Category Archives: News

The Heart Has No Wrinkles

This is a simple, yet extraordinary post from fellow blogger Catnip of Life.  Indeed, the heart never gets wrinkled! Thank you, Sharla!

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

Sophia Loren

It is inevitable for the wrinkles of life to show their ‘ugly’ signs throughout the aging process. For some, the signs of aging appear much earlier than others. How soon they appear and the deepness of their appearance depends upon life itself…its ups & downs, as well as detours along the way. 

“Wave the magic wand!” we might say at some point. Ah-h-h-h, if only that would work but then we could find ourselves in the midst of a global storm! Yet, if we were without those wrinkles, what would that say about our lives? Would we have truly lived? Would we have smiled and laughed, as well as frowned and cried? Or, would our faces look pasty without any indications of former emotion?

Reflect back on times in your life perhaps when a wrinkle might have first appeared. What was your reaction? Did signs of any wrinkling change the love and compassion you feel in your heart?  To love and to be loved never ages regardless if wrinkles appear!

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October 2023 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of October for writers and readers

National Book Month

National Reading Group Month

Famous October Birthdays

Other October Events

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Happy Labor Day 2023

“The only place success comes before work is the dictionary.”

Vince Lombardi

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August 2023 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of August for writers and readers

Family Fun Month

Happiness Happens Month

Romance Awareness Month

  • August 1 – Herman Melville’s Birthday; World Wide Web Day
  • August 1-7 – International Clown Week;
  • August 2 – National Coloring Book Day (U.S.)       
  • August 4 – Percy Blythe Shelley’s Birthday; International Beer Day
  • August 5 – Blogger Day
  • August 6 – Farmworker Appreciation Day; Psychic Day (U.S.)
  • August 6-12 – International Dog Assistance Week
  • August 7 – Professional Speakers Day (U.S.); Purple Heart Day (U.S.)
  • August 7-13 – National Simplify Your Life Week (U.S.)
  • August 9 – Book Lover’s Day (also November 4)
  • August 10 – Vlogging Day; World Lion Day
  • August 11 – Mountain Day
  • August 12 – International Youth Day; World Elephant Day
  • August 13 – International Lefthanders Day; Women’s and Family Day
  • August 14 – Danielle Steele’s Birthday; Love Your Bookshop Day; World Lizard Day
  • August 15 – Chant at the Moon Day
  • August 16 – World Calligraphy Day
  • August 18 – National Bad Poetry Day; World Breast Cancer Research Day
  • August 19 – International Homeless Animals Day; World Honey Bee Day; World Humanitarian Day; World Photo Day
  • August 21 – Poet’s Day
  • August 22 – International Day Commemorating Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief
  • August 23 – European Day for Remembrance of Victims of Stalinism and Nazism; International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition
  • August 23-September 1 – World Water Week
  • August 24 – Paulo Coelho’s Birthday; International Strange Music Day
  • August 26 – International Bat Night
  • August 28 – Leo Tolstoy’s Birthday
  • August 30 – Mary Shelley’s Birthday; International Day for Victims of Enforced Disappearances
  • August 31 – International Day for People of African Descent; International Overdose Awareness Day; We Love Memoirs Day; World Distance Learning Day

Famous August Birthdays

Other August Events

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In Memoriam – Tony Bennett, 1926-2023

“To me, life is a gift, and it’s a blessing just to be alive.  And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get.”

Tony Bennett

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In Memoriam – Milan Kundera, 1929-2023

“The worth of a human being lies in the ability to extend oneself, to go outside oneself, to exist in and for other people.”

Milan Kundera

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Happy Fourth of July 2023!

“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”

William Faulkner

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A New Deal for the American Indian

In light of this week’s decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court that seem to undercut the value of the “Great American Experiment”, here’s a great piece about one of the most progressive presidents of the 20th century – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"The Chief"'s avatarWolfsonian-FIU Library

In the final paragraph of the address he delivered at the Democratic National Convention on July 2, 1932, Democratic presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt concluded his speech with the words: “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” That promise of a “new deal” was taken up by his campaign, the press, the public, and later historians of the era to describe the wide scope of economic experiments, reforms, and alphabet-soup programs prescribed by FDR as remedies for the Great Depression. The federal government’s relations with Indian tribes would also undergo a radical departure from policies and practices that could be traced back to the earliest years of European colonization and the foundation of the American Republic. Although far from perfect and predictably paternalistic, the Roosevelt Administration’s dealings with the aboriginal peoples living on reservations in the United States most definitively constituted a “New…

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July 2023 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of July for writers and readers

Good Care Month

National Anti-Boredom Month

National Blueberry Month

National Culinary Arts Month

National Lost Pet Prevention Month

National Picnic Month

Read an Almanac Month

Social Wellness Month

South Asian Heritage Month

Wild About Wildlife Month

  • July 1 – American Zoo Day; Canada Day; International Joke Day
  • July 1-7 – Clean Beaches Week
  • July 2 – Freedom from Fear of Speaking Day; World UFO Day
  • July 3 – Air Conditioning Appreciation Day; International Plastic Bag Free Day
  • July 4 – U.S. Independence Day
  • July 6 – International Kissing Day
  • July 7 – Global Forgiveness Day; Tell the Truth Day; World Chocolate Day
  • July 11 – E.B. White’s Birthday; International Essential Oils Day; World Population Day
  • July 14 – Bastille Day (France)
  • July 17 – World Day for International Justice; World Emoji Day
  • July 18 – Nelson Mandela International Day; World Listening Day
  • July 20 – International Chess Day; Space Exploration Day (U.S.)
  • July 21 – Ernest Hemingway’s Birthday
  • July 22 – World Brain Day
  • July 24 – International Self-Care Day
  • July 25 – National Wine & Cheese Day (U.S.)
  • July 29 – International Tiger Day
  • July 30 – International Friendship Day; Paperback Book Day; World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
  • July 31 – J.K. Rowling’s Birthday

Famous July Birthdays

Other July Events

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