***********************************
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!
Jock loves bushes, and sticks.
***********************************
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.
***********************************
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 Compost.
I have written several mini-poems on the theme.
I get an awful feeling
my job security's fading,
boss told me to work with compost,
but that is just degrading.
He told his wife he wanted
her to talk dirty in bed,
she just looked him in the eye
and "compost" is what she said.
My compost bin disappeared last night,
but showed up this morning, indeed,
it had no idea where it had been,
I had given it too much weed.
I've been meaning to start a compost pile,
always saying I'll do it later,
but I just figured out how to jump start one,
I'll clean out my refrigerator.
I compost everything I can,
don't think I started in haste,
it's just that I'm very frugal,
a rind is a terrible thing to waste.
In honor of Memorial Day, a repeat of my Memorial Day Poem from last year.
We hope for no more war,
we pray for peace to reign,
for hatred is so evil
and murder is insane.
We pray for no more madmen,
maniacs spoiling to fight,
wicked in their wanting
to destroy what's good and right.
We pray for all these things to end,
but until they really do,
we pray The Lord will always send
heroes just like you.
***********************************
Today is:
Ambarvalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (purification festival to Ceres, date approximate)
Ascension of Baha'u'llah -- Baha'i
Castleton Garland Celebration -- Derbyshire, England (a Garland King and Lady ride the bounds of the parish on white horses, after which the garland the King wore is placed on the church tower; possibly dating back to Oak Apple Celebrations)
Democracy Day -- Nigeria
End of the Middle Ages Day -- considered such by many historians because of the fall of Constantinople on this day in 1453
Feast of Mars -- Ancient Roman Calendar
International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers -- UN
Learn About Composting Day -- can't find a sponsor for this day, but there is a week sponsored each year here; and you can learn about composting here, too
Memorial Day -- US and Territories (obs.)
Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day -- US (on observed Memorial Day, an interfaith encouragement to pray and work for permanent peace in the world)
Mount Everest Day -- Nepal (declared on the anniversary of first ascent in 1953)
National Coq Au Vin Day
National Heroes' Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands (a/k/a James Alexander George Smith "Jags" McCartney Day)
Oak Apple Day / Royal Oak Day -- England (celebration of the restoration of the monarchy; no longer officially recognized, but many localities have traditions that have grown up around this date which are still celebrated)
Pink Flamingo Day -- Don Feathersone created the first one on this day in 1957
Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day -- supposedly dating back, in Europe and the Americas, to the days when you put a piece of cloth in your larder for good luck; why it became a pillow no one knows
Runic Half-Month of Odal (home, possessions) commences
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)
Squoosh an Ice Cream Sandwich Day -- rules say you must squoosh, not squish or squash!
St. Bona of Pisa's Day (Patron of couriers, flight attendants, guides, pilgrims, travelers; Pisa, Italy)
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)
Anniversaries Today:
Rhode Island becomes the 13th US State, 1790
Wisconsin becomes the 30th US State, 1848
Birthdays Today:
Noel Gallagher, 1967
Lisa Whelchel, 1963
Melissa Etheridge, 1961
Adrian Paul, 1959
Rupert Everett,1959
Annette Bening, 1958
LaToya Jackson, 1956
Danny Elfman, 1953
Anthony Geary, 1947
Kevin Conway, 1942
Al Unser, Sr., 1939
Francis Thomas "Fay" Vincent, Jr, 1938
Paul Erlich, 1932
John F. Kennedy, 1917
Tenzing Norgay, 1914
T.H. White, 1906
Bob Hope, 1903
Oswald Spengler, 1880
G.K. Chesterton, 1874
Patrick Henry, 1736
Today in History:
Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a siege, ending the Byzantine Empire, 1453
Charles II (on his birthday) is restored to the throne of Great Britain, 1660
Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives, 1677
The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City, 1733
In Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, he answers a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!" 1765
Present constitution of Switzerland takes effect, 1874
Chemist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, the ad appearing in the Atlanta Journal, 1886
Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot, 1913
Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives, 1914
Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas single in history, for Decca Records in Los Angeles, 1942
Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 1953
First of the annual Bilderberg conferences, 1954
Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months, 1985
Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station, 1999
Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, 1999
A WWII Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., US, 2004
Scientists describe the 160-million year-old fossile of Aurornis xui as the most basal species of Avialae, possibly shifting the evolutionary position of the Archaeopteryx as the oldest known bird, 2013
A heatwave in Karachi, Pakistan, kills 65 as temperatures soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, 2018
The world's smallest surviving baby, a girl, is discharged from Sharp March Birch Hospital in San Diego after being born at 23 weeks weighing 8.6 ounces (245 grams), 2019
A man disguised as an elderly disabled woman throws cake at the Mona Lisa in an unsuccessful vandalism attempt (it is behind protective glass), 2022
