Liquid Shots

Here are my entries for the Brenda Photo Challenge.

Raindrop

Unplugged

Calm

If you'd like to visit the other participants, they're

Brenda
Donna
Joan
Nita
Jeanne
Sally

Nita from Red Tin Heart has agreed to set the next challenge, so don't forget to stop by there again tomorrow, to find out when and what the next challenge topic will be.

Ha ha

A friend sent me this joke in an e-mail, and it really tickled my funny bone.

Cowboy Boots

An elderly couple, Edna and Bert, moved to Texas.

Bert always wanted a pair of authentic cowboy boots, so, seeing some on sale, he buys them and wears them home. Walking proudly into the kitchen, he says to his wife, “Notice anything different about me?”

Edna looks him over, “Nope”.

Frustrated, Bert storms off into the bathroom, undresses, and walks back into the kitchen completely naked except for the boots. Again he asks, a little louder this time, “Notice anything different NOW?”

Edna looks up and says, “Bert, what’s different? It’s hanging down today, it was hanging down yesterday, it’ll be hanging down again tomorrow.”

Furious, Bert yells, “AND DO YOU KNOW WHY IT’S HANGING DOWN EDNA?”

“Nope”, she replies.

“IT’S HANGING DOWN BECAUSE IT’S LOOKING AT MY NEW BOOTS!!!!”

Edna replies, “Shoulda bought a hat, Bert. Ya shoulda bought a hat.”

Eyes Left!

Don't forget the Brenda Photo Challenge which is this Friday, May 30th. If you look on the left hand side of this page, you'll see the first link there is for the Photo Challenge. Just leave a comments here or on the linked page, and I'll add you to the list of participants. The subject is "liquid" and the idea is to post up to three pictures on your blog on Friday. I hope you can join in.

News from the Quarantine Zone

Hooli's come to stay with me for two weeks. He was originally supposed to just come for one week while my daughter moves house, but he's developed Kennel Cough and so needs to be kept away from other dogs. Meaning he can't go for walks at the moment, and really should be kept as quiet as possible, so he's stuck here with me, poor little guy. Any exertion, and he's coughing and wheezing poor thing.

At least he can go out in the garden here, but he still looks fed up, doesn't he?
Actually, he just ain't his usually bouncy self at the moment.
He's taking antibiotics and anti-inflammatory tablets, which I'm supposed to sneak to him in a piece of cheese. Last time I tried that he sussed me out, and wouldn't eat anything I gave him without checking it out first and then he'd only eat it if I wasn't looking at him. It's taken months to regain his trust, so I hope I'll be able to fool him this time.

He's such a sweetie.

Daleks in MK

I promised someone that I would post these pictures on my blog, and I hadn't done it until now. This was taken on May 4th when there was a Collector's Fair in Milton Keynes. These Daleks had real people inside them, and could respond to questions. But their main aim was to scare people with their distorted monotone voices "TERMINATE!"

Reflections Of The Flower Show

More pictures from the Chelsea Flower Show. This time it's reflections on different surfaces.

Flowers Everywhere

I went to the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday, and it was, as usual, a truly amazing experience. I've posted some of the show gardens I saw there, and as you can see there was even a flower-decked bus on the road outside.

This garden was called "From Life to Life, A garden for George" and was dedicated to George Harrison. It was so lovely.....

Inside the covered area there were displays of different types of flowers, and one central display was a huge circular walkway made entirely of roses, so I got lots of shots. I've put a selection of them in a blog I've called Roses, which you can find by going to my profile and clicking on it (or you can click here ).

Random Title Generator

This webpage is quite fun. It generates six random titles at the click of a button, and says that if these are titles that already exist it is quite accidental. They should be unique. Useful if you're doing writing exercises and can't think of an idea, or just fun if the titles it comes up with for you set you off on a train of thought.

The Brenda Photo Challenge - Friday MAY 30TH

Donna of Made in Heaven has posted the following rules on her blog.

Rules:
1. Up To 3 pictures allowed
2. If you've been chosen, pick a Theme for your challenge then set a date for it. Please give participants time to get out and about and do their picture taking. I gave them two weeks between challenges.
3. Hence forth, this challenge shall be known as The "Brenda" Photo Challenge
4. Anyone who wants to play along must leave a comment letting You know who to link to.
5. Have your link list at the bottom of your post so others can go visiting...
6. Pick a person to pass the challenge on to and let them know! If they don't respond? Pick someone else!
That's It!!!
If you just Can't think of what picture to take...Don't Worry!! This is about FUN...LAUGHTER!!
And LEARNING!! If you have ANY photography tips to pass along as well...PLEASE DO!!

When I set the date for my turn, I chose next Friday. Now that the rules have been formalised, I've decided to allow the two weeks to give everyone a chance to get their shots sorted out, so I'm changing the date to Friday, May 30th instead.

The theme for the next challenge is "liquid". Anyone who wants to can join in, so just leave a message in the comment section of this post.

TAKING PART IN THIS CHALLENGE:
Brenda
Donna
Joan
Nita
Jeanne
Sally

Pretty Shiney Things

I'm so embarrassed. I can't believe I forgot to post my pictures for Donna's photo challenge. However, in the spirit of "better late than never", here are my efforts. (I'm sure it must still be Friday somewhere).

Perfume Bottle

No Evil

The Japanese Art of Chokin

Donna has nominated me to select the next Photo Challenge and I've chosen next Friday (May 23rd 30th) for the date. For the subject, I've chosen "Liquid" which I think should give anyone who wants to enter a lot of scope.

Just let me know if you're going to join in, and I'll add your name to the roll I put up on the day.

Made from food

A friend sent me these photos in an email, and they're made entirely of food. I think they're amazing! You can click to enlarge and see the detail...

Not strictly speaking a game

A friend just sent this to me in an email, and I thought it was so neat I had to share. I've tried to figure out how it works, but it's beyond me. Quite amazing though. The phone numbers here in the UK, after you take away the area codes, have six digits remaining, and this works with those. So wherever you are in the world, for the purpose of this exercise you need to assume that your area code is all the digits up to the last six in your phone number. I just tested it with a 7 figure phone number, and it didn't work, so you need to use the last six digits of your phone number.

Here it is:

1. Grab a calculator. (You won't be able to do this one in your head)
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code)
3. Multiply by 8
4. Add 1
5. Multiply by 250
6. Add the last 3 digits of your phone number
7. Add the last 3 digits of your phone number again.
8. Subtract 250
9. Divide number by 2

Do you recognize the answer?

Composting Game

I promise this is the last game I post for a while. Next time I'll catch up on posting the photos I took in Barcelona, and other stuff.

Here it is: http://compost4fun.recyclenow.com/

It's a game where you have to decide what's compostable as well as balance the green and brown compost in your virtual compost bin. No prizes and no levels, but I did discover that I knew less about composting than I thought.

I think it's probably meant to be for kids, but I think you're never too old to learn.

Another game to play

I just found another website that lets you play. This time it's called One Word and all you do is click on the GO button and it takes you to a page with just one word on it. You then have 60 seconds to write as much as you can about that one word. Then you can save it, and see what other people have written. Apparently they change the word every day. I tried it, and it was fun.

French and Saunders

A friend and I went to see French and Saunders in Oxford yesterday evening. It was brilliant. They threw everything at us. A good selection of different characters from their shows, as well as a touch of Absolutely Fabulous and a giant Vicar of Dibley.

Dawn French wandered through the audience bandishing her "chocometer" in one hand, and a collection bucket in the other, with some hillarious consequences.

Jennifer Saunders did her Madonna impersonation, which brought tears to my eyes, not only because it was so funny, but also because she ended up doing a sort of squat-walk in a pair of impossibly high heels. Ouch!

They ended the whole show by coming back on to do their dirty fat men impersonations, which got quite rude in places, but ended very funnily.

As they took their final bow, the audience threw chocolates at their feet.

They kept saying that this was their final tour. I hope not.

Etymologic game

Here's another game, but this one doesn't give any rewards to charities, it's just a passer of time, and perhaps an opportunity to learn a few new things.

It's Etymologic and it's quite challenging. You have to choose from four possible answers about the meaning or source of different words.

I'm ashamed to say that I did very badly.

Spell Checker Poem

I had to copy this and put it here, because I think it's so funny. I found it on a website called Geoff Johnston: "Get With The Programm(er)" . He has a list of favourite poems, and this one just cracked me up:

'Spell Checker Blues'

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.
(Anon)

Ever curious, I started Googling, and found every which version of this poem under the name of Spell Checker Blues as well as Ode to a Spell Checker, but I think I've found a website that explains where it all came from. The original poem is much longer and it was called "Candidate for a Pullet Surprise" by Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar. The full original poem is even funnier, and if you'd like to read it you can find it at the bottom of this web page .

Let's get the bad news out of the way

I'm sorry to say that I was robbed during my little jaunt to Barcelona. It's very embarrasing for me to have to admit that I was taken in by some very clever pickpockets, but in the interest of making as many people aware of what to beware of, I've written an article about how it all happened, and if you're interested you can read it here.

Happily, it could have been worse, and I feel as if I got away with minimal damage, both to my finances and to my person. My pride, however, is another thing. I put it behind me as quickly as I could, and got on with enjoying my trip.

Okay, now that's out of the way we can talk about happier things.