The gang get very excited when they see me.
They push the guinneas out of the way and rush towards me gleefully.
Their happy-to-see-me honking is deafening!
Their faces are alight with love….
…. of lettuce!
Spot the difference
Here are two photographs (I concede that these are not very good photographs but that isn’t the point of this game). Okay, so you know those newspaper games where there are two pictures that, at first glance, look identical and you have to find the differences? Well, here are two photos that are different from each other in numerous ways but there is only one significant difference. Can you find it?
Assertiveness
Daffy: I’m scared, Bubble. Godfrey is approaching me.
Bubble: Stand up straight, Daffy, and he’ll have much more respect for you. Oh, and if he speaks to you, answer in a loud voice, not your usual whisper.
Godfrey: Good afternoon, young man.
Daffy: GOOD AFTERNOON, SIR!
Daffy: Wow, that felt good and he just walked past me – he didn’t tell me off or anything! I just wish I could have looked him in the eye, but I’m too frightened.
Bubble: I can give you daily lessons in eye contact beginning right now, Daffy. Okay, now look at me and try not to blink.
Daffy: I did it, I did it, Bubble! I looked Godfrey straight in the eye for a whole minute. He was asleep but it still counts for my certificate doesn’t it?
Bubble: Well done, Daffy, but I will need to give you a few more lessons [sigh!]
Gelotology – the study of laughter
Today I discovered that I am just as skilled at laughing as I am at crying, so I googled ‘laughing’ and found another new word!
Today I told Anthony that I had rung the taxi company to get the money back for the unnecessary second trip yesterday and we would be reimbursed, but all he could say was, “I didn’t like the way that taxi driver put his arm around you.” I couldn’t stop laughing.
Today I wrote a blogpost about being nagged by Ming, our 18-year-old son and the first thing he said when he got home from music school was, “What’s this dirt on the carpet? You came inside with your boots on didn’t you.” I couldn’t stop laughing.
Today, one of our roosters, Tina Turner, who has taken over the whole chook harem, attacked me more viciously than ever before when I went to feed the hens. He drew blood! Well, I kicked him in self-defense and he somersaulted in the air. I couldn’t stop laughing (it’s okay, he is fine as you can see – he loves to dance on that table!)
Today I rang the guy who has repaired our nearly dead ute (truck) and explained why we still hadn’t picked it up and he started singing a refrain from that song ‘Julie, Julie, Julie, do you love me?’
I couldn’t stop laughing!
Nag, nag, nag
Would you PLEASE wipe your boots before coming in! Oh look at this mess and I’ve just vaccuumed.
Will you ever remember to put your dirty dishes on the sink instead of leaving them on the table?
Do NOT feed the dogs in the morning. How many times do I have to tell you? Look how fat they’re getting!
You keep rebelling against me and it causes these catastrophes between us.
Our communication problem wouldn’t exist if you didn’t keep on breaking the rules.
There will be no more eating or drinking in the car – do you understand?
Look at your room! It’s appalling. When are you going to sort yourself out?
It’s about time you got OFF your bum and away from that computer don’t you think!
Do you understand the meaning of teamwork or do I have to explain it to you all over again?
If you ate proper meals, you would not have this disgusting midnight snack habit.
All of the above have been uttered by Ming to me.
Out of the mouths of babes ……!!!!!
Faux pas (how do you say that in the plural?)
Sometimes I say things and the words come out in a way I hadn’t intented:
- Like the time a very sophisticated woman came to visit and when she called out “You hoo” from the back door I was on the loo and I yelled out “Just a minute – I was just having a sit” meaning that I was reading a magazine. Unfortunately, she misheard “sit”.
- Like the time I rang for an appointment with my chiropractor brother and said to the new receptionist, “I’m his brother” (I am a female).
- Like the numerous times I have called Anthony “Mother” and my mother “Ants” (and I do the same thing with Ming and Anthony all the time!)
- Like the time I recorded a telephone message on my work phone that ended with me saying “Seeya!” and was reprimanded for sounding unprofessional (I used to get that a lot).
Anyway sometimes the same thing happens with blogging. For example when I first started this blog and I was pressing this button and that button and any button, trying to figure it all out, I accidentally reblogged someone and, when I realized, I immediately trashed it. I have no idea who this was, but now that I am a more seasoned blogger I realize how hurtful and mysterious it would be to be reblogged and trashed in the space of a few minutes!
Then yesterday, when I reblogged a post and then wrote another post to explain why I felt BB’s post and the children’s cause were important, I said a few things about reblogging which may have been misinterpreted because I didn’t express them very well, so I will just add here that (a) I love being reblogged – don’t mind it a bit and find it flattering; (b) I don’t mind reading reblogs at all but often don’t have time; (c) I don’t particularly like to reblog others’ words because I like to write my own.
So I do hope I haven’t made a blogging faux pas as bad as the reblogging+trashing incident. And if you happen to be the person I unwittingly did this to, I apologize and promise to be your brother for life!
Angels humming?
When I was eight, I went away to a friend’s parents’ lake cottage for two weeks and was so homesick that I found everything beyond the first day unbearable.
On the long trip home, I looked out of the car window as the trees rushed past and all of a sudden I thought I heard angels humming. I don’t know/will never know if this was imagination, wishful thinking, my prayers, or real angels singing just to me, but it sustained me until I was delivered back to my family.
Today, I thought I heard exactly the same sound and, since I wasn’t having such a good day, I embraced the sound, amazed!
It wasn’t until the humming angels became rather loud that I discovered I had left the door of the refrigerator open and it was the alarm.
Up close!
Since beginning this blog, and discovering the wonderful world of photography via other blogs, I have become really keen on developing my obvious natural skills. Take, for instance, this close-up of Woodroffe which I’ve decided to enter it into a ‘worst photo’ competition if there is such a thing. (If there isn’t, perhaps I should patent this idea?) Alternatively, it could be a poster for an up-and-coming horror movie? It’s hard to believe, isn’t it, that this is simply Woody being affectionate with me.
This following photo of Seli is not much better. He seems to be saying, “focus, Julie, focus” Well, I was trying!
I have improved a little I think. This photo of an Emery isn’t bad. Yes, I know I’ve posted it before, but I can’t take anymore pictures, now that the emus have gone, can I.
And Angelina will do handstands, pirouettes, imitate the ‘swan-stance’ – anything at all, including standing very still – to get her photo onto the blog.
So I am thinking of adding the category of ‘photography’ to my blog but that is just as scary as the picture of Woody!
No, wait a minute, I just remembered a scarier thing; last night I took a close-up photo of my own face as an experiment.
Why, why, oh why did I do that?
jmgoyder 