Now *that's* some incense!

For those of you who are fans of pomp, pageantry and incense, look at this *massive* censor from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain!



Imagine learning how to swing that!!

A Musical Interlude

And now, for a musical interlude--a break from your busy day.

Note how this wooden ball somehow manages to play this peice with human-like feeling--pauses, accents and all.

An off-topic interlude

This little dog is being prepped for the  recent big dog show.  I think he is thinking "step away from the scissors!"  He does look a bit suspicious of whoever put rubber bands in his face.

More Birds

In keeping with our bird theme this week, here is Weewoo the talking starling.  Yes, a starling.  Like the ones outside.  How cool is that?

Have Some Adorable

Hat tip to Lifeisgreat.  :D

Keep Calm and Say Your Rosary!

Hat tip to Lucy of Mystical Rose Design who pointed out this great Esty shop (hers, I think) that has this ingenious necklace charm design! As she said in her comment to my Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake post, say the rosary, then have your cupcake!

Keep Calm

This poster, Keep Calm and Carry On, was designed by a British civil servant as part of a World War II propaganda campaign in Great Britain.  The third in a series of such posters, the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was to be used in the case of an invasion of Great Britain by Germany.  Since this never occurred, the poster was never officially disseminated.


This pink parody was brought to my attention by my son and I thought it was rather cute and deserved not only a blog post, but a bit of an historical explanation of its origins.

I suppose you could say it is an American version of the original!

Enjoy!

Na na na na na na na

Technically, this is a flow chart. I like to think of it as a sentence diagram. Whatever it is, it is clever.

Today's Nursery Rhyme

Pussy cat, pussy cat
wilt thou be mine? 
Thou shalt not wash dishes
nor yet feed the swine, 
but sit on a cushion 
and sew a fine seam
and feed upon strawberries, 
sugar and cream. 

I used to love this nursery rhyme as a kid. I told my dad that I wanted to "feed upon strawberries, sugar and cream" but I wasn't so keen on "sewing a fine seam". He assured me that such a life of luxury was unrealistic. I still don't like doing dishes (or sewing)!

Have some cat.

May need a bit of salt and pepper.  

Nativity Figure Painting

Last year I joined a nativity making group at Yahoo groups. The extent of the hobby then, was to purchase a Fontanini Rug Merchant figure to join my DiGiovanni Nativity and print out some Oriental rugs for him to sell. 

This year, I have been researching the possibility of painting the figures. The picture on the left shows how the Rug Merchant appears straight from the box. 

The picture on the right shows my painting; the rug went from pink to red, his turban went from pink to green, his vest changed from tan to light green, his pants from tan to terra cotta and the base went from tan to dark brown.

The second picture on the left shows the DiGiovanni figures that I painted, as they appear out of the box. This year, I painted Mary, Joseph and the Three Kings.

You see Mary and Joseph in their finished state to the right and the Three Kings below. Joseph got a robe in terra cotta and a cloak in brown with a dark brown base and Mary kept her pink robe and added a blue cloak with a white veil and dark brown base.

The Kings were quite fun to paint.  One got a purple cloak with a white collar and spring green robe, one got a pink cloak, dark green robe and navy pants and the third got a red cloak.  Each monarch got a base in medium brown. 

 Painting these figures makes them much easier to see against the dark stable that I have and gives them individual personalities. 

Crocheted Cell Phone Case

Thanks to my dog, I needed a new crocheted cell phone case.  I honestly didn't mind, because my A.D.D. brain needed a change of scenery anyway.  I had gotten a small skien of multi-primary colored yarn and had a ball working this up.  I also found some nice buttons and thought the rose button looked perfect with this rainbow creation.

The incredibly easy pattern for this cell phone case is here.  All it uses is chain stitch and single crochet.

Crocheted Jewelry!

I've been crocheting!  There is something about the cool weather that makes me want to get out the yarn and create.

I got this pattern from Creative Yarn, a unique crochet website run by a talented young Italian woman.  She has a fascinating collection of crocheted jewelry in addition to the more expected hats and sweaters.

Now that my husband and I have traded our trailer in for a pop-up camper, I have a feeling I'll be crocheting myself some leg warmers--style be damned!

I need to replentish my yarn supply with black yarn, as well as maybe some yarn with silver and gold in it.  I also need to buy some nice large buttons.  I've got a supply of various rather tiny buttons, but I'm thinking I need ones a bit larger.  (This necklace actually buttons in the back.)

Anyway, I really enjoyed making this and am looking forward to whatever insanely easy crochet patterns I can find in the future.

Craftiness

This really should be a Quick Takes post, but by Friday I won't remember to include it, so here it goes.  As I mentioned on a previous Quick Takes, I have a new laptop.  The keys are dark and so is my house most of the time.  Also, the little raised bumps that are supposed to be on the "F" and "J" keys are so small I can hardly feel them, so I'm having a hard time finding the home keys accurately.  For someone who works as a transcriber, this can present a problem! 

So, I decided to use my round, puffy (or "domed" as I discovered they are called) alphabet stickers.  I put an f on the "F" key and a j on the "J" key, and I'm all set!

Not exactly Steam Punk, but much easier! 

On the Lighter Side

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Air Car

This car sounds very promising. Kind of a "Smart Car", but much smarter. A six seater is going to go for $17K. Not bad. Runs on compressed air. Neat idea.



The film says it goes up to 60 mph. Their website says it goes up to 96 mph. Not bad at all, really.

I say, its time we stop relying on foreign oil.

What Herb Are You?

You Are Basil

You are a mild mannered person. People feel naturally calm around you. You are warm hearted and loving. You have a close knit circle of friends and family. You have the courage to be who you are in life, even if others disagree. You're proud of your uniqueness. You are good at caring for and healing others. You are naturally soothing.

What Herb Are You?

I Found My Thrill

One of my pet peeves is people who put unnecessary quotation marks around words. Now, there is a blog dedicated to such perplexing punctuation mistakes--The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

Quotation marks around a word or phrase that do not indicate a person speaking, are used to indicate irony. When people use them instead, for emphasis, interpreting the supposed ironic meaning behind the quotes can be a hilarious venture.

This is the idea behind The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Bethany Keeley, the blog's author, likes to reinterpret the meaning of signs that misuse quotation marks and speculate about their supposed irony.

One of my favorite misuses of quotation marks is when stores put their sale signs in quotes. So...its not really a sale? You are admitting that you jacked up the price artificially so that your "sale" is not really a sale? Because, that's what you are saying when you put "sale" in quotes.

Anyway, stop by Bethany's blog and have a laugh at the misused quotes.

The "sale" pic above is from The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

Figure Eight

In spite of my intense dislike of all things math, this is my favorite School House Rock. (This and Conjunction Junction, of course.)


When I watch this, I can't help but wonder if today's kids know what a figure 8 in skating is, now that they no longer require it as part of "figure skating" in the Olympics.

Edward R. Murrow

must be turning over in his grave.
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