CC's niece Laura is back from Africa and has this to say:
To everyone who has wished me luck and kept me in their prayers, thank you so much! I can't tell you how incredible my trip was and how blessed I am to have been there. Fortunately, I was very well taken care of and felt extremely welcomed by the people and more importantly, the children. It's heartwarming to know that I have so many people thinking about me and praying that all went well. I will continue to pursue helping this orphanage by means of raising money. I've created a page with a paypal account to make funding easier and more accessible, please share it! Any bit of awareness helps and all donations are appreciated and go a long way!
Please visit the page.
Once again, thank you so much for everything and keeping me in your thoughts! I can't express how blessed I feel. :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The goal is very modest, but the amount would go a long way in Kenya...
Thank you for doing this, Laura.
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Monday, 17 June 2013
Mise à jour - Le jardin
It's a garden update, really.
It stopped raining long enough for the potatoes and tomatoes to recover. The poor things were drowning!
Amy will be comforted by the fact that French slugs are just as greedy and despicable as their American counterparts. I'm a bit of a sadist when it comes to these slimy creatures and love to sprinkle salt on them.
Fortunately, only one of our potato bags was the target of a very vicious attack by the slugs from hell. I made a barrier of coarse salt around all the bags, just in case.
Remember the wild strawberries growing on moss? I thought that if I planted them in containers with soil, we would be feasting on delicious strawberries by now. Ha ha ha, not so. The other day I was googling weeds and found out that my lovely wild strawberries are in fact weeds. We've been nurturing weeds for a year now. Duh!
The pots on the steps are doing well. Not everything has started flowering yet, but I think it looks ok.
Please note the weeds at the bottom of the steps. Since I took the photo and noticed their presence, they have been duly dispatched. .
The forecast this week promises quite a bit of rain. As long as it doesn't go on and on and on for weeks on end, I'm ok with it. It saves some watering...
We plan to have some barbecues on our little patio this summer. What could be nicer than some meat with homegrown new potatoes and extra fresh tomatoes?
It stopped raining long enough for the potatoes and tomatoes to recover. The poor things were drowning!
Amy will be comforted by the fact that French slugs are just as greedy and despicable as their American counterparts. I'm a bit of a sadist when it comes to these slimy creatures and love to sprinkle salt on them.
Fortunately, only one of our potato bags was the target of a very vicious attack by the slugs from hell. I made a barrier of coarse salt around all the bags, just in case.
![]() |
| The slugs almost destroyed the potatoes in the blue bag |
Remember the wild strawberries growing on moss? I thought that if I planted them in containers with soil, we would be feasting on delicious strawberries by now. Ha ha ha, not so. The other day I was googling weeds and found out that my lovely wild strawberries are in fact weeds. We've been nurturing weeds for a year now. Duh!
The pots on the steps are doing well. Not everything has started flowering yet, but I think it looks ok.
Please note the weeds at the bottom of the steps. Since I took the photo and noticed their presence, they have been duly dispatched. .
The forecast this week promises quite a bit of rain. As long as it doesn't go on and on and on for weeks on end, I'm ok with it. It saves some watering...
We plan to have some barbecues on our little patio this summer. What could be nicer than some meat with homegrown new potatoes and extra fresh tomatoes?
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Men...
Amy sent us this hilarious video, with this comment: "If a man is talking out loud in a forest with no one to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Thank you, Amy.
Thank you, Amy.
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Toeing the line
Tumbleweed mentioned "toeing the line" in the last thread and Peter told me a story about how the expression came into use. I googled it and found out that his version is not based on true events.
I found this:
One explanation that is often repeated is that the phrase derives from the British House of Commons. Arguments in the House are often heated. To deter members of opposing parties from attacking each other, two parallel red lines are marked, two sword-lengths apart, on the floor of the house. MPs are expected to stay behind these lines when a speech is in progress. Members, of course, no longer carry swords, but the tradition remains. Visitors to the House of Commons are very likely to hear this tale related by a tour guide. Counting against this supposed derivation is the fact that the current Commons Chamber dates from only 1950, when the building was rebuilt following WWII bomb damage. Paintings of earlier Commons chambers, from the times when members might actually have worn swords, show no such lines.
And this:
It is commonly and erroneously thought that its origins lie in the British House of Commons where sword-strapped members were instructed to stand behind lines that were two sword-lengths apart from their political rivals in order to restore decorum. However, there is no record of a time when Members of Parliament were allowed to bring swords into the Chamber. Historically, only the Serjeant at Arms carries a sword as a symbol of his role in Parliament. There are loops of pink ribbon in the Members' cloakroom for MPs to hang up their swords before entering the Chamber to this very day as a result of this rule. In fact, there were not any lines in the Chamber in the days that gentlemen carried swords.
It seems the correct version is this one:
The most likely origin of the term goes back to the wooden decked ships of the Royal Navy during the late 17th or early 18th century. Barefooted seamen had to stand at attention for inspection and had to line up on deck along the seams of the wooden planks, hence to "toe the line". The first mention of this use in literature stems from a story about navy life widely published in 1831 and written by Captain Basil Hall RN. Hall served in the Royal Navy from 1802.
The first site confirms this version:
Other early examples of 'toe the ...' have a nautical connection. In the 19th century, sailors were expected to prepare themselves for group punishment by standing in formation on deck and 'toeing the line' between boards - also called 'toeing the crack'. This usage is the earliest that I've found for 'toe the line' in print - from The Edinburgh Literary Journal, January - June 1831:
Oh well, Peter's story may not be correct, but researching it led to learning about the pink ribbons, which I find very interesting indeed.
Under the best vaulted ceilings neo-Gothic architecture has to offer, the old is in constant friction with the new. MPs are provided with Dell laptops and BlackBerry Curves, but in the House of Commons cloakroom, they are also allocated their own coat hangers, each of which has a pink ribbon — for hanging up their swords.
How quaint...
On the other hand, they have party whips:
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy.
That's one way to ensure the MPs toe the line!
I found this:
One explanation that is often repeated is that the phrase derives from the British House of Commons. Arguments in the House are often heated. To deter members of opposing parties from attacking each other, two parallel red lines are marked, two sword-lengths apart, on the floor of the house. MPs are expected to stay behind these lines when a speech is in progress. Members, of course, no longer carry swords, but the tradition remains. Visitors to the House of Commons are very likely to hear this tale related by a tour guide. Counting against this supposed derivation is the fact that the current Commons Chamber dates from only 1950, when the building was rebuilt following WWII bomb damage. Paintings of earlier Commons chambers, from the times when members might actually have worn swords, show no such lines.
And this:
It is commonly and erroneously thought that its origins lie in the British House of Commons where sword-strapped members were instructed to stand behind lines that were two sword-lengths apart from their political rivals in order to restore decorum. However, there is no record of a time when Members of Parliament were allowed to bring swords into the Chamber. Historically, only the Serjeant at Arms carries a sword as a symbol of his role in Parliament. There are loops of pink ribbon in the Members' cloakroom for MPs to hang up their swords before entering the Chamber to this very day as a result of this rule. In fact, there were not any lines in the Chamber in the days that gentlemen carried swords.
It seems the correct version is this one:
The most likely origin of the term goes back to the wooden decked ships of the Royal Navy during the late 17th or early 18th century. Barefooted seamen had to stand at attention for inspection and had to line up on deck along the seams of the wooden planks, hence to "toe the line". The first mention of this use in literature stems from a story about navy life widely published in 1831 and written by Captain Basil Hall RN. Hall served in the Royal Navy from 1802.
The first site confirms this version:
Other early examples of 'toe the ...' have a nautical connection. In the 19th century, sailors were expected to prepare themselves for group punishment by standing in formation on deck and 'toeing the line' between boards - also called 'toeing the crack'. This usage is the earliest that I've found for 'toe the line' in print - from The Edinburgh Literary Journal, January - June 1831:
"The matter, therefore, necessarily became rather serious; and the whole gang of us being sent for on the quarter-deck, we were ranged in a line, each with his toes at the edge of a plank, according to the orthodox fashion of these gregarious scoldings, technically called toe-the-line matches."
Oh well, Peter's story may not be correct, but researching it led to learning about the pink ribbons, which I find very interesting indeed.
Under the best vaulted ceilings neo-Gothic architecture has to offer, the old is in constant friction with the new. MPs are provided with Dell laptops and BlackBerry Curves, but in the House of Commons cloakroom, they are also allocated their own coat hangers, each of which has a pink ribbon — for hanging up their swords.
How quaint...
On the other hand, they have party whips:
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy.
That's one way to ensure the MPs toe the line!
Labels:
interesting
Friday, 14 June 2013
Cats...
We like cats here at What Time. We even have our very own cat lady (in denial, but you can guess who she is, can't you?). Sleuth sent us this funny video... about cats, of course! Thanks, Sleuth.
I also have a couple of recent photos of "les chats."
I also have a couple of recent photos of "les chats."
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| Pirate |
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| Pirouette |
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