Christmas Cock Crows

The count down is on for Christmas

In medieval times, the Yule log , which is compared to the wheel of the year, was burned for 12 days of Christmas by the druids, and they left a piece to begin with next year.
The log would have written on it all their unwanted things like behavior,habits, looks, life style etc...which are then burnt away.

The food consisted of Peacock wassails (a special drink for better health) mince pies with cinnamon cloves and nutmeg, spices believed given to the Christ child, goose turkey and humble pie made of heart liver and brain of a deer, and Christmas pudding.

They used oak evergreen as Christmas trees to symbolize everlasting life.
Ash represented good luck.
Ivy mistle toe and holly were also used at that time.

For entertainment there were songs carols games dramas so every year made new memories.

Australia celebrates Christmas, on the beach and Santa takes a break there to roll up his pant legs, take his boots off to feel the hot sand and the salty water between his toes.

I always wondered how he made it on time to deliver all the presents to kids but now that I am older I think it is because he does have help with the time difference, and some places celebrating Christmas while others don't.

But usually no matter who celebrates or not, Christmas is a day of magic. It's a day of good will for the whole world.
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bah humbug

A mathematician gives a talk intended for a general audience. The talk is announced in the local newspaper, but he expects few people to show up because nobody who is not a mathematician will be able to make any sense of the title: Convex sets and inequalities.
To his surprise, the auditorium is crammed when his talk begins. After he has finished, someone in the audience raises his hand.
"But you said nothing about the actual topic of your talk!"
"What topic to you mean?"
"Well, the one that was announced in the paper: Convicts, sex, and inequality."

Have a great day!

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Quality Time with Your Parents

Craft & a Cocktail: Texas Style! - watch more funny videos


I enjoyed this video as well.

Today is Thursday and we are preparing ourselves for Good Friday and the week end.
I have a whole menu planned but it has to be done last minute or my guys will eat everything before it hits the table lol

I have one 18 year old who is always hungry. Mom make me a steak. Mom I 'm hungry! You just ate a steak ..... Ya that was nothing.
Well wait for supper ....No I am hungry now..

Ya right. Waiting for the son to come home for a sit down meal is just as bad as having Dad come home and saying he isn't hungry and needs to unwind before supper.
So the boy eats and goes out with his friends and we are stuck alone eating later and then doing dishes ........later and kitchen cleaning ........later

Hello! lol
I can see why Moms go nuts at home trying to please every one except themselves. lol

So I am trying to sit and finish a sweater to have peace of mind.
I have been on the yoke for three days now doing and undoing it because I can't get the pattern to match,
precisely
because
I am rushing and
because
I am trying to make it larger so the fit is looser.
The other one I made said large but I swear it's a medium and it really kills to do all this work and then find out the sweater is smaller than you want it to be, especially when you buy pure wool but I do love the one piece yoke sweaters and they are not hard to make at all if you have the right pattern size to fit properly.
Otherwise it pays to fiddle and do some counting and hope it all works out in the end. lol

When the sweater washes, it can also shrink and my guys are just not the kind to be trusted enough to look ,and will put pure wool into the drier in spite of you telling them 100 times, sweaters are not washed in the washing machine nor dried in the drier. lol
So after working on my projects, I am a little stingy to give them because they are not valued as I would like them to be. But for special occasions I have them and I lend them for the day and they have to be given back after the day is over. lol

Well today is a big day for wrestling, basketball and hockey.
So the meal will be a quick one.
Left over soup with a side of rice
Hot chicken wings, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.

Let's see what happens to our Canucks tonight.
Since the Torres incident they stopped playing.

Everyone knows Chicago is angry and we expect anything to happen,because they said they were going to hurt the Sadines and our goalie.
not to mention the NHL commissioner,Gary Betman,doesn't want Canada to win. lol
But this is just a rumor.
We are in for some interesting game to say the least.
Not expecting to win though.
Montreal lost to Boston in overtime with an off side goal, which the US ref did not call.
Something is amiss to be sure.
The Cunucks have US refs. today.

People pay to see fair games but it is never what it seems I guess.
It's 5-0 and they pulled Louongo out.
It's like it's a totally different game cause our team is not even trying.
Have a good one everyone:)

Keep the Passion Burning

The World enjoys and will continue to enjoy the artists who showed us a different view of things seen through their eyes.The following is a true story. There was this little kid who had a bad habit of sucking his thumb. His mother finally told him that if he didn't stop sucking his thumb, he'd get fat. Two weeks later, his mother had her friends over for a game of bridge. The boy points to an obviously pregnant woman and says, "Ah, ha! I know what you've been doing
========================

|A man observed a woman in the grocery store with a three year old girl in her basket. As they passed the cookie section, the child asked for cookies and her mother told her "no." The little girl immediately began to whine and fuss, and the mother said quietly, "Now Ellen, we just have half of the aisles left to go through; don't be upset. It won't be long." He passed the Mother again in the candy aisle. Of course, the little girl began to shout for candy. When she was told she couldn't have any, she began to cry. The mother said, "There, there, Ellen, don't cry. Only two more aisles to go, and then we'll be checking out." The man again happened to be behind the pair at the check-out, where the little girl immediately began to clamor for gum and burst into a terrible tantrum upon discovering there would be no gum purchased today. The mother patiently said, "Ellen, we'll be through this check out stand in five minutes, and then you can go home and have a nice nap." The man followed them out to the parking lot and stopped the woman to compliment her. "I couldn't help noticing how patient you were with little Ellen..." The mother broke in, "My little girl's name is Tammy... I'm Ellen."
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Are slugs edible? Wanna Know?

Yes. Apparently so. The early settlers ate them well cooked.
The slime numbs the tongue and may result in a rare form of meningitis — or infection of the spinal fluid — called eosinophilic meningitis or angiostrongyliasis caused by the rat lung-worm parasite, or Angiostrongylus cantonensis. It is spread when snails and slugs eat parasite-infested rat dung and move onto vegetables, where they are eaten by humans."

Why would you take the risk? Some ants eat them but I have never seen anything else try to, even chickens.


The Annoying Orange is at it again.

Seoul, Korea

I found some Pics of when we went to Soeul, Korea.

It seems like a dream today that we've actually been to so many places.

It was so exciting to see how people shopped and what they bought, from
what we used to call, going to bazaars.

When I came across the material section, I almost died seeing the wide selection of
so much I would have loved to buy and bring home . But we had no time and had to hurry.

These were taken on the way to Canada. Coming back we took the same route because from Canada to Korea and vs was almost an empty plane and so we could stretch out on the seats to sleep. Either it was day and day and day or night and night and night lol
Then they loaded up the plane in Korea to go to Hong Kong and Singapore.

One our way back we stopped in BC and ate a Burger King in down town Vancouver and my son got food poisoning . He was quite ill on the plane. Then we had to stay inside our Korean hotel room, till he got better poor guy.

The swing you see, is from the old folk village. The man was trying to make a loop around it I think, because he was going sooo high. It was all made out of rope and had no chains.

The seafood was everywhere in abundance and if not displayed the way you see it, then live in tubs on the floor. They had many eels and continuously told people to stay away from the tubs because they could jump out at you and bite.
We didn't need to be told twice lol

It was so exciting to walk around from section to section of this place we were at and we bought a lot of presents for family and friends in Montreal.
The food is grown on human manure and so many people who know this would not eat much while visiting lol
We even saw pigs in the old village eat peoples poop from the bathrooms.
I wonder what they did with these pigs ???

The Ultimate Food Chain

The Mad Mad Mad Food Chain.

We study the world’s food chain, searching for decadent, cheap, nonfat recipes,

to enrich our lives, palette and eyes.

We love to eat up and digest almost everything we come across, and that’s no lie.

We look for water in the seas

We swim with sharks (not fish)

We attempt to catch the wind in our nets

We plow rocks and we sow in sand.

Our world is an oyster with pearls

We dig for truth.

We bottle up our sorrows

We butter our bacon.

In our world, pigs can fly and a needle, and storm have an eye.

We bring water to rivers.

We are continually searching food for thought

We do so many crazy things.

We leave many to wonder what we are really up to?

Man feeds off of man.

We are the mad mad mad world, movies are made of

and we can laugh about it.

Sad would be the day when we cannot enjoy a good laugh

at our own expense for.....

Man is the ultimate food chain

The Eccentric

The most eccentric Egg I know is the beautiful Faberge.

Like Yucka –WOW!

Faberge was a company formed in 1885 designing mostly small eggs, to be worn on a chain around the neck.
The eggs themselves were precious stones decorated and surrounded by enamel and gem stones.
Needless to say, that with their eloquence, these eggs were nothing to yolk about.

Ok...... bad yolk.

We should not be cruel . Not all eggs are what they are cracked up to be. But one thing for sure, these eggs......
will not be egg - sploring on fry – days or any other day loll

OK seriously now….

1 egg = 13 vitamins = 75 calories
1 egg = protein with 9 amino acids
1 egg = healthy unsaturated fat
1 egg = 2 antioxidants, lutein, zeaxanthin necessary for eye care
1 egg = 23% choline for metabolism, brain and nerve function and memory
1 egg = 23% selenium needed per day, as an anti oxidant to stop tissue damage.
1 egg = 14% riboflavin required per day to give cells energy
1 egg = 11% B12 needed for normal digestion and nerve cell function
1 egg = 10% phosphorus for healthy bones, teeth and cell membranes
1 egg = 7% pantothenic acid to break down food for cell energy
1 egg = 6% folate for fetal development and red blood cells.
1 egg = 5% iron needed to produce red blood cells and oxygen circulation
1 egg = 5% Vitamin A for growth skin health vision and the immune system’
1 egg = 5% vitamin D for calcium and bone strength
1 egg = 4% zinc daily needed for immune system and body tissue growth and repair
1 egg = 3.5% B6 for nerve transmission
1 egg = 3% calcium for bones, nerves muscle contraction and blood clotting.

A magician , after pulling an egg out of a boys ear, asked: I bet your Mama can’t produce eggs without chickens eh?
The boy replied : Sure she can. We have ducks. Loll
Kids are as smart as old timers. They don't search their pockets for words lol

I guess we can say eggs are nothing short of being eggstra- ordinary and we must make sure the hens that lay them,
have a happy life, eating natural, untainted food.
Back yard chickens anyone?

So next time you see an egg…… egg –zamine it closely for all the egg- splosive reasons as to why
A chicken should come before the egg.

Or……..
The egg before the chicken........

Or why......... whichever way it came……

a hard boiled egg, can be an easy part, of a daily diet.:)

Cholo and Friend

Last year a little raccoon fell from my roof into the gutter .
I rescued him, fed him washed him and he was beginning to become a family member until we had a soccer trip to go to
in Hawaii.
It was a great trip. Our kids stayed at the University of Hawaii where we got apts for very cheap, with kitchens two bedrooms and one bathroom. For parking I think we paid 20 dollars for 7 days. I don't remember now.
I believe Hawaii had another great asset for seniors. They could ride the bus anywhere, all day for free.

We had Cafeteria coupons we had to buy where we got three meals for 20 dollars a day,
All you can eat and they were fabulous.
It wasn't the Ritz but for what we needed it for, it was great.
For families on a very strict budget this could be something to look at but they are not always available in summer due to conferences, so one has to preplan ahead.

Anyway, this left Cholo alone and my husband put his cage outside during the day. He came home one day and saw Cholo's Mom.
He opened the cage and said he saw a wonderful reunion between Mother and son/daughter (who could tell). She gave him heck, kissed him and walked off with him.
A happy ending????





I thought this would be the end of my raccoon problem but it was not to be.
Cholo went back into my roof and it seems he fell again and broke his paw.

When I feed my cats, Cholo and his sibling wait for a chance to come upstairs and get a bit themselves.
The cats rush to eat and what they don't eat, Cholo and his friend finish.

My son took a rare picture of Cholo here.





I have to believe it was him because when he saw me he wanted to come into my arms and into the house.
He was very forward and normally wild animals don;t behave this way.
Having a broken paw,which is healed I guess but useless, makes it hard for him to obtain food.

It makes me happy he is still alive but I am not happy he still lives here. lol
Maybe this summer we can get re aquainted slowly and I can take him away somewhere where he might be able to survive on his own.




I am not looking forward to this as he has big teeth now lol and he is a wild animal after all.
My son Alex befriended a wolf through patience and kindness and ..........food.
It ended well because he was tame and domesticated.
He was reunited with his family.
I wouldn't try this with coyotees though because they are totally different.

Life. Everything wants to live. Everything wants food, warmth and companionship.... even animals.
You look into their eyes and think geez......what am I to do with you?

Kitchen Gardening

Small space gardening is increasing in popularity.

Plants clean the air.

Nothing nicer than talking to your seedling and watching it grow.

These plants will have no toxins in them/ no pesticides or insecticides.

They will be grown and controlled by you and the results are quite fruitful.

It will give your system a break from store bought foods.

The most exciting idea is when you grow them upside down. J

Small Space Gardening

Raised-bed gardening

Balcony Gardening

Grow tomatoes in small space

Grow Tomatoes upside down

Small space gardening articles

Let the rain water your plants

Nice house decor

These strawberries look delicious

Watch a short movie

This upside down garden has different vegetables, although I feel the pots are a bit too small for the roots.

But then what do I know lol

cucumbers

carrots

zucchini

lettuce

eggplant

long beans

pea pods

and strawberries.





Good Luck and have fun gardening J

Two Lonely Tulips

Out of 100 bulbs, these are the only two tulips that survived the squirrels.
They come back every year, to rejuvenate my soul. They are the survivors and in my opinion heroes deserving of a medal. lol

This year, no one even picked them.
The children are growing up in my neighborhood. lol

I went shopping and bought some soup bones because my husband loves soup, especially ox tail soup, which I croc pot all night for the flavor.
They were remodeling in the store and I guess they put the wrong bones in the soup bone section.
I bought them, believing they were beef, when in fact they were pork.
I made my soup and my husband was a bit disappointed when he saw I put in the wrong bones.

But then I was thinking, if they don't make soup out of these bones, what do they make out of them? Then I thought .....maybe it wasn't a mistake.
Maybe no one is buying pork anymore because of the flu so they slipped them into the beef bone section.
I'll just leave it to being an honest mistake. It's a bit too late to return them lol

After my delicious meal in Seattle, I decided to try to make a copy of it at home.
Calamari shrimp and crab were invited into my carosse and then I began shopping for the corn shallots cilantro etc... I can't wait to chop up the corn cobs so they are easier to eat on the plate.
Next to the shop vac guy, who uses his vacuum to suck out anything that falls down the drain, using nylons to cover the vacuum hose, this is another "bestest" idea.

A thought popped into my mind to check where the seafood came from.
They turned the seafood labels around so you couldn’t read them, which I found odd.

I discovered they all came from China. People are getting ill in China from the seafood, so disappointed, I put everything back.
They put the products on special probably because no one is buying from China anymore.
The other products from Portugal and California did not drop in price.

Now I see I have to be extra careful shopping and reading labels is not my forte . I just like to see it's on special and say
Oh Wow! Here's a good deal. :)

I always figured the store would be careful with what it puts on it's shelves but now I have to be more vigilant.
We are all told about sodium nitrite but almost every product I look at, seems to have it.

Shopping gets to be a drag this way.
The more this happens, the more I advocate growing your own food.
It gives your system a break from store bought food, where you have no control of what its grown on or prepared with, before it is shelved.

It gives you a reason to recycle leaves from trees.

This is my thought to share for today.

Peter I am watching the news and hope you are not in the areas they are showing.

Have a beautiful day every one :)