As we bring another week to a close, I’ve come to educationamalise you with some useless useful information that you can impress your friends with. If you can come out with three of the things you are about to learn, I think you’ll definitely go up in their estimation and they’ll think you’re really Edumacationed. Perfick.
So … shall we crack on?Ready? Fasten your seat-belts, we’re going in!
Friday Edumacation
On this Day in History
312 – Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross. Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine was Roman Emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of that office from 324 to his death. Best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine reversed the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued (with his co-emperor Licinius) the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire.
On the evening of October 27, with the armies preparing for battle, Constantine had a vision which lead him to fight under the protection of the Christian God. The details of that vision, however, differ between the sources reporting it. It is believed that the sign of the cross appeared and Constantine heard “In this sign, you shall conquer” in Greek.
Lactantius (an early Christian author) states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to “delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers”. He obeyed and marked the shields with a sign “denoting Christ”. Lactantius describes that sign as a “staurogram”, or a Latin cross with its upper end rounded in a P-like fashion.
1662 – Charles II of England sold the coastal town of Dunkirk to King Louis XIV of France.
1880 – Theodore Rooseveltmarried Alice Lee.
1904 – The first undergroundNew York City Subway line opens; the system becomes the biggest in United States, and one of the biggest in world.
1936 – Mrs Wallis Simpsonfiled for divorce from her second husband Ernest, which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne. 1938 – Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: nylon.
1952 – The BBCscreened part one of the 26 part series ‘Victory At Sea’, Britain’s first TV documentary. 1954 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force. 1958 – First transmissionof the BBC children’s television programme Blue Peter.
1962 – Major Rudolph Andersonof the United States Air Force became the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane was shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as “A Time for Choosing”.
A Time for Choosing, also known as “The Speech,” was presented on a number of speaking occasions during the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign by future-president Ronald Reagan on behalf of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater.
Many versions of the speech exist, as it was altered during many stops, but two are best known:
• 1964 Republican National Convention – San Francisco, California – Given as a nomination speech for Goldwater.
• As part of a pre-recorded television program titled “Rendezvous with Destiny”, broadcast on October 27, 1964.
Following the speech, Ronald Reagan was asked to run for governor of California. To this day, this speech is considered one of the most effective ever made on behalf of a candidate. Reagan was later called the “great communicator” in recognition of his effective communication skills.
1967 – Britain passed the Abortion Act, allowing abortions to be performed legally for medical reasons. The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate abortion by registered practitioners, and the free provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS).
It was introduced by David Steel as a Private Member’s Bill, but was backed by the government, and after a heated debate and a free vote passed on 27 October 1967, coming into effect on 27 April 1968.
The act made abortion legal in the UK up to 28 weeks gestation. In 1990, the law was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act: abortion became legal only up to 24 weeks except in cases where it was necessary to save the life of the woman, there was evidence of extreme fetal abnormality, or there was a grave risk of physical or mental injury to the woman.
As of 2005, abortions after 24 weeks were extremely rare, fewer than 200 a year, accounting for 0.1% of all abortions. There are continual pushes to reduce this time limit greatly, but so far, no changes have been made.
The act does not extend to Northern Ireland. Abortion is illegal there unless the doctor acts “only to save the life of the mother”. The situation is the same as it was in England before the introduction of the Abortion Act. The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Criminal Justice Act remain in full force.
1968 – In Great Britain, Police clashed with anti-war protesters as trouble flared in Grosvenor Square, London, after an estimated 6,000 marchers faced up to police outside the United States Embassy. BBC News Report on the Day complete with Timeline of Events
1986 – The United Kingdom Government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang.
1992 – United States Navy radio man Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmates for being gay, precipitating first military, then national debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States “Don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy. 1997 – The 1997 mini-crash:Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activated their “circuit breakers” twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early.
Born on this Day
1782 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
1728 – Captain James Cook, English naval officer and one of the greatest navigators in history. His voyages in the Endeavour led to the European discovery of Australia, New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands. Thanks to Cook’s understanding of diet, no member of the crew ever died of scurvy, the great killer on other voyages.
1811 – Isaac Singer, American inventor (d. 1875) made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
1854 – Sir William Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys’ Brigade (d. 1914)
1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919)
1873 – Emily Post, American etiquette author (d. 1960)
1896 – Edith Brown, survivor of the Titanic (d. 1997)
1914 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
1939 – John Cleese, British actor and writer
1951 – K.K. Downing, English guitarist (Judas Priest)
1953 – Peter Firth, British actor
1957 – Glenn Hoddle, English footballer
1958 – Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)
1978 – Vanessa-Mae, Singapore musician
1984 – Kelly Osbourne, English television personality and daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
🍒 🍒 🍒
Thought for the Day
Attitude. The longer I live the more I realise the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude to me, is more important than facts. More important than the past, education, money, circumstances, failure, success, that what other people think, or say, or do.
It’s more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a hobby; a business; a friendship; a relationship; a love; a marriage; a Church; a home; a nation.
The remarkable thing is that we have a choice, every day, regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way and sometimes the way they act is inappropriate.
We cannot change the inevitable – nothing I can do will stop the hands of time from turning my hair grey; my body ageing; a wrinkle appearing on my face; getting older and developing the aches and pains that come with age … but just because I have a pain, doesn’t mean I have to BE a pain!
We cannot change the fact that bad things will happen to good people. A great deal of life happenings are beyond our control.
The one thing we can do though, is play on the one string we have … and that, is our attitude.
I’m convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are each in charge of our own attitude.
What attitude are you going to choose today? And … when you’ve chosen it, remember – people will react to your attitude – so if they react badly, maybe it isn’t down to them, but down to you and your attitude.
Remember this, and if you find yourself continually getting what you don’t want . . . maybe you need to change your attitude towards people, and towards your life in general.
If you keep doing what you’re doing – you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.
PLAYTIME!!!
No edumacation facility is worth its weight unless it gives it’s pupils something to play with, so …. here it comes:
Want to make a glass of water freeze instantly on command?What is this supernatural power and who can use it? Discover the secrets to Ice-bending … in real life. Watch the video in the following link. It will teach you all you want to know, and then you’ll REALLY be able to amaze friends and family, and they’ll all wonder how on earth you did it! (link will open in a new window for you): My Science Academy
I learnt this week that Potatoes have two more chromosomes than people, the same as gorillas! And … that Rice has almost twice as many genes as human beings! Not sure how this fit’s into the lives of people I know but there is a relative I would perhaps call a couch potato. But … now I’m wondering if I’m paying them a compliment! LOL.
Did you learn anything new this week? Do share … you can edumacate me then!
I hope you have a truly fabulous Friday, and a remarkable weekend.
Another week has gone by and we’re still here, so let us give thanks for that blessing. Time does crack on, but the older I get the faster it flashes past. Why is that? I keep asking and no one seems to have the definitive answer. I’m pretty sure that my days are now a third less long than they used to be.
Well now … let’s have some happy news shall we? As of today we officially have 66 days to Christmas. Yup, it scared me too. I’m going to go Christmas shopping next week and see if I can get ahead of the game. It will be the first time ever if I do. lol. But I seek to improve myself.
So anyhoo … you haven’t come here to listen to my chin wagging, you’ve come for your weekly dose of Edumacation. So pencils at the ready. Crayons are no longer allowed since the blue crayon eating incident, – so pencils it is. Let’s dive straight in shall we?
Edumacation
On this Day in History
1714 – In Great Britain– The Coronation of King George I. During George’s reign, the powers of the monarchy diminished and Britain began a transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by a prime minister. Towards the end of his reign, actual political power was held by Robert Walpole, now recognised as Britain’s first de facto prime minister. George died of a stroke on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried.
1818 – The 49th Parallelwas established by the USA and Britain as the official boundary between Canada and the United States of America. 1822 – In Great Britain, the first edition of the Sunday Times newspaper.
1910 – The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. RMS Olympic was the lead ship of the Olympic class ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included Titanic and Britannic. Unlike her sisters, Olympic served a long and illustrious career (1911 to 1935), becoming known as “Old Reliable.”
1944 – Liquid natural gasleaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130. 1944 – General Douglas MacArthurfulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War. 1946 – ‘Muffin the Mule’, a wooden puppet operated by Annette Mills (sister of actor Sir John Mills) first appeared in a children’s television programme on BBC TV.
Muffin the Mule with Annette Mills (sister of actor Sir John Mills.)
1955 – Publication of The Return of the King,being the last part of The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by the English philologist J. R. R. Tolkien.
The story began as a sequelto Tolkien’s earlier, less complex children’s fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II.
Although intended as a single-volume work, it was originally published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955, due to post-war paper shortages, and it is in this three-volume form that it is popularly known. It has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into many different languages, becoming one of the most popular and influential works in 20th-century literature.
1959 – Women’s colleges at Oxford University were given equal rights to those of the men’s.
1960 – In Great Britain – D.H Lawrence’s controversial novel ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ put Penguin Books in the dock at the Old Bailey, London. They were accused of publishing obscene material but were eventually found not guilty.
1967: Thousands join anti-war movement. Demonstrators in Oakland, California, hold the biggest protest yet against the Vietnam War. BBC News on the Day 1968 – Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedymarries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
1973 – The Saturday Night Massacre: President Nixon fires Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.
The “Saturday Night Massacre” was the term given by political commentators to U.S. President Richard Nixon’s executive dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus during the Watergate scandal on October 20, 1973.
Richardson appointed Cox in May of that year, after having given assurances to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he would appoint an independent counsel to investigate the events surrounding the Watergate break-in of June 17, 1972. Cox subsequently issued a subpoena to President Nixon, asking for copies of taped conversations recorded in the Oval Office and authorized by Nixon as evidence. The president initially refused to comply with the subpoena, but on October 19, 1973, he offered what was later known as the Stennis Compromise—asking U.S. Senator John C. Stennis to review and summarize the tapes for the special prosecutor’s office.
Cox refused the compromisethat same evening, and it was believed that there would be a short rest in the legal maneuvering while government offices were closed for the weekend. However, President Nixon acted to dismiss Cox from his office the next night – a Saturday. He contacted Attorney General Richardson and ordered him to fire the special prosecutor. Richardson refused, and instead resigned in protest. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; he also refused and resigned in protest.
Nixon then contacted the Solicitor General,Robert Bork, and ordered him as acting head of the Justice Department to fire Cox. Richardson and Ruckelshaus had both personally assured the congressional committee overseeing the special prosecutor investigation that they would not interfere – Bork had made no such assurance to the committee. Thus, Bork complied with Nixon’s order and fired Cox. Initially, the White House claimed to have fired Ruckelshaus, but as the Washington Post article written the next day pointed out “The letter from the President to Bork also said Ruckelshaus resigned.”
Congress was infuriated by the act, which was seen as a gross abuse of Presidential power. In the days that followed, numerous bills of impeachment against the President were introduced in Congress. Nixon defended his actions in a famous press conference on November 17, 1973, in which he stated,
“…in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I can say that in my years of public life that I’ve welcomed this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their President’s a crook. Well, I’m not a crook! I’ve earned everything I’ve got.”
Nixon’s presidency would later succumbto mounting pressure resulting from the Watergate scandal and its cover-up. In the face of the by-then certain threat of removal from office through impeachment and conviction, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.
The now expired Ethics in Government Actof 1978, also called the Independent Counsel Act, was a direct result of the “Saturday Night Massacre.”
1973 – Dalai Lama makes his first UK visit. The leader of Tibet’s Buddhists arrives in Britain where he will stay for 10 days to “administer vows”. BBC News story complete with Video footage
1973 – The Sydney Opera House opens. The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007. Based on the competition winning entry by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the Sydney Opera House is one of the world’s most distinctive 20th century buildings, and one of the most famous performing arts venues in the world.
1976 – The ferry ‘George Prince’is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, LA. The MV George Prince ferry disaster was a nautical disaster that occurred in the Mississippi River in Louisiana on the morning of October 20, 1976. The ferry George Prince was struck by the Norwegian tanker SS Frosta, which was traveling upriver. The collision occurred at mile post 120.8 above Head of Passes, less than three-quarters of a mile from the construction site of the bridge which would replace the ferry seven years later. The ferry was crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana on the East Bank to Luling, Louisiana on the West Bank. Ninety-six passengers and crew were aboard the ferry when it was struck, and seventy-eight perished.
1977 – A plane carrying band members of Lynyrd Skynyrdcrashes in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot. Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American Southern rock band. The band became prominent in the Southern United States in 1973, and rose to worldwide recognition before several members, including lead vocalist and primary songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, died in a plane crash in 1977 five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi. A tribute band was formed in 1987 for a reunion tour with Johnny Van Zant, Ronnie’s younger brother, at the helm, and continues to record music today. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.
1979 – The John F Kennedy libraryis opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
1982 – During the UEFA Cup matchbetween FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster. October 20th in Moscow was a cold, windy and snowy day, and the number of tickets sold was relatively low. Only the East Stand was open for spectators and for security reasons only one exit from the stand was left open.
Some minutes before the final whistlewhen FC Spartak was leading 1-0, the spectators began to leave the stadium through this only exit. Then during the injury time, FC Spartak scored its second goal, and some fans who had previously left the stand turned back to return to the stadium. The returning fans collided with those who were leaving the stadium. Militsiya guards would not allow those leaving to change course and return to the stadium. A stampede ensued in which many people died or were injured. The official number of dead was 66, although many people including victims’ relatives claim this number to be significantly higher,as many as 340.
Aftermath The only information about the disaster in Soviet media was a short article that appeared in the newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva on the next day. It said: Yesterday in Luzhniki after the football match an accident occurred. There are some injured among the spectators. Some Soviet officials claimed fans themselves to be responsible. The relatives of the victims were allowed to bury them only after thirteen days. Then on February 8, 1983 a trial was held, but the only man found guilty was the commandant of the stadium Panchikhin who had been working there for only two and a half months before the disaster and was sentenced to 18 months of corrective labour. The governing body of the stadium was tried separately but was not convicted. The actions of militsiya were not examined at all despite the evidence of witnesses. For several years following the tragedy, matches were not held at Luzhniki at the end of October in order to prevent relatives of victims from laying flowers there. Only in 1989 the newspaper Sovetskiy Sport told about the disaster openly. Today, there is a monument at the place of the tragedy.
1983 – Grenada’s prime minister ‘assassinated’. Eyewitnesses say the prime minister and seven of his colleagues have been killed during a hard-line military coup. BBC News story on the Day 1988 – The British Governmentannounced plans to change the law so that remaining silent could incriminate rather than protect a suspect.
1991 – The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.
The Oakland Firestorm of 1991was a large urban fire that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland, California and southeastern Berkeley on Sunday October 20, 1991, almost exactly two years after the Loma Prieta earthquake. The fire has also been called the Oakland hills firestorm, the East Bay Hills Fire, and the Tunnel Fire (because of its origin above the west portal of the Caldecott Tunnel) in Oakland. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. The 1,520 acres (6.2 km²) destroyed included 2,843 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. The economic loss was estimated at $1.5 billion.
Born on this Day
1632 – Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (d. 1723) responsible for the rebuilding of St. Paul’s Cathedral following the Great Fire of London.
1780 – Pauline Bonaparte, princess Borghese, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1825)
1785 – George Ormerod, English historian and antiquarian (d. 1873)
1822 – Thomas Hughes, English author who wrote Tom Brown’s Schooldays
1882 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1956)
1889 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (d. 1965) remembered mostly for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers movies. Groucho called her “practically the fifth Marx brother.” (In fact, there were five Marx brothers, but only a maximum of four ever performed together.)
1904 – Anna Neagle, English actress (d. 1986) 1905 – Ellery Queen, pseudonym of two American writers (d. 1982)
1913 – Grandpa Jones, American banjo player and singer and “old-time” country and gospel music singer. (d. 1998)
1932 – William Christopher, American actor best known for playing Father Mulcahy on the television series M*A*S*H and Private Lester Hummel on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
1940 – Kathy Kirby, British singer
1950 – Tom Petty, American musician
1958 – Mark King, English musician and singer (Level 42)
1961 – Ian Rush, Welsh footballer
1971 – Dannii Minogue, Australian singer
1971 – Snoop Dogg, American rapper 1978 – Paul Wilson, Irish bass player (Snow Patrol)
Thought for the Day
I’m guessing that most of us, if not all of us, have had at least one ‘something’ that has happened in our lives that perhaps ‘set us back’ or maybe had a ‘dark time’ in our lives, that we didn’t see coming or didn’t expect.
Pretty much all of us must have faced a time that we really would have rather not have had to go through. A ‘tragedy’. A ‘worrying time’. A time of great struggle and pain – physical or mental pain. I would even go as far to say that perhaps some of us have had more than one of those times. In fact, I bet that some of us are going through one of these times right now. This very moment.
In the darkest hours of your trials, when you’re down and miserable about what’s happening in your life, it’s easy to get even further down and miserable by just mulling over what-ever it is that’s happening to you or around you, which is making you live in a turbulent moment in time within your life span.
Worry, fear, misery, are all things that make the problem much worse for us, and because of this, the whole of our world seems desperately sad.
If you are someone who is going through a dark time, a time of trouble or misery – for whatever reason … then just for a moment STOP. Stay completely still. Still your body, and still your mind. Completely relax your body, just for this one moment.
When you feel ‘still’ inside … go back in your memories to another time that felt like the end of the world to you. Recall, just for a few seconds, that feeling you felt at that sad, heart sore time in your life.
Remembered it? Recalled his terrible time from the recent or distant past?
Now . . . remind yourself that you’re still alive. Even after what happened. Even after how it made you feel. Even after all the great pain that it caused to you and your life.
Whatever it was that happened back in time, which made you feel the way it did … changed you. Changed your life.
And that’s the key to what’s happening right now… or to anything that might happen to you in the future.
If you’re going through a bad time now, or if one comes along in the future, as it surely will, remind yourself that you have been in this ‘feeling’ of desperation before.
And then remind yourself that … It changed your life … It didn’t end your life.
After every storm comes the peace. The rain stops. The Sky brightens. The world moves on. But because of the storm, … because of the rains, … the Earth blooms flowers again. Things have changed. However – the world is still here. Just different.
Have a really great day. Have a positive attitude today. It’s amazing how it changes everything for you.
I’ve been a little lackadaisical about getting round everyone’s blogs over the past couple of weeks, and I think I’m almost caught up but I know that there are a few posts I’m still waiting to get to.
I’ve had some health issues which have been a cause for concern. I experienced a black-out about three weeks ago now, and during the fall to the floor I badly injured my arm. The whole episode shocked me so much that I couldn’t go out of the house for about 5 days. I saw my doctor who ordered some tests. I’ve had most of them, I just need now to get some blood work done and one other test. However, he’s told me that at the moment I cannot drive.
Now anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE to drive. It gives me such freedom and a feeling of great joy to be able to drive to wherever under my own steam. Driving is something amazing to me. I was injured in a road traffic accident some years ago, the result of which was a lower spinal injury. I was a passenger in a car, which was stationary at a junction. A car, travelling behind the car I was in made a very bad decision and believed our car would move out onto the main road in a gap she saw coming up.
She put her foot on her accelerator and, doing over 30 miles an hour, drove into the back of our car, pushing the car I was in, into the middle of the main road.
Well, bringing a long story to an end, the result of that RTA was a lower spinal injury.
Now at the time this was bad enough – but then my doctor told me that although I could stand up (when apparently they thought I shouldn’t be able to), and after being taught to walk properly again (I adore physiotherapists!) I could walk a little (with the help of walking sticks and/or crutches – but hey, walking is walking), the doctor said that I had to look at the probability that as I got older, I could end up in a wheelchair.
So .. with that thought, I decided that I needed to learn to drive. I took one month of lessons and passed my driving test exactly one month to the day from the day I started.
I LOVE to drive. It gives me freedom and joy that I can get nowhere else. So for my doctor to tell me after this recent black-out that I was no longer allowed, for the time being at least, to drive, was a massive upset. I could see the sense in this, obviously, but boy oh boy was it painful to my heart. And … (I’m not telling you anything he doesn’t already know, so I’m not going to get into deep trouble with Cobs Senior) …. I HATE Mr.Cobs driving. I love my car, and he’s driving it, and I hate his driving. [sigh] Grrr.
My arm is getting better, the bruising is pretty much gone, but I still flinch if anyone touches it. Then … just to add insult to injury … I’ve been told today that I have a cataract. I’m beginning to feel that God is having a laugh at my expense.
I must admit that my one eye did seem a little foggyfied. (no it’s not a real word, I made it up but it explains everything). And I was aware that when I was painting something, doing the details became a bit dodgy, and I would get to a place of “Ah who the heck cares, just blob the paint on it and be done with it!”. Ha! And all the time I just thought I needed some new Readers (glasses). Turned out …. someone planted a plate in my eye – right in the centre, and I was trying to peer around it, over it and under it.
It’s not that bad, really. I can see and there isn’t anything in my eye which is visible to you or me. The Optician could see it and the chap at the hospital could too. But I’ve looked in the mirror and can’t see it. New Readers and Long Distance glasses are now on order, so reading books will (I hope) soon be back on the menu!
Added to this chaos … we’ve been collecting Little Cobs from school each day for the past week, bringing him home here to Cobweb Towers and playing racing cars, building Lego, singing songs, (he likes that I can make up songs which rhyme, from nowhere … I hope he’ll be able to do this if I do it enough!), playing Superhero’s – using an apron, put on backwards, for a cape. He’s discovered the joy of racing around our garden with one arm pointing to the sky and shouting “SUPER HERO TO THE RESCUE”. All the neighbours now know I have a Super-Hero for a Grandson. Not entirely sure what his special power is – but I’m suspecting that it’s making one un-holy mess in his bedroom!
I’ve also introduced him to Tom and Jerry – and he LOVES them! As soon as he hears the music come on, he’ll race from wherever he is to sit and watch.
Ah .. some things never change. The old Tom and Jerry cartoons can still thrill a six-year-old.
Little Cobs stayed and had his tea with us, and we would play until his daddy came home from work to collect him and take him home.
But anyhoo … all these things going on, have made me a little behind on blogs – so please forgive me if I’ve missed any of your blog posts. If there is one I’ve missed that you really thought I shouldn’t have (for whatever reason), please pop a link to it into a comment below, and I’ll get to it pronto!
Have a truly wonderful Friday. May the sky be bright, the rains gentle and the winds soft. May you find something to smile about today, and something which touches your heart and makes you all warm and wriggly inside.
Oh .. and may your weekend be all that you’d like it to be. If it’s not … remind yourself that you’re in control, so you can change anything you’re having a problem with. A smile can work wonders.
Well, actually, they’re red, gold, orange and brown .. but I couldn’t think of a song that mentioned all those colours.
I don’t normally do multiple cards at once unless it’s Christmas, but I made these two cards on Saturday . . . well now that’s not entirely true. I almost made two … but I still had to decide what to do with the pure white card background behind the little girl with the umbrella. Pure white just didn’t cut it. So in the end I put in a pale, watery blue sky, and then below it I made it look like that fine, murky, misty, spray, wet you right through rain, so that it would suggest that this really was brolly weather. (brolly – a kind of shortening of word in the UK for Umbrella).
The papers used are all from Craftwork Cards. I think it’s their Rose Heritage Range, if I remember correctly. (It’s in my craftroom and I don’t want to make the trip across the decking, in the cold, and in my jammies – because the motion sensor lights will come on and that makes me feel like the last act of the night, [X-Factor?] … and like I should do a song, a dance and a bit of tap just to impress the judges. It’s pretty paper and in a great variety of prints – which all ‘go’ together well.
The little girl is a stamped image, onto the white Stamping Card (by Clever Cut – aka Stamps Away), then stamped again onto the blue rosy paper and again onto the pink rosey paper. Her hat and coat are cut from the blue paper. Her boots and umbrella are cut from the pink paper. Her scarf is something I added (it wasn’t part of the stamped image) as it kind of added a little movement to the image.
I added a little blue ric-rac ribbon and finished it off with a decorative frame of pink gingham. (These can be found at The Works (UK only store) – in various sizes and shapes, all very cheaply – normally a pack of 6 totally different ones for around £1. (sorry to folks outside the UK))
The second card is an Autumn card. Although Autumn is meant to start at the beginning of September, (here in the UK) but for me personally it doesn’t really feel like Autumn until October is here. So when October the 1st arrived on Saturday my mind and heart was instantly switched on to Autumn.
I love the Autumn – the colours, the beautiful skies, the time to get out your warmer clothes and rake the leaves. Children coming in from playing with little pink noses, as if they’d been pinched. Hot drinking chocolate. Snuggly, tucked in and that beautiful moment that it gets too cold in the house so you pop the heating on just to take the chill out of the air. Yummy!
So … I made an Autumn card. Not for anyone in particular, just because I wanted to.
The white scored and folded card is a gently hammered card in a lovely weight. The dotty card is by Anna Marie Designs. I stamped a ‘naked tree’ directly onto the card using memento ink pad and then stamped different leaves in different colours onto white stamping card, and then cut all the leaves out and coloured them in different colours. I added just a few stamped leaves directly to the tree, just to give it a little depth. The leaves were adhered to the tree using tiny double-sided sticky foam mounts, and I kept four stamped leaf images to one side so that I could use them as a pile of leaves …with one leaf being swept up and away by a gust of wind.
At this point, although I liked the card, it was missing a bit of the magic of Autumn, so I got my selection of WOW glitters out and chose three different colours. An orange, a brown and a gold, and, using a glue pen with a fine nib, I added the various colours of glitters where I felt they should be.
The sentiment which I stamped onto the card is paler than I would normally have stamped it, but I wanted the tree to be the main event, so stamped the words, which read: Autumn… the year’s last loveliest smile – in a soft brown.
Both of these cards were based on two cards I’d seen in a magazine quite some time ago. I loved the originals and kind of stored them to memory. They popped back into my head last week as I began to think about Autumn, so I scribbled myself a ‘post it note’ and stuck it to my big glass mat on my desk, to remind me to make them at the weekend. I LOVE post it notes. I don’t think I would I’d remember anything if it weren’t for post it notes!
So .. we have a new week and a new month … not only do I wish you a Happy Monday, I also wish you a Happy October.
Here are some facts about October that you might not know …
The Anglo-Saxons called October Winterfylleth, meaning the ‘fullness’ of winter.
The Welsh for October is Hydref (originally Hyddfref), a word signifying the lowing of cattle.
The ‘October Revolution’ in Russia in 1917 took place in November, but at the time Russians had not yet changed from the Julian calendar.
The Hunt For Red October, with Sean Connery, is the only film with ‘October’ in its title ever to win an Oscar (for best sound editing).
More US presidents have been born in October than in any other month.
October in the UK is the Awareness Month for Lupus, breast cancer, national cyber security and domestic violence.
On 1 October 1982, the world’s first CD (Compact Disc) player went on sale. It was developed jointly by Sony, Philips and Polygram.
In the US, October is National Pizza Month, Popcorn Month, Pork Month and Sausage Month.
October is not mentioned in any Shakespeare play or sonnet.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869, in Porbander in western India.
On 3 October 1906 the ‘SOS’ signal was established as an International Distress Signal by an agreement made between the British Marconi Society and the German Telefunk organisation at the Berlin Radio Conference. The signal was formally introduced on 1 July 1908.
Also on the 3rd October, in 1990 : East and West Germany re-united and became one country.
I hope that October came into your home gently, and that as each day of this month comes along, it’s filled with little moments of happiness.
As Anne of Greengables (Anne Shirley) said: I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. And I am. October is one of my favourite colours.
Thank you so much for coming and having a coffee with me.
Sending you love and an October sort of squidge, from me, to you. ~
I learnt this week that Potatoes have two more chromosomes than people, the same as gorillas! And … that Rice has almost twice as many genes as human beings! Not sure how this fit’s into the lives of people I know but there is a relative I would perhaps call a couch potato. But … now I’m wondering if I’m paying them a compliment! LOL. 
The Art of Cobwebs 