Ab Fab at the Olympic Games?

Cat emotions

The use of emoticons can be traced back to the 19th century, and they were commonly used in casual and humorous writing. Typographical emoticons were published in 1881 by the U.S. satirical magazine Puck.

Here's a table of some popular emoticons, accompanied by the corresponding facial expressions.

Catmoticons?

Lovely to see honest, sporting behaviour

I was so engrossed watching the women cyclists and spotting familiar sites that I neglected to prepare a post...

Well done Netherlands, Britain and Russia. Congratulations to all the competitors for taking part in such a long ride (on some lovely roads) and being so gracious at the finishing line.

Yes, please!

Hey, that's me!

A nice little photo to keep things going...

Guard dog

Easy entertainment

View_From_Here shared this funny picture:

Thank you, View.

The typewriter

Here's another gem from Mrsgunka:



Thank you, MrsG.

Beauty in flight

Mrsgunka shared these great pictures:

Thank you, Mrsgunka. Peacocks are very beautiful creatures, but this was the first time I've seen them flying.

Busy, busy, busy

I don't have time to select anything for today's post. I've spent the day making tarts for an European Soiree tonight. We do it every year and the way the tasks were assigned to each group, the Brits are in charge of desserts on this occasion (last year we did the salads).

I made four strawberry, raspberry and blueberry tarts. They look good and I hope they taste ok. I'm proud of my crème pâtissière, the best I've produced to date.

I have to get ready and there's a queue for the shower, so I'd better hurry up!

Sad

I'm not in the mood for jokes today. My heart feels heavy after reading the news about the senseless killing spree in Aurora, Colorado.

I feel very sad for the lives cut short and my thoughts go to the families and friends of the victims.

How can we hope this will be the last time such a tragedy happens in the US when the gun lobby is so incredibly powerful?

Family

I had a strange day today. The weather wasn't all that wonderful, so we decided to stay at home. Billy and Sandra kept themselves busy, working out, cutting the grass and getting on with other exciting chores while I scanned dozens of old photos for a private Facebook group (family only) created by one of my nieces. The family is very large and we live all over the world: Brazil, Spain, France, the States, England and Australia. Everybody has been very busy posting their photos, which made us miss our dear departed relatives and also sparked some lively discussions about the identity of one particular baby. After a lot of detective work, we decided it was a photo of my eldest niece. That was fun!

One particular picture brought back very fond memories of a remarkable man, my proudly Spanish grandfather:

Needless to say, I'm incredibly homesick, but the word is not quite accurate, what I miss right now is not a place, it's a different time, a time when the people I still love very dearly were still around... which brings me to a paradox: If I were to go back in time, quite a number of people who are here now wouldn't exist! If only we could merge the past and the present (only for a while), we could all have a big family party. That would be something!

Is this Spiderman?

No, its' a Mwanza Flat Headed Agama lizard!

Read more HERE.

Having fun

The posts will be patchy, as I expected. We had a nice day at our lake beach. The weather should be nice for the next few days, so we have to make the most of it.

Chat away, my friends.

[No, Pallottine, you can't carry over a "first" from the last post...]

The power of positive thinking

We'll have a guest for the next couple of weeks, so the posts may get a bit patchy. Actually, we'll have two guests, as Billy is already here. His on-off-on-off girlfriend arrives tomorrow.

We're great believers in the powers of positive thinking, aren't we? The next task is to concentrate our powers into helping Billy see that this gorgeous girl is definitely ON!

Ouch!

Mrsgunka sent me this funny (yet painful) story. Thank you, Mrsgunka.

We've all had trouble with our animals, but I don't think anyone can top this one:

Calling in sick to work makes me uncomfortable. No matter how legitimate my excuse, I always get the feeling that my boss thinks I'm lying.

On one recent occasion, I had a valid reason but lied anyway, because the truth was just too darned humiliating. I simply mentioned that I had sustained a head injury, and I hoped I would feel up to coming in the next day. By then, I reasoned, I could think up a doozy to explain the bandage on the top of my head. The accident occurred mainly because I had given in to my wife's wishes to adopt a cute little kitty.

Initially, the new acquisition was no problem.

Then one morning, I was taking my shower after breakfast when I heard my wife, Deb, call out to me from the kitchen.

'Honey! The garbage disposal is dead again. Please come reset it.'

'You know where the button is,' I protested through the shower pitter-patter and steam. 'Reset it yourself!'

'But I'm scared!' she persisted. 'What if it starts going and sucks me in?'

There was a meaningful pause and then, 'C'mon, it'll only take you a second.'

So out I came, dripping wet and butt naked, hoping that my silent outraged nudity would make a statement about how I perceived her behavior as extremely cowardly.

Sighing loudly, I squatted down and stuck my head under the sink to find the button. It is the last action I remember performing.

It struck without warning, and without any respect to my circumstances. No, it wasn't the hexed disposal, drawing me into its gnashing metal teeth. It was our new kitty, who discovered the fascinating dangling objects she spied hanging between my legs. She had been poised around the corner and stalked me as I reached under the sink. And, at the precise moment when I was most vulnerable, she leapt at the toys I unwittingly offered and snagged them with her needle-like claws. I lost all rational thought to control orderly bodily movements, blindly rising at a violent rate of speed, with the full weight of a kitten hanging from my masculine region.

Wild animals are sometimes faced with a 'fight or flight' syndrome. Men, in this predicament, choose only the 'flight' option. I know this from experience. I was fleeing straight up into the air when the sink and cabinet bluntly and forcefully impeded my ascent.

The impact knocked me out cold.

When I awoke, my wife and the paramedics stood over me.

Now there are not many things in this life worse than finding oneself lying on the kitchen floor butt naked in front of a group of 'been-there, done-that' paramedics.

Even worse, having been fully briefed by my wife, the paramedics were all snorting loudly as they tried to conduct their work, all the while trying to suppress their hysterical laughter......and not succeeding.

Somehow I lived through it all. A few days later I finally made it back in to the office, where colleagues tried to coax an explanation out of me about my head injury. I kept silent, claiming it was too painful to talk about, which it was.

'What's the matter?' They all asked, 'Cat got your tongue?'

Acid remarks

Tumbleweed sent me a bunch of very funny remarks by Aunty Acid. There were too many, so here is a first batch:

Not what it seems...

I found a few of those "look again" photos:

Cats are fun

Mrsgunka sent me a funny photo, especially for Tumbleweed and her cat Sammi.

A few minutes later, I received an e-mail from GrannyJ, which included the same photo plus loads of others. Here are some of the best, including a very "useful"set rules:

Finally, still on a cat theme, a comic strip from Mrsgunka:

Thank you, GrannyJ and Mrsgunka.

What am I?

I like riddles. Here are some interesting ones. You can find loads of them HERE.

I'm where yesterday follows today, and tomorrow's in the middle. What am I?
Answer

From the beginning of eternity
To the end of time and space
To the beginning of every end
And the end of every place.
What am I?
Answer

You use a knife to slice my head and weep beside me when I am dead. What am I?
Answer

I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?
Answer

What goes around the world but stays in a corner?
Answer

The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it?
Answer

How many did you get?

I can has headache

I've noticed that there was a wild party last night while I was asleep...

It seems appropriate to enjoy some hangover humour!

Priorities

An elderly lady was standing at the railing of the cruise ship holding her hat tight so that it would not blow away in the wind.

A gentleman approached her and said,

"Pardon me, madam... I do not intend to be forward but did you know that your dress is blowing up in this high wind?"

"Yes, I know," said the lady. "But I need both my hands to hold onto this hat."

"But madam, you must know that you are not wearing anything down there and you are a bit exposed!" said the gentleman in earnest.

The woman looked down, then back up at the man and replied,

"Sir, anything you see down there is 85 years old... I bought this hat yesterday!

Walk this way

Mrsgunka sent me these photos of shoes and I found them very interesting. They range from funny and creative to downright uncomfortable!

Thank you, Mrsgunka.