Showing posts with label little Annie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label little Annie. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2026

Bubbletastic (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Blue

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Edit:  yesterday, my blog post was put behind a warning label, which i asked for review and it was removed.  If you ever see such a warning on my blog, it's an error.  If it's not an error, my blog was hacked and it's not me posting!


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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!


While she wasn't sure about them at first, Annie has decided she loves "bub-bub" (bubbles).  She likes to "catch" them and we say, "Pop!"














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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 Blue.


*******


I want to paint the

ocean but I've bitten off

more than I can blue


*******


He loved the piece of furniture,

only one thing was askew,

so he repainted it his favorite color,

saying, "It's too good to be blue!"


*******


She had a light blue shelf,

on which sat her favorite elf,

but she painted it green

and thought it was keen,

'cause blue's too azure of itself.


*******



Future themes are:


June 1 Blue (Today!)

June 8 Two Minute Sketch

June 15 Cobweb with Dewdrops

June 22 Lily


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


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Today is:


Arrival of the Swiss at the Port-Noir -- Switzerland


Birthday of SPB Yang di-Pertuan Agong -- Malaysia (in this elective monarchy, the current king's birthday is celebrated on the first Monday in June, regardless of his actual birth date, although it is moved if it will intersect with Ramadan)


Dia da Crianca -- Cape Verde (Youth Day)


Dia de la Marina -- Mexico (Day of the Navy)


Early Bird Day -- an internet derived day that reminds us the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese


Famadihana -- Madagascar (from now until November, various areas celebrate the Malagasay culture's "turning the bones," a fascinating reburial of the dead ceremony)


Feast of St. Justin Martyr (a/k/a Justin the Philosopher; Patron of apologists, lecturers, orators, philosophers, speakers)


Festival of Non-Linearity -- another one you find on the internet, no meaning or rhyme to it, but if you like to think in non-linear ways, enjoy today!


Festival of the Oak Nymph -- Celtic/Pagan (around this time of year, the Celts took a day to honor all hamadryads, the female nature spirits who inhabit oak trees)


Flip a Coin Day -- as noted by The Ultimate Holiday Site, which claims Julius Caesar invented it (doubtful, but the Romans did toss coins)


Gawai Dayak -- Sarawak, Malaysia (harvest festival begins today)


Global Day of Parents -- UN


Go Barefoot Day -- originally sponsored by Soles4Souls, which recycles shoes to those who have none; while i cannot find if they are sponsoring a day or week this year, it's a good reminder not to let your old shoes end up in a landfill


Great American Campout Month -- sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, and remember that Happy Campers Protect Wildlife; they are also encouraging everyone to join the Clean Earth Challenge and camp clean and responsibly   


Hari Lahir Pancasila -- Indonesia (Pancasila Day)


Heimlich Maneuver Day -- Dr. Heimlich first published his suggestion for aiding choking victims with "subdiaphragmatic pressure" on this day in 1974


Helen Keller Day -- sponsored by the Lions Clubs


Independence Day/National Day -- Samoa


International Children's Day


June Bank Holiday -- Ireland


Kalends of June -- Ancient Roman Calendar; related observances:

     Day Sacred to Tempestas (goddess of storms)

     Festival for Juno Moneta (Juno as goddess of money)

     Festival of Carna (goddess of health and vitality, and also of doors and locks, which were to be repaired today)


King's Birthday -- Cook Islands; New Zealand; Niue


Madaraka Day -- Kenya (National Day or self-rule/responsibility day)


Mint Julip Day -- Oxford University, England (the drink was introduced there this day in 1845, and they liked it so well, they dedicated a day to it!)


Mothers' and Children's Day -- Mongolia


National Hazelnut Cake Day


National Tree Planting Day -- Cambodia


Oscar the Grouch Day -- according to the Sesame Workshop, today is his birthday


Pancasila Sanctity Day -- Indonesia


President's Day -- Palau


Say Something Nice Day -- as declared by the mayor of a town in South Carolina who is tired of all the negative talk all the time


Stand for Children Day -- stand.org founded by a rally this day in 1996, seeking to ensure all children graduate from high school


St. Theobald Roggeri's Day (Patron of church cleaners, cobblers, porters, shoemakers; against fever and sterility)


Summer Library Book club Season begins -- anywhere that school is out, check your local library for a summer book club for children or adults; you never know what world you will discover when you read


Superman Day -- publication of the first Superman comic was this day in 1938


Victory Day -- Tunisia (anniversary of the Adoption of the Constitution of Tunisia in 1959)


Western Australia Day -- Western Australia (formerly called Foundation Day)


Whit Monday -- Orthodox Christian Churches


World Outlander Day -- for fans of the books and series Outlander


Yobuko Otsunahiki -- Higashi Matsuura, Saga prefecture, Japan (two-day Big Tug-of-War Festival, with one team representing the land and the other the sea; victory for the land means good crops, for the sea means good catches)




Anniversaries Today:


Charlie Chaplin marries Paulette Goddard, 1934

Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, is founded as the first US land-grant university, 1808

Tennessee becomes the 16th US state, 1796

Kentucky becomes the 15th US state, 1792

Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen Consort of England, 1533



Birthdays Today:


Justine Henin, 1982

Alanis Morissette, 1974

Heidi Klum, 1973

Mark Curry, 1964

Lisa Hartman Black, 1956

Ron Wood, 1947

Jonathan Pryce, 1947

Frederica von Stade, 1945

Robert Powell, 1944

Rene Auberjonois, 1940

Cleavon Little, 1939

Morgan Freeman, 1937

Colleen McCullough, 1937

Pat Boone, 1934

Edward Woodward, 1930

James Hadley Billington, 1929

Bob Monkhouse, 1928

Andy Griffith, 1926

Marilyn Monroe, 1926

Nelson Riddle, 1921

Brigham Young, 1801

Jacques Marquette (Père Marquette), 1637



Debuting/Premiering Today:


FX(TV channel), 1994

Gremlins(Film), 1984

Cable News Network/CNN(TV network), 1980

"Live and Let Die"(Song release), 1973

"The Prisoner"(TV), 1968

"Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"(Album release), 1967



Today in History:


Hugh Capet is elected King of France, 987

Beijing, then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Beijing, 1215

Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky, 1495

Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England, 1533

Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1660

The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars, 1794

U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom, 1812

James Lawrence, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, gives his final order: "Don't give up the ship!" 1813

James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole, 1831

American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua, 1855

Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico, 1868

Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric voting machine, 1869

Napoleon Eugene, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879

The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns, 1890

Louis D. Brandeis becomes the first Jew appointed to the United States Supreme Court, 1916

The First Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires, 1929

Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months, 1958

New Zealand's first official television broadcast commences at 7.30pm from Auckland, 1960

Kenya gains internal self-rule (Madaraka Day), 1963

The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine, 1974

The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power, 1979

The Warsaw Pact officially dissolves, 1991

Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupts for the first time in 600 years, 1991

Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, Killing all 228 passengers and crew, 2009

General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy, 2009

Russia enacts a country-wide smoking ban, effecting most public places, 2013

Switzerland’s Gotthard Base Tunnel is completed - world’s longest at 57km and most expensive tunnel costing €11bn, 2016

Prehistoric carvings of deer, between 4,000 and 5,000 years old, are found at Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland, 2021

US Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan assumes the post of Commandant, becoming the first female commander of US military branch, 2022

The world's largest-ever election ends in India after six weeks with 642 million people voting in the country's general election, including a record 312 million women, 2024

Monday, May 25, 2026

Every Last Pea (Awww Monday), Inspiring Quote of the Week, and Poetry Monday, Scooter

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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!


Someone loves peas and works hard to get every last one out of the bowl.  Usually, she lets me get the last few for her.












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



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 Scooter.               


His scooter broke down

away out of town,

he thought he was out of luck


A car happened by,

he flagged down the guy,

wishing it had been a truck


But the driver was game,

tied scooter to car frame,

to give the poor guy a tow


"If I'm going to fast,

beep your horn a good blast,

and I'll know I need to slow."


The rope held taut,

the contraption had got

about a mile up the road


Another car turned upon

the road they were on,

and the first guy forgot his load


The two started gunning

their engines and running

along in a perilous race


When a cop at a light

saw this odd sight

his eyes bugged out of his face


He took off with a spin

and then radioed in,

"I've seen street racers with brass,


But I never have seen

two guys driving mean

and a scooter honking to pass!"




Future themes are:


May 25 Scooter (Today!)

June 1 Blue

June 8 Two Minute Sketch


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


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Today is Memorial Day in the US and US Territories.  It's a day to remember and honor those whose military service to preserve our freedom cost them their lives.


It is also Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, an interfaith encouragement to pray and work for permanent peace in the world.



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


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Today is:


Africa Day / African Liberation Day  -- African Union; related observance

     Heroes' Day -- Lesotho

     President Yajya Jammeh's Birthday -- Gambia


First Patriotic Government / National Day -- Argentina (Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo)


Flitting Day -- parts of England; Scotland (traditional day on which leases were up for the year and people moved)


Geek Pride Day / Nerd Pride Day -- celebrate the geek / nerd in you!  Geek culture is the obvious choice to laud when it's Glorious 25 May, Star Wars Day, and Towel Day at the same time; began in Spain as "Día del Orgullo Friki"


Glorious 25 May -- in Terry Pratchett's Discworld


Independence Day -- Jordan(1946)


Liberation Day -- Lebanon


National Brown-Bag-It Day


National Heroes' Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands (a/k/a James Alexander George Smith "Jags" McCartney Day)


National Missing Children's Day -- US (promoting awareness of the problem of missing children)    


National Tap Dance Day -- US, birth anniversary of Mr. Bojangles


National Wine Day


Offering to Demeter -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)


Poetry Day -- Florida, US (since 1947, the state legislature declared this for all public schools in the state; if you don't live in Florida, enjoy a poem today, anyway)


Procession of the Statue of Artemis -- Ancient Greek and Roman Calendars, at Ephesus (date approximate, but always near the Thargelia)


Self-Reliance Day -- an internet originated holiday, based on the idea that we should all become more self-reliant in this day when it is a dying art.


Spring Bank Holiday -- UK

     Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling and Wake -- Cooper’s Hill, England (ancient tradition -- pre-Roman -- of rolling a large wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the hill; winner of the races to catch it wins the cheese, and the rolling is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)

     Tetbury Woolsack Races -- Gumstool Hill, Tetbury, England (this formerly important wool producing town still holds races up and down the hill, from the Royal Oak Pub up to the Crown Pub and back; part of traditional Whitsuntide folklore customs, which is now always held on the Monday Spring Bank Holiday)


Star Wars Day -- Part IV, A New Hope was released this date in 1977


St. Bede the Venerable's Day (Patron of lectors; Father of English History)


St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi's Day (Patron of the ill; against illness and sexual temptation)


Towel Day -- Douglas Adams fans, unite!  Always know where your towel is   


Week of Solidarity with the People Of Non-Self-Governing Territories begins -- United Nations


Whit Monday/Pentecost Monday

     Dicing for Bibles -- All Saints Church, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, England (a ceremony dating back to a bequest in 1675 that provides Bibles for poor children of the parish; they play a dice game, in which they try to win one of the 6 Bibles provided)



Anniversary Today:


Lord Guildford Dudley marries Lady Jane Grey, 1553



Birthdays Today:


Brian Urlacher, 1978

Ethan Suplee, 1976

Lauryn Hill, 1975

Justin Henry, 1971

Jamie Kennedy, 1970

Anne Heche, 1969

Stacy London, 1969

Mike Myers, 1963

Connie Sellecca, 1955

Jessi Colter, 1947

Karen Valentine, 1947

Frank Oz, 1944

Leslie Uggams, 1943

Ian McKellen, 1939

Raymond Carver, 1938

Tom T. Hall, 1936

K.C. Jones, 1932

Beverly Sills, 1929

Robert Ludlum, 1927

Miles Davis, 1926

Jeanne Crain, 1925

Claude Akins, 1918

James Joseph "Gene" Tunney, 1898

Igor Sikorsky, 1889

Philip Murray, 1886

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, 1878

John Alexander Dowie, 1847

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803



Debuting/Premiering Today:


Wonder Woman(Film), 2017

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi(Film), 1983

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope(Film), 1977

"The Subject Was Roses"(Play), 1964

"H.M.S. Pinafore"(Comic Opera), 1878



Today in History:


First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet, BC240

Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors, 1085

Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ, 1420

The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw, 1521

Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England, 1659

Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek, 1784

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States, 1787

In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the Semana de Mayo, 1810

The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom, 1837

The first telegraphed news dispatch is published in Baltimore Patriot, 1844

Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London, 1878

The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president, 1895

John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in Tennessee, 1925

Henry Ford stops production of the Model T to begin the Model A, 1927

Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1935

The first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition, 1955

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established, 1963

Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday, 1977

Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people, 1985

Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion, 2000

32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 2001

Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, 2011

The first commercial spacecraft, SpaceX Dragon, docks with the International Space Station, completing the maneuver at 12:02pm EDT, 2012

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg receives an honorary degree from Harvard University, after dropping out in 2004, 2017

Mia Mottley, of the Barbados Labour Party, becomes the first female Prime Minister of Barbados, 2018

China’s Wolong National Nature Reserve releases the first footage of an albino panda ever taken in the wild, 2019

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is re-elected Director-General of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, 2022

According to the US Census Bureau, between 2010 and 2020 the population of the USA aged at its fasted rate in 130 years, with median age jumping from 37.2 to 38.8, 2024