Today

( Seen in town this afternoon)

If you've chosen white for this year's down jacket , jeans , boots , gloves and all-enveloping shawl .... it might be a good idea not to sit so long under the sun lamp .

.......................................

The Potato man moaned as he brought his fortnightly huge sack to the door this evening .

"I used to be able to deliver these in the afternoon . But now everyone's at work , heh ."

I was going to say that otherwise we couldn't pay for his potatoes , heh .... but he was clemmed with cold and not up to a discussion on the pros and cons of women in the workplace .

Your task, should you choose to accept it...

...is to punctuate the following:

time flies you cannot time flies for they alight at such irregular intervals

I'll give you a tip

Should you have a spare 34 million Euros lying around somewhere (check under your mattress), you could go to the international art fare, the TEFAF, in Maastricht (the Netherlands) and buy a real Rembrandt with the fascinating and very imaginative title ‘Portrait of a man with his hands in his side’, painted in 1658.

The same painting was sold in 2009 for a mere 23 million Euros.

The TEFAF will be held from March 18 to 23. Good luck with the negotiations. I should think you could knock a couple of millions off the asking price.

Vignettes of French Life (#9 in a series)

 

‘Allo? Allo??  You make a meestake on ze sign!   Zere eez no haitch in Artur!

A proper fire

What is it about a real fire?  I am sitting here.  I am warm enough really.  I don't feel much like getting up and laying a fire.  But for a really good evening sitting here in my favourite chair with a book or a laptop and a glass of wine, I really need a proper fire burning in the stove.
Maybe it's a primitive thing.

Don't Be Shy !

Apparently January 21st is National Hugging Day .
So go on ....... You know you want to !
P.S. It's cheating unless it's a spontaneous Hug The Next Person You Meet sort of embrace .What one of our local cafès calls ,
" Allin Clusive " .

Name That Pot!!!

 

What would this be used for ?  It’s porcelain, about 8 inches high and the upper ‘handle’ has an opening in it, presumably for a utensil.  S&S?  Friko?  Pondside? Anyone???

And while I’m at it, how about this little brass thingy? It’s had me stumped for years.  Fran, I’m sure you can think of a use for it.   

Happy Martin Luther King Day

Sunday Mornings in Provence

 

The financial downturn spared no one, it seems, not even the Emir of Qatar, who recently purchased this little fixer-upper.  Or maybe he has a secret wish to be a French peasant.  

Sarky Soup?

One who shall be nameless has today stirred up my bubbling inspiration cauldron, and caused something to rise to the top which may need skimming off, before enjoying the clear soup beneath!

I thank them for the prompt...

Let's see what other cooks say...

'Your comment is awaiting moderation.'
This phrase to some is pure irritation,
suggesting, as it does, that each Blogholder
lacks the guts to be little bolder...
Only unctuous praise will be accepted
as printable. A comment is rejected
if truth be offered up, however kindly,
to one who writes their words a trifle blindly,
ignoring even basic writing skills,
but expecting patient readers to instill
some kind of meaning to their scribble,
which sometimes can be little more than drivel.

LATE ADDITION Hey, folks - there's a Humdinger of a Link from Mrs Trellis that's appeared in the comments section - I've decided to highlight it here as well!

Snow

 

Just had a call from a friend up North. She says they're having a blizzard -- the snow is chest high and shows no sign of letting up. And all her husband will do is stare through the kitchen window.

If it gets much worse, she says, she's going to have to let him in.

 

I'll try this joke on you in the vague hope you haven't heard it before, like everyone else I know has

Any of you who read my blog will know that I often talk about fish and chips.  Fish and chips always remind me of a great little phonological joke I know.  I tell it at every social occasion and everyone who knows me groans.  (Or maybe they just groan anyway to find that I'm there.)

A man walks into a fish and chip shop and says, 'Can I have a steak and kiddly pie and chips, please?'

The assistant says, 'Steak and kiddly?  Don't you mean steak and kidney?'

And the man replies, 'I said that, diddle I?'

Try saying the joke out loud.  It's so SATISFYING.

A Ditty

Christmas has gone with a fizzle - or bang-

along with duff notes that everyone sang

as they carolled their carols and quaffed too much beer,

and now it is over - at least till next year!

The cards and the trees are all taken down,

and Santa has packed up his red dressing gown.

The reindeer are stabled, the elves are abed

with a pointy red nightcap on each elven head.

The lights and the baubles have been packed away

to keep them all safe to use next Christmas day.

Year two thousand 'n' eleven is with us at last

now we've all said farewell to the one that has passed.

So here's to the future, Blogfriends one and all,

the big and the little, the short and the tall.

I wish you best that you'd wish for yourself

like Happiness, Laughter, and, of course, Good Health!

Don't Forget Your Gloves !

Oh yes , and your woolly hat .....

In Scheveningen on January 1st , where this photo was taken , 10,000 people leapt into the waves . A total of 27,000 had a New Year's swim in Holland . But , because they were still playing ice-hockey on the river here till yesterday , it couldn't go ahead . Shame , really . I might have been tempted .