31 May 2008

SOME BITTER SWEET HUMOUR

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"Self" pictures are here

FROM THE GROUND UP and ROUND ROBINS are here


The most famoust cartoonist in the French speaking part of Belgium is Pierre Kroll. He works amongst others for the most important Belgian Newspaper "Le Soir". I love his sense of humor ! Here are a few examples of how he sees actual problems :

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Each one has it's own show !

This explains the political situation in Belgium. A lion, representing the flemish and a cock representing the wallons with the population around having fun ! The eternal language war between the flemish and french speaking politicians.


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Belgians foreign minister offering help and the answer is : "Nothing" .... "Just a little leak of water" "we take care of everything"

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Since months there are high mountains of garbadge in the streets of Naples (Italy). Now the new Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised to settle the problem by all means. Here a sicilian woman says : "I found him" !

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The French youth revolution in Mai 1968 showing de Gaulle and his wife helplessly in front of the crazy getting students,

and today the Frenchs looking at their crazy Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla.

30 May 2008

FRIDAY FEAST and SHOW & TELL


and
From the ground up day 6
are here


FRIDAY FEAST (the chef is on holidays !)

Appetizer
Can you cry under water?

I never go under water I don't like my face to be wet !

Soup
Why does a round pizza come in a square box

It's easier for transportation

Salad
If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation?

Not when everybody agrees

Main Course
What hair color do they put on the driver's license of a bald man?

pink ??

Dessert
when you're driving and looking for an address, do you turn down the volume on the radio?

I would better stop the car or listen to my GPS !



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More participants here at Kelly's Show and tell Friday

Looking through my library to find a special book to show, I found this old family bible. It is dated from 1820 and was in my father's belongings. I found it when he had died. There is his family name in so I suppose it had belonged to his family, but somebody had torn out the pages with all the names of different generations. I just can see a spot of ink on a little piece of the torn out page. I don't know who did it or why, otherwise the bible is still in a very good shape.





at least inside



This little silver cross with zircons was given to me by an Egyptian waitress when we left the hotel in Egypt. When I asked her why, she said that I had always been so kind to her. I was quite surprised I hadn't done anything special. But I found this gesture very touching. A muslim women gives a silver cross to a Christian. I keep it as a souvenir.

29 May 2008

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - GREEK GIANTS

From the ground up day 5 pictures are here

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As I am preparing my post about my roundtrip through Greece, I often stumble upon the Greek mythology and find horrible creatures ! Here for example are 13 Giants. I only can say that the Greeks had action in the past ! Father eat his children, giants throw mountains at each other etc.etc.

13 horrible Giants of the Greek mythology

1. AGRIUS (Agrios) A man-eating Thracian giant who was half man and half bear.

2. ALOADAE (Aloidai) Twin giants who attempted to storm heaven by piling mountains one upon the other.

3. ARGOS PANOPTES A hundred-eyed giant who was set by Hera to guard the maiden Io but was slain by Hermes. Remark : A dream for an optician !


4. ANTAEUS (Antaios) A gigantic Libyan king who wrestled to death all visitors to his realm until he was slain by Heracles.

5. BRIAREUS One of the three hundred-handed Hecatoncheires. So many gloves to wear !!

6. CHARBYDIS (Kharybdis) A monstrous daughter of Poseidon who was chained to the sea floor by the gods where her inhalations formed a deadly whirlpool. Think of it when you sit in your whirlpool !

7. CHRYSAOR (Khrysaor) A giant born from the neck of the beheaded Gorgon Medusa. Has anybody given birth through the neck ?

8. CYCLOPES YOUNGER (Kyklopes) A tribe of one-eyed cannibalistic giants who shepherded flocks of sheep on the island of Sicily. (see the wories they had with their daughters below !)

9. GERYON (Geryones) A three-bodied giant who dwelt on the sunset isle at the ends of the earth. Must have cost a fortune to dress him !

10. HECATONCHEIRES (Hekatonkheires) Three immortal giants with a hundred arms and fifty heads, who assisted Zeus in the War of the Titans. They were afterwards appointed as guards for the gates of Tartarus. Imagine the work of the hairdresser !

11. OREUS A man-eating Thracian giant who was half-man and half-bear.

12. ORION A gigantic hunter with the ability to walk on water. He was slain by Gaea or Artemis for some offence and placed amongst the stars as a constellation.

13. TYPHOEUS A monstrous, fire-breathing giant with serpentine legs and a hundred bestial heads.



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After reading this, it's time to see a horror movie !

28 May 2008

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

From the Ground Up Pictures are here


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Do you need to go to the dentist ? or just have a laugh ?

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27 May 2008

COMPILED NEWS

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Royal fashion gaffes at wedding

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Zara ... (grandchild of THE Queen at the wedding of her brother) not all white

THIS is what fake tan’s for, Zara — writes Fashion Editor Erica Davies.
The groom’s sister, 27, would have looked as elegant as her strapless Eau de Nil frock — but blew it by forgetting to fill in her bikini tan marks.

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Bea ... mad hat-ter (Sarah Ferguson daughter)

WHEN butterflies attack it can be ugly, as Princess Beatrice, 19, proves.
The bizarre headpiece was designed by Philip Treacy — also responsible for the dreaded pineapple hat worn by Sarah Jessica Parker last week. Fortunately my cats weren't invited to this wedding ! They love to chase butterflies !

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ONE of the Queen’s footmen has been sacked for leaving a pal free to wander the corridors of Buckingham Palace. Flunky Stephen Robertson lost his €19,000-a-year job after admitting he left a male guest alone in his quarters at Her Majesty’s residence.
The footman, in his 20s, signed in his visitor but later left him alone while he went out.
Visitors are supposed to be accompanied at all times. This poor Queen ! persecuted all the time by young man ! The last one could even go into her bedroom ! Can you believe that ? But everybody has his own taste, we had a young man here in Belgium who raped over 80 years old women in hospitals !

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Bull jailed for shop rampage
A BULL has been jailed in Mexico after locals claimed he devoured their corn crops and destroyed two wooden shops. The judge of Canalumtic, police commander Felipe Gomez, jailed the bull until its owner, Moises Santiz, pays for the damages.
It is not the first time an animal has been jailed in Mexico. Last year a dog was jailed for biting someone. There must not be a lot of criminals in Mexico, we wouldn't have space for a bull in our prisons.

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Billy the Goldfish

WHAT a gill! This clever fish doesn’t mind hitting the net – after being taught to play footie like Viz magazine’s Billy The Fish. Owner Dr Dean Pomerleau also trained goldfish Comet to slalom, play rugby and even limbo by rewarding him with food when he successfully completes a task.
And now the fish trainer, of Los Angeles, US, has released a DVD to teach others how to do it. What a dream for my cat Arthur ! He could watch football (soccer) live here in our living room and not only on TV ! I have to buy a goldfish !!

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Couple celebrate 80th anniversary

A couple thought to have been married longer than anyone in the country have celebrated their 80th anniversary. Frank and Anita Milford, from Plymouth, exchanged vows on 26 May, 1928.
Frank is 100 and when Anita also turns 100 in June. Oh my ! another 40 years to go for us !

26 May 2008

FIRST TRIP TO THE USA IN 1971



RDH Mom proposed for Fun Monday :

Show us and/or tell us about your favorite vacation - where you went, what you did, etc. Pictures would be great. Let's all take a trip around a the world via our FM friends!!

When I read this, one trip came immediately in my mind. It was my first trip to another continent, the first time I had to take an airplane for such a long distance and it also was a late Honeymoon, as we hadn't done any when we married in 1969.

My mother's sister who had married an American in 1951 had invited us for one months to stay with them in Madison Wisconsin for our holidays.



In 1971 it wasn't so easy to get a Visa for the States. Tourists didn't exist yet and the American government didn't want any immigrants coming over without job or money. Therefore my aunt had to go to a notary to make this certificate, and with that we could both get a visa. Strangely I for 5 years (as a German) and my husband only for 1 year (as an Italian) !




and here are the tickets, dated July 13, 1971 ! We flew to New York and from there to Chicago, and took a bus to Madison where my aunt and uncle waited for us at the bus stop. And this happened afterwards each time we visited them.



My aunt and uncle had planned a "little" trip for us. The red line shows you where we drove through, stopped and visited the most beautiful sites and places a tourist should see !

We made approx. 8.000 km (4.970 miles) in two weeks ! Overnights we spent in Motels, which was also something we didn't know, as in the European countries we only had Hotels at that time. So it was very interesting for us. My uncles car was the huge American "tank" like a Cadillac, very big and poor space for luggage and people. No aircondition of course !

We started from Madision/Wisonsin, drove through Minneapolis to South Dakota where we saw : the Sioux Falls, the Badlands the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. From Wyoming to Montana, stopped in Cody saw Big horn and of course the Yellowston Park. Besides a very rustical restroom and a lot of drugged Hippies (there was no law against drugs at that time) there was no attraction parc there. Old Faithful spat regularly just like he does still today.

From Montana we drove to Utah, stopped in Bountiful and saw Salt Lake City. Then through Nevada to Las Vegas. Of course I could fill in a whole post about Las Vegas at that time, it was just another world to us !

We then drove through Arizona visited the Hoover Damn, stayed in Flagstaff, saw the Montezuma Castle and of course the Gran Canyon !

In Colorado we sat on the "Four Corners" (unfortunately I don't have a picture of that), we saw Durango, Mesa Verde and arrived in Denver. From there we went through Nebraska, Iowa stopped in Des Moines, through Illinois and back to Madison.

Unfortunately I didn't have a good camera and the pictures my aunt and uncle took disappeared when my uncle died. I don't know what they became, as my uncle's church has done everything to convince my uncle to change his testament so that they inherited the house and its content which my aunt had left to me.

This is a photo of us in front of the house, just married for two years







Visiting the Badlands. My uncle and us



Mount Rushmore


Very impressed by Buffalo Bill museum or what it was !


Yellowstone parc


Yellowstone



on the way to Las Vegas, where we stayed at "The Dunes" which doesn't exist anymore



Hoover Dam (the woman behind my uncle is my aunt, although she was 32 years older than me we look very much alike on the pictures). Apparently I had taken everything from her, look, character etc. very much to the annoyance of my mother !)




Gran Canyon


Gran Canyon



Montesuma castle.

After this mammout trip we didn't go back to the States until 1988 when our son was then 15 and old enough to come with us and understand the things we wanted to see. We returned again in 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1994. We always stayed nearly 4 weeks, travelled 14 days and stayed the remaining time to rest with my aunt and uncle.

During these stays we saw quite a lot of Wisconsin, stayed 3 days in Chicago, visited Disney World in Florida and travelled back over Alabama, Louisiana, Mississipi, Tennessee (where we visited Elvis' Graceland in Memphis), and Missouri.

We have also been in New York, Cape Cod, Hyannis (saw the Kennedy mansion) and Boston. We stayed in San Franscisco, in Los Angeles (twice) and also visited the Niagara Falls just on the 4th of July. We saw the Glenn and Brice Canyon, the Sequoia park and many other places. From these trips I don't have any picture because at that time I filmed everything with our video camera.

During this very first time in 1971 there was a big difference in the way of living between Europe and the States and for us a big experience and we learned a lot of new things.

The trips in the 90th were different. At that time there was almost no difference anymore.

I appreciate the help of Mr. Gattino and his elephant like memory because I would have been unable to list all the States we drove through !

25 May 2008

WEEKLY WINNERS

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Quilly's Alphabet is here


are here





More participants here at Sarcastic Mom Weekly winners

My winners this week are the pictures of the Statues I took in the museum of Olympia in Greece two weeks ago. I can't remember the names of all statues of course, but for me the beauty of them was more important. They all were found in the ruins of the Zeus and Hera temple.




God Eros as little baby. He looks so cute


What a wonderful sculptural work with the hairs !




The only statue of twin brothers ever found


The remains of an Amazone









What an amazing work with the folds of the cloth !



Look at this belt !


These are the details ! It shows Romulus and Remus nursed by the wolf. Rom was named after Romulus.