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Monday, November 19, 2012

In the Spirit of Giving

Now that we are getting closer to Christmas, I have been noticing that the 'Spirit if Giving' is growing as we get closer. Never mind the busy stores, the commercialism, or the advertising blitz, when you do see the Spirit of Giving happen 'just because,' it is wonderful to see. I found this little story about giving back to the community, and think that it's a wonderful way to start the season, and I just had to share.

The Haircut
 

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he
asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money
from you, I'm doing community service this week.'
The florist was pleased and left the shop.

When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a
'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing
community service this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop.

The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank
you' card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Then a Member of Parliament came in for a haircut, and when he went to
pay his bill , the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from
you. I'm doing community service this week.' The Member of Parliament
was very happy and left the shop.

The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen
Members of Parliament lined up waiting for a free haircut.

---------

At least we know that our MP's are 'practiced' at the Spirit of Receiving!

TTFN

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Okay I know I'm getting older but really !!

It seems that many of my friends and family have been trying to tell me something. My inbox has been flooded with these nice photo reminders. Don't worry, I know who they are and I will get my sweet...Mmmmm, something sweet sounds nice, "Lola, what's the name of that place that serves that peanut and ice cream, and chocolate fudge dish?"

"You mean DQ?"

"No. That Dairy place I like. I'm just telling every one here on Facebook how much I like Star Trek."

 "You're talking about a Peanut Buster at Dairy Queen, and you're not on Facebook you are blogging."

"No, but that sounds nice. Let me just finish this tweet about the elections, I can't wait till they are over."

"The elections are over."

"Really? Al Gore got re-elected didn't he?"

"Al never ran, and was never President,  Obama got in for a second term."

"Oh, then let me just finish this email to Jodi. I want to thank her for this google map to the Senior's Center to go see Mom. Then we'll go to Tim Horton's for a dough-nut and coffee like you said."

"Your Mom's not in a center, she's at home with the puppies."

"Oh, See this picture that Jason Instagrammed on his travels to Colorado?"

"Jason was never in Colorado, and he didn't send it, I did."

"Oh."

----------------------------

TTFN

But I really did get this photo in my inbox on my birthday. I know where you live John! Bwhahahaha

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Dining Etiquette with Little Edward


 It's been a while since I've really posted anything on Honk'n'Holl'r, so I thought I would post some humor featuring Little Edward. Little Edward is Little Johnny's "Uptown" cousin.



The Polite Way To Pee

During one of her daily classes, a teacher trying to teach good manners, asked her students the following question:

“Michael, if you were on a date having dinner with a nice young lady, how would you tell her that you have to go to the bathroom?”

Michael said, “Just a minute I have to go pee.” The teacher responded by saying, “That would be rude and impolite. What about you Sherman, how would you say it?”

Sherman said, “I am sorry, but I really need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
“That’s better, but it’s still not very nice to say the word bathroom at the dinner table. And you, little Edward, can you use your brain for once and show us your good manners?”

“I would say, ‘Darling, may I please be excused for a moment? I have to shake hands with a very dear friend of mine, who I hope to introduce you to after dinner.’”

The teacher fainted…

TTFN
And have a Great Day!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Blogblast 2012


This year I decided to do something a little different for Blogblast 4 Peace. Usually, as the date approaches, I scour the internet for picture, inspiration, post ideas, or relevant art stuff to make my peace post. Playing with Google Images search page, I tried the usual type of searches that trigger a post idea. But then I got the idea to type in Dona Nobis Pacem just to see what would come up. Besides images of the sheet music, many, and I mean many Peace Globes images were displayed. I took this screen shot (click for larger image).
 You can even see Mimi's Grandfather's Marbles. I took this image on November 3rd. One thing that struck me right away was the amount of image results (hits) that Google was reporting 144,000 results, and many were Peace Globes. I decided to try Blogblast 4 Peace
31,800 hits, and as you can see they are almost entirely Peace Globes. 

Mimi has been expanding Blogblast 4 Peace to include social networks, so I tried, Blogblast 4 Peace Facebook and...
21,100 image hits. 

After 6 years of Blogblast for Peace, I was really quite pleased with how many results were appearing, and it was all started by one wonderful woman that I had the privilege of spending the first Blogblast (Then Dona Nobis Pacem) cataloging Peace Globes. 

Looking at these google pages, which I saved on November 3rd, I thought that if tomorrow is Blogblast, how would these pages change on November 6th after everyone has Blogged, Facebooked, Tweeted, Pinned, or Instagrammed their Peace Globes. So I postponed my own Peace Post, and reGoogled the searches and saved them. 
Dona Nobis Pacem --  179,000 hits
Blogblast 4 Peace -- 49,800 hits
Blogblast 4 Peace Facebook -- 33,400

In approximately 2 days from the initial Googling to the Googling on the 6th (I like saying Googling) 
DNP --> 179000 - 144000 = 35000 posted images
B4P --> 49800 - 31800 = 18000 posted images
B4PFb --> 33400 - 21100 = 12300
That's 65,300 posted images if Google's numbers are correct.
And if you do this experiment yourself, you will see that the majority of these images are Peace Globe. That's a lot of Globes.

Thank you Mimi for getting all this spinning in the first place.

TTFN

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Tagged and an award

Mimi Lenox of Mimi Writes has tagged me for the the Liebster award! Liebster is a German word which means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome. 

Thank you so much, Mimi.

Here are the rules for the award:

  1. Each person must post 11 facts about themselves.
  2. Answer 11 questions the tagger has given you and give 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged.
  3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post. Tell them you’ve tagged them.
  4. Remember, no tag backs.

So to start this meme, I have to tell you 11 things about myself...hmm...well:

1. My dad is Italian and my mother is Irish. Yes, that is quite a combination. At times I feel like this guy

 

and other times

this guy.

Does that make me a Gladichaun, or a Lepriator?

So, it's a short temper (Italian) tempered with a hot temper (Irish) --or is it the other way round? -- that tempered a temper which resulted in a real quirky sense of humor (Me). For food choices it's Italian all the way, just because I love spaghetti. I'll even have it as a side dish for my Shephard's Pie. Italians and the Irish both love to imbibe a little -- I mean a bit -- I mean...well, you know--MUCH, and they both have their favorite potions -- Vino, or Guiness. They're not for me. I met somewhere in the middle and found Grande Marnier (French). Maybe the French are really Irish-Italians? Ya never know, there was a lot of that pillage and diddle stuff going on back in the day.

2. I love animals. Not the slimy, creepy, gooey type. Cats, dogs, horses, deer, pandas, lions, panthers, and almost all baby animals, except for the slimy, creepy gooey type. And of course,

I love animal too.

3. I love anything techy, sciency, futuristicy beit fact or fiction. I'm a can't wait to see what they'll think of next type of guy. But where are the flying cars,

the house-keeping-do-it-all-Rosie-the-Robot-but-cuter robots, or

the transporter, or the holodeck, or the space trips we should all be able to take by now? I've been an avid reader of Popular Science for over 40 years now, and they said that stuff was coming soon??

But where, and when?

Waiting....

Still waiting....

They promised.

But...

They promised...

And what did we really get -- Smart Phones.

Really! Smart Phones?

I'm gonna reach out with my Stupid Phone and call those Popular Science guys for They Promsed!

4. I like spaghetti.

Oh, I said that already. I usually don't repeat myself unless I'm in bed.

5.  I love going to the movies, but I really miss drive ins. They were too much fun

.

Steamy windows, bad speakers (especially after you drive away with one), good snacks, and who cared if it rained or not. You weren't watching it anyway.

6. Star Trek. But I think you may have gotten clued in by number 3.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a Trekkie, or a Trekker, just a fan)

7.  I detest politics -- all kinds -- The government kind, the office kind, the family kind, the politically correct kind. If something happens to you and you can say that it all stems down to the politics, I won't like the what (or rather the why) it became political. 

8. I don't drive. I don't have a reason why, I just never got a license. 

9. I really like walking, and I walk a lot. Not because I don't drive either. 

10. I don't understand why men really like Hockey, Football, Soccer, or Baseball.

If you are playing the sport, then I understand enjoying the game. These sports are fun to play, but to sit there and watch them, and to call them spectator sports. I just don't get it. A male spectator watching men on a field banging heads together. I just don't get it. And sports bars capitalize on this. I tell you, I would much rather watch women's beach volleyball any day. Now that be some good spectating.

11.  I love watching big fluffy clouds and see what shapes they can make. I see shapes and faces in almost anything that has patterns or textures, but clouds are random and you never know what you will see

I can see Einstien. I can see an elephant. Oh Oh! I can see the tax collector. What do you see?

____________

For part 2, I will anwer these questions that Mimi Lenox came up with.

1. What is the nearest book to you? Your Kindle does not count.

 Uncle John's Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader.  I'm not sure how it ended up on my bookshelf, but it is the closest book to where I'm sitting. I think my sister-in-law snuck it in on me.

When is the last time you took a "me" vacation?

 Everytime I daydream. I like daydreaming and I do it all the time. 

How many telephone numbers do you have?

 Just one, and it's attached to my "Stupid Phone". 

If you could fix one thing in the public school system, what is the one thing you would do immediately?

Deal with bullying. I'm not sure of the best way to go about it, but it sure would be top on my list of what to fix. 

Are you a big tipper?

I'm pretty steady on my feet, so I'll have to say no. Oh, you mean tipping for service, silly me. I do tip appropriately, but if someone has gone above and beyond the norm, I will not only tip well, but make sure management knows that they have a star on their team. Comment cards really do get looked at by management when filled out properly. 

Do you watch any Reality shows?

Yes, Star Trek: The Original Series.  It seems more tuned in to reality than Big Brother, Survivor, or that show with that Donald Trump guy. Mind you, I almost got entrapped by the Kardashians. I thought is was a new Star Trek spinnoff, but even the real Cardassians aren't as "OUT THERE" as Kim and the gang.

Who is your favorite sports team player?

Uhm, I think I explained that above, so I don't have a favorite player. And I'm too busy watching Womens Beach Volley ball to get their names.

If you could travel in a spaceship to any planet, which planet would you like to visit and why?

If that space ship could also travel in time, I would chose Earth. I'd love to go way back to answer things like how the pyramids were really made. What was Stonehenge really for?

Was the fall of Troy really due to a face that launched a thousand ships, or was Homer just a good story teller? Once I've answered all the 'Ancient Mysteries', I would then travel way into the future to see if we have our holodecks, or flying cars yet. Or have Smart Phones just got so smart that they joined Mensa and have now enslaved the human population. (I think they have kind of enslaved us already. Underhanded, sneaky little things aren't they).

When is the last time you sat in a church?

I don't go as often as I should. 

Are there any aspects of blogging that annoy you?

Just the posting interface. I don't use it anymore, I much prefer ScribeFire.

When someone follows you on their blog or subscribes to your Facebook page, do you automatically follow and subscribe back?

 Oh yes. If they have taken the time to read any of my silliness, I can sure take the time to read and follow what they have to say. I've got to know some really good Bloggers and fun Facebook buddies that way.

_______

Now it's time for me to make up some questions.

1. If you were omnipitent and omniscient for just one hour, what would you do with all that power and what would you change?

2. What is your favorite memory that you would share?

3. You are sixteen again. What would you enjoy, and what would you hate about being a teenager now compared to when you were sixteen? 

4. Most people say that the book is always better than the movie, but have you ever gone back to re-read a book after you have seen the movie, has the movie affected the re-read of the book in a positive or negative way?

5. Where were you in '62 and what were you doing? If you weren't born or were too young at the time, imagine what you would have liked to do?

6. Have you ever had and 'unexplained' or 'paranormal' experience? Please share. 

7. If you have one, have you completed anything on your bucket list? Is there anything on it that you haven't completed, but you know that no matter what you will get it done?

8. This isn't really a question, but it is a fun little excercise. Everyone has a favorite colour, and it is a favorite because it may be attached to a meaning or memory that you might not even be aware of. Do an image search using your favorite colour as the search phrase. Many images in that colour will come up, but one image will really stand out for you almost immediately. Post that picture and tell us why it stood our for you.

9. Have you ever tried to cook your favorite dish from your favorite restaurant? Was it a success?

10. Do you have a favorite artist, and can you post or link anything from that artist? (All forms of visual and perfoming arts for this one)

11. If you have an all-time favorite blogpost (your own, or someone else's post), tell us why it's your favorite, and include a link to it so we can all read it.

___________

I'm not going to tag anybody for this one, because it's been so long since I've blogged regularly. But I would like to challenge all my blog buddies to answer the questions I've come up with for it would be fun to read the responses.

Thanks for the tag and award Mimi. It was fun.

TTFN 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Requiem for a Gentle Man

It is a small town in British Columbia that is my Father's birth place. The picture really doesn't do the town justice for this photo, but the photo is taken halfway up another mountain directly south of the town. Fernie is unique, for it is the only town in North America that is completely surrounded by mountains from every direction. It is like the town and that winding, grassy green patch  (which is the golf course) is at the bottom of a bowl and to see sky you really have to look up in any direction.

The year was 1968, and a young child started a trek across Canada. I was a city boy. Ottawa Ontario was all I knew back then. As we started the trek, my Dad did his best to describe our destination, for it was to become our new home. For the most part, the trip was quite flat and normal from a child's point of view. The Canadian Prairies is one vast sea of flowing grasses, be it wheat, barley, rye, alfalfa, or whatever was planted, and that view is only mottled by black, oil pump-jacks which greatly out numbered the trees. The first part of the trip, traveling across Ontario, is really different from the Prairie Provinces. Mileage-wise, it is the longer portion, but scenery wise there is much more to see. The northern lake-head route around Lake Superior is like traveling the coastline of any ocean, for all you can see is water at the horizon. More inland, there is maples, oak, chestnut, and many other trees that I couldn't name at the time (if you take the trip in the fall, the autumn foliage is just stunning). And trough this entire trip, my Father was simply trying to describe our destination to me.

None of the scenery or visuals that I had seen on this trip helped me imagine a town completely surrounded by mountains, and you could only get there by traveling across something called a 'pass' which led to a 'summit' that is the highest point of that 'pass'.  Dad even described Fernie to me as being at the bottom of a bowl that was made out of mountains. But who was he trying to kid, not me! I was sharper than that. After going across three Prairie Provinces, and passing an 'Ocean' sized lake, I knew that it couldn't really be a bowl. If it was, you would have to go down the side of the bowl to get to the town, and not up through a pass as Dad would have me believe. And his bowl would have to hold water, for the amount of rain and snow that we get up here in Canada, there couldn't be a town at the 'bottom' for it would now be a lake as big as Superior, or even the Mediterranean Sea (I had just learned about the Mediterranean Sea in school that year). I even told him that he must be kidding me, and I was a keen 9 year old that just wouldn't be had. But he insisted on his description of the town. As we did get closer to Fernie, I did start to get a little uneasy for lack of any real comparisons that could help me make sense of his description.

Then the mountains started to form in the horizon, and my nervousness got a little more intense. Dad was getting more excited as we got closer to them. He would start naming mountains that were unique or special in some way. Then he told me about Turtle Mountain, or as the Native Indians from the area called it "Walking Mountain." I asked him why they called it Walking Mountain, and he told me of the local superstitions that Turtle Mountain is slowly moving and has been moving for hundreds of years. It moved so much that in 1903 part of the mountain broke apart and destroyed the small town of Frank Alberta.

"Frank Slide," he called it. So, one of the first sights that I do see is an immense rock slide that covers many square miles and destroyed a town that had the same name as me. Now, Fernie, the town at the bottom of a bowl of mountains was really starting to get me rattled.

"Now," Dad said. "We are really going to start heading up the pass. Crow's Nest pass is what its called. And just before we start heading up it, we will pass Crow's Nest Lake. Did I mention it was bottomless? Yes, a train derailed going around the lake, and they still haven't found it after many many divers tried to reach it."

His stories about the area just kept flowing. Even though I was only 9,  I could tell that he really loved the area, and especially Fernie. He told be of the Lost Lemon Mine near Coleman Alberta, and the temperate tunnel just west of Fernie, which is a tunnel carved in the mountain that is about the length of two city blocks, but the weather can be different on either side of it. He told me of the Coal Creek Mining Disaster on Castle Mountain at Fernie's southern edge, where there was a huge coal mine that caught fire, and when he was younger you could see that mountain glow at night. He told me of the legend of the Ghost Rider, which now forms a shadow formation on Mount Hosmer that is clearly visible on Fernie's east side.


This shadow is clearly visible during sundown throughout the summer. The photos do not give this any justice, for it is amazing to watch form as the day draws to an end.

Dad continued his tales as we got closer, and I got more antsy. Then he dropped the big bomb, "Fernie was cursed by the Indian Cheif, and all of them happened. Fires, floods, and famine he cursed the town with." I knew Dad wasn't trying to scare me with all these tales of Fernie's rich history, for he was actually trying to share all that he knew of a town that he loved so much. He even went into detail of our families role in the founding of Fernie. My Great Uncle, Phillip Misisco and my Grand Father Francisco Sirianni played major roles in the town's founding.

Then we entered Fernie from the east side. I was pleased to find out that instead of falling down the side of a bowl, the mountains simply rose up and completely engulfed you in their beauty.

We made our home there for four years, and some of my best childhood memories occurred in that little town at the bottom of a mountain bowl. And Dad was right, all the mountains in the area seem to have their own personality, which he explained as "The Friendliest Mountains in the World." But one mountain always stood out to me, and that is Fernie Mountain itself.


It seems to flow right down into Fernie. I never knew why this mountain held me in so much awe until now. For this summer, Lola, my son, Jason, my daughter, Jodi,  and son-in-law, George, with Grand Daughter. Lily in tow, my Mother and myself are making a trip to Fernie. Once there, the boys and myself are going on a hike up Fernie Mountain to a spot called the Moccasin. It is a spot two thirds up the mountain where trees do not seem to grow so it looks like a bare spot on the mountain. The Indians say that it is a footprint left by a great chief. That foot-print-like-look of that spot is why it's called the Moccasin and it looks right over the town of Fernie. That is the spot where I am spreading my Dad's Ashes.

William Forester Sirianni
Sept. 13, 1930 - Jan. 15 2012
Dad We're Going Home.


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