Friday, October 18, 2024

ODDS AND BODS 10/16/24

I am starting off with a poem today, and you know how much I love my poems. Often they are oldies but goodies, and sometimes ones I have shared before.

 How about this then? Could you live here? Take a short holiday? It’s really cute!  I would probably want a small garden though.


May I a small house and
large garden have, and
a few friends and many 
books, both true, both wise,
and both delightful too.

~Abraham Cowley(1618-1667)~



I thought these pumpkins were beautiful.


One more!


As we are coming up to Halloween at the end of this month, the witches are getting ready to fly.  They are…


A thought for anyone who has ...



friends or relatives in a retirement home. You may have done this already, but I thought what a sweet idea.


Now for some food pictures. I am in awe of these cake decorating designers.





Back to reality!


I grew up with fluffy dumplings and those are what I prefer to make, but these sound good… 


and these.


Talking about this as I was the other day, here is a recipe. 


One last recipe.


And now fun with food. 







Onto other things. 


I found this photo on Pinterest, along with a link to the lantern below. How pretty is this picture? Those nests are amazingly tiny. The lanterns are on Amazon and not that I am touting the company, but I just love this lantern. The advertisement says Hummingbird Solar Lantern - Outdoor - Waterproof, etc., etc. Will I buy it? If it was sold locally in the bird shop I used to go to, probably. I enjoyed visiting this family-owned shop, used to go there quite a lot back in the day. Sadly they closed. 


This is interesting. Don't forget to enlarge for better reading or seeing any of my pictures in greater detail.


I once had a friend who was learning English and she told me it was very hard. Years ago I took a class with six months of Mandarin Chinese and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was as my friend said of English, very hard. We had to leave the area before the course was over. I never did get back to it, much to my chagrin. Looking after a baby/toddler obviously took precedence and I gave him all my time. Being a navy wife also had its responsibilities and I wouldn't have either any other way. Learning a language is great mental gymnastics for anyone. Gregg is trying his hand at French. He is French on his Mother's side. I always liked the idea of learning Spanish but I can't roll my "r's". I try and pick up a few words here and there, and find it fun to learn, but my memory isn't very good. Still, I even enjoy my snail's pace and am hoping something will sink in.


Wise words!


Did you know…


Very naughty of me but this is a gotcha moment! The above story is false, darn it! A good tale though. Just goes to show however, that we can't believe everything we read. Check, check and fact check again! We need lots of patience to wade through all those pork pies! And here we go again, off on another tangent.

What do I mean by 'pork pies'? Well, funny you should ask. Yes, I know you didn't but...

Apart from the literal meaning of actual pies filled with pork, 'pork pies' is a Cockney rhyming slang for 'lies'. With rhyming slang the actual portion that rhymes is often dropped in order to further confuse the outsider, so it becomes 'porkies'. So, someone 'telling porkies' is a liar, liar, pants on fire sort of a person.  If you want to know about Cockney rhyming slang, you can go here. My Dad always told me, and this was as far back as I can remember, that a Cockney was born within the sound of Bow Bells, which you can read about here

Oh my goodness, you never know where these posts are going. I definitely miss my walks around the gardens and yet I am having fun with all these things that I find.


Wise words seen outside a local church.

“Tweet others as you 
would like to be tweeted.”


Now for more poetry.


Love to read my poems. An oldie but goodie. It’s a bit sad when I deep think it. I welcome all opinions on any of these poems I share, or anything else for that matter.


Profound!




Hmmm…who could this be? 


He agrees!


Have a great day everyone 
and thanks for once again sticking through to the end of this epilog. Certainly no worries if you didn't. I am falling asleep too.





42 comments:

  1. The fun food is looking good.
    Interesting post and the AI's are good too, Denise.

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  2. I love squirrels, too, and am so glad we have so many around here. All the food is way too beautiful to eat!! The Wilcox poem is sad, and my favorite poem is the first, just because it gives us something to aspire to. The Hello story...I kind of suspected that it was not true. The butterfly house is adorable, and I do agree it needs a garden. The first pumpkin is my favorite pumpkin, and the English language thing is so funny, and so TRUE!

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    1. Thank you Ginny, it's always very nice to know what you think of the things I post :)

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  3. Thanks for lots of smiles - and some incredible beauty too.

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    1. So glad you think so Sue, thank you very much :)

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  4. I enjoyed this post so much, My favourite, though hard to choose just one, was the poem, 'Solitude.' There is so much sad truth in it.

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    1. I agree Janice about the poem. Glad you enjoyed my post :)

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  5. So many wonderful things in this post. The pictures of the pumpkins are amazing and all the cakes are fantastic.

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    1. Thanks Ann, I enjoy finding all these things :)

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  6. I find this post delightful. You always make me smile. I love squirrels too.

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    1. That's great Carol and I appreciate you saying so very much. You make me smile too. Thank you :)

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  7. What a great Halloween theme post

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  8. Wonderful post Denise, I love the images and poems. The pumpkins are amazing, so creative. The butterfly house is so cute. I would like that hummingbird lantern. Take care, have a great day and a happy weekend!

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    1. Thank you Eileen, much appreciated and I wish you the same :)

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  9. Ralph Waldo Emerson left us very attainable goals in life, didn’t he?

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  10. The pumpkin carving is amazing! I love that butterfly house...so adorable.

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  11. p.s That Hello story has got me...I seriously believed that!! LOL

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    1. Thanks for the smile Angie and I have to say, I believed it too at first but I always have been a bit of a skeptical one and have to go that one step further :)

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  12. Lots of pretty today. Pretty little houses. Fancy Jack o lanterns. Beautiful cakes. Lots of poetry with down to earth meaning.

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  13. Lots of fun and smiles here. Those creations on the pumpkins are amazing. That nursing home idea is a good one. In my youth we visited nursing homes on Christmas Eve to sing carols. We always included homes where our old Russian folk were so we could sing to them in Russian. Good for you for stretching your brains to learn a new language. There is a lot of rolling of the tongue in Russian!! Happy day to you, dear lady.

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    1. That's lovely Ellen, they must have enjoyed your Russian folk songs. I always enjoyed singing our English ones when I was young, and even now I might hum a few notes :) Thank you, I always admire when someone can speak another language. In Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, 90 percent of their population speak more than one language. Amazing!

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  14. I don't know how you come up with all these things, but I enjoy them so, so much. And I want that little house on wheels....

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    1. Thanks Rose, I enjoy finding things to share and glad you enjoy them too. Isn't that little house adorable! I would snap that up if I had the opportunity :)

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  15. Lovely post, thanks for the recipes and that is a gorgeous cake photo.

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  16. Denise I give this a zillion star rating what a fabulous post.
    I worked with international students my entire career. All of them said English was hard because of so many similar YET different words.
    Hugs Cecilia

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    1. Oh wow, how sweet of you Cecilia :) What an interesting career you had. Your students must have loved you. Sending hugs!

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  17. These are sweet!
    Our kids visited the village in New Zealand where they filmed the Hobbits. It was amazing.

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    1. Thanks Jan and how I would love to visit that Hobbit village. That in itself is amazing!

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  18. Loved this post, Denise.
    The pumpkins, fancy cake decorations, and fun with food shots are all amazing.
    The tiny house looks very inviting. I'd love to see what it looks like on the inside.

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    1. So glad Sandra :) and happy you enjoyed it so much. I wish they had photos of the inside of the house. It would have been fun to see :)

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  19. Lots of lovely images Denise, along with some delicious looking food recipes. Please let us know when we can come and enjoy the pudding.😋

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    1. Thank you Dorothy :) I will definitely let you know :)

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  20. Hello, my friend. So much to love here! I love poetry too. I am thrilled that Flynn is studying poetry in our Homeschool this year. I am of course fond of Edgar Alan Poe this time of year! I love the recipes you shared, and I have to say, I love the handwriting on the one! I am obsessed with handwriting! That is pretty! Thank you for all you share here. Have a cozy evening.

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    1. And hello to you too my friend. Thank you and you are very welcome :) How wonderful Flynn is studying poetry. I should read some Edgar Alan Poe, you have given me the idea. I enjoy handwriting also and am always trying to improve but alas mine is getting more like chicken scratch, with all due respect to our chicken population, lol!

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  21. So many beautiful things to see and read about today. A really lovely post.

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    1. I am so glad you enjoyed them Beverley, thank you very much :)

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