A Blessed and Peaceful Christmas to all.

And for a very necessary thought to our animal friends and preserving the rain forests and other worthy causes, please sign the petitions on -

http://www.thehungersite.com/

And click on http://www.barkingmad.co.za to donate a bowl of food.

IT IS FREE!

You can even click every day. And every day you click you will make a free donation!

The stupidity of human 'kind'....

Labour Unions and cancer have a lot in common. They grow and strangle themselves and everything around them to death.

I suppose the complete downfall of British Airways will not come as a surprise then. It is no longer good enough to have a job, there has to be more, more, more - pay, money, free time and less work. And then when it is all gone, people will cry because they do not have a job, income....bread on the table?

If human are supposed to be an intelligent species, how come they have no insight? Even an octopus takes precautions for the future...

From National Geographic

Octopuses have been discovered tip-toeing with coconut-shell halves suctioned to their undersides, then reassembling the halves and disappearing inside for protection or deception, a new study says. You can watch this remarkable video on National Geographic!

1935

This photograph was taken during the Great Depression.
We tend to forget how things can change for the better but also for the worse.

We have so much to be grateful for?

Is this our future?

Nobody talking about  population (out of control) growth?
Every person leaves a carbon footprint!
The Earth can survive, but can humans?

Fame

‘Young’ girls and sometimes the not so young, fall in love with stars, be it sport, entertainment or any kind of position or role with glamour attached. They are attracted to the man in the midst of the glow of popularity and are desperate to become part of the group (of ‘friends’). But then when one of these girls eventually becomes the wife, the same source of attraction now becomes the source of unhappiness and misery, for now she no longer finds the sharing with friends attractive at all. She finds this leaves her out on her own, yearning for some attention.

Being married to a public persona is not a fairy tale – ask Princess Diana, or Mrs. Tiger Woods. Especially if the persona suffers from an ‘imposter syndrome’ – where he can hardly believe that ‘little old me’ should be so famous. And even more so where there is no ounce of an ability to resist temptation, in whichever form it comes.

Being famous and being public property comes hand in hand, you cannot have fame and all the glory without being the property of the public who afforded you that position in the first place.

 ________________________________________

On a different note, some(body)thing else of fame:-

This little Komodo dragon was ‘born’ in a Singapore Zoo. (Photo AFP) Quite difficult to breed these guys in captivity.

My father...was a funny man

When it came to cars and driving…….


We still laugh when we think about these. Must first tell you that my brother was extremely witty if he wanted to be and he irritated the Holy S&^^%* out of my father and vice versa when it came to driving. My father would never in his whole life allow my brother to touch his car and my brother took absolute delight in taking the Mickey out of Daddy O!

Now, my father’s side of the family was an extremely eccentric lot! So was my father, very eccentric, like a pain- in-you-know-where, but looking back, a man you could spend a whole chapter writing about.

Looking back it is funny with funny incidents.

• He used to, on a Saturday morning go ‘to Town’ to buy meat and parked in the ‘Main’ Road. Sometimes we just went along for the ride. Once there was a similar car same model, same color etc parked about two spaces on. My brother and I watched from across the road… as my father got into the other car and tried to start it. This took a while and then picture this…. He got out and examined the key!

• My father was an extremely...errrr cautious driver, kept well below the speed limit, like 50% below! Once he was ‘cruising’ down the street at no more than 40 km /hour (according to my brother) when somebody overtook him. And my father said:” Look at that bloody fool speeding past!”

• Once it was raining and my brother pointed out to my father to switch on the de-mister. My farther was immediately cross, “Do not speak to me now” he said to my brother, “can you not see that I cannot see out of the window because of all this misting up?”

My father has passed over and I do not think he would ever know how I now treasure some of these memories. Little golden Apples! Pity he cannot see he was really a very funny man in some respects!

Bedtime stories

A la Henrietta
*smile*



We learn a lot from our mothers although we often do not want to be like them.


When we mature we realize now that we are mothers our daughters will not want to be like us. Then they become mothers and so the cycle continues.


My mother used to read bedtime stories to us but she was tired at that time of the day and though she had a picture book she turned the lights down low and made up stories. Long before the end we were fast asleep.


I tried this with my children. But Helen of troy was not to be fooled. You could not change a single word or you would be regarded and treated as a traitor. It left me no choice, I had to learn the stories off by heart and recite them. (Though I never could manage this with Dr Seuss - The Cat in the Hat.)


I asked my mother whether she ever had to learn the stories off by heart.


“No.” she said, “but then my children were not that smart.”






Sandra’s seen a leprechaun,


Eddie touched a troll.


Laurie danced with witches once,


Charlie found some goblin’s gold.


Donald heard a mermaid sing,


Suzie spied an elf.


But all the magic I have known


I’ve had to make myself.


Shel Silverstein : Where the Sidewalk Ends

Give me a BREAK!

Somebody mentioned yesterday that he was ‘psychologically’ tired at the moment, - must be that it is the time of the year. My auditor said this year she finds her fuse a bit short (& this is the most patient person I know) and cannot wait for middle December to close shop. I can only add and I don’t know if it indeed has anything to do with the time of the year or just my general frame of mind but I I subconsciously tend to avoid people that are negative, spreading doom and gloom. And often from a position of complete ignorance...

And complete ignorance spread fears....of course.

Now I can always hit ‘delete’ on my computer if I see it comes from X but I cannot put up a notice on my phone to say ‘don’t call me if you are going to complain, whine or sigh! GIVE ME A BREAK!’ And don’t talk politics to me!

This must be THE time of the year where people put up notices ‘Wipe your %$#@ feet!’, ‘Close the gate behind your &^#@!’

But then there is always somebody that goes one better.

Like the notice with a spelling error on the photocopier, followed with another notice saying ‘ If you are going to post notice, run spelllcheck first’.

The best one must be:-

(The original notice is on the left, the follow-up on the right.)

PassiveAgressiveNotices.com

Colour for the day

The  famous little harbour town in Norway.

People just like us

People like you and me……

The people of Pompeii lived along with their husbands, wives, mistresses, children and animals for many centuries in this busy city.

They had schools & businesses, just like us.

There were houses for the rich with under floor heating – and gardens with fountains and pools.

There were houses and apartments for the poor citizens.

There were merchants, shops, theatres, sport arenas, brothels. (With a clear sign carved into the stone).

The Romans provided for water - 1000 liters per person per day.

There were more fountains & Communal Steam Baths

They had an earth quake or two but never realized this was part of the fury of Vesuvius so they patched up where they could and hoped for the best……...

How could they know?

"You could hear women lamenting, children crying, men shouting. There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one unending night for the world." —Pliny the Younger, circa A.D. 97 to 109


It all lasted 19 hours.


Then, there was only a long, deathly silence. Pompeii lay buried in the shadow of Vesuvius for nearly 1,700 years. It wasn't until 1748 that archaeologists began slowly uncovering the ancient city, preserved under 9 feet of volcanic ash and frozen in time.

Bijou, the King

She adopted Bijou (and Fred who went to a friend) when he was still a tiny baby at Kalafong Hospital. His mother was a real wild untamed woman with questionable morals, his father of unknown origin. But somewhere along the line there must have been some royalty in the blood line because Bijou became a Prince …..And later, the King of the Complex.


He became a well seasoned traveler too. First short test trip was here to us, where he braved 2 ferocious dogs and drove them absolutely crazy sitting on the roof looking down upon them. From Pretoria they moved to East London…..and this must have been his favorite place. The townhouse was on the edge of a wooded area and a river with many interesting creatures. And he made new friends too; in fact he fell in love with Gaby, brought her home and allowed her to sleep on his couch and eat his special food.


All in all M and Bijou moved 8 times (he even spent six months on a wine farm while M was overseas), until they finally settled and put down roots where he became the King of the complex.


He only got lost once in all this time and that was in a tiny little ‘dorpie’ in the middle of nowhere de Aar, where they had to occupy a flat on the second floor. He was not used to roughing it and was eventually found by the dentist’s daughter who phoned the number on his Bijou disk. This was after M cycled around the whole of de Aar for 7 days calling his name!

He also witnessed the mysterious disappearance of the two hamsters belonging to a housemate in another town. Rumors are the hamsters were abducted by aliens.


M was away on a well-deserved holiday but Bijou prefered to stay behind. After all, he has his special door and the neighbor comes to fill up the bowls once a day. Apart from that there is the ‘green belt’ where he can hunt and be part of nature. Back home there is always his blanket on the couch….in the morning sun… or Fletcher’s bed with the beautiful white linen.


One night the neighbor phoned me. When S got home, Bijou was lying in HER house on the white chair and she immediately noticed some blood and his hind leg sticking out at an uncomfortable angle. She wrapped him in a towel, put him in a basket and rushed him off to the vet. They suspect he had been hit by a car, all very suspicious because he has been afraid of cars all his life, and avoided them at all costs.

The vet eventually had to amputate the leg, after getting a second opinion from the surgeon. The neighbor just wanted to know from me what to do – it is going to be very expensive +++. For me, as for M, there would have been no choice. Bijou is our family – he must get the best treatment at all cost.

But how did he know to go to the neighbor? And to go and lie on the (usually out of bounds) white chair where she would immediately notice the blood…? We underestimate the intelligence of our wonderful furry friends.

A Fool's fable

A fable

Once upon a time there was a man fool.

He was an out of work salesman (shame) because in ‘real’ life he could not hack it.

So - at some stage he visited a far off country and became an assistant in some circus. I kid you not!

When it was time to go home he did not want to, but he could not qualify in order to remain in the Far-off country.

So he and friends dreamed up a pretty original scheme. For that you have to give him credit.

The story would be:-

He is an abused crime victim who suffered many, many attacks from aliens who inhabited his homeland, and on the strength of this (also fable) he applied for refugee status. The fact that there was no proof of attack is incidental. Crop circles are there for all to see! Aliens come to earth and they have babies! I can even prove this to you! I hope you are gullible though! You will make it some easier for me!

In the Far- off country an official, never been to fool’s homeland, believed his story and granted him asylum! He really thought Fool would stick out like a sore thumb.

And this then became headlines everywhere on the little planet!

And lots and lots of people swallowed story, only because people believe what they want to believe. Nobody questioned the Fool, they just ran with the political implication. And seem to have some fun. And fool's ex wife who he married to stay and then betrayed was very, very angry.

The moral of the story:

And this is where the danger lies - Anybody with a real cause will now be scrutinized and probably sent back to Homeland to be hacked to death.

The house that Weaver built

The House that Mr Weaver built.

Part of the live entertainment at the delightful West Coast National Park Restaurant certainly is watching the golden weavers. With spring in the air, building a new nest is now a frenzied affair. And not to ever forget that if Mrs Weaver does not approve, Mr will have no choice but to build another one, and another one and another one, until the wife is completely satisfied.

On the restaurant tables there are little bowls with envelopes of pre-packed sugar. Brown for brown sugar, white for white sugar (we humans need colour codes for we are not very smart) and red ones for artificial sweeteners. Mr Weaver when exhausted and in need of a little substance, it seems does not have the time to read either and quickly grabs in flight – a red one from the table! One or two of the finches have learned through experience that the brown and white ones are of more value and not to judge a sausage by its skin or in this case the envelope by its colour!

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/weaver_bird.aspx

Money and more money.....

What can money buy?

Anything and everything, except for intrinsic values and probably real happiness.

Comfort- yes, respect -yes, position - yes, power – yes, very much so, admiration - yes, beauty -yes, freedom – of course, the list is long.
Health to a certain degree, everlasting life - no, happiness - depends on how you define it and what makes you happy.
It can keep you out of jail too!

A true story!

His father was a bootlegger and made an absolute fortune. Years later this fact was swept under the carpet and he then became known (remembered) as an industrialist. You can buy that too.
His mother was the most ambitious matriarch you can imagine...

And one evening after a party he (married at the time) drove a pretty little girl ‘home’ ( ? ) but ended up going over a bridge into the water and she drowned.

The very sad and most suspicious aspect of this event was that he did not immediately notify the police (or 911) but only after speaking to his lawyer the next morning - nine hours later and probably after he sobered up.

He was never arrested or charged with manslaughter or negligence or even failure to report an accident.

Was he guilty? How would we know for sure? With behaviour like this he probably was............yet he never got to go to a court of justice to decide his guilt or innocence.

Money made the difference, because where the ordinary man whose father is an ordinary wage earner would have been locked up and charged he was simply able to walk away. He certainly continued to live a life of luxury, privilege and affluence..............

She was dead and her family and friends probably never had closure.


Now he has died and become a national hero. Great things are now contributed to him. If you can afford to buy the media, they will report that you are able to walk on water.

Who said life is fair?

http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/33002/the-kennedys-power-and-tragedy?xid=newsletter

___________________________________________
Sad to hear of Dominick Dunne’s death.

The author of Power, Privilege and Justice –a program by DD on exactly the same subject – how money can make a difference to the life of a perpetrator.

Caracal

Cats of the Wild

Now every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire. ~Virgil

There must be something magical and magnificent about spring or even just thoughts of spring. Music to the soul.

Every year, just before the official ‘Spring date’ in people’s vocabulary, the West Coast of South Africa announces the coming of spring, sometimes in low tones with a few violins, sometimes with a full orchestra. (The seasons are what a symphony ought to be: four perfect movements in harmony with each other. ~Arthur Rubenstein)

This year was no exception, but at the Wild Coast National Park not as splendid as 3 years ago.

There are many theories one being that in 2006 the winter rains were preceded by a period of drought. But be it as it may we were fortunate that we had a glimpse of the elusive Mr Rooikat (almost extinct now. He did not pose for long. He was gone again within a minute. Busy , busy, busy!

The real meaning..........

L gave me some lovely books and one of them is a book written by Jeremy Clarkson, ‘The World according to Clarkson’.

In one place he mentions that he bought some, night time goggles ( ? ) ‘Made in Russia’ which means it does not work and should actually read ‘made whilst drunk’.

Well, I can also think of a couple of these:-

Made in China should read ‘Avoid at all costs, Absolute Crap, can kill ‘

‘Sale ‘means ‘ He he he he You suckers pay for us to get rid of our junk’

Money back Guarantee means ‘You won’t be able to contact us after purchase’

Conditions will apply means ‘Gotcha! You are not reading the small print’

Fat Free Yogurt = ‘there may be no fat, but lots of starch – You can fool a lot of people a lot of the time’

A Must have = ‘this is exactly how we brainwash you, you idiot’

All our operators are busy = we do not answer telephones; we are having tea, lunch, gone home, asleep on job!

Made in some Asian country and come with instructions = ‘Once you have figured out instructions the guarantee period has run out’

The list does not end here of course..............and I am sure you have a list too!