Begin each day with Twitchy Whiskers!

I can think of no finer way than to wake up like one of my cats.  Alf Capone (Used Furniture Dealer)  in particular.  He has this way of stretching, in a leisurely sort of way, then he pulls his whiskers forward as his mouth makes a sort of pouty, kissing shape, and finally ….  he yawns the yawn of a LION.  Totally.  The only thing which is missing is that LION growl.  But … the important thing is ... his whiskers twitch.

Maisie Doats (other cat residing in Cobweb Towers,  – a minuscule cat – 1:12th scale)  (well, no, not really 1:12th scale, but she is very small).   Aaanyway  [stop waffling Cobs!]… back to Maisie Doats … her whiskers twitch too – but it’s normally when she getting royally indignant about something (or some cat)  she’s spotted in HER garden.  If I had the courage of that little cat, I swear to dog that I’d be able to run the world.

Alf …. aw, now he’s a lover not a fighter.   But Maisie ….  ah, she’s a F.I.G.H.T.E.R  of the first degree.  A right bruiser.  Trouble is that she normally comes off the worst in a fight.

I know when she has an injury because she hides under the sofa.  You see … she knows that if I see she’s injured, out comes the cotton wool and the antiseptic in a bowl of tepid water, and in mummy wades to bathe the wounds.  SHE HATES IT!  She won’t speak to me for hours after I’ve done it – just to make sure that I know what I’ve done wrong.  It’s her version of putting me on the naughty step.

Aaanyhoo ….  I’m here to share the Catified version of the Waggy Tails cards (<–clickable link – opens in a new tab) which I shared on Monday, so I shall hush up and share!

Now did that face make you smile?  If you didn’t smile, maybe now’s the moment to check your pulse.

Originally I was only going to make a nose, cheeks, mouth with whiskers combination … but a little tickle happened somewhere inside me and I added a very tiny pair of beady eyes, just for laughs.  Not to do anything which would turn the twitchy whiskers into a ‘real’ cat face – I never wanted this to look like a proper cat face, for I wanted it to be a smile in a card.  The whole ‘thing’ about these cards is that they’re meant to be fun and funny.  But the beady eyes just gave a sort of added comical twist to it, and … well …  I just hadta.

A view from the side so that you can see how ‘proud’ the face is from the card itself.

The whiskers …  they can be touched and ‘twanged’.  They definitely have the twitchy factor.  🙂

Did you know ….

• A cat’s nose is as unique to a particular cat as a fingerprint is to a human  – no two cats have the same nose.
• The naked skin around a cat’s nostrils is known as “nose leather”.
• The colour of a cat’s nose leather depends on the colour of their coats – it can be pink, black, blue, chocolate, brown, lavender and brick-red.
• Chinchilla cats have nose leather that’s outlined with a lovely grey colour.
• Some cats even boast freckles on their noses!

Since making the Waggy Tails and Twitchy Whiskers Cards, my brain has gone on a ‘jolly’ with this idea and I now have ideas falling out of my ear-holes for other cards which I’d like to make.  But … not quite yet.  I don’t want to bore you to tears with these sorts of cards.

So I’ll jump craft lanes and come back next time with something a little different.  However …  expect me to make a visit to these cards at some point in the near future, as my brain is having a party with the ideas, and I can hear very clearly the laughter and the popping of corks which is happening inside my head!  😀

Thank you so much for coming and having a coffee with me,  and for taking a peep at the Cats Whiskers card.

But  …. take note of the sentiment and please remember to always:

BEGIN EACH DAY WITH TWITCHY WHISKERS!

Have a truly beautiful Wednesday!  😀

Sending love and squidges, from me in my corner, to you in yours.

 

 

 

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Start Each Day with a Waggy Tail!

Happy Monday all!

I promised someone last week that the thing I was in the middle of making at that time, would cause a smile.  And I hope that these two handmade cards do that very thing.

Can you imagine receiving a card, out of the blue,  for your Birthday;  to cheer you up;  or just to say ‘hello’,  opening it and finding this funny little dog inside…

That little chap looks like he’s kicking up the grass after he’s had a tinkle, doesn’t he?  LOL!

Camera at a slightly different angle so that you can see this really is a card.

I took the next photo to give you a side view, so that you could get a true idea of how much the back-end of this little chap stands proud of the card…

And then . . .   well . . .  I just had to make a taller, shaggy coated white dog – which I based upon a ‘Dulux Dog’ – or – an ‘Old English Sheepdog’,  as they’re actually called. . . 

. . . and from a slightly different angle . . . 

The photographs sadly don’t really show the detail of the coats – the ‘shaggyness’ which I’ve sculpted in.  The bodies look far more ‘hairy’ looking in real life – to the natural eye.

Another photo to show the depth of the clay dog.

And finally . . . a paws for thought . . .  

. . .  I forgot to take a shot of their feet, so dashed back to the craft room to take an extra photo. The photograph above shows the pinky feet of the white dog, and you can just about see that the brown woofer has pinky brown feet.  But what the photo doesn’t pick up is that each paw has individual pads – just as a real dog does.  In this case, each pad has one large central pad, and three little smaller pads around the front of the paw.

I think if I were sent one of these cards, for whatever reason, after displaying it as a card should be displayed,  I’d frame it afterwards and hang it on the wall.  It’s way too much fun to go into a drawer!

Now I’m very aware that not everyone is a dog person, so I gave some thought to what Cat people might enjoy . . .  and [whispering]. . .   “shhhh  . . .  something is in the pipeline for those people who love cats!  Coming  very,  very  soon!

Thank you so much for coming for a visit, and for sharing a coffee moment with me.  I hope you found a smile or two looking at the Waggy Tails! 

It’s really lovely to see you, and even more lovely to ‘hear’ your comments and chat, so  please,  do let me know you’ve visited. 

Have a truly blessed rest of your day, my lovely blogging friends!

 

Funshine Friday!

Yesterday,  Thursday, was the first day FOR WEEKS that it didn’t rain (or snow).   Personally I think a celebration is in order! 

We’ve had the most awful rain here in the South of England.  Heavy, bucketing it down, soak you to the skin, horrid, horrible rain.  I’ve had to remind myself, over and over, that God doesn’t tell me when to water my garden, so I don’t have the right to tell him when to water his.  I’m pretty sure that there’s method in what I consider to be a ‘rain madness’ – and I’m sure that all will become clear(ish) eventually.  But until then, I’ve agreed with Mr.Cobs that it’s probably better that he continue to build the Ark  from the kit I bought him, which he began work on a few weeks ago:

Not entirely convinced that it’s going to be big enough for all those 2×2 animals from around the world that are the requirement for a structure like this – but we’ll do our best, and if they have to be Lego sized, then so be it.  I’ll pack a magician who might be able to turn them into the real deal when we get through the journey.   😀

Aaanyhoo  . . .   I thought we could do with a smidgen of fun on a Friday, since we are now officially in Spring (except for those of you on the other side of the planet – and I’m sure ‘fun’ is a requirement for Autumn  going into Winter, down there!).  So with FUN in mind, I share with you a Text Message received from daughter No.2 . . .

She sent me, in full, the following:

The Washington Post has published its yearly neologism contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meaning for common words … and the winners are:

1. Coffee (n), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj) appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v) to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v) to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly  (adj), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj), describes a condition in which you absent mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n), gross olive-flavoured mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n), emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n),  a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Rectitude (n),  the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
12. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologists.
13. Circumvent (n), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
14. Frisbeetararianism  (n), (back by popular demand):  The belief that when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

Those tickled me in just the right place,  and also brought back a memory of something I read a few years ago, about words which had a meaning of what they meant, and also the opposite of what they meant.  Get these . . . .

• Dust, along with the next two words, is a noun turned into a verb meaning either to add or to remove the thing in question.  Only the context will tell you which it is. When you dust are you applying dust or removing it?  It all depends whether you’re dusting the crops or the furniture.
• Screen can mean ‘to show’ (a movie) or ‘to hide’ (an unsightly view).
• Seed can also go either way.  If you seed the lawn you add seeds, but if you seed a tomato you remove them.
• Stone is another verb to use with caution. You can stone some peaches, but please don’t stone your neighbour (even if he says he likes to get stoned).
• Trim as a verb predates the noun, but it can also mean either adding or taking away. Arising from an Old English word meaning ‘to make firm or strong; to settle, arrange,’ “trim” came to mean ‘to prepare, make ready.’ Depending on who or what was being readied, it could mean either of two contradictory things: ‘to decorate something with ribbons, laces, or the like to give it a finished appearance’ or ‘to cut off the outgrowths or irregularities of.’ And the context doesn’t always make it clear. If you’re trimming the tree are you using tinsel or a chain saw?
• Resign works as a contronym in writing. This time we have homographs, but not homophones. “Resign,” meaning ‘to quit,’ is spelled the same as “resign,” meaning ‘to sign up again,’ but it’s pronounced differently.
• Off means ‘deactivated,’ as in “to turn off,” but also ‘activated,’ as in “The alarm went off.”

See … even on non edumacational days, you STILL learn something new!  lol

Have a truly blessed rest of your day, and a wonderful weekend.

Sending you much love ~

 

 

 

 

The Friday Post ~ 8th September 2017

Happy Friday!  This week has flown by in one way, and yet it’s dragged it’s feet in another.

Something was missing in my life.  It’s seemed to be a long stretch of a week.  Then I realised what it was.  It was Little Cobs.  He went back to school on Tuesday so I haven’t seen him since last Saturday.  He’s a joyous handful when he’s here, but when he goes home my heart goes with him.   He’ll be here again on Saturday, and no doubt drag his  HUGE bag of cars out of his bedroom here, then he’ll search for the length of black drain pipe which I got Grandad to rub the ends of so that it wasn’t sharp, and he’ll prop the one end up on the footstool, and his cars will zoooom down the tube and we’ll find out who’s the winner!  It’s kind of his early introduction to betting.  LOL.  (No, we don’t use money or anything else.  We just use our eyes and guess which one will go the furthest)

Oh anyhoo …  look at me chatting away when what you’ve come for is some edumacation.  So let’s get going shall we?

On this Day in History

1504 – Michelangelo’s David is unveiled in Florence. Michelangelo’s David, sculpted from 1501 to 1504, is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture and one of Michelangelo’s two greatest works of sculpture, along with the Pietà. It is the statue of the young Israelite king David alone that almost certainly is one of the most recognizable stone sculptures in the history of art. It is regarded as a symbol both of strength and youthful human beauty.

Michelangelo’s David

The 5.17 meter (17 ft) marble statue portrays the Biblical King David in the nude, at the moment that he decides to battle with Goliath.

However; the proportions are not quite true to the human form; the head and upper body are somewhat larger than the proportions of the lower body. The hands are also larger than would be in regular proportions. While some have suggested that this is of the mannerist style, another explanation is that the statue was originally intended to be placed on a church façade or high pedestal, and that the proportions would appear correct when the statue was viewed from some distance below.

The apparently uncircumcised form would be at odds with Judaic practice, but would be consistent with the conventions of Renaissance art.

To protect it from damage, the sculpture was moved in 1873 to the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it attracts many visitors. A replica was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in 1910.

The cast of David at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), had a detachable plaster fig leaf, added for visits by Queen Victoria and other important ladies, when it was hung on the figure using two strategically placed hooks; it is now displayed nearby.

In 1991, a deranged man attacked the statue with a hammer he had concealed beneath his jacket, in the process damaging the toes of the left foot before being restrained. The samples obtained from that incident allowed scientists to determine that the marble used was obtained from the Fantiscritti quarries in Miseglia, the central of three small valleys in Carrara. The marble in question contains many microscopic holes that cause it to deteriorate faster than other marbles. Because of the marble’s degradation, a controversy occurred in 2003, when the statue underwent its first major cleaning since 1843. Some experts opposed the use of water to clean the statue, fearing further deterioration. Under the direction of Dr. Franca Falleti, senior restorers Monica Eichmann and Cinzia Pamigoni began the job of restoring the statue. The restoration work was completed in 2004.

By the 20th century, Michelangelo’s David had become iconic shorthand for “culture” David has been endlessly reproduced, in plaster, imitation marble fibreglass, and lends an atmosphere of culture even in some unlikely settings, such as beach resorts, gambling casinos and model railroads.

1888 – In London, the body of murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found, disembowelled in an East London street, the second victim of ‘Jack the Ripper’.

1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited.

1900 – Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.

1921 – 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant’s Golden Mermaid trophy;  pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.

1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.

1943 – World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the Allied armistice with Italy.
1944 – World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket as the first German V2 flying bombs fell on Britain, exploding at Chiswick in London, killing 3 people.

1960 – Publishers Penguin Books were charged with public obscenity for publishing D.H. Lawrence’s controversial book – ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’.
1960 – In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).

1966 – In England, the Severn Bridge was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, linking south Wales with south west England.
1966 – The first Star Trek,  the landmark American science fiction television series, premieres with the first-aired episode, “The Man Trap”, on NBC.

1968 – The Beatles perform their last live TV performance on the David Frost show. They perform their new hit Hey Jude.
1968 – British tennis player Virginia Wade beat American Billie Jean King to win the US Open.

1974 – Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.

1975 – Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline “I Am A Homosexual”.  He is given a general discharge, which was later upgraded to honorable.

2004 – The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open. The Genesis spacecraft was the first ever attempt to collect a sample of solar wind, and the first “sample return mission” to return from beyond the orbit of the Moon. It was launched on August 8, 2001, and crash-landed on September 8, 2004 after a design flaw prevented the deployment of its drogue parachute. The crash contaminated many of the sample collectors, but subsequent processing was able to isolate useful samples, and as of March 2008 all of the mission’s major science objectives are expected to be achieved successfully.

Born on this Day

1921 – Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
1922 – Sid Caesar, American comedian (d. 2014)
1925 – Peter Sellers, English actor (d. 1980)
1932 – Patsy Cline, American singer (d. 1963)

1979 – Pink, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

  🌷  🌷  🌷

OK… now it’s playtime.  (All schools have a playtime, and this one is no different) …

I will only give you links to click on that I’ve tried and tested and know for sure that there is nothing bad hiding in them.  So please rest assured that any link you find on this blog has been tested before I load it here.  I’ve been playing around with most of these links for … oh my goodness, around ten years, so I know for sure that they’re safe.

Today …  instead of a game, I share with you something that I have tons of fun on every now and again.

If you don’t have a Gravatar picture of yourself,  or a photo of yourself on your blog – in your sidebar – then you can ‘build’ yourself on this website!  It’s not really you as such, but it’s ‘you’ in a cartoony sort of way.

You can build a body, a skin tone, hair, lips, teeth, eyes, glasses, facial hair,  even tattoos!  You can make it look like you … but if you were stood in a line up, no one would be able to pick you out based on that image.  lol.  Aww … look, I’ll give you the link so that you can have a play with it yourself.  It’s lots of fun… BUT …  have a look around first, and click on the things so that you know what they look like… because once you have chosen some of the things there, you can’t undo them  (some you can change – but not all of them). . . and you’ll have to start from the beginning.  Other than that, it’s a great little time waster.

click —> http://www.sp-studio.de/  …  it will open in a new window for you.

Well we’ve come to the end of the school day, here in Cobweborium Land.  Don’t you wish all your school/work days were as short as this?  A bit of fun, over a cup of coffee and time to go off and relax!  lol

Wishing you all a truly wonderful weekend.  Thank you so much for coming and spending a little time with me.  I love seeing you here.

May your weekend be everything you want it to be.  🌹

The Friday Post ~ 1st September 2017

Happy 1st September and,   after me I want you to say the following out loud  … ready?  WHITE RABBITS.   Said it?  Good.  You see, this is something I was taught by my grandparents to say on the very first day of any and every month.  It’s kind of good luck charm.  Something which would ensure that bad luck passed by you and only good luck came into your life.

Now you can scoff and say it’s rubbish … but hey,  it’s just two little words. What have you got to lose?

Today is in fact a very special day because…   September 1st  is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.  There are 121 days remaining until the end of the year.  This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Sunday or Monday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Wednesday or Friday (56).  I think we should have a cake of some sort, to celebrate.  Shall we get our baking tins out and do something wonderful with them?

Right then … it’s Friday so that means it’s ‘Further Your Edumacation Day!’.  Do you have your pens, pencils and crayons ready?  Ok … let’s go then!

On this Day in History.

1159 – Pope Adrian IV, (Nicholas Breakspeare), the only English pope, died.

1752 – The Liberty Bell arrives in Philadelphia. The Liberty Bell, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a bell that has served as one of the most prominent symbols of the American Revolutionary War. It is a familiar symbol of independence within the United States and has been described as an icon of liberty and justice.

You can learn more here:  US History – Liberty Bell.

1865 – In Great Britain – Joseph Lister performed the first antiseptic surgery.

1886 – The Severn Tunnel, (railway tunnel) between England and Wales, was opened for goods traffic

1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.

The Treaty of Ghent was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, Belgium.

1939 – At dawn on 1st September, Germany made a massive invasion of Poland and bombed Warsaw at 6am, beginning World War II in Europe. German forces attacked Poland across all frontiers and its planes bombed Polish cities, including the capital, Warsaw – Britain and France prepare to declare war. And, on this date, the start of WWII – the service to 2,000 televisions ceased in Britain. There would be no more TV for seven years.

BBC News report along with a Timeline <— will open in a new tab for you.

1951 – The Premier supermarket opened in Earl’s Court, London; the first supermarket in Britain.

1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird (below) sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London: 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds.

The Lockheed SR-71 is an advanced, long-range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft by the Lockheed Skunk Works. The SR-71 was unofficially named the Blackbird, and called the Habu by its crews. Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was responsible for many of the design’s innovative concepts. A defensive feature of the aircraft was its high-speed and operating altitude, whereby, if a surface-to-air missile launch were detected, standard evasive action was simply to accelerate. The SR-71 line was in service from 1964 to 1998, with 12 of the 32 aircraft being destroyed in accidents, though none were lost to enemy action.

1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.

1980 – Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope ends in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox, CC (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist. He became famous for the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research, which Fox ran with one prosthetic leg. He is considered one of Canada’s greatest heroes of the 20th century and is celebrated internationally every September as people participate in the Terry Fox Run, the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research.

Fox began by dipping his leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. He intended to dip it in the Pacific Ocean when he arrived in Victoria, British Columbia. He also filled two large bottles with Atlantic Ocean water; his plan was to keep one as a souvenir and pour the other one into the Pacific. He also intended to fill another jug of water with water from the Pacific Ocean. He was going to run about 42 km (26.2 miles) a day, the distance of a typical marathon. No one had ever done anything similar to the task Fox was undertaking.

Fox was unable to finish his run. His bone cancer had metastasized to his lungs: x-rays revealed that Terry’s right lung had a lump the size of a golf ball and his left lung had another lump the size of a lemon. He was forced to stop the run on September 1, 1980 just north-east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, after 143 days. He had run 5,373 km (3,339 miles, or around 23.3 miles per day) through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario.

Soon after Fox was forced to stop, the CTV television network organized a telethon in hopes of raising additional funds for the cause. Any celebrities within range of Toronto were invited to participate, and the event raised millions of dollars. Many of the guests paid tribute to Fox; TV actor Lee Majors called him “the real Six Million Dollar Man.”

In June 1981, Terry developed pneumonia, and on June 27 he went into a coma. He died on the 28th at 4:37 a.m., which was his favourite hour of running, a year after his legendary run, and exactly one month shy of his twenty-third birthday.
Terry’s large funeral was broadcast live on national television. He is buried in the Port Coquitlam cemetery, near his favourite lookout just outside the cemetery gates.

British singer/songwriter Rod Stewart’s 1981 album Tonight I’m Yours includes the song “Never Give Up On A Dream” (co-written with Bernie Taupin), a tribute to Terry’s Marathon of Hope.  Proceeds from the song went towards cancer research.

1981 – Garages in Britain began selling petrol in litres.

1985 – After 73 years the wreck of the liner ‘Titanic’ was found, by Dr. Robert Ballard.

2004 – The Beslan school hostage crisis begins when armed terrorists take hundreds of school children and adults hostage in the Russian town of Beslan in North Ossetia.

The Beslan school hostage crisis (also referred to as the Beslan school siege or Beslan massacre) began when a group of armed rebels, demanding an end to the Second Chechen War, took more than 1,100 people (including some 777 children) hostage on September 1, 2004, at School Number One (SNO) in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, an autonomous republic in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation.

On the third day of the standoff, Russian security forces stormed the building using tanks, thermobaric rockets and other heavy weapons. A series of explosions shook the school, followed by a fire which engulfed the building and a chaotic gun battle between the hostage-takers and Russian security forces. Ultimately, at least 334 hostages were killed, including 186 children. Hundreds more were wounded or reported missing.

Chechen separatist warlord Shamil Basayev took responsibility for the hostage taking but blamed the outcome on the then Russian President Vladimir Putin. The tragedy led to security and political repercussions in Russia, most notably a series of government reforms consolidating power in the Kremlin and strengthening of the powers of President of Russia. As of 2008, there are many aspects of the crisis still in dispute, including how many militants were involved, their preparations, and whether some of them had escaped. Questions about the government’s management of the crisis have also persisted, including disinformation and censorship in news media, repressions of journalists who rushed to Beslan, the nature and content of negotiations with the militants, the responsibility for the bloody outcome, and the government’s use of possibly excessive force.

The School – A feature in Esquire Magazine.  –  from June 2006. This link is a great link, as not only does it include the whole story, in detail – but it also has video footage of this news item, as broadcast by CNN.

2006 – Luxembourg became the first country to complete the move to all digital television broadcasting.

Born on this Day

1854 –  Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (d. 1921)

1875 –  Edgar Rice Burroughs, American writer (d. 1950)

1923 –  Rocky Marciano, American boxer (d. 1969)

1939 –  Lily Tomlin, American actress and comedian

1946 –  Barry Gibb, English singer (Bee Gees)

1950 –  Dr. Phil McGraw, American talk show host

1955 –  Bruce Foxton, English bassist (The Jam)

1957 –  Gloria Estefan, Cuban/American singer

Well then…. I hope you’ve learned something from that ↑ little lot that you can take out and share with the world …. or at the very least the person sat opposite you!

But … we haven’t finished yet.  🙂  I shared a little bit of playtime with you last week by giving you the link to a bubble popping game which had all those beautiful little noises as the bubbles popped.

Well this week, I have another bubble popper for you, but a slightly different one.  The aim is to fire little coloured balls from your ‘launcher’, at other coloured balls – of the same colour.  3 or more same coloured balls, all linked together means that section of balls will blow up, and you’ll bank points.

I play it not for points or to watch my best score, but simply just to have a little enjoyment and beat the game by blowing up all the balls and ending up with a completely blank screen after blowing all the balls to smithereens!

It’s called  Bubble Shooter.  <— click.  It will open up in another page for you.  Enjoy!

Wishing you a very happy Friday.  Hope your day is wonderful and that your weekend turns out to be a total joy.

September squidges from me to you …

Friday School:- like Sunday school but more entertaining.

Haaaappy Friday!

Well …. we made it through another week, so I think we’re doing OK.  None of us got run down by an Emu, or exploded for eating too many sweeties.  So we’ll score this week as a 10 out of 10.  Yes, I know that some of you have had gremlins creep into your week, and I know that at least one of you has had a day or two of feeling really rather miserable.  But … I’m here to put things on the right track again and do my job of not only Educationamalising you, but also going to fulfill my obligation to make you smile – even if you don’t want to!!!

So then … do you all have your pencils, crayons and books ready to take notes?  Then we shall begin .. ..  ..  ..

On this Day in History

1858 – First ascent of the Eiger.

The Eiger is a mountain in the Swiss Alps. The peak is mentioned in records dating back to the 13th century but there is no clear indication of how exactly the peak gained its name. The three mountains of the ridge are sometimes referred to as the Virgin (German: Jungfrau, lit. “Young Woman” – translates to “Virgin” or “Maiden”), the Monk (Mönch) and the Ogre (Eiger). The name has been linked to the Greek term akros, meaning “sharp” or “pointed”, but more commonly to the German eigen, meaning “characteristic”.

The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858.

1909 – The first recorded use of the new emergency wireless signal SOS.

1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

External Link:
Babe Ruth.com – The Official Website of the Sultan of Swat

1934 – Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island.

Alcatraz Island, sometimes informally referred to as simply Alcatraz or by its pop-culture name, The Rock, is a small island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California, United States.

It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963. It became a national recreation area in 1972 and received landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986.

Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

External Link:
Alcatraz History

1941 – President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill  signed the Atlantic Charter, largely to demonstrate public solidarity between the Allies.

1942 – Great Britain’s Barnes Wallis patented his ‘bouncing bomb’, used successfully to destroy German dams in the 2nd World War.

1968 – The start of National Apple Week in England.  …  and ….  The Beatles launched their new record label, Apple.

1968 – The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain.

A selection of British Rail steam locomotives make the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and returns to Liverpool before having their fires dropped for the last time – this working was known as the Fifteen Guinea Special.

I’m thrilled to bits to have found a short film that was taken from the window of the Fifteen Guinea Special, showing how people came out of their houses and ran to the railway lines to watch this final last journey of this wonderful locomotive.

1971 – The Prime Minister, (of the day) Edward Heath, steered the British yachting team to victory in the Admiral’s Cup.

1975 – The British Government took ownership of British Leyland, the only major British-owned car company.

1982 – The notorious East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray were allowed out of prison for the funeral of their mother.

1999 – Up to 350m people throughout Europe and Asia witnessed the last total solar eclipse of the century.

2003 – A heat wave in Paris resulted in temperatures rising to 112°F (44° C), leaving about 144 people dead.

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We have reached the limit of my brain cell.  Please wait a moment while my user presses the re-set button.

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Now, although your edumacation for Friday School this week has been completed, please be aware that you will, at some point, be tested on these snippets of information, so if you skipped any dates you might want to go back and read them …. and even make notes in your book.  After all…  you don’t want to get a big F for FAIL in your test results.  Noooo.  Only those with passes over 8 (eight) will get an award [of a lollipop] and those with a score over 70 will get:  a lollypop, a tube of fruit Polo’s AND ….  a STICKER!!!

Ohhh ho ho ho (she laughs like Santa???) … we don’t skimp around here for prizes!  We go way over the top, as you can clearly see!

And finally ….  I have to fulfill my contract by making you laugh…  so get your chuckle muscles ready . . . . . .

(this is just a teensy bit rude … but only a little bit … however,  if you’re really easily offended then perhaps stop reading now)…

To celebrate their 7th anniversary, a man and his wife spend the weekend at an exclusive golf resort. He is a pretty good golfer, but she only just started. When they head down to the golf course after a lavish lunch and a bottle of champagne, they notice a beautiful mansion a couple of hundred yards behind the first hole.

“Let’s be extra careful, honey,” the husband says, “If we damage that house over there, it’ll cost us a fortune.”

The wife nods, tees off and – bang! – sends the ball right through the window of the mansion.

“Damn,” the husband says. “I told you to watch out for that house. Alright, let’s go up there, apologize and see what the damage is.”

They walk up to the house and knock on the door.

“Come on in,” a voice in the house says.

The couple open the door and enter the foyer. The living room is a mess. There are pieces of glass all over the floor and a broken bottle near the window. A man sits on the couch.

When the couple enter the room, he gets up and says, “Are you the guys who just broke my window?”

“Um, yeah,” the husband replies, “sorry about that.”

“Not at all, it’s me who has to thank you. I’m a genie and was trapped in that bottle for a thousand years. You’ve just released me. To show my gratitude, I’m allowed to grant each of you a wish.  But – I’ll require one favour in return.”

“Really? That’s great!” the husband says. “I want a million dollars a year for the rest of my life.”

“No problem – that’s the least I can do. And you, what do you want?” the genie asks, looking at the wife.

“I want a house in every country of the world,” the wife says.

The genie smiles. “Consider it done.”

“And what’s this favour we must grant in return, genie?” the husband asks.

“Well, since I’ve been trapped in that stupid bottle for the last thousand years, I haven’t ‘been’ with a woman for a very long time. My wish is to sleep with your wife.”

The husband scratches his head, looks at the wife and says, “Well, we did get a lot of money and all these houses, honey. So I guess I’m fine if it’s alright with you.”

The genie and the wife disappear in a room upstairs for an hour, while the husband stays in the living room.

When they are done, the genie rolls over, looks at the wife and asks, “How old exactly is your husband?”

“31,” she replies.

“And he still believes in genies? That’s amazing!”

❤

Hey … don’t blame me, I’m just the deliverer of jokes.  I don’t make ’em up!

Well, that’s me done and dusted.  All that’s left for me to say is…..

Have a terrific Friday.  Share your smile with everyone.  Even if you don’t feel like smiling, try your best and you’ll soon see that having a smile plastered to your face actually does make you feel so much lighter and brighter inside.

Try it.  You’ve got nothing to lose!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. 

Sending love and squidges from my corner here, where I’m sat., to your corner there, where you’re sat.

 

The Friday Post: Education of the more entertaining type.

Arms folded, backs straight.  Are you ready for your Friday educationamalisation?

Gynotikolobomassophile:  Is a real word and it means:  Someone who likes to nibble on a woman’s earlobe.

Netting is used for more than just catching fish.

There is a place in Peru where they have strung up netting to capture the mist as it rolls in from the sea, which in turn gives them water to use for their crops and plants.

Honest Injun! It’s the truth. They really do use nets to capture mist.

Read more about it here:-   news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8297276.stm
God supplies you with what you need … you just have to sometimes make a bit of an effort in order to help yourself to get it.

All the planets in the solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won’t have to pick the little “stringy things” off of it.  That’s how the primates do it.

The waste produced by one chicken in its lifetime could power a 100W bulb for 5 hours

You know how sometimes, as you fall asleep, you will feel your legs jerk powerfully. This is usually accompanied by a dream about falling.  Have you ever wondered why this happens?
Well….

This is called a Hypnic Jerk. When you go to sleep at night your brain paralyses your body to stop you acting out all your dreams. It would be dangerous to act out everything that happens in your dreams, especially if you were running or fighting, not just for whoever shares your bed, but also for yourself. It’s thought that this ‘sleep paralysis’ evolved when we slept in trees, as acting out your dreams whilst sleeping high up in the branches would be even more dangerous than doing so while tucked up in bed!

As this system kicks in, you can sometimes have these hypnic jerks, where all the muscles contract suddenly and violently. For some reason, these are often associated with dreams of falling.

According to Wikipedia, pareidolia is “a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (usually an image) being mistakenly perceived as recognizable.”

One common form of pareidolia is seeing faces in objects (like the flying spaghetti monster on a tortilla, or the face of a cookie monster on a pizza).

There actually, is an excellent book filled with pictures of faces on objects, called Faces.  However.. I’ve found a Flickr gallery, belonging to someone called Jim Leftwich, who has been taking his own pictures of faces for a while.  The photos are all whimsical and surprising!   www.flickr.com/photos/jimwich/sets/796304/

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty (50) years of age or older.

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum.

The King of Hearts is the only king WITHOUT A MOUSTACHE

Most dust particles in your house are made from DEAD SKIN!

The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.
So did the first ‘ Marlboro Man.’

Pearls melt in Vinegar

and finally ….. 

Thing that I learned this week  …
….. if you get toothpaste on the tip of your nose;   if you don’t get it off quickly enough, the tip of your nose goes numb.

I am contractually obliged to make you laugh, so here’s the best joke I could come up with at this moment in time…

This is silly, but funny!

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack.

“Miss Whack, I’d like to get a $30,000 loan to take a holiday.”

Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it’s okay, he knows the bank manager.

Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral.

The frog says, “Sure. I have this,” and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.

Very confused, Patty explains that she’ll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.

She finds the manager and says, “There’s a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000, and he wants to use this as collateral.”

She holds up the tiny pink elephant. “I mean, what in the world is this?”

(you’re going to love this)

(it’s a real treat)

(a masterpiece)

(wait for it) . . .

The bank manager looks back at her and says…

“It’s a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man’s a Rolling Stone.”

(You’re singing it, aren’t you?  Yeah, I know you are…)…

Wishing you a truly fabulous Friday, and a wonderful Weekend.  Be kind to each other …. and to yourself,  and …  don’t take life too seriously.

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Factoids for your Friday Fun …

Right … It’s Friday and it’s time to  … PIN BACK YOUR LUGHOLES (ears) …. for you are going to be Educationamalised!

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

 

It is impossible to out-swim a shark .

The slowest fish is the Sea Horse, which moves along at about 0.016 km/h (0.01 mph).

The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant

A snail has two pairs of tentacles on its head. One pair is longer than the other and houses the eyes. The shorter pair is used for smelling and feeling its way around.

In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.  Technically though, the driest place on earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

A house fly lives only 14 days. (but not if Mr.Cobs and his fly swat is near!)

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.  Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica.  This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world.  As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.  Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it) Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents.

In the United States:  The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

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An Anagram of:
“To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”
Is:
“In one of the Bard’s best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten”

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Fake trees were invented by a company who made toilet bowl brushes, the Addis Brush Company.  Regardless of how far the technology has come, it’s still interesting to know the first fake Christmas trees were really just big green toilet bowl brushes.

And  ….

Did you know…  The can opener was invented  48 years after  cans were introduced!

 

My Contract states that I HAVE to leave you with a smile or a chuckle if it tickles you in the right place.  So ….  here goes:

Fifty-one years ago, Herman James, a North Carolina mountain man, was drafted by the Army.

On his first day in basic training, the Army issued him a comb. That afternoon the Army barber sheared off all his hair.

On his second day, the Army issued Herman a toothbrush. That afternoon the Army dentist yanked out seven of his teeth.

On the third day, the Army issued him a jock strap.

The Army has been looking for Herman for 51 years.

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Happy Friday my lovely blogging friends.  If you’ve got this far and are still alive  reading then I’m so proud of you for getting through the whole course and your certificate is in the post.  You are now far more Educationamalised than you were a little while ago.

I’m wishing you a truly fabulous Friday, and a truly terrific weekend.

Enjoy every moment of it.  Don’t wait for another day.  Don’t put off doing something until you’ve lost 10lbs.  Don’t bother about the spot on your chin.  Don’t worry that you don’t feel you have the right outfit.  Who cares if you’ll be by yourself doing ‘it’ – walking in the park;  Taking photo’s of the ducks on the lake;  Shopping for something or other.  Just do it.  Don’t put it off.  Do it today.  Now.  Or … this weekend.

Take care of yourself … and each other.  And … whatever you decide to do with your weekend or where-ever you decided to go …  may your God go with you.

Sending huge squidges ~

 

 

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And Pigs Might Fly! ~ an ATC painted for World Watercolour Month

I’m going to type this blog post and get it all finished and completed within 15 minutes.  Yeah … and pigs might fly!

I got out my paints this afternoon (Sunday) with the intention of painting an Angel …  but then a stray little ticklish memory came to mind and I found myself pencilling a flying pig, and so I went with it.

P ‘And Pigs Might Fly’  ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

It was quite a quick painting project, the longest time was waiting for colours to dry so I could move onto another colour  …  but my heat gun helped with that just a tad.

Again, painted to the ATC size of 2.5inches by 3.5inches.  You can see the exact size in the photo above – the pencil marks around the sides – but I always leave an ‘over-hang’ so that I can touch/hold the painting and move it around without getting mucky finger prints on it and spoiling it.

‘And Pigs Might Fly’  ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

I tried a white mount around it and quite liked that.  But then tried the blue mount and …

‘And Pigs Might Fly’  ~ an ATC sized painting for ~ #WorldWatercolorMonth

…  I quite liked that too.  One moment I love it with the white mount … and the next … well … what can I say.  I like them both.

What about you?  Which one do you prefer?

This really was an enjoyable make.  Watercolour paper.  Watercolour paints.  Some brushes and some water … and VOILA!  One teeny pig with really tiny teeny wings. Somehow I don’t think those wings would carry the pig … but hey…  who am I to judge?  I have no training in these things!  😇

Happy Monday!

I know, I know, you’re not overly impressed with Mondays.  Lots of people aren’t.  So let’s break the system.  Let’s paste a smile on our faces and wear it at every opportunity today.  Why?  Because it makes everyone wonder what the HECK you’ve been up to.   You’ll look like you’ve been up to something or know something.  Keep ’em guessing.  When they ask you just say   “Aw,  nothing,  really” … but say it in *that* way which makes them think that  …  you might not be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.   And that alone will keep ’em smiling.  lol

Have a truly blessed day my friends,  and wherever you go today,  may your God go with you.

The Friday Post ~ Classified Ads . . .

Happy Friday!   Again, yet another week has passed and I still haven’t found the secret to stopping the clocks so that I remain the child I am at heart.  One day I’m going to crack that secret and I’ll share it with you, so you can all stay young along with me.  I’m pretty sure the world would be able to handle it.  (although mind … there are a small handful of us who the world might just struggle with …  lol)

Well …  I hope you have your Chuckle Muscle in good shape, for this is the required item you’ll need for this weeks Friday Post.

It’s the Summer,  and people are looking to sort out their houses and get rid of things they’re no longer using,  by putting an advert in a newspaper in order to sell those things.  Or some folks have a business which they are looking to promote and add a few pennies to the holiday fund.

All this is leading me to sharing some of those folks adverts with you.  Are you ready with your chuckle muscle?  Sure?  Ok … let’s go . . .

CLASSIFIED ADS
Actual genuine excerpts from classified sections of city newspapers:

ILLITERATE?  WRITE  TODAY FOR FREE HELP.

AUTO REPAIR SERVICE.  FREE PICK-UP AND DELIVERY.   TRY US ONCE, YOU’LL NEVER GO ANYWHERE AGAIN.

OUR EXPERIENCED MOM WILL CARE FOR YOUR CHILD. FENCED YARD, MEALS, AND SMACKS INCLUDED.

DOG FOR SALE: EATS ANYTHING AND IS FOND OF CHILDREN.

STOCK UP AND SAVE.   LIMIT: ONE.

SEMI-ANNUAL AFTER-CHRISTMAS SALE.

3-YEAR-OLD TEACHER NEEDED FOR PRE-SCHOOL.  EXPERIENCE PREFERRED.

MIXING BOWL SET DESIGNED TO PLEASE A COOK WITH ROUND BOTTOM FOR EFFICIENT BEATING.

DINNER SPECIAL — TURKEY $2.35;  CHICKEN OR BEEF $2.25;  CHILDREN $2.00.

FOR SALE: ANTIQUE DESK SUITABLE FOR LADY WITH THICK LEGS AND LARGE DRAWERS.

NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR EARS PIERCED AND GET AN EXTRA PAIR TO TAKE HOME, TOO.

WE DO NOT TEAR YOUR CLOTHING WITH MACHINERY. WE DO IT CAREFULLY BY HAND.

HAVE SEVERAL VERY OLD DRESSES FROM GRANDMOTHER IN BEAUTIFUL CONDITION.

TIRED OF CLEANING YOURSELF?   LET ME DO IT.

VACATION SPECIAL: HAVE YOUR HOME EXTERMINATED.

MT. KILIMANJARO, THE BREATHTAKING BACKDROP FOR THE SERENA LODGE. SWIM IN THE LOVELY POOL WHILE YOU DRINK IT ALL IN.

THE HOTEL HAS BOWLING ALLEYS, TENNIS COURTS, COMFORTABLE BEDS, AND OTHER ATHLETIC FACILITIES.

TOASTER: A GIFT THAT EVERY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY APPRECIATES. AUTOMATICALLY BURNS TOAST.

MAN, HONEST. WILL TAKE ANYTHING.

USED CARS: WHY GO ELSEWHERE TO BE CHEATED? COME HERE FIRST.

CHRISTMAS TAG-SALE. HANDMADE GIFTS FOR THE HARD-TO-FIND PERSON.

WANTED: HAIR CUTTER. EXCELLENT GROWTH POTENTIAL.

WANTED. MAN TO TAKE CARE OF COW THAT DOES NOT SMOKE OR DRINK.

OUR BIKINIS ARE EXCITING. THEY ARE SIMPLY THE TOPS.

WANTED. WIDOWER WITH SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN REQUIRED TO ASSUME GENERAL HOUSEKEEPING DUTIES. MUST BE CAPABLE OF CONTRIBUTING TO GROWTH OF FAMILY.

WE WILL OIL YOUR SEWING MACHINE AND ADJUST TENSION IN YOUR HOME FOR $1.00.

MAN WANTED TO WORK IN DYNAMITE FACTORY. MUST BE WILLING TO TRAVEL

And just in case you still have a little coffee in your cup and want a tad more entertainment, I share with you…  Signs, as found on You Tube:

Well that’s me done and dusted for another ‘Friday Post’.

All that’s left for me to say is …  have a truly blessed rest of your day, and I hope your weekend is peace filled and leaves you feeling contented.   And,  finally, …  remember to be a little kinder than you might think necessary.  Each one of us is fighting our own battle.  I may not see your battle, and you don’t know what mine is, but I’d like people to be kind to me in the same way I’m kind to them.  So … be a little kinder to all that you meet and interact with this weekend.  Who knows . . .  your kindness could just be the thing which enables someone to carry on carrying on.

Sending my love and a bucket full of squidges ~