Happy New Year

My best Crimbo presents this year were:

1) A box set of Firefly

2) A bottle of Veuve Cliquot.

I shall be enjoying them in tandem tonight to see in the new year. Cheers, and Happy New Year!

Banana awfulness

Having spent a lot of my life in one library or another (my working life was spent in libraries and hospitals - an interesting mix) I like to keep a professional eye on Awful Library Books. It recently came up with its Best of 2011 list, and I particularly loved this one - how can you resist a title like "Be bold with bananas!" (Answer: easily.)

Have you ever seen anything so repellent as that cover photo? No? Well, just scroll on down. (Warning: Not suitable for those of a nervous disposition.)

I did warn you! This, my friends, is a banana candle. It is meant to be a centrepiece for your festive table. Not in this lifetime.

I was intrigued enough to check out this title further and I found that it originated from New Zealand. Horrors! Who knew there was a "Banana Control Board"!? I would love to own a copy of this to add to my cookbook collection. 

Merry Christmas

Pohutukawa, the New Zealand Christmas tree

The lawns are mowed, I've tidied the house, and there's fresh linen on the spare bed. The fridge is full of food and I'm all set for Christmas. I have visitors from Wellington (plus their dog) arriving for lunch tomorrow and they'll be staying for a night or two. I have the menu worked out in my head and it's a good compromise (I hope) between the Paleo diet I prefer and conventional Kiwi Christmas fare. So they just better had appreciate it! I'm off to bed soon for an early night - in three hours it will be Christmas Day!


Here are some seasonal songs for your amusement.  
Cute animals:



And here is the lovely Tim Minchin singing one of my favourite Christmas songs, "White wine in the sun". This sums up Christmas for me.



Happy Christmas, everyone.

Gifts I won't be giving this Christmas!

Every year at this time, Dr Grumpy does a roundup of unsuitable gifts, over at his blog Dr Grumpy in the House. He manages to find some truly bizarre stuff. I think my favourite of this year's crop is this handy emergency underpants dispenser.

If you haven't discovered Dr Grumpy, pop on over and have a look. He is a neurologist who blogs about his practice, his family, and anything else that takes his interest. God knows how he finds the time to keep it up but it's one of my favourite blogs, and for me in NZ he gives an interesting insight into the sharp end of the US medical system.

Neighbours

One of my neighbours has just dropped by with a bag of lemons and some eggs for me. She is a writer - mainly fantasy but she turns her hand to any genre. I think she's writing a crime novel at the moment because after chatting for a while her parting comment was "Well, must get back to work. I'm just off to kill a 17 year old."

I've occasionally felt like doing that.

Sorry, but ...

My blog seems to have been discovered by a spam-bot and I am getting an annoying amount of spammy comments, so I have turned on the word verification for a while. Sorry about that.

Proofreading is a dying art

Brazenly stolen from Facebook, and too good not to pass along. Origin unknown, and it has probably been circling the Internet for years, but it made me laugh.

Proofreading is a dying art, wouldn't you say? 

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realised that what he was reading was impossible!!! They put in a correction the next day. I just couldn't help but send this along. Too funny.

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
Really?
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Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!

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Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!
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Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!
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War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!
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If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Sounds like Murray Mexted
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Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!
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Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!
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Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?
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Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!
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New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!
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Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!
---------------- ---------------------------------

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?
****************************************

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
That'll teach them to be dropouts!
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Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
*******************************************

And the winner is....
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Lamb butter!

Two of my favourite foods, lamb and butter. I found this fabulous photo when I was reading about Norway's butter shortage.

Precious water

This morning my water tank is being cleaned out, PLUS I am having a brand new shower put in. This means as well as the chaos of having my old shower dismantled, I will have no water for 24 hours or so. So I have filled up all my jugs and pans, and filled up the bath and the laundry tub. Plus there are three big taciturn guys tramping through my tiny house making lots of noise and mess. Oh well. It's all going to be worth it.

Herschel the magnificent

This made me laugh immoderately. Herschel should get together with this lady.

At a loss

A few days ago I noticed water seeping out underneath the door of the cupboard that houses the electric pump that pumps the water from my rainwater tank through into the house. I don't look in there often, the pump just quietly (actually fairly noisily) works away and does its job. To my horror there was water on the floor and mould on the walls and it was obvious there had been water seeping out for a while. So I called the pump man in a panic and he came round in 15 minutes, bless him, even though it was after 5pm. I think he could sense my barely controlled hysteria! It seems that one of the seals has just worn out and needed to be replaced. He didn't have one the right size but he could get one. It's a slow leak so I just needed to mop up the water and keep calm and carry on.

That was last Thursday. The pump has been working perfectly well and I've just had old towels mopping up the floor. Now he has a new seal but he's had to take my pump away to put the new seal in, instead of doing it on the spot because of ... something or other. Anyway the upshot is, I have no water for a few hours.

That means I can't wash the dishes, flush the toilet, or even wash my hands. I thought I'd start preparing dinner - nope, no water to wash the vegetables. I can't even make a cup of tea! That'll teach me to take running water on tap for granted.

Later: the pump is fixed, hurrah! Lots of lovely water whenever I want it.

The end is not nigh

Well, that's a relief. Phew.

The calendar used by the ancient Mayan civilisation does not predict the end of the world in December 2012 as some believe, according to experts.

A new reading of a Mayan tablet mentioning the 2012 date suggests that it refers to the end of an era in the calendar, and not an apocalypse.

The date was "a reflection of the day of creation", Mayan codes researcher Sven Gronemeyer told AP.

Read the full story on the BBC website here. It's quite interesting.

What a bore

I re-read my last few posts and honestly, I could feel my eyes rolling back in my head. What a bore I am these days. I feel I should apologise to the few readers who are still hanging in there! Sorry. Coping with daily life and all its responsibilities and everyday emergencies (like my water pump springing a leak, which is what happened this morning) is about all I can manage at the moment. Blogging just doesn't get a look in. I think the whole eye ordeal has taken more out of me than I initially thought. I have lost my joy, temporarily. (But I know it's still there somewhere, though.)

The time of the year doesn't help, and neither does the weather - the constant unrelenting wind is very wearing. And it's meant to be the first day of summer today - what the heck? It's still cold enough at night to have the fire going.

And I still have a black eye.

Bah humbug.

I'll get over it. Bear with me.