The Friday Post ~ History Lesson for 9th March 2018

Welcome to Cobs Friday Class of Edumacation.  Please find your seat and make yourselves comfortable.  Put any gum in the bin, and no eating anything unless you’re prepared to share with the whole class!  I work on a fair system here in this classroom.

First, an apology. I’m sorry this post is a  little late   12 hours late today.  Through one thing and another I began it late, and then, just as I’d got the history part finished. . .  I realised that I’d covered yesterdays  history (8th March) instead of todays, (9th March)!!!

hmmm…  I can’t tell you the power that went into the following words:  “Well s*d it!  What a frickin’ idiot I am!”.   Mr.Cobs, – obviously a man who cares, – said how he felt about this huge blunder of mine by grinning widely and saying absolutely nothing.  I KNOW  it was killing him to say nothing,  so he has to be commended for keeping it zipped.

So, in light of me totally messing up, I decided today to KISS this weeks Friday Post.  KISS= Keep-It-Simple-Stupid!

Instead of giving you too much to read on any subject, I’m going to try to give you the information but in a more ‘punchy’ way.  This way it will be easier to read through, and if you find something you’d like to learn more about, then Mr. Google will be your best friend. 😀

Shall we jump in?  ….

9th March 2018

On this Day in History

1562 – Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)

1566 – David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland.

1793 – Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight in North America. The event was witnessed by U.S. President George Washington.
1796 – Napoleon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Josephine de Beauharnais. They were divorced in 1809.

1822 – Charles M Graham of New York patents artificial teeth
1839 – Prussian government limits work week for children to 51 hours
1858 – Albert Potts was awarded a patent for the letter box.
1859 – The National Association of Baseball Players adopted the rule that limited the size of bats to no more than 2-1/2 inches in diameter.
1873 – Royal Canadian Mounted Police founded

1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to the Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most important economic depression in the 20th century, and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world’s economy can fall. The Great Depression originated in the United States; historians most often use as a starting date the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday.
The Great Depression was triggered by a sudden, total collapse in the stock market.

1946 – Bolton Wanderers stadium disaster at Burnden Park, Bolton, England, kills 33 and injures hundreds more.

1954 – The first local colour TV commercial WNBT-TV (WNBC-TV) New York NY (for “Castro Decorators“).
1956 – Weather forecasting phone line set up in London England

 

1959 – The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

1961 – The Supremes released their first single, “I Want A Guy.”
1964 – The first Ford Mustang produced
1966 – The Beach Boys recorded “God Only Knows.”

1976 – Forty-two people die in a Cavalese cable-car disaster, the worst cable-car accident to date. The Cavalese cable car disaster near the Italian town Cavalese when a U.S. military plane cut a cable supporting a gondola of an aerial tramway, causing the death of 20 people. Cavalese is a ski-resort located in the Dolomites, some 40 km north-east of Trento.

The pilot of the military plane, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer, were put on trial in the United States and were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. Later they were found guilty of obstruction of justice for having destroyed a videotape recorded from the plane and were dishonourably discharged from the Marines.

This event put pressure on the international relationship between the United States and Italy, where it is known as “Massacre of Cermis”, because the acquittal of the pilots is considered outrageous.

1982 – “Krononauts” hosted an event in Baltimore, Maryland asking time-travellers to meet and demonstrate future science methods of Time travel.

1985 – “Gone With The Wind” went on sale in video stores across the U.S. for the first time

1990 – Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States, becoming the first female and Hispanic American to serve in that position.
1997 – Comet Hale-Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.

2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.

 

❤  ~  ❤  ~  ❤

Born on this Day.

1918 – Mickey Spillane, American writer (d. 2006)

1940 – Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1994)

1948 – Jeffrey Osborne, Providence RI, rock vocalist (On the Wings of Love)

1952 – Bill Beaumont, English rugby player

1959 – Barbie doll.

1964 – Steve Wilkos, American police officer and talk show host

1965 – Juliette Binoche – French actress (English Patient, Unbearable Lightness of Being)

Died on this Day and remembered here

1996 – George Burns, American actor and comedian (b. 1896)

~  ❤  ~

PLAYTIME BELL RINGS ..  ~  ..  TIME FOR FUN!

These are the jokes folks ….

Two mice meet and start chatting. “Look,” says one after a while, “I’ve got a new boyfriend!” and shows a picture on the mobile phone.

“OMG,” cries the other mouse, “that’s a bat!”

What?! The guy told me he was a pilot!”

Are you aware that searching for a new laptop online is basically forcing your current computer to dig its own grave!  😦

What if . . .  the spider I killed in my bedroom lived his whole life thinking I was his roommate and died wondering what brought on this psychotic break?

If you’re waiting to be served in a restaurant, shouldn’t you be called the waiter?

A wife goes to consult a psychiatrist about her husband: “My husband is acting so weird. He drinks his morning coffee and then he goes and eats the mug! He only leaves the handle!”

Psychiatrist: “Yes, that is weird. The handle is the best part.”

“You know how it is in life. One door closes – that means another door opens…”    “Yeah, very nice, but you either fix that or I’m expecting a serious discount on that car!”

Men in 1845:-  “I just killed a buffalo”.
Men  in  1952:-  “I just fixed the roof”.
Men  in  2018:-  “I just shaved my legs”.

I was making myself a Russian tea.  Unfortunately I can’t fish the teabag out of the vodka bottle.  

What did the toilet roll complain about?
“People just keep ripping me off!”

Teacher:- “OK class, who will give me the chemical formula for water?”
Pupil: “H I J K L M N O.” 
Teacher: “What on earth are you on about?”
Pupil: “Well you said yourself yesterday it was H to O!”

What a difference a good shower makes!
I was irritable, exhausted and I felt miserable.
Now I’m irritable, exhausted, I feel miserable, and I smell of grapefruit!

Q:-  What should you do when you see a spaceman?
A:-  You just park in it, man.

~  ❤  ~  ❤  ~  ❤  ~

And now dear reader it’s time for coffee and contemplation . . .

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Thought for the Day

I learned a while ago, (a TV programme) that apparently birds follow the road system when they are trying to find their way. (???  eh?  mmmn.)

Now, I’m not so sure that I believe it . . .  but,  scientists claim to have proof.  Unfortunately, it seems nowadays, a scientist with ‘proof’ carries more authority than a priest with a hand written note from God Himself.

It’s sadly a disappointing side effect of  ‘progress’.

So if we are to believe this is true, then we must face the fact(?) that it’s not just us humans who have grown ‘out of touch’ with life’s natural rhythms, but animals as well.  Very soon we will come to that place  where never again will we be able to talk about travelling ‘as the crow flies’.

However – I have always wondered why,  (in some circumstances), science is so important,  when it can’t even prove the existence of love.  (just sayin’).

~  ❤  ~  ❤  ~  ❤  ~

Well that’s school over and done with, and it’s Friday.  Ahhhhh.  🙂

I like Fridays even the name sounds friendly when you say it.  I learnt when I was in school that Fridays meant that whatever happened during those next two days could only be brilliant and greater than the five days which preceded during which I had to attend school.  Don’t get me wrong, school was OK, but … it was school!

The snow has all gone from where I live – although there’s been enough rain to melt it, (and it’s POURING down as I type)  so if there is any snow left anywhere in Dorset, it must be because it was a snowman or a snow build of some sort.

Again … apologies for todays Edumacation being late.  There is a very good reason but I’ll not bother you with all the boring details – but building the history for the wrong day didn’t help!  [sigh – what a total dipstick!].  Thank you for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  It’s been brilliant to be in your company.

I wish you a blessed rest of your day,  where-ever you are in the world.   May your weekend be a breeze and joy to be living in.  May something make your heart smile, and may love touch your life.

Sending much love, ~

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A Bathing Belle ~ an ATC painted for World Watercolour Month

The inspiration for this ‘Bathing Belle’ came from an [unused] sticker in my Craft Room.  I’ve had this lovely sticker for about 7 years – bought in a sale at Hobby Craft here in the UK.  It’s quite large compared to this little watercolour painting.   I came across the sticker a few days ago and thought it would make a lovely image on a little ATC (sized at 2.5″x 3.5″).  However … I changed the style of the dress part of her bathing suit.

Bathing Belle 2
‘Bathing Belle’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

Originally the dress was more puffed up and ’rounded’ in it’s design, but I wanted to make a play on words for the Bathing BELLE (Bell) so thought I could change her slightly and turn her actually into a Bell shaped Bathing Belle.

I changed her hair also, from a deep, warm brown colour, to a salt and pepper (or rather more salt than pepper) bathing beauty.  After all, Grandmas, Nanna, Nanny and (in my case) Grammy’s can be just as glam as any young thing, so I thought I’d give a shout out for those of us who have a bit of stray grey going on!

The last photograph above, was taken with a light from two desk lamps – one either side of the painting – shining onto the ATC and mount.  However the next photo has no desk lamps on, as I wanted to use the flash on the camera to try to make the ‘Starry’ water colours put in an appearance and I think I managed it …. take a peep …

Bathing Belle 1
‘Bathing Belle’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

… if you compare this last photograph with the one before it, you’ll see that the sea has sparkling white horses to the ocean.  The sand has some sparkling wet sand, and our Bathing Belle has a twinkling sea-horse hair ornament.  This sparkle and twinkle comes from using Kuretake,  Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour paints.  When they dry these paints have a  fabulous twinkle and sparkle to them.

Bathing Belle 3
‘Bathing Belle’ ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

Because I changed the shape of her dress, to make her look more ‘Bell’ shaped like,  if you use your imagination now and cut the ATC at where her dress ends at the bottom …  you’d find that you had a Bell which you could ring by grasping hold of her head!  LOL!!

But of course … we’re not going to do that.  We’re not savages!!  Grief!  😀

Bit of paint.  Scrap of Watercolour Card.  Tub of water.  And that’s all there was to it!

Happy Sunday!  May today find you happy, healthy and with few jobs or chores to do, but lots of happiness waiting for you to discover it.

Sending you Sunday Squidges, and lots of lovely love ~

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Oh I do like to be Beside the Seaside!

I wanted to send a card to a fellow blogger  – Berverly of More Ink Please –   not for anything in particular,  but ‘just  because’.   I couldn’t share the card until she’d received it as it would have spoiled the surprise.  But, I got an email from her at the end of last week telling me that the parcel of  ‘Happy Mail’  had arrived,  so I can now post details of the card here on the blog.

Because I live by the sea I wanted to send her a card which made her think of the ‘Seaside’,  and that’s why the card itself is all about the seaside.

It has a little Tibetan silver bicycle leaning up against the Beach Huts.

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside 2

And someone is flying a kite ….  which has a tail of ribbons! . . .

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside 3

Two smaller pictures featuring Beach Huts stand proud of the card itself, by being mounted on foam tape. 

The fun,  and colour continue inside with a teeny bit of zentangling and a little bow.

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside 4

The Bunting and sentiment (‘With Love and Best Wishes’) were added to the front,  and a silver metal airplane – ‘flying above’ – was fixed to the card, in the skyline.

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside 5

Finally a little brassy coloured (metal) vintage style post card finished off the front.

And that’s all there was to it!

For those of you who don’t know the song which is the title of this post,  I’ve been and collected a YouTube video…  but if you know the song by heart, there’s nothing to stop you clicking and enjoying.  The song was written in 1907,  and this version was sung in 1909 by a music hall singer called Mark Sheridan.

We have beach huts here where I live, but they’re not quite as fabulous as the ones on the card. . . .

Beach Huts Dorset

However …  a couple of years or so ago a designer (who some of you may have heard of) did a Random Act of Kindness  – but she called it:  a  Random Act of Kidston . . .

CathKidston Beach Hut Dorset 1

…  and she covered some Beach Huts in her fabric designs,   –  she made matching deck chairs,  and put matching bits and bobs in the Beach huts.  It caused quite an impact.  People were coming from miles away to see them.  This following hut is my personal favourite…

CathKidston Beach Hut Dorset

It’s a typical Cath Kidston design and so me.  I love it.

But … if wishes came true …. I think I’d want a Beach Hut like one of the ones on the card I made for Beverly.  There’s something so friendly and smiley about them.

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside 5

Thank you so much for coming and spending some time around the kitchen table and sharing a coffee with me.

Have a truly lovely start to your week.  Be good to yourself, and each other …. and may your God go with you.

Sending love from me in my corner to you in yours ~

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P.S.  . . .   Dear Lord  …  hello, it’s me again.  Ummm..  it’s about the weather.  It’s hot.  Very hot.  VERY, VERY HOT indeed.  It’s causing me some problems.  One of which is that I appear to be melting.  I know I can’t be sweating …  because my mom taught me that ladies don’t sweat.  According to my mother,  ladies ‘glow’.   Well …  I’m really glowing here.  REALLY glowing.   So … I’m wondering …  could you please turn the heating down a little bit?  A little biggish bit?  Not just for me but also for my plants, and for my three fur babies.  Alf Capone, Maisie Dotes and My Little Fat Bitch aren’t coping well with this level of hot.  I’ve just taken a look around my living room and down the hallway …. and it looks like a murder scene.  All my four-legged companions are  ‘as if’  dead.  Now if I’m hot and I’ve only got shorts and a t.shirt on,  then these four-legged babies must be SO uncomfortable because they’re all wearing fur coats!

I’d be so grateful if you could turn the heat down.  Thank you.  ~  love ~ Cobs. x