A fishy encounter

Once upon a time, in a far off land, there lived a fish. His name was Harry and he was a very Betaful fish who had a long swirly tail, carnelian red and sea blue scales, and fancy fins to boot. He was quite the handsome fellow and was a little on the arrogant side. He lived in a purple plastic bowl, a 2005 model with all the latest technological upgrades, MP3 player, GPS (guppy positioning system) and central vac. He was quite happy in his little underwater abode, though occasionally he did have to avoid the feathers that his messy neighbours, the Para Keets, threw into his bowl. Tank goodness for central vac.
So this was Harry's life, get up in the morning, brush his teeth, swim laps around the bowl for a couple of hours until his muscles were warmed up, chase the food kernels which magically appeared each morning at the top of his bowl, have a nap to digest lunch, more laps in the afternoon, in the opposite direction of course, some leaps of joy and then top it all off with dinner and an evening session building his bubble nest. Such a full and complete life...

One day, his bowl was somehow transported over a great distance to the great inner Sea. Harry got a sinking feeling, was he about to meet his end? or would this experience be a draining one? He didn't know what to expect, and was pondering this distressing thought when out of the corner of his little fishy eye, he cast upon a most strange and perplexing sight. There through two layers of glass and plastic swam a mysterious figure. Who was this intruder? This challenger? Harry wasn't sure.

He swam up to the side of his bowl, shook his tail a little and puffed out his cheeks to make himself look more impressive than he already knew he looked. To his frustration, the stranger copied him. This stranger, this new kid in town was seemingly mocking him. Harry was more than a little annoyed now. He swam up and down furiously along the side of his bowl, puffing his entire body up and swishing his magnificent tail to and fro. The stranger, whose tail was nowhere near as fancy as Harry's aped him. Harry wasn't sure what to do now... this fellow seemed to have quite an attitude and Harry was sure not liking it.
Horatio, as the other fish's name happened to be, was also in a quandry... what was he supposed to do? He kept imitating the stranger in the purple bowl, being just a young fish, he hadn't learned the ropes of beta battles! Having been named after the famous captain, Lord Horatio Nelson of the British Fleet, he had an important naval tradition to maintain. He postured and swirled, spun and whirled, all the while keeping one eye on this fishy challenger. You never could trust a slippery character like that. As the two tanks were eventually pulled apart by higher forces, the two challengers were forced to break off their male displays of emotion and strength and prepare in their separate places of residence for another battle on another day, when one of them would be sure to be the winner!

Oops... sorry, the author has come up with a temporary blank as to the moral and ending of this story, hmmm... not sure what to say, all of a sudden, my brain has hit a brick wall and cannot wrap it's cells around the concept of an ending for the story, i was simply inspired by these two characters in their bowls this morning as i cleaned house and thought i should share a portion of their lives with everyone, but sadly and alas, i haven't been able to finish it. I invite my readers to give me suggestions on how to resolve this situation.

Someelse's cool pics

The wild expanses surrounding Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland, England

Wheat fields and storm in England

Sycamore Gap, Northern England I just thought i'd share a few cool images which i had on my computer. I do wish that i was more of a handy person with a camera and could pull off shots like these. But i suppose that's why someone else has those talents, to allow them to shine and others to simply appreciate their skill and eye for a great shot! Kinda like in life right? We all have different positions in life, guided to them by our Heavenly Father and placed there so that they could be used. Birth order, rank, age, sex, education and experience are all factors that shape us and mold us to be who we are, individuals, unique, special to God, to be used and loved by Him.

Malibu blues

Yep, here's the star of this story of sadness and squeaks. My little Malibu, lovingly christened "Prunelope" by my youngest sibling, has been causing me some grief and stress over the last few days. It seems that the car has taken it into it's computer programmed brain that i am too heavy and has decided to start me on a weight loss program of guilt and annoyance. Over the past few days, it has steadily but stealthily increased the amount of pestering that it was doing.

First a little squeak under the seat, barely audible to the inefficient human ear, but most likely most readily audible by the average house mutt. Then steadily increasing the decibels of the squeak. At first, i had much difficulty determining from where the noise was proceeding but after much bouncing up and down on the seat at stoplights (much to the amusement of my fellow drivers!) and peering under the dashboard at most inconvenient times, i figured out that it was indeed the seat. What a cheeky little vehicle! I even had my dad test things out but of course as soon as he settled into the seat, the car shut right up. I kinda feel that it's like a tease, possibly doing its best to cause insanity, occuring only when i'm alone and there's no one to audibly witness the problem and then hiding under the bushes when anyone is near to hear it.

But eventually it was outed and i decided to teach old Prunelope a lesson and take her into the dealership to have them work on her. Hah, you think you can outwit and outthink your driver? Think again, you, you,... car! Anyways, there i am at the mechanics desk this morning, outlining my problems to the poor fellow behind the counter, who is probably already thinking "oh great, another girl who thinks she can diagnose problems that we go to mechanics school for for fourteen years and she wants to tell us the car is squeaky? Give me a break, i've got to go for my morning break and can't wait to tell the guys about the live one i talked to this morning! Yep, she came in with a list as long as her arm of squeaks and wierd noises,

half of which have no basis in reality!"

Anyhow, i did manage to explain myself to the guy and he duly wrote down my "problems" and then i left old Prunelope to his mercy. It apparently takes the entire garage staff a whole day together to figure out the squeak problem. It wasn't until late this afternoon that the fellow from the garage finally called me back and admitted that they hadn't really heard any of the other noises i had complained about (it's running rough, it whines when i use the gas) and now for sure they think i'm hearing things. And they used WD40 under the seat - something even i could have come up with. Oh well, so far so good, no squeaks have reared their silly decibular heads at me. Mercifully, the car is still under a blanket warranty so my little squeakie friend did not cost me any money... today! Ach, the joys of owning a vehicle!

p.s. as i tried to leave the parking lots with the mechanic fellow so he could hear the noise i was talking about, Prunelope protested with a beep. Brilliant me, i tugged my seatbelt on and i attempted to proceed. With little success, the persistent beeping was actually due to the parking break being engaged... so much for showing off my girly prowess with this vehicle. Humiliated, i sunk down in my seat and did my best not to make any more overt mistakes. Oh well, we have to provide amusement for other people sometimes too eh???

Okay this is what it is..

Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.
Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
So the next time you decide to go to the big sale at the mall, you can thoroughly impress your fellow humans by the usage of such a word in your sentence. "Bye honey! I'm heading off to the brobdingnagian sale at the mall. I hope to find lots of deals there." or "I just hit a brobdingnagian bump on the road and wrecked my vehicle's suspension and wheel bearings" (if you can figure out first of all which parts of the car that actually is... i certainly can't... i just show up at the mechanic with a typically girlish expression and state that there is a "funny rattle" on the passenger side of the car. Or, please examine the squeak on the driver's seat, which only seems to appear when i have myself in that position, and it doesn't seem to squeak for anyone else and i'm beginning to develop a bit of a complex that my car might possibly be telling me that i'm overweight, the cheeky thing. I'm sure i'll have lots of fun explaining this to the mechanic on thursday. Arrghhh.. the trails of having such expert hearing... good for eavesdropping on parental conversations when you are 12 through the heating vents, not so useful when you are attempting to drive in peace and are constantly reminded by an annoying little squeak just under my seat.

Ever have one of these days???

Have you ever had one of these days? Where you can't seem to even remember to put one foot in front of the other (making walking extremely difficult!) When you flood the laundry tubs? When you flood the bathroom floor while cleaning the tub? When you get stuck in traffic in front of a crazy head-banging fellow whom you are sure that any minute now will bang into the rear-end of your nice car? When you spill everything possible? When you are sure that everything is just out to get you? Well, i hope you make it through those days safely and in good spirits and know that there are more of us out there who can sympathize most dramatically!

For all you philologists out there

Okay, due to a request from an unknown acquaintance of mine, and due to the fact that i love words and sharing their meanings, obscure or not, with the general population who abide around me, i am going to give "word of the day/week" another go....

So here is your wordly challenge for the sharpening of your brain cells and the expansion of your gray matter...

brobdingnagian

So put your thinking caps on, pull out the dictionaries (well, leave them on the shelf for a little while to allow your brains to have some exercise) and see what you come up with for this little beauty. And soon, once the meaning is revealed, you too will be able to go up to your friend and say "brobdingnagian is so good!" or "i feel so brobdingnagian today." or "that is such a brobdingnagian thing to say..."

Happy searching!

It's no yolk...

It has recently come to my attention that there are botannical delights yet to be explored by my inquisitive mind. But my mind is one more fact the richer after having seen these plants in person. I believed it to be a hoax at first, owing to the uncommon appearance of what seemed to be an egg glued to a plant in someone's garden. However, when i visited the cultivator and saw it for myshellf, i had no more doubts. It is called an Easter Egg plant... grows up to 12 fruits during its blooming time and they turn yellowish when they are ready. I personally think that God has a pretty good sense of humor!

Me

A life half-lived

A mind spinning

Life hurtles by

At an astonishing pace

And sometimes I sit

dazed by the events of the day

And what i haven't managed to get accomplished

I wonder how everyone else copes with this

Am i alone?

Have i lost the ability to cope?

Is my inner planning gene defective?

I have to slow down

Take a minute to breathe

Inhale

Exhale

Pause

Think

Smile

Laugh

Pray

Read

Sing

Sit

Be

A Portrait in Time... a.k.a. the Framed Effect

On the recent occasion of my having attained to the 3rd decade of my life, the 30th anniversary of my birth, the 10,950th day of my life (if i have the math correct, it's entirely possible that i don't since math was never my forte in school - i usually try to block out memories of math class since they usually involved dizziness, frustration, tears occasionally and many, many blank looks as my poor math instructors tried valiently to stuff the illogical facts into the all-too-small math section of my brain. My poor father can attest to that fact, perhaps that's why he looks so fierce on the picture below!), there was a gathering at the parental abode on the Mother street. There were gathered all manner of guests and their shoes and there a merry olde (doesn't that word look infinitely better with an "e" on the end of it?) time was had by the invitees. There was cake and goodies aplenty and i thoroughly enjoyed spending the evening with my nearest and dearest ones. I love you all!!!! I thought i would share a few select images for the amusement of my reading public. Most of these shots are of my immediate family, who would have less propensity to sue me for improperly representing them as would certain other guests of the evening, who showed quite eagerly their ability to "get into the picture" well! I shall refrain from posting said pictures, but never fear, they shall rear their ugly heads at some point in our future relationship! I give you the Mussches!!!

The pater familias - "so you want to date my daughter?" (no wonder i'm still single!!!)

The fatherly figure once again, with his feline compatriot! The motherly figure - does she look "gilty?"

"We are waiting for the $30 you said you would pay us to pose..."
Trying to get the picture focused is a difficult thing apparently!

My two youngest sisters... looking charming as usual
Grandma, a real "purl"
And Junior decided to get framed as well, perhaps he or she is a juvenile delinquent!

Just for fun... these girls are mature!

Just because this picture makes me laugh everytime i see it! I love you, Dad!