in one day, 1800

Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1817

Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse, 1836

Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand (The King and I), 1851

Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, 1858

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman's Suffrage Association, 1869

Las Vegas, Nevada, is founded, 1905

The United States Supreme Court  declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up, 1911

The Winnipeg General Strike begins; by 11:00 a.m., almost the whole working population of Winnipeg, Manitoba had walked off the job, 1919

In an attempted Coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed, 1932

The Moscow Metro is opened to public, 1935

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3, 1958

Mercury-Atlas 9 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, 1963

President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army Generals, 1970

Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time, 1990

Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister, 1991

California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage, 2008

Jessica Watson, age 17, becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo, 2010

U.S. scientists develop a device that can generate electricity from genetically-engineered viruses; these piezoelectric materials are a step toward the development of personal power generators, 2012

The UN Security Council condemns North Korea's missile tests, 2017

The US birth rate hits a 32 year low, including a record low level of teens giving birth, 2019

The journal Nature publishes the results of a study from China’s Chang’e-4 Moon rover that suggests the asteroid impact that created the giant crater on the Moon’s far side was so great as to crack the crust and reach the mantle below, 2019

China lands its Zhurong rover on Utopia Planitia, Mars, as part of the Tianwen-1 mission, 2021

Finland's government says it intends to apply to join NATO, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ending decades of neutrality, 2022

Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington becomes the most valuable British-born  female artist at auction when her painting "Les Distractions de Dagobert" sells for $28.5million in New York, 2024

Blast from the Past (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week (Sparks), 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!

Today, i went back to the archives.

Back when we were bottle raising orphaned kittens, keeping the adult cats from helping themselves to kitten food, which only made them fat, was always an issue.  Until a cat would get old and near its last days.  Then it wouldn't matter so much, an elderly cat with almost no appetite gets whatever s/he will actually eat.

When Kida the Mosquito, who was always buzzing around, got toward the end of her days, we'd let the bottle babies eat and then allow her to clean up the leftovers.

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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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Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border.  Charlotte/Mother Owl participates, and now Karen at Baking in a Tornado is jumping in at least once a month, too.  Anyone else is welcome to join in the fun, just let Diane know!

This week the theme is Grandma's Kitchen.          

              

Waking up in Nana's house,

tiptoe, quiet as a mouse.

Sneak into the kitchen bright,

the smell alone brought delight.

Nana sips coffee quietly,

waiting with a smile for me.

Everyone else is asleep still,

having her alone, what a thrill!

Up and dressed, time to cook,

she adds aprons, complete the look.

Her oven alone had the feature,

made me quite a happy creature.

Pull the bottom oven drawer out,

a separate broiler, a joy without doubt.

Help get ready, separate each slice,

bacon on the broiling tray needs no spice.

Use the pad, the broiler drawer gets hot,

set the tray in just the right spot.

Close the drawer all by myself,

get the tongs down from their shelf.

When it's time, open it slow,

flip each slice, a little longer to go.

As each crisps, set it on the plate,

gently add more, breakfast can't be late.

Once it's all cooked, serve the crew,

amazing what a Nana and child can do!

(My favorite part of Nana's house was the kitchen, where she had an oven with a feature i'd never seen before or since, a bottom drawer which was a broiler.  She taught me to cook the bacon "under her feet," and how i did love being able to "help make breakfast for everyone!")

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Today is:

Cartagena Independence Day -- Cartagena, Columbia

Deepavali/Diwali(Festival of Lights) -- Hindu; Jain; Sikh (fourth day of the festival)

     Goru Tihar/Goru Puja -- Day of Oxen (among most people)

     Gobardhan Puja -- Day of Cowdung (among followers of Krishna)

     Mha Puja -- Day of Self (among the Newar community)

Global Entrepreneurship Week begins  

Heir to the Throne Day -- Tuvalu (Prince of Wales birth anniversary celebration)

Ides of November -- Ancient Roman Calendar; also

     Epulum Iovis -- Festival of Feronia, Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter

     Fortuna Primigenia -- Fortune of the Firstborn

National Indian Pudding Day

National Reread Old Letters and Magazines Day -- internet generated sentimentality

Remembrance Day -- Cayman Islands

Runic Half Month Nyd begins (necessity)

St. Brice of Tours' Day (Patron against stomach diseases)

St. Homobonus' Day (Patron of business people, cloth workers/garment workers/tailors, cobblers/shoemakers, merchants)

St. Stanislaus Kostka's Day (Patron of aspirants to the Oblates of Saint Joseph, last sacraments; against broken bones)

World Kindness Day -- promoting a more compassionate world, on the anniversary of the first World Kindness Movement® conference  

     Kindness Day UK 

Anniversaries Today:

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated, 1982

The Holland Tunnel opens, 1927

Birthdays Today:

Monique Coleman, 1980

Gerard Butler, 1969

Steve Zahn, 1968

Tracy Scoggins, 1959

Jimmy Kimmel, 1967

Vinny Testaverde, 1963

Chris Nth, 1957

Whoopi Goldberg, 1955

Chris Noth, 1954

Shella E. Frazier, 1948

Joe Mantegna, 1947

Jean Seberg, 1938

Gary Marshall, 1934

Madeleine Sherwood, 1922

Oskar Werner, 1922

Nathaniel Benchley, 1915

Louis Brandeis, 1856

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850

Edwin Thomas Booth, 1833

James Clerk Maxwell, 1831

Edward John Trelawney, 1792

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Lion King"(Play), 1997

"As the Girls Go"(Musical), 1948

Fantasia(Disney animated film), 1940

"Grand Hotel"(Drake play), 1930

Today in History:

English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre, 1002

Lady Jane Grey and Bishop Cranmer are accused of high treason, 1553

Patriot revolutionary forces under Col. Ethan Allen attack Montreal, Quebec, defended by British General Guy Carleton, 1775

Benjamin Franklin says, “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” 1789

The first US anti-slavery party, the Liberty Party, convenes in New York, 1839

James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads him to study the subject and come up with what he later calls hypnosis, 1841

The Denny Party arrives at Alki Point, becoming the first settlers of what would become Seattle, Washington, 1851

The first shipment of canned pineapple leaves Hawai'i, 1895

French cyclist Paul Cornu flies the first helicopter, 1907

Russia completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles, 1947

A 150-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century's worst natural disaster, 1970

The Double Eagle V becomes the first hot air balloon to make it across the Pacific Ocean, 1981

Xavier Suarez is sworn in as Miami, Florida's first Cuban-born mayor, 1985

The High Court of Australia rules in Dietrich v The Queen that although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay when an accused is unrepresented, 1992

In a referendum, voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union, 1994

NASA announces that water has been discovered on the moon, 2009

Medical textbooks require rewriting after 39-year-old Canadian Scott Routley becomes the first person believed to be in a vegetative state to tell scientists he isn't in any pain, 2012

A total solar eclipse occurs over parts of Australia and the South Pacific, 2012

The Vatican announces that restrooms being remodeled in St. Peter's Square will include showers for the homeless, and encourages other churches to do the same, 2014

Evidence of the world's earliest winemaking is uncovered from Khramis Didi Gora, Georgia, in clay pots from 6,000BC, 2017

Venice, Italy is hit by its worst flooding in 50 years, 2019

The rediscovered painting "Lucretia" by female baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi sells for $4.1 million at auction in Paris, 2019

The Glasgow Climate Pact agreement at COP26 commits countries to a "phasedown" of "unabated" coal, and end deforestation by 2030 and to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030, 2021