Joke time again

I have a friend who is sending me very good jokes at the moment. Here's today's input...



With all the new technology regarding fertility recently, a 65-year-old friend of mine was able to give birth. When she was discharged from the hospital and went home, I went to visit. ‘May I see the new baby?' I asked ‘Not yet,' she said 'I'll make coffee and we can visit for a while first.' Thirty minutes had passed, and I asked, 'May I see the new baby now?' 'No, not yet,' She said. After another few minutes had elapsed, I asked again, 'May I see the baby now?' 'No, not yet,' replied my friend. Growing very impatient, I asked, 'Well, when can I see the baby?' 'When he cries!' She told me. 'When he cries?' I demanded. 'Why do I have to wait until he cries?' 'Because I forgot where I put him, O.K.?!!'

Check out the date

I just had to post something with today's date on it: 08/08/08

Still on the Grand Union Canal within the area of the Ouzel Valley Park. Notice the heron on the left hand bank?
I thought it was a sculpture, until it moved!

A little light relief

Having been obsessed with all things aquatic recently, it seems appropriate that today a friend emailed me a very funny joke with the title 'Ducks'.

Of course I have to share.......

Three women die together in an accident and go to heaven. When they get there, St. Peter says, 'We only have one rule here in heaven: don't step on the ducks!' So they enter heaven, and sure enough, there are ducks all over the place. It is almost impossible not to step on a duck, and although they try their best to avoid them, the first woman accidentally steps on one. Along comes St. Peter with the ugliest man she ever saw. St. Peter chains them together and says, 'Your punishment for stepping on a duck is to spend eternity chained to this ugly man!' The next day, the second woman accidentally steps on a duck and along comes St. Peter, who doesn't miss a thing. With him is another extremely ugly man. He chains them together with the same admonishment as for the first woman. The third woman has observed all this and, not wanting to be chained for all eternity to an ugly man, is very, VERY careful where she steps. She manages to go months without stepping on any ducks, but one day St. Peter comes up to her with the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on ... very tall, long eyelashes, muscular, and thin. St. Peter chains them together without saying a word. The happy woman says, 'I wonder what I did to deserve being chained to you for all of eternity?' The guy says, 'I don't know about you, but I stepped on a duck!'

More Water - Furzton Lake in MK

I seem to be taking walks near water at the moment. This is Furzton Lake in Milton Keynes, approximately 2.2 km all the way around, and the Milton Keynes Parks Trust has this to say about it:

Constructed in the mid eighties as one of a series of "balancing lakes" - designed to hold floodwater during heavy rain, Furzton lake is now a valuable environment for wildlife, home to a large population of geese and waterfowl.
The walk around the lake is quite picturesque, and at one or two points there are houses overlooking the lake with balconies on the first floor. They would definitely qualify as 'des res' in my book.
Look at the foreground on the right. There were people with tents and many fishing poles dotted around the lake. They looked as if they were there for the duration of the weekend.
Well, here are some of the waterfowl. Those ducks stood out against the geese, especially that white one.

I think we're so lucky to have such a large selection of parks and waterways in Milton Keynes, and I intend to explore as many of them as I can.

Life on the Water

A couple of days ago I thought I'd have a walk by the Grand Union Canal in the middle of Milton Keynes, and so turned off the road into a quiet residential area, but got totally lost looking for the canal. I finally ended up on an allotment, where I saw these amazing artichokes growing, but I couldn't get to the canal from there.


After much to-ing and fro-ing I parked in a layby next to Tinkers Bridge, and found a stairway down to the canal. As I came under the bridge, this is what I saw:

Breathtaking! I carried on and found that this was quite a popular spot, since there was a pub and a whole line of narrowboats tied up and enjoying a relaxing evening.

Three Locks

On Sunday we went to the Three Locks Pub in Stoke Hammond. The food was very run of the mill, but it was the location we were there for. It's a series of three locks which take the canal traffic up or down hill, depending on the direction they're going. The water level inside the locks is raised or lowered to the same level as the section of canal being exited, the gates are opened, the boat moves into the lock, and the gates are closed again. Then the water level is then raised or lowered to the same level as the section of canal being entered, gates are opened, boat moves out of lock etc. etc. etc.

This picture was taken from the middle of the gate of the first lock, looking downhill to the other two locks.

This is the second lock.
Looking at the third and lowest lock, from within the area of the second lock.
This last picture was taken from the open area outside the pub which is alongside the third lock. You can see wild flowers growing at the top of the gate, and some canal boats pulled up at the bank, with people sitting and eating lunch on the towpath.

This is a gorgeous area, and life on and around the canal is slow and relatively calm. I wouldn't like to fall in the water, though. It looks a bit murky.

Missed the photo challenge

Things have been a bit hectic around here, and although I had every intention of joining in with the latest photo challenge yesterday, I somehow didn't quite manage it. Instead I thought I'd post some pictures of flowers which I took a couple of weeks ago.

I discovered that my hanging basket which I bought ready-planted, had some strawberries growing among the flowers.

A rose in my front yard just after I watered it.

A pink flower in a bouquet that my son gave me.

I hope to be able to start posting regularly again very soon. I'll try and visit a few of the posts for the Brenda Photo Challenge before going to bed tonight.