***********************************
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!
The two cats in side by side cages at the shelter kept sticking their paws out and gently touching each other. No hisses, just gentle pats back and forth, it was cute.
***********************************
Sparks, the brainchild of Annie of McGuffy's Reader, is on hiatus, so here's an Inspiring Quote of the Week in her honor.
***********************************
Poetry Monday was started by Diane at On The Alberta/Montana Border. Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey is on a blog break and is sorely missed, we hope she comes back soon. 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 Hanukkah or Holidays.
About Hanukkah i have learned
It's about the oil that burned,
One day's worth eight days and nights,
That's why it's a Festival of Lights.
Pagans had suppressed the Jews again
(And will such bigotry never end?!?)
Leaving their Temple a terrible mess,
For the holy lamp one day's oil, no more, no less.
It would take a whole week to purify
More oil, it's enough to make you cry.
You finally get your Temple back,
Waiting longer's like a torture rack.
They decided not to wait!
Light it up and celebrate!
Even if it's just one day,
We'll be glad more's on the way.
But then a miracle, hear them shout!
The one day's oil did not run out,
Until they'd purified another batch,
Which takes a week to start from scratch!
That's why Jews celebrate with oil,
Fried Hanukkah foods, not baked or broiled,
Celebrate for eight full days
All of G-d's miraculous ways.
***********************************
Today is:
Akibasan Gongen Hibuse Matsuri -- Odawara, Japan (ritual giving thanks for fire and water)
Day of Quito -- Ecuador (founding of the city in 1534)
Days of Reckoning Begin -- Fairy Calendar (no, they will not tell us what they reckon)
Dia de la Constitucion Espanola -- Spain (Constitution Day)
Give a Secret Gift Day -- obviously in honor of the original St. Nicholas
Independence Day -- Aland Islands(1917); Finland(1917)
King Tupou I Day -- Tonga
Microwave Oven Day -- patented this day in 1945
Mitten Tree Day -- remembering when mittens, along with maybe a knit cap or scarf, were the big gift to find hanging from the Christmas tree
National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women -- Canada
National Gazpacho Day
National Miner's Day -- US
Pawnbrokers' Day -- on St. Nicholas' Day, in his role as Patron Saint of pawnbrokers
Sindhi Topi and Ajrak Day -- Sindh, Pakistan
St. Nicholas of Myra's Day (Patron of apothecaries/druggists/pharmacists, archers, bakers, barrel makers, boatmen, bootblacks/shoe shiners, boys, brewers, brides, captives, children, coopers, dock workers/longshoremen, fishermen, grooms, judges, lawsuits lost unjustly, maidens, mariners/sailors, merchants, penitent murderers, newlyweds, old maids, parish clerks, paupers/poor people, pawnbrokers, perfumers, pilgrims, prisoners, scholars, schoolchildren, spinsters, students, penitent thieves, travelers, unmarried girls; Greek Catholic Church in America; Greek Catholic Union; University of Paris; Varangian Guard; Greece; Russia; also dozens of cities around the world; against imprisonment, robberies, robbers)
Christkind -- Central and Southern Europe (the traditional gift giving day, instead of Christmas)
Birthdays Today:
Andrew J. Howard, 1969
Macy Gray, 1969
Janine Turner, 1962
Andrew Cuomo, 1957
Peter Buck, 1956
Randy Rhoads, 1956
Steven Wright, 1955
Tom Hulce, 1953
JoBeth Williams, 1953
Craig Newmark, 1952
James Naughton, 1945
David Ossman, 1936
Wally Cox, 1924
Dave Brubeck, 1920
Agnes Moorehead, 1906
Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1898
Ira Gershwin, 1896
Lynn Fontanne, 1887
Joyce Kilmer, 1886
William S. Hard, 1870
John Singleton Mosby, 1833
Debuting/Premiering Today:
Star Trek VI- The Undiscovered Country(Film), 1991
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"(TV special), 1964
"Talent Scouts"(TV), 1948
"Du Barry Was a Lady"(Porter musical), 1939
"La damnation de Faust"(Berlioz opera, Op, 24), 1846
Today in History:
The Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev, 1240
Don Alfonso V of Aragon grants Barcelona the right to exclude Jews, 1424
The first edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica is published, in Scotland, 1768
Harriet Tubman escapes slavery, 1849
The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery, 1865
The first crematorium in the Us begins operation, in Washington, Pennsylvania, 1876
London becomes the first city to license taxicabs, 1897
One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence, 1922
U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that the James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene, 1933
The Vanguard rocket, the first US attempt to launch a satellite, fails, 1957
The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, 2001
NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars, 2006
Belgium's new federal government is sworn in after 541 days of negotiations, 2011
Pope Francis gives his assent to a proposal to create a permanent post on the Pontifical Commission on cases of sin and sexual abuse of minors, 2013
President Trump officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announces plans to move the US Embassy there, 2017
Details of the most distant black hole yet discovered, 13billion light-years away and 800X larger than our Sun, are published in the journal Nature, 2017
The Japanese space capsule Hayabusa-2 lands safely back on earth in Australia, carrying the first significant rock samples from an asteroid, the Ryugu, 2020