Tarnished Silver Tarnished Life

Today was an interesting day. It snowed wet snow and it was quite cloudy as we made our way into downtown Vancouver.
There was a huge accident of about 5 cars bumping each other and we had to wait a long time to get out of it.
At home we found my Mom's old tarnished tea pot and tray.
It is very old and now I have to think how I can clean it.
During the day I found a chip with a picture in it of a torso. I got all excited like a baby and called my son who came over and laughingly said: " Oh not again. You don't see things again?"

I laughed and said no you really have to examine it to see a muscular chest and abs. and even a belly button. He nodded his head and kissed my cheek and walked away.
I could hear his thoughts. Small things amuse small minds lol

I keep thinking of the lady who went on television with her famous chips pieces with pictures in them. She had quite a collection and was showing them to the audience. She was so careful not to break any

Reflecting on the tarnished tea pot another thing happened today which related to tarnished lives.
As we were leaving home, Global TV and Radio Canada were at my sons' High School.
They said 15 year old Laura Szendrei's killer was found. We were all stunned as to how they found him after so long and my son was on his blackberry trying to find out from friends what they knew.
And then the answer itself, was just like a blow on the head.
It was a young man who went to school with my son from Kindergarten.
A nice young handsome fair young man with a beautiful smile. We went to his birthday party and his family is so nice. He was arrested and will be in jail on first degree murder charges till his hearing on March 7th. His name and face were not posted because he was 17 last year but he will be charged as an adult.
Now they are wondering if he was also the fellow who attacked other women around our area.

He was in the park area and apparently left telling people he left because he saw Laura on the ground and it had such a profound affect on him (it seems they could see her brain) he needed therapy and then he went to Mexico for a month.

My son said he partied on New Years with them and didn't seem worse for wear but I guess it was heavy on his heart because he told his Dad and then the police came. Apparently they saw him at a local 7/11 surveillance camera changing his clothes because he had blood on them.

Laura's family said he looks like an angel and yet capable of doing devil things. They want to know why, because the attack seems to be without motive. The kids didn't know each other. They are still devastated, like it happened yesterday. I am sure I understand how they feel and we are all equally shocked as to who did it.

As much as I was angry something like this took place around our area, now that we know who it is who did it, we feel soo bad for the boys family. Laura's Father said he hopes the boys family now feels the way he does about losing his daughter which is unfair because the boys parents are innocent just as they are. They also have two more younger children in the neighborhood schools who will need to suffer their brothers guilt.
A boy like that in an adult jail will also be abused by the inmates. His young life is lost.

What a tragedy to befall two families.
It seems that this boy was always very quiet, shy and small . He was teased a lot and he spent a lot of time playing video killing games.
Is it possible these games affected him?

We also had a small boy at our school but he was so cool about it that because of his attitude, everyone loved him He was one of the most popular kids in school.


When this killing happened, the kids had an incident with another group of kids where bear spray was used, so at the beginning everyone thought one of these boys retaliated and ended up killing Laura because she squealed on them,
And on face book these boys seemed to be quite afraid to be accused of killing her.

The incident took place in the woods park by the school and I remember going to the school when my son was in kindergarten, to tell them that these woods have to be cut down so people could see inside. A lot of bad things were going on in there.
They are cut now, too little too late.
It always takes a tragedy before the right things get done and I can't understand why this is
this way all the time.

Well we are all shocked beyond belief especially my son. He said the girl was tiny and nice so why would he do this to her?

The girls parents will want to see the boy now to ask him "why?"

A very upsetting day.

I found 2 tarnished silver items today, which reflected 2 tarnished lives and a chip with a muscled torso.
Sorta like life, chipped away to resemble a strong young powerful life and yet destroyed by lifes' elements showing its' fragility.
A true BC tragedy .

Pieces of Eight

From the 15th Century to the 19th Century, Spanish silver coins or pieces of eight were used as legal currency. They were all made by hand and weighed about 1 oz.

The US used them till 1857 and they were like our dollar today.

What was interesting about them was that they could be cut into 8 pieces to make change as well as quarters.
So if you sold something for two bits it meant 25 cents or quarter of a dollar.

It's unbelievable that the American currency was based on that of the Spanish dollar.
Pirates popularized it by stealing it and traders carried them on their ships to Manila, England and China.

American coins were minted in 1792 but the Spanish coin was preferred until 1857 when it was outlawed.

People knew a quarter as two bits. A dime was a short bit
15 cents was a long bit.
50 cents was 4 bits and 75 cents was known as 6 bits.

N.Y, Stocks were sold in 1/8ths of a dollar until 1997.

Today if you tell someone something is worth two bits, you basically tell them it's worth nothing.

People do not know the history of coins but I think the history is interesting, especially when told by the pirates who fought for trunks full of pieces of eight and to this day it is considered good luck to hammer one into the front of your boat . Luck is probably why the Chinese give children red packets with gold coins on New Years.


So ahoy thar maties argh! argh! argh!
Don't ya be a tryin to cheat me of my two bits of ale nor stealin me treasure map to Captain Blackbeards' Island where he be hidin his pieces of eight.

It's Pirate treasure and pirate treasure it will stay.

:)

Money Jokes

What happened when the cat swallowed a coin? There was money in the kitty.

How can a can you double your money? By folding it in half.

Three animals were having a drink in a cafe, when the owner asked for the money. “I m not paying,” said the duck. “I’ve only got one bill and I m not breaking it.” “I’ve spent my last buck,” said the deer. “Then the duck ll have to pay,” said the skunk. “Getting here cost me my last scent.”

Dad, would you like to save some money? I certainly would, son. Any suggestions? Sure. Why not buy me a bike, then I won’t wear my shoes out so fast.

I hate paying my income tax. You should be a good citizen – why don’t you pay with a smile? I d like to but they insist on money

A doctor had been attending a rich old man for some time, but it became apparent that the old chap had not long to live. Accordingly, the doctor advised his wealthy patient to put his affairs in order. “Oh yes, I’ve done that,” said the old gentleman. “I’ve only got to make a will. And do you know what I m going to do with all my money? I m going to leave it to the doctor who saves my life.”

Have you heard about the new aftershave that drives women crazy? No! Tell me about it. It smells of $50 dollar bills.

At the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce meeting the treasurer reported a deficit of two hundred dollars. One of the chamber members stood up and said, “I vote that we donate half of it to the Red Cross and then give the other fifty dollars to the Salvation Army.”

A business man called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. “Oh no I don t, I’ve been to China many times and never had to have one of those.” I double checked, and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, “Look, I’ve been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express.”

An English teacher asked her class to write an essay on what they do if they had a million dollars. Alec handed in a blank sheet of paper. Alec ! yelled the teacher, you’ve done nothing. Why? Because if I had a million dollars, that’s exactly what I would do !

I Am Waiting For............

Click to enlarge

HOLY MOSES! Is that Abe Lincoln in the goblet reflection???
Unbelievable. I must be seeing things.
hmmmm.
Mikasa Orchids and polished silver are out of boxes
for a breath of fresh air.
A scented candle and bees wax candles are all waiting to be lit.
What stories do they have to tell being worlds apart?
The candle stick holders come from Thailand and
Mikasa is of course, Japanese,
and Orchids are Singapore's favorite flower.
After spit polishing the silver wear I still can't believe
how people drank from these goblets.
The cleaner is not exactly mild.
Tomato Ketchup
Yes! They used ketchup to clean brass so it must also clean silver.
Another way is to use plain ordinary white toothpaste
A Jeweller said:
"A good way to clean silver using household items is to line a container (like your sink, a washing up bowl or a pyrex dish) with aluminium foil, add your jewellery, very warm water and a couple of spoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda. The water will fizz and clean your silver! Rinse it well afterwards.
Do not use boiling water if the items contains stones as they can crack from the heat.

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This I got (stole) from my Westra blogger . Thanks Vicky:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueP05bkWVvQ&feature=related


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A stark naked,drunken Australian woman,
jumped into a vacant taxi in down town New Delhi
The Indian driver was immediately beside himself
and just kept on staring at the woman.
He made no attempt to start the cab.

What's wrong with you mate,
haven't you ever seen a naked white woman before? â€

I'll not be staring at you lady,
I am telling you that would not be proper where I am coming from".

"Well if your not bloody staring at me mate, what are you doing then?"

"Well, I am telling you, I am thinking to myself
where is this lady keeping the money to be paying me with."
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Have a great Day !!! :)