Having heard from family in southern states who referred to icy cold cold cold weather reports I think most of them would relate to this
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Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
Will be back on Monday or maybe Sunday even – see you then!
Like many other bloggers I keep a record of the books I read – I even keep lists here on the blog. See Books Read above. Just occasionally readers will comment on the books, more often on a post I’ve written but I ‘have’ received one or two on the book page itself. Which is surprising but nice just the same.
Until, like recently, when there were loads of them……this sort of them
They’re not the nasty ‘don’t want them on my blog’ ones…..just strange ’english is not my first language’ type and with WordPress’s system of skimming off into another folder what they think is spam, I have the option of ’publish or delete’ (by the way, nothing in there ever does get published)
The fun (if there is fun in checking spam comments) is seeing those recent ones on the book pages…..funny to read – not funny if you click on the links they provide – (which obviously I haven’t….shown you or clicked) So I thought you might like a giggle – just remember these are all on pages containing lists of books I’ve read not postings on the main blog
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Am I weird in wanting to rewrite them so they read correctly??
Fun Friday – the day we leave the troubles of the week behind
Those old phones have a lot to say for themselves don’t they 😊
Life was much simpler when these were in use – small neat fitted comfortably into my hand – there was an awful lot of talk done on this one!
And just because I’m not in a talkative mood right now doesn’t mean I can’t smile 😊
Fun Friday – the day we leave the troubles of the week behind
Fun Friday – the day we leave the troubles of the week behind
My brother knows about my love of tea in the same way as I know about his love of the occasional pint . I received this the other day 😊
PS:- (This is not a photo of my brother or his wife )
Fun Friday – the day we leave the troubles of the week behind
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This is my last post for a little while. After a few days in Rockhampton we’ll be on the road for a bit so will see you all when things are hooked up again at home in Melbourne Be good and be nice to each other. Cathy xx
A little tale sent to me the other day – about a shoebox and marriage
It’s been around for a few years now but still makes me smile each time I see it 😊
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They’d shared everything. They’d talked about everything. They’d kept no secrets from each other except that herself had a shoe box in the top of the wardrobe and she’d warned her husband never to open or ask her about it.
For all of those 60 years he’d never thought about the box, but one day his wife got very sick and the doctor said she would take time to heal.
In trying to sort out their affairs, the husband brought the shoebox to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000.
He asked her about the contents.
‘When we were to be married,’ she said, ‘ my grandmother told me that the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.’
The husband was so moved he had to fight back the tears.
Only two little dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.
“Oh darlin” he said, “that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money?
Where did it come from?”
“Oh,” she answered, “that’s the money I made from selling all the dolls”.
😂😂🤪💚
Fun Friday – the day we leave the troubles of the week behind
Oh yes – come on – be honest
I’m sure any of us who have been in ‘lockdown’ will be able to relate to this 😊
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
Quiet times during lockdown times means lots of surfing time
And because surfing time often turns into fun time
Here just for Fun and just because it’s Friday – you do know what Friday is don’t you?
Yes, a special day for Fun if ever there was one 😊
(And boy we really do need we need fun at this time)
Here’s some little things to think about and to keep you amused
Can you find the hidden phrase or word for these puzzles?
From wikipedia:-
Thinking outside the box (thinking outside the square) is to think differently, unconventionally or from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to novel, creative and smart thinking.This is sometimes called a process of lateral thought.
Oh and I’d be able to tell you where I found these little puzzles
if I hadn’t cleared my history ☹️
BTW – The Suggested answers were…..
Traffic Congestion or Traffic Jam
Where is Mr Right
Role Reversal or Reversed Roles
Hiccups
Upper Crust
A Rising Economy
I’ve only ever made scones once – many many years ago.
And the least said about that attempt the better 😊
Having seen this simple easy method – and the small amount of ingredients.
You never know what might happen in my kitchen 😊
(It needs a pinch of salt as well as a little bit of milk to brush the tops)
CWA (Country Women’s Association) is similar to the Women’s Institute
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
Going green on Sunday – see you then!
I’m thinking back to the days during our long long months of lockdown and restrictions last year.
The Golfer would often go out (on his own as was allowed) into the big wide world….and more often than not would come home with things we really didn’t need.
Not just little taster packets but big boxes.
It got so that every time I came in through the back door I would see something different lurking out in the laundry.
All these months later he’s still at it
They sit there staring me in the face……taunting me
so I asked The Golfer (without actually naming anything in particular) to remove some of the things on the freezer.
I even took a photo to explain what I meant.
Ok, I’ll rearrange things out there, he said.
Are you able to spot the difference?
I love him for doing as I asked and had a bit of a giggle when I saw what he’d done….
Lets just say that removing last years sticky calendars and rearranging fridge magnets wasn’t
exactly what I’d had in mind.
Hint Hint -— Big Brown Box Begone.
(because it’s full of sweet delectable treats stuff I shouldn’t eat)
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
I really think we all deserve a smile at the moment.
😊😊😊😊😊
They slept in bunk beds like these.
Plain and simple with a ladder at one end
No modular rounded corners.
No, you go this way and I’ll go that way
No drawers, book shelves or boxy steps
No roofs (rooves ?) on top or make believe houses
And definitely no playground equipment
Cute as they may look…..no barn doors – gates – or windows complete with greenery
BECAUSE.
There’s no way Catherine could have made up the top bunk.
As it was I struggled
Resorting to standing on the lower bed heads then lifting the mattress to hook the fitted sheets over the ends. Whichever boy was on top that night lugged their doona up with them
Short of having hired help do it for them
Could somebody tell me
How on earth normal people (aka mothers) change those sheets?
(Click/tap on the photos to enlarge for a better view)
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
I think we all deserve a smile at the moment 😊
Often the names of our ancestors recorded on census returns or other papers never seem to line up with their given names. I’ve been struggling to find the ‘real’ name of an ancestor recorded on documents as Minnie.
Is she Mary or Martha?
There were oodles of females named as Mary and also Martha in this family.
And to complicate matters I can’t find documents with either name for the time period I’m looking at so I can pinpoint which name she was given.
In another line I’ve got a Kathleen known as Kitty and a Mary known as May.
John was Jack and Charles was Chuck, oh and James was Jim
Nicknames- the bane of a genealogist’s life
If you’ve ever wondered how they came about you might be interested
in these (safe) links.
They are all similar but fun to read and could supply the answer
As to why your Aunt Margaret was often called Daisy
https://www.buzzfeed.com/katangus/how-is-polly-short-for-mary
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/24761/origins-10-nicknames
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Traditional_Nicknames_in_Old_Documents_-_A_Wiki_List
https://usefulenglish.ru/vocabulary/womens-names.
https://www.behindthename.com/glossary/view/diminutive
https://cafemom.com/parenting/172329-30_nicknames_that_make_better
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
I think we all deserve a smile at the moment 😊
I’m sure most of us who’ve had cats in our lives have had at least one who’s decided that ‘you are theirs’. They don’t just live with you and the family, they want to own you and you alone.
Kiera was one of those…..so much so she had the nickname of ‘my brown shadow….wherever I was she would be there…..as close as she could.
Meet Minnie ….she’s been providing my smiles recently
She reminds me so much of Kiera
(iizcat can be found at all the usual social media places)
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
I think we all deserve a smile at the moment 😊
Friday’s here and it’s time for some fun
All those years ago I wasn’t a ‘real’Beatles fan, I might have known a lot of the words, they were hard to miss being played on the radio all the time but I didn’t wait with baited breath for their next album to be released….heck, I couldn’t even tell you the names of their albums.
Anyway I saw this somewhere and thought it would be good for Fun Friday 😊
I’ll go first with one I do remember – Yellow Submarine
Who’d like to go next??
It’s Friday again!
Not sure where this week went….it seems like it couldn’t wait to clear off and meet up with the other 24 that came and went before it. Wish I knew where they’d gone because if I found that out I’d tell them to let the others waiting in line know that contrary to my moaning about days seemingly dragging by I’m not in the mood for rush at the moment.
So for Fun on this Friday I’m recycling a joke from a few years ago – one for all the Golfers out there 🙂
Although why I’m favouring them is a mystery to me – I could have clobbered The Golfer this morning as he left the house with a smile on his face and a little wave of his hand telling me to enjoy my day. ‘Doing what’ I asked ‘Oh you’ll find something’ he said, knowing full well my Friday at the nursing home is on hold until goodness knows when!
50 Shades of Golf
Four friends, long time mates, had been going on the same golfing trip for many years.
A couple of days before the group was to leave Jack’s wife puts her foot down and tells him he is not going.
Jack’s buddies are very upset that he can’t go, but what can they do?
Two days later the three get to St. Andrews only to find Jack sitting at the bar with four drinks set up!
‘Wow, Jack, how long you been here, and how did you talk your old lady into letting you go?’
‘I’ve been here since last night!
Yesterday I was sitting in my living room chair and the wife comes up behind me, puts her hands over my eyes and says ‘Guess who?’
I pulled her hands off and there she was wearing nothing but a see-through nightie.
She took my hand and pulled me into our bedroom.
There were candles and rose petals all over the place.
Well, turns out she had been reading 50 Shades of Grey and lying there on the bed were handcuffs, a blindfold, and ropes!
She told me to put the blindfold on her, then tie her up and cuff her to the bed.
So I did.
Then she said ‘Do whatever you want.’
So…..here I am!
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Fun Friday – the day we put all the stress and worries of the week behind us.
(Get over it Catherine 😊)
It seems strange that the next book I picked up from my TBR pile is this one by Geraldine Brooks.
“An historical novel and love story set during a time of catastrophe, on the front lines of the American Civil War. March, an idealistic abolitionist,has gone as chaplain to serve the Union cause. But the war tests his faith not only in the Union—which is also capable of barbarism and racism—but in himself. As he recovers from a near-fatal illness, March must reassemble and reconnect with his family, who have no idea of what he has endured.
Considering all the recent and ongoing problems in the world (discounting the virus) this is almost topical. Relating to a time when it seems men were men and women were women (and not all were equal) it covers history I’m not too familiar with.
We learn’t a small amount at school but didn’t go into depth – ask me about kings, queens and relevant battles of the British Isles and I probably would have the answer, unfortunately the whys and wherefores of American history are a mystery.
Yes I know it is about a fictional character …..the absent father from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women…….taking that aside maybe I’ll ‘learn a little’ from reading it.
It’s been a while since I actually read Little Women although I’ve seen big and little screen versions which maybe glamorised the whole period but I loved the thought of sisters banding together helping their mother, worrying about their father, tolerating the rich aunt, doing good deeds, falling in love, accepting sickness.and gaining a little bit of independence.
So when I found this quiz online …..me, usually wary of this sort of stuff, had a go; I didn’t get all the answers correct but then as I said it’s been a while and my memory isn’t quite what it used to be 🙂
Little Women – Which March sister said it
Why don’t you have a go and see if you remember the dialogue from the ‘well loved book’
Oh, and lovers of Mr Darcy and The Bennet sisters might be interested in this
Pride and Prejudice – Which Bennet said it
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Today is Friday – so lets have some Friday Fun with a Fun Quiz just right for the day we set aside to forget all the worries of the week
Don’t forget to tell me how you went!
Look what The Golfer came home with after foraging about at
SPC in Bayswater .
Only an Aussie (and maybe a Kiwi or two) would be amused/bewildered by the thought of Lamington Chips.
A few years ago he came home with these.
Meat Pie and Sauce chips!
They seemed to go down well with most Aussies who ate them.
Do you know where, when and by whom the first chip (crisp) was produced?
I had no idea, so asked ‘Mr G’
Lots of good reading here for those who are curious about this fact.
This site – http://inventors.about.com/od/foodrelatedinventions/a/potato_chips.htm – told me that George Crum invented potato chips in 1853 plus other interesting things.
Native American George Crum was a chef at a Saratoga Springs, New York, resort, when customer Cornelius Vanderbilt complained that his french fries were too thick. George Crum fried up a serving of paper thin potatoes cooked to a crunchy crisp texture – the first potato chips. The dish dubbed “Saratoga Chips” became a favorite.
If you look at Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_chip – they also had information on chips/crisps and as well as naming Mr Crum, also came up with the names of other ‘inventors’
A potato chip (American English) or crisp (British English) is a thin slice of potato that has been deep fried baked until crunchy. Potato chips are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or appetizer. The basic chips are cooked and salted; additional varieties are manufactured using various flavorings and ingredients including herbs, spices, cheeses and artificial additives.
Lots of different information here including the fact there was no patent taken out:- http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/crum.htm
And of course Snopes has a point of view as well:-
http://www.snopes.com/business/origins/chips.asp
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i haven’t tried them yet but am definitely wondering what and how many artificial additives were used to replicate the taste of chocolate coated, rolled in coconut, sponge cake combined with deep fried salted potatoes !
It’s not very often I wish I hadn’t ‘donated’ something to the op shop. Once I’ve given it away in the hope someone else can use it that’s it. Early on in this ‘horrible season’ one of my daughters asked about the big pile of jigsaw puzzles we have had in the cupboard for more years than I can remember. “Oh sorry, I gave them away a while ago.”
Jigsaws are something we’ve always had – from the big clunky wooden ones the children received on early birthdays through to the biggish 1000 piece ones they were given as adults Good family fun, keeping the eyes and the brains working, with none of the squabbling board games produced……except when one certain young lady got up early to finish a puzzle another child had worked on all the previous day😊
Everyone had left home, The Golfer wasn’t interested and I hadn’t ‘played’ with them for a long time- the cats seemed to think they had the right to sit on them or see how many pieces they could knock onto the floor – so occasionally I’d get some fun doing them online but sort of lost interest after a while…..then In one of my what’s in this cupboard that hasn’t been used for a long time tidying up frenzies gave them to the op shop.
Seeing Kay’s post the other day about Art and the big jigsaw and seeing the fun he wa having had me again wishing I hadn’t given them away. THEN reading the comments I noticed someone mention an online site Jigsaw Explorer https://www.jigsawexplorer.com Oh joy, will you look at that – oodles of them – just ready to be played with – I’ve been ‘at home’ for 8 weeks now and definitely need something new to keep me occupied…….. I think I’ve found it………everything else will be given the heave ho for a while. Forget Solitaire and FreeCell…I’m off to have fun!
Oh and if you’ve ever wondered about creating a jigsaw from your own photos I found this tutorial online – by coincidence using the same site
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week and have fun
It’s a standing joke amongst some of my friends that I’m I known as ‘the little old lady who knits’. It’s something I’ve always done.
Most of you know that what I knit these days goes to a local charity rather than family – and instead of the scarves beanies and gloves that other volunteers make I prefer to give my time to the baby and toddler programme. I bet you’ve all been bored by seen lots of the little cardigans and jumpers I’ve worked on, the reason for me making those sizes is (not because I’m permanently clucky 😊) but because they grow quickly which means they are finished before I get bored with them’ which then means I can get on with something else!
Over the recent ‘stay at home’ weeks the needles have been clicking like crazy – it passed the time in what I’m calling the ‘horror season’ I don’t know about you but a fair bit of news …..national as well as international…….has been watched, each and every bulletin available devoured. Anyway that……like the confirmed cases……has slowed down considerably thank goodness, so now I’m recovering my composure by staying away from ‘news channels’, biding my time gathering all things together and tidying up loose ends. Sewing up and placing buttons so the finished garments are ready to go to their new homes (wherever that might be)
Hot off the needles this week is this little grandad neck shirt
Over the years I’ve knit oodles of them….these below are just a few…….using the stitch count on the pattern to get the sizing but altering colour and design. One feature of the original garment (picture below from pattern) – the collar- has been ‘deleted’……after a couple of times of trying and not being able to get it to sit right I decided a neckband worked better for me.
This time I decided to add the mock cable design from this pattern on the left – one that’s been in my pile for a long long time. 
Thankfully the stitch count worked out right……juggling stitches – adding/subtracting….is par for the course when you adapt patterns….so once I’d set the first four rows it knit up a charm. I think knitting plain stocking stitch on the back and sleeves gave it a more simple boyish look, as well as highlighting the front panel.
Agreed ?
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And here’s a funny story about a little boy whose Mum (she who many years later became the little old lady who knits) put that very same cable pattern on the front of one of his jumpers.
One day long ago in 1969 he went on a drive from Ipswich where he lived to see his Nanna and Grandad in Colchester, which is where they lived. He fell asleep in the car and woke in a very grumpy mood when they arrived. His Nanna asked his Mum and Dad if they would take him and his brothers and sisters to a local park and take some photographs with her old box brownie because she didn’t have any recent ones.
So back into the car they all get which didn’t please him at all. In his temper he took off his shoes and got even more ‘angry’ because his Mum wouldn’t put them back on, instead carrying him to the chosen bench, where he certainly made his feelings known 😊
He was feeling very sorry for himself so his Mum tried to cuddle him while his sister (the one his Mum refers to as ‘our litte girl’) undid the buckles on his very (expensive) nice red shoes.
Lots of cuddles later (with his shoes on) he sat with the others on the bench but no matter how many times his Mum and Dad tried to coax him there was no way he was going to ‘smile’. In fact he was starting to annoy the others with his sulking. His favourite brother kept giving him dirty looks, ‘our big girl’ kept telling him to shush, ‘our little girl’ was thoroughly fed up and his big brother just wanted it over and done with.
Let’s get Daddy (later to be known as The Golfer) to sit with you on his knee – after all it’s his Mummy who wants the photographs. The little boy had calmed down by then …..unfortunately by that time everybody else was more interested in what was going on around them to look at the camera…..so they gave it up as a bad job and went back to Nanna’s house for tea!
It’s strange the *fun* memories that surface when you’re not really looking 😊
Fun Friday – the day you forget the worries of the week.
Still Waters 