Common Sense Definitions

This is a list of Common Sense definitions not to be taken too seriously and definitely with a grain of salt....

A is for

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

B is for

BATHROOM: A room used by the entire family, believed by all except Mother to be a self-cleaning facility.

C is for

COMMITTEE: A body that keeps the minutes and often wastes the hours.

D is for

DATE: Infrequent outings with dad where mother can enjoy worrying about the family in a different environment and surroundings.

E is for

EMPTY NEST: See "WISHFUL THINKING."

F is for

FABLE: A story often told by a teenager arriving home later than promised. Alternative is politicians explaining policies.

G is for

GUM: Adhesive for use in many common emergencies, cracked radiators, loose hair-piece, wobbly dentures.

H is for

HINDSIGHT: The parental experience that comes from changing too many diapers.

I is for

INFLATION: A method for cutting money in half without damaging the paper it's printed on.

J is for

JUNK: What mother calls Dad's stuff and Dad calls mothers stuff.

K is for

KISS: Mothers most effective medicine. Dads favorite treatment.

L is for

LEMONADE STAND: US concept by which complex business venture created requiring mother to buy powdered mix, sugar, lemons, and paper cups and sets up a table (lemonade stand) chairs, pitchers and ice for kids who sit at stand there for three to six minutes and netting a profit of 15 cents.

M is for

MAYBE: When spoken by parents means No. Uttered by politicians means "don't know"!

N is for

NAIL POLISH: Part of an assortment of make-up items such as lipstick, eyeliner, blush etc. which ironically make older women look better while making their young daughters look "like a tramps."

O is for

OVERSTUFFED RECLINER: Mothers nickname for Dad.

P is for

PANIC: What a mother goes through when the darn wind swings under her skirt.

Q is for

QUIET: A state of household serenity which occurs before the birth of the first child and occurs again after the last child has left home.

R is for

REFRIGERATOR: Combination art gallery and air-conditioner found in the kitchen.

S is for

SPOILED ROTTEN: What the kids become after as little as 15 minutes with Grandparents.

T is for

TOWELS: See "FLOOR COVERINGS ".

U is for

UNDERWEAR: An article of clothing, the cleanliness of which ensures the wearer will never have an accident.

V is for

VACATION: Where you take the family to get away from it all, only to find it there, too.

W is for

WALLS: Complete set of drawing paper for kids that comes with every room.

X is for

XOXOXO: Motherly salutation guaranteed to make the already embarrassing note in a kid's lunch box even more mortifying.

Y is for

"YIPPEE! ": What mother's shout the first day of school.

Z is for

ZUCCHINI: Vegetable which can be baked, boiled, fried or steamed before kids refuse to eat it."

Please add more words if you are so inclined.

Discrimination grows with Age

Choosing one thing in favor of another is a normal part of life or so you think! That is until the thing being chosen is other people over you. Chosen because they are perhaps younger, less experienced but cheaper to employ. It's such a loud penny when it drops that at first it does leave you in shock. But you quickly realize that age based discrimination is with all our laws and tribunals alive and well in this marvelous if not often uncharitable world of ours.

I once saw a film about the Eskimos that showed that when their old folk got too old to chew leather because their teeth are gone they are left to the snow and the polar bear to be eaten and return in the spirit of the hunt and in that way be useful to the tribe. Then I thought how cruel how barbarous. Now I have second thoughts and think at least in their way there is some dignity. Our way is to just slowly strip the old of self esteem, then respect and then to chuck them on the scrap pile of some nursing home verandah to quietly forget about them.

These are just some grey thoughts for a bleak day. But would it not be good to be able to feel worthwhile and valued beyond what some stingy tight assed boss who is just as old as you thinks is your use by date. Know I feel it now I'm in my 50s and bet I'm not alone!

Age is like a wall for the longer it last the bigger and more impressive
 it gets and  the more holes  start to appear in it.

George Costanza's Tips for Working Hard

I found this from this 80s view of the working world from the Seinfeld Show to be very funny. The following are George Costanza's Tips for Working Hard.

"Never walk down the hall without a document in your hands. People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the cafeteria.

People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet.

Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do."

Might have been the 80s but this is still accurate today. Work is more about perception than what things really are.

How my Garden Grows

Some pictures of my garden front and back. Flowers are blooming and all is looking good...

Flowering blue Irisis in my back garden.

Tropical plants with bright red bulbous flowers.

Veggie garden is under way with all the staples growing. Cucumber, Salad and lettuce.

Lemon Balm and various herbs sre doing well.

Love being surrounded by beautiful plants.

Trivia can be Interesting

Some interest trivia facts received from a friendly email worth sharing:

Q: Why do men's clothes have buttons on the right while women's clothes have buttons on the left?

A: When buttons were invented, they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich.
Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left.
Because wealthy women were dressed by maids, dressmakers put the buttons on the maid's right!
And that's where women's buttons have remained since.

Q: Why do ships and aircraft use 'mayday' as their call for help?

A: This comes from the French word m'aidez -meaning 'help me' -- and is pronounced, approximately, 'mayday.'

Q: Why are zero scores in tennis called 'love'?

A: In France , where tennis became popular, round zero on the scoreboard looked like an egg and was called 'l'oeuf,' which is French for 'egg.' When tennis was introduced in the US , Americans (mis)pronounced it 'love.'

Q. Why do X's at the end of a letter signify kisses?

A: In the Middle Ages, when many people were unable to read or write, documents were often signed
using an X. Kissing the X represented an oath to fulfill obligations specified in the document.

The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous.

Q: Why is shifting responsibility to someone else called 'passing the buck'?

A: In card games, it was once customary to pass an item, called a buck, from player to player to indicate whose turn it was to deal. If a player did not wish to assume the responsibility of dealing, he would 'pass the buck' to the next player.

Q: Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast?

A: It used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering him a poisoned drink.
To prove to a guest that a drink was safe, it became customary for a guest to pour a small amount of his
drink into the glass of the host. Both men would drink it simultaneously.
When a guest trusted his host, he would only touch or clink the host's glass with his own.


Q: Why are people in the public eye said to be 'in the limelight'?

A:Invented in 1825,limelight was used in lighthouses and theatres by burning a cylinder of lime
which produced a brilliant light. In the theatre,a performer 'in the limelight' was the centre of attention.


Q: Why is someone who is feeling great 'on cloud nine'?

A: Types of clouds are numbered according to the altitudes they attain, with nine being the highest cloud.
If someone is said to be on cloud nine, that person is floating well above worldly cares.

Q: In golf, where did the term Caddie come from?

A. When Mary Queen of Scots went to France as a young girl,Louis, King of France, learned she loved the Scots game 'golf.' So he had the first course outside of Scotland built for her enjoyment.

To make sure she was properly chaperoned (and guarded) while she played, Louis hired cadets from a
military school to accompany her. Mary liked this a lot and when returned to Scotland (not a very good idea in the long run), she took the practice with her. In French, the word cadet is pronounced 'ca-day' and the Scots changed it into 'caddie.

Q: Why are many coin banks shaped like pigs?

A: Long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of a dense orange clay called 'pygg'.

When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as 'pygg banks.'
When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a container that resembled a pig. And it caught on.

Q: Did you ever wonder why dimes, quarters and half dollars have notches (milling), while pennies and nickels do not?

A: The US Mint began putting notches on the edges of coins containing gold and silver to discourage holders from
shaving off small quantities of the precious metals. Dimes, quarters and half dollars are notched because
they used to contain silver. Pennies and nickels aren't notched because the metals they contain are not valuable enough to shave.

Western Adventure - Photos

Some photos from the trip so far.

Western Adventure - Day 4 & 5

A long drive down the middle of WA to Esperance awaited us on Day 4 but we got up early and took again to our travels.

The drive wound through a very interesting part of the state of WA passing as it did through mining towns like Norseman. The town named for it's rather famous horse who kicked a clump of soil and apparently discovered the nugget which lead to a gold rush. Needless to say the horse now has it's own statue which stands proudly in the town park.

All the way down we passed signs pointing to the various mines and we could see even from the car the obvious signs of mining occurring at a rapid pace.

Closer to Esperance we passed the Pink lake and several other smaller lakes like it - all colored a strange pink color having taken on the red of the soil and chemicals around them.

Around lunch time we arrived in Esperance and drove around searching for our digs. At first we were looking for a conventional hotel called the "Dodropin" with some trepidation I might say thinking of the jokes associated with such names. Amazingly it turned out to be a well hidden bed and breakfast in a self-contained apartment set up in the nicest Dutch Barn style building.

After settling in we took off to explore Esperance which turned out mostly to be a nice beach side village. A nice place for swimming and fishing in the hot whether but not that much to see thats unique or noteworthy. We did manage to find a rather good town museum to while away a few hours and also found an interesting jetty to look at. Other than that though there was not much to do in Esperance.

Next a very, very long drive to Albany (480 km)...

We got up very early the next day and departed the Barn for the former Whaling town of Albany.

Prepared for a long day in the car we were actually quite surprised to reach our destination by lunch time.

We found our hotel and settled in. Then off to explore Albany.

Albany turned out to be a really nice place that we were looking forward to spending 2 days in. Lots of nice interesting looking shops and eating places in the main street. Our first stop was to find a nice place to have lunch after the long drive. This we did at a nice place called "Venice Restaurant" where we had garlic squid with chips and salad.

After lunch we went for a drive. First thing we encountered was the museum built around the ship Amity a replica of the original square rigger that brought the first convict settlers to Albany.

After looking around the Amity we went for a drive up Mt Melville to the look out which was amazing for the view it gave of Albany harbor and King Georges Sound. We then found that there was a restored military fort called Fort Princes Royal on Mt Melville. Here we discovered some interesting history. Apparently Albany was the meeting point for the Imperial Expeditionary Forces - the ANZACs and the 26 ships that carried those troops to the middle east left from here. We had a great afternoon exploring.

Tomorrow more of Albany including Whale world ...