Yuletide is over and now it is almost time to cheer in the New Year with a glass or two. The crowds have gathered and the letter Y is in town. Time to link up. Despite the early morning grey skies in the photo our yellow Y motoring down the road in Yorkshire would soon see the sun come out, once it had left the city of York. Not far behind this Grand Depart car and the promotional procession would be the Yellow Jersey cycling through the streets, the Tour de France's first visit to the white rose county of Yorkshire.
Where they drink a lot of Yorkshire Tea.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups, That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
(From The Winter Evening by William Cowper)
Whatever season or time of day it is with you be of good cheer for its the ABC Wednesday time of week
Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. It is sometimes pronounced /ˈɛksməs/, but Xmas and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation /ˈkrɪsməs/. The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass, while the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which comes into English as "Christ".
There is a common belief that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas", but its use dates back to the 16th century. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.
In fact, although writing guides such as those issued by the New York Times; the BBC; The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style; and Oxford Press discourage the use of Xmas in formal writing, at one time, it was a very popular practice, particularly with religious scribes, who are thought to have started the whole “Xmas” thing in the first place. Indeed, the practice of using the symbol “X” in place of Christ’s name has been going on amongst religious scholars for at least 1000 years.
Eventually, this shorthand trick spread to non-religious writings where nearly everywhere “Christ” appeared in a word, the Greek Chi would replace that part of the word. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, there are numerous non-religious documents containing instances of “Xine”, which was a common spelling for someone whose name was Christine.
I want to offer, on behalf of the ABC Wednesday team, a sincere wish that your Xmas, or Christmas, be a merry one.
Sorry folks. Lets begin with the good news first. We are all set to become proud parents in Feb next year. With all of this sinking I am quite lost these days and so I missed my Writeup !! Well its all W here isnt and my buggest of all the WIFE :D... I hope it was not too Worrying seeing the missing writeup.
Vines like ivy with their vice like grip try to take over the world. The ivy at my house is claiming a victory over my windows. Veer on over and visit each other.
This blog is managed by a team that consists of a whole bunch of SERIOUS hardworking people, and then me (SLACKER).
While everyone else does the hard part, I get the fun part. Every SIX months, I get invited to design a new logo or badge, to represent the next round.
And so I get to let my mind SPIN wild and free and see where it lands.
The next round will be SIXTEEN. Can you believe it? This blog has been going on for SEVEN and a half years and is STILL going STRONG!
In honor of the SIXTEENTH round, I wanted to SING a SONG.
I thought maybe this one:
or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5CUfVm1Si8
But nothing really say's SIXTEEN like this one:
As a matter of fact, it's hard for me to hear the word "Sixteen" without mentally adding the word "candles" after it.
So it was only natural that this round's badge would have candles.
It was not without a few challenges that I came up with this, at one point Roger and I discussed whether it would be easier to just bake a cake.
But It would have been hard to share a cake with everyone, so I am calling on each of you to bake a cake, eat a piece and start thinking about things that start with S.
There is still time to make a some changes if I need to.
I have this blog called Ramblin' with Roger, which you may have visited. Occasionally people, usually those who don't READ it, will ask what the blog is about, and I usually say, "Whatever is on my mind."
In the dictionary, one definition of the word RAMBLING is: "(of a plant) putting out long shoots and growing over walls or other plants." That's rather what I had in mind when I picked the name, except for the plant part. REACHING out in all directions!
What's the definition in a more linguistic sense? "(Of writing or speech) lengthy and confused or inconsequential. Synonyms: long-winded, verbose, wordy, prolix. " Ouch.
Well, I hope I'm not TOO long-winded in these introductions. Heck, I'm going to quit this one RIGHT now!
Except for an appropriate musical link: LISTEN to Ramblin' Rose by Nat "King" Cole, which reached #1 for five weeks on the Billboard adult contemporary charts in the summer of 1962. It also went to #2 for two weeks on the pop charts, and #7 on the RHYTHM & blues charts.
***
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes and cinnamon and gold moidores.
Dirty British Coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mid March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
Quinquireme.
An ancient Roman or Greek galley of a kind believed to have three banks of oars.The oars in the top two banks being rowed by pairs of oarsmen and the oars in the bottom bank being rowed by single oarsmen.
My thanks to the quick witted Denise for devising ABCW and to Roger our quintessential administrator.
On September 27, 1979 street photographer Foncie Pulice took his last picture. Foncie and his Electric-Photo camera had been a familiar sight on Vancouver, BC, city streets for 45 years, having begun as a 20-year-old back in 1934 as an assistant to street photographer Joe Iaci. In his career he took millions of photographs.
When he started in 1934, Pulice recalled that “there were six companies in Vancouver, but when we really started to go was during the war. The public couldn’t get film, you see, so the street photographers were all they had. Servicemen would come home on leave, they’d have pictures taken. Families would get together, we’d take their picture. At one time, I was taking 4,000 to 5,000 pictures every day.”My parents had their photo taken by Pulice about a month before they were married in 1943 while my Dad, in uniform, was on leave from the Royal Canadian Air Force and my Mom was wearing her fur coat.They were both only 22 years old.
Did he save all those millions of negatives? They’d likely be worth a small fortune now. “I never did,” he said. “I didn’t really think about it at the time. I’d keep ’em for a year, then throw ’em out. I realize now I should have saved them, but it’s too late.”
People even made appointments for street pictures! “Oh, yes. They’d phone ahead and tell us what time they’d be walking down Granville. Dr. Peter Bell-Irving had members of his family photographed every year. I have shots showing one little tyke in that family growing all the way up to six-foot-five.”
Pulice says that one of the reasons he got into street photography was because he wanted to meet girls. He had a whole wall of phone numbers up on his wall and beside every number he put a little description of the girl. He used to get calls from other fellows saying, ‘Hey, Foncie, you know all the girls--can you fix us up with dates?”
Well, the wall didn’t go into a museum, but his camera did, a remarkable artifact of a remarkable career. Made of war surplus materials, Pulice’s camera is preserved at the Vancouver Museum. It’s part of their 1950s gallery and is accompanied by a slew of Foncie’s Fotos.
All across Canada and in other countries there are thousands and thousands of Foncie’s Fotos showing thousands and thousands of people striding along the street, captured in motion in unposed moments that may be closer to the spirit of the people shown than any carefully composed studio portrait.
Foncie Pulice was the last of the street photographers. He took his first street photo in 1934 and his last on September 27, 1979. He died January 20, 2003 at age 88, but his work lives on . . . everywhere.
Yes !! Oxymora is the plural of Oxymoron in case you didn't know(just came to know very recently)
Life for me is a paradox and what more can be more fun than using Oxymora. An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which words that seem contradictory appear together to form a fun combination. Some of my favorites are Military Intelligence, Original Copies, Exact Estimate, Old News,Living Dead, Deafening Silence and my personal best is Microsoft Works, :D
Nice to see you!
ABC Wednesday.....is nice! Nice people, nice subjects, nice comments!
That's what makes ABC Wednesday ...nice!
Have a NICE day now.
Denise NESBITT!
The word "mamma"is a word that has the meaning of mother in almost every language in Europe.It is not always spelled the same way. But mom. mum, mam, mammy, maman, mamma, mor, mutti...The famous Abba group even play in a musical called "Mama Mia".
Mamma mia, here I go again My my, how can I resist you? Mamma mia, does it show again? My my, just how much I've missed you Yes, I've been brokenhearted Blue since the day we parted Why, why did I ever let you go? Mamma mia, now I really know, My my, I could never let you go.
You see "M" cannot be missed in this songtext!
If you want to participate in the ABC Wednesday meme, please don't forget to refer to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.And put the logo in the sidebar or in your post itself. This week we are looking for words beginning with M!
Liverpool my home town is a most interesting City , it sits on the edge of the River Mersey and is steeped in maritime history. Across the river is the Wirral Peninsular where many of the professionals, who worked in the thriving city lived, it was affectionately known as the dormitory to Liverpool as the wealthy earned their fortunes in the City and took the Mersey ferries home to The Wirral to sleep.
One of famous Mersey Ferry Boats chugging across the river conveying the weary workers to their homes after a hard day keeping the wheels of commerce in progress. The three buildings behind the ferry boat are called The Three Graces, on the left is The Liver Building then The Cunard Building and finally The port of Liverpool Building. Just to the right is The Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, which is set slightly back from the waterfront.
I had the privilege of working for a firm of Investment Managers and Stock Brokers in The Port of Liverpool Building. It was a joy to work there as my desk looked directly across the river so life was never dull watching the comings and goings on the river. There were wonderful sunsets across the river too, which reflected a visage of The Welsh Hills just beyond The Wirral.
Images of the beautiful interior of the building, starting from top right looking up from the four galleried floors to the spectacular domed ceiling, then middle left the winding stairway up to the 4th floor where I worked...I used to almost sprint up the stairs as part of a keep fit campaign ! I was about 35 years of age then. To the right is part of the beautifully crafted ground floor.
Happy days for me then I had met Ian, soon to be my second husband and wonderful step daddy to our three girls.
It's little wonder I could sprint up those stairs!
As it happened I had been living on The Wirral for twenty years but decided to sell my home and move back to my roots in LIVERPOOL when we married.
We have never looked back... The three girls all did very well in their new schools, LIVERPOOL has some of the finest state schools in the country.
They are all happily married, two of them to LIVERPOOL boys and one to a Lovely guy from London....
Up to date we have four Loving grandchildren, so all I can say is
LIVERPOOL I LOVE YOU !
I am dedicating my LIVERPOOOL post to dear Lorne and Leslie to just let them know how we all are thinking about them.
I know Leslie has a special place in her heart for LIVERPOOL after her visit two years ago. It was such a joy to meet her , I felt as if I'd known her a lifetime.
My sincere thanks to the lovely Denise for devising ABCWENESDAY and also to the legendary Roger for his hard work as the Administrator.
The letter K, the 11th letter of the modern English alphabet, also indicates the sound the letter makes, or its distinctive shape. But what else does it mean?
King, in chess, and in cards
Kicker, in American football
Strikeout, in baseball; a backwards K indicates someone striking out without swinging at the third strike
Kids, as in the acronym DINK, which means Dual Income - No Kids
Kindergarten, as in grades K-12
Kellogg's, the breakfast cereal maker, on the New York Stock Exchange
Potassium, the element, from the New Latin kalium, atomic number 19
Kilo, as in kilogram
Kilobyte, 1024 bytes
Thousand, as in 20K, for 20 thousand
Kelvin, the temperature scale. Zero degrees K is absolute zero, -273.15 degrees Celsius or −459.67°F
Killed, in genealogy
Other definitions not on the list:
Carat or karat, a unit of purity for gold alloys
Kings, Biblical books
But the one I know, but have difficulty with, is that K means OK in Internet chat. Okay, which I wrote about recently, is already a shortened form. This seems silly.
But it's NOT silly to KICK in and participate in ABC Wednesday this week. The KINDLY KREW will surely visit you.
***
Ralph Waldo Emerson stated that "life is a journey, not a destination."
With that in mind, I regret to tell you all that I will have to take
one of the forks in the road and temporarily leave ABC Wednesday behind.
Unfortunately, my new husband's health is such that I want to spend every possible moment
with him as we will journey together towards the destination that God may have in mind for him.
We don't know how long the journey will be, but as we travel this difficult path,
we don't want to miss out on one minute of the ride.
One day I hope to return to be part of this amazing group of people whose paths have crossed
to share life's ups and downs, hopes, and dreams. If possible, I will pop in now and then
to let you know how things are progressing.
In the meantime, your prayers would be gratefully accepted.
Without any doubt the word "introduction" starts with an "I" so why don't take the opportunity to explain to you what an introduction is !
Google and you get the answer !
Begin with an attention grabber. The attention grabber you use is up to you, but here are some ideas: ... If the attention grabber was only a sentence or two, add one or two more sentences that will lead the reader from your opening to your thesis statement. Finish the paragraph with your thesis statement
Our relatives in Zeeland cannot pronounce the "H", just like the French. This reminds me of the poor flower girl Eliza in "My Fair Lady", who was to be the student of professor Henry Higgins, or Enry Iggins, as Eliza calls him.
"My Fair Lady" (Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, 1964) is one of my favourite musicals, especially the performance with Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. Of course you know that the story is derived from the well-known play Pygmalion written by G.B.Shaw (1856 -1950).
She is very angry with Henry Higgins for he bullies her, and doesn't allow her to go to bed and sleep. She is sooo tired...She sings:
Album: My Fair Lady
Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait!
You'll be sorry, but your tears'll be to late!
You'll be broke, and I'll have money;
Will I help you? Don't be funny!
Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait!
Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, till you're sick,
And you scream to fetch a doctor double-quick.
I'll be off a second later And go straight to the the-ater!
Oh ho ho, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait!
Ooooooh 'enry 'iggins!
Just you wait until we're swimmin' in the sea!
Ooooooh 'enry 'iggins!
And you get a cramp a little ways from me!
When you yell you're going to drown I'll get dressed
and go to town! Oh ho ho, 'enry 'iggins!
Oh ho ho, 'enry 'iggins! Just you wait!
One day I'll be famous! I'll be proper and prim;
Go to St. James so often I will call it St. Jim!
One evening the king will say:
"Oh, Liza, old thing,
I want all of England your praises to sing.
Next week on the twentieth of May
I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day!
All the people will celebrate the glory of you
And whatever you wish and want I gladly will do."
"Thanks a lot, King" says I, in a manner well-bred;
But all I want is 'enry 'iggins 'ead!"
"Done," says the King with a stroke.
"Guard, run and bring in the bloke!"
Then they'll march you, 'enry 'iggins to the wall;
And the King will tell me: "Liza, sound the call."
As they lift their rifles higher, I'll shout:
"Ready! Aim! Fire!"
Oh ho ho, 'enry 'iggins,
Down you'll go, 'enry 'iggins!
Just you wait!
In the scene where Eliza is practicing her "H's", she sits down in front of a spinning mirror attached to a flame. Every time she says her "H's" correctly, the flame jumps. If you look closely at the paper she is holding in her hand when it catches fire, you will see handwritten upon it the dialog that she and Professor Higgins have been saying previous to this. "Of course, you can't expect her to get it right the first time," is the first line written on the paper.
Eliza Doolittle as a cockney flower girl.
Eliza as a student of professor Henry Higgins
Eliza is at last a fair Lady
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
Henry Higgins
In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire...?
Eliza
Hurricanes hardly happen
How kind of you to let me come!
Henry
Now once again, where does it rain?
Eliza
On the plain! On the plain!
Henry
And where's that blasted plain?
Eliza
In Spain! In Spain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
If you want to participate in the ABC Wednesday meme, please don't forget to refer to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.And put the logo in the sidebar or in your post itself. This week we are looking for words beginning with H.
Unsurprisingly, one of my favorite colors is GREEN. But WHICH green am I talking about? There are many shades of green. All of them! (OK, MOST of them.)
I like that being GREEN means being environmentally aware. I'm forever finding bottles to recycle, if not return. There is even a GREEN Party in New York State, and other parts of the world.
GREEN means GO, a great affirmation.
Of course, GREEN has some negative connotations as well.
It conveys the idea of something, or someone, not mature, deficient in training or sophistication or experience.
Worse, it suggests one of the seven deadly sins, as in green with envy, the green-eyed monster.
Still, lots of great songs that start with GREEN (all linked; chart numbers from Billboard (US) Top 100).
Once upon a time, there was a FINE FIRECRACKER of a woman named Denise from the FARAWAY land of England, who had a FANCIFUL idea for a blog FRAMEWORK. What if she FACILITATED a place where people could FOCUS their FLIGHTS of FANCY, alphabetically? It would not matter if the FILINGS were FACTUAL or FACETIOUS or FICTITIOUS, even FOTOS. And it was so.
Eventually, though, our FOUNTAINHEAD became FATIGUED by the FRANTIC task of FORMATTING introductions, FIELDING questions and other FUNCTIONS. She FEARED that the FORMULA she FUELED might FAIL, and needed to FIND a FLOCK of FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS who could FREE her FROM some of the FRENZY, FAST. And it was so.
FLASH FORWARD: the FABLED ABCW FEDERATION is now FLOURISHING in its eighth year, an amazing FEAT; time FLIES when you're having FUN. This FIESTA has been FEASIBLE because you FEARLESSLY FIND new FELLOWS and FEMALES to FOLLOW on the Linky, and in doing so FORGE a FAMILIARITY, a FONDNESS, even FRIENDSHIP with FOLKS you haven't even FANCIED in person. This has a FINE, FAR-REACHING effect on the world, I am FOOLISH enough to FEEL.
I FIGURE it's only FAIR, not to mention FASHIONABLE, that you provide some FEEDBACK to at least a FRACTION of those visiting you. Don't FORGET!
So now it's time to FIRE up your FOUNTAIN pens, and FEARLESSLY (FANATICALLY?) FAVOR us with a FEW FRESH ideas. Or FERMENTED ones; we're not that FUSSY.
Thanks for being a part of the FANTASTIC ABC Wednesday FAMILY, now and in the FUTURE.
***
I have a new name! Yes, on May 1st I became Mrs. Evans and I just thought I'd reintroduce myself. Have you ever wondered what your name means? Well, my new surname means "son of Evan," so I had to go and check out the name Evan. It's Welsh for John and means (1) "one who is awesome beyond contemplation, (2) so good looking that one is attractive to every female present and at least one guy present, and (3) to be incredibly smart." I think I picked a doubly good one since husband's parents gave him the middle name of Evan.
From http://www.houseofnames.com/evans-coat-of-arms Evans was "first founded in Herefordshire from very ancient times...before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William in Hastings in 1066.
This is the Evans family crest which I like very much!
In my research about the name Evans, I found a piece about its connection to the famous King Arthur. From the same link as above, it says that "Writers and historians have long been divided ... on the truth of Arthur, the great Welsh king of Britain. Although many now think that there is some truth underlying the many varied accounts, the hard facts surrounding Arthur's reign are almost completely obscured in a mist of myths and legends."
So...on my mother's side, there is speculation that I may be the great granddaughter of a Scottish Lord (albeit born on the wrong side of the blanket) and could it possibly be that my new husband comes from the family of King Arthur?
You may call me Lady Evans now. Curtsies graciously accepted.
This is moi, Denise greeting YOU the DARLINGS of ABC Wednesday. I greet you from a sunny North Yorkshire here in UK. Outside my hens are awaiting their breakfast, following their early morning DUSTBATH
inside my dog Sadie is at my feet
and a little drive away my husband,
the wonderful engineer is beavering away in his workshop, keeping british industry going.
With him is Bing our other german shepherd......
waiting for 10 o'clock when I call for him and together with Sadie we go for our daily run about on the beach.
That's my DAY off to a start....what about you?
Denise ABC founder and proud team member!
Thinking of B turned my mind directly in the direction of "Bread and Butter", but even better:"B&B!
I don't know if you have ever seen the program about B&B on BBC? Well we have a similar series on Dutch TV. It's interesting to see what a B&B owner has to do and how high the standards are. Everything has to be "spick-and-span"! Well, not necessarily new, but clean! The shower has to be as comfortable as possible and absolutely not slippery.
It is nice if there are coffee and tea making fascilities.
In May I had my first B&B experience in my own country. It was nice and very clean. I could make coffee or tea. The shower was exactly as it should be, only not on the same floor as the bedroom. The breakfast was really very good and tasty. The owners were very nice people.
My first B&B was in a beautiful city. I hope to return one day.
The street of the B&B
The view from my window: a quant old street of a medieval town
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with B. Don't forget to refer to ABC Wednesday and to the new logo.
Alpha (uppercase Α, lowercase α; Greek: ΆλφαÁlpha) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 1. It was derived from the Phoenician letteraleph. Letters that arose from alpha include the Latin A and the Cyrillic letter А.
In English, the noun "alpha" is used as a synonym for "beginning", or "first" (in a series), reflecting its Greek roots. In "Brave New World "( Aldous Huxley) people are divided in groups from highly intelligent and well- educated humans to the people who are more or less considered to be stupid, simple-minded, retarded ones. Being an Alpha means that you belong to the highest class, the most intelligent one. Amazing, but now I come to think of it: I don't know any European language that doesn't start with an A. Hebrew starts with Alef. But how are the Asian languages? Do they have an alphabetical system like ours? I also remember that we used alpha, bèta, gamma and delta in mathematics. Well I shan't make this too complicated. You will by now understand that Alpha is an important letter. An Alpha male among a group of animals is often the leader.
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with A.
And as Roger always asks:Remember: if you participate with us, please link to and mention us in your post.
ZONE is an interesting word in that it means a lot of different things, many of which apply to ABC Wednesday:
There are time ZONES. I don't know how many are represented by our participants - I'm in US Eastern, where are you? - but it's the variation across the globe that has ABC Wednesday start on Tuesday for many of us, because it IS Wednesday - in New Zealand!
We live in different weather ZONES. Some are in the temperate ZONE; others are in places more torrid or frigid.
Don't know about you, but when I write, I need to be IN THE ZONE, that sweet spot that allows for creativity, defined as "a mental state attained by a person fully immersed in some activity."
In basketball and American football, there's something called the ZONE defense in which a defender covers an area of the court or the field. We do the same sort of thing at ABC Wednesday. One person in our group will visit the first dozen or so participants who post through the Linky device, another the next dozen, etc. And we like to mix it up, so that different people are covering different ZONES each week, when possible.
And ABCW itself is a ZONE, an area of diverse interests, uniquely shared together. This ZONE has the ability to create relationships, even friendships, as we discover the commonality of us all.
It is my fervent hope that you remain in our communication ZONE designed by Denise Nesbitt seven years ago. Bring along others, because this is not meant to be a restrictive ZONE, but an inclusive one.
And apes and peacocks,
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
I had the privilege of working for a firm of Investment Managers and Stock Brokers in The Port of Liverpool Building. It was a joy to work there as my desk looked directly across the river so life was never dull watching the comings and goings on the river. There were wonderful sunsets across the river too, which reflected a visage of The Welsh Hills just beyond The Wirral. 
Images of the beautiful interior of the building, starting from top right looking up from the four galleried floors to the spectacular domed ceiling, then middle left the winding stairway up to the 4th floor where I worked...I used to almost sprint up the stairs as part of a keep fit campaign ! I was about 35 years of age then. To the right is part of the beautifully crafted ground floor.
. Letters that arose from alpha include the Latin A and the Cyrillic letter А.