Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring (Tra La) (and a contest)

 The flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la,

 Breathe promise of merry sunshine —


As we merrily dance and we sing,
Tra la,


We welcome the hope that they bring,

Tra la,

 

 Of a summer of roses and wine,
Of a summer of roses and wine.


And that's what we mean when we say that a thing



 Is welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring.




 Tra la la la la, 
Tra la la la la,
The flowers that bloom in the spring.


Tra la la la la, 
Tra la la la la, 
Tra la la la la la!

That last one isn't one of my flower earrings.  It's the bougainvillea that's been embraced by honeysuckle and gift-wrapped with morning glories.  I think it needs a special name.  So... come up with a name for it, and leave the name in the Comments section. The winner gets a pair of lucite flower earrings, as seen above.  Deadline is Saturday, May 5 at 5 PM PST.

To purchase said lucite flower earrings (or the rose quartz lilies), please visit my etsy shop or my eBay shop.

Tra la! (And thank you, Gilbert and Sullivan, for our singalong)

Friday, April 20, 2012

My Dog May Be a Genius



  

by Jack Prelutsky
My dog may be a genius,
and in fact there’s little doubt.


He recognizes many words,
unless I spell them out.


If I so much as whisper “walk,”
he hurries off at once


to fetch his leash…it’s evident
my dog is not a dunce.



I can’t say “food” in front of him,
I spell f-o-o-d,


and he goes wild unless I spell
his t-r-e-a-t.


But recently this tactic
isn’t working out too well.


I think my d-o-g has learned
to s-p-e-l-l.




Thursday, April 19, 2012

What Do the BeadieBirds Do?


  
Some birds build their nests of twigs,


Some of mud or loam.


Lichen, string, feathers, rocks


And shells can make a home.

There are owls who live in cacti.



Eagles dwell in canopies.


Some pelicans build nests on rocks


And penguins?  Rookeries.



But what of birdies made of glass?


The genus known as Beadie?

For those the lampwork artists toil

So glass birds won't be needy.




 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

My Name is Rhino. I'm a Feline Kleptomaniac.






My name is Rhino.  I am a Feline Kleptomaniac.  The furless one spends a lot of time in my room.  She plays with BrightandShinyThings like those turquoise nuggets.




I like to play with BrightandShinyThings.  And she has so many.  Little bits of carnelian.


Nuggets of Baltic Amber.



Little shiny rolling pieces of jasper.



Pieces of Chalcedony just the right size for dropping down the floor heater.



The rest I keep in my bed.  She thinks I never leave my bed, except to eat and poop.  But when she's gone, I get up and stretch and help myself to anything that's out.  Or anything in a plastic bag.  Okay.  Anything.


Then she sells them and goes crazy looking for them.  The bearded one tells her she needs a better organizational system.  She probably does.  But it's too late.  Because now those pieces are mine.  All mine!

(Insert evil cat laugh here.)

Sincerely,

Rhino

P.S.

The furless one would like to point out that these BrightandShinyThings are available in her etsy shop. Actually, they're in my bed.  Maybe she'll find them on Laundry Day.  Or not.




Monday, April 9, 2012

The Killer Bunny of Caerbannog. Run Away! Run Awaaaaay!






In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table are led to the Cave of Caerbannog by Tim the Enchanter.  There they learn that  they must face down both the Rabbit and the Black Beast. 


The Cave of Caerbannog ("caer bannog" being Welsh for "turreted castle") is the home of the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh. 






King Arthur and his knights are led to the cave by Tim the Enchanter, and find that they must face down its guardian beast. 









Tim verbally paints a picture of a terrible monster with "nasty, big, pointy teeth!" so terrifying that Sir Robin soils his armour. When the guardian appears to be an innocuous white rabbit, surrounded by the bones of the fallen, Arthur and his knights no longer take it seriously. 








Ignoring Tim's warnings ("a vicious streak a mile wide!"), King Arthur orders Bors to chop its head off. Bors confidently approaches it, sword drawn, and is immediately decapitated by the rabbit biting clean through his neck, to the sound of a can opener. 





Despite their initial shock, Sir Robin soiling his armor (again), and Tim's loud scoffing, the knights attack in force, but are driven into flight as the rabbit leaps and attacks, killing  Gawain and Ector with ease.   The others scatter to screams of "Run away!  Run awaaaaaaaaaaay!"





Ultimately, the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is used to kill the beast and allow the quest to continue.


Earrings on etsy and eBay.


The YouTube clip right here.




Run away!  Run awaaaaaaaay!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Eye of the Tiger! Raar!







It's the eye of the tiger
It's the thrill of the fight



Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night



And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger


Raar.


Get Raar here and here.


Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Story of Passover, as told by Charms



Long ago, in Egypt, the children of Israel were doing well. They had babies and worked and were successful. Pharaoh, who was the King of Egypt, believed that the Israelites were becoming too powerful. He made them slaves, and forced them work in rock quarries and to build cities and pyramids and roads.



In spite of this, the Israelites continued to multiply. New babies were born all the time. So Pharaoh came up with a new plan. He announced that every Hebrew boy baby should be killed.



When Moses was born, in order to save him, his mother hid him in a little floating basket, which she hid in the river reeds. His basket was bobbing there when Pharaoh's daughter appeared for her bath.



She saw the bobbing baby, took him home to her palace, and named him Moses, which means "drawn from the water." Then she hired Moses' mother, Yocheved, to be his nanny. Yocheved raised Moses and taught him all about his Jewish heritage. Moses grew up to be a great man among the Egyptians. But Moses knew he was a Hebrew, and he saw how badly the Hebrews were treated. He tried to help them, without much success, and eventually left Egypt and became a shepherd, tending sheep belonging to a man named Jethro. Eventually Moses married Jethro's daughter.

One day, while Moses was out with his sheep, G-d spoke to him, in the form of a burning bush. G-d told Moses to rescue his people from the Egyptians. Moses was pretty sure this was impossible. He had tried before, without success. But G-d promised to help Moses. To show Moses all that he could accomplish with G-d's help, G-d turned Moses' rod into a serpent. Then G-d told Moses to pick up the serpent by its tail. Moses did, and the serpent turned back into a rod.



G-d showed him another sign, but Moses was still dubious, and more than a little tongue-tied. He was pretty sure Pharaoh wasn't going to listen to a tongue tied shepherd with a rod that turned into a snake, so G-d sent Moses' brother Aaron along to be a spokeman. Moses, by now, was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83. But they had a job to do, so back to Egypt they went.

There they called a meeting of the Israelites. Moses told the Israelites what G-d had commanded him to do, and performed the miracles that G-d showed him. This convinced the Israelites that Moses was the real deal, sent by G-d.

Next Moses and Aaron paid a visit to Pharaoh. They told him about G-d's command, and said, "Let my people go!" Pharaoh was not impressed. In fact, he was angry, and complained that Moses and Aaron were keeping the Israelites from working. Then Pharaoh treated the Israelites worse than he treated them prior to Moses and his miracles.

But Moses had faith in G-d. He performed all the miracles G-d taught him, before Pharaoh himself. Again he said, "Let my people go!" Still Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites leave.

Moses was getting desperate. He turned the waters of the rivers into blood. Then he sent armies of frogs hopping all over the land and though the houses, doing all sorts of damage. When that didn't work, Moses brought locusts and other insects to go after the people. They caused disease not only in the Egyptians, but in their beasts of burden. Still Pharaoh did not listen.

G-d was getting a little impatient. He commanded Moses again, and this time he brought worse plagues on the Egyptians. Pharaoh still didn't give up. So G-d sent the worst plague of all: the first born of every Egyptian family, and the first born of the animals of their flocks, died. The Israelites, who were doing a lot of praying, were spared.

This finally got Pharaoh's attention. Terrified, he turned the Israelites loose. They needed to leave quickly. They got together and ate roasted lamb and bread which had not had time to rise ~ matzoh.



When the sun rose on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan,



the Jewish nation headed for the land of Canaan.



This was called the Exodus. G-d guided them with a cloud that looked like a pillar of fire at night.

After three days, Pharaoh forgot how frightened he had been. He put together an army and started after the Israelites. By the time the Israelites reached the Red Sea, Pharaoh and his army were hot on their heels. G-d stepped in again. He told Moses to stretch his rod, which was once a serpent, over the Red Sea. When Moses did this, the waters parted, making huge walls of water on each side. The Israelites passed through in safety.



When Pharaoh and his army followed, they drowned.

The Israelites, seeing that they were safe, sang a song of praise to G-d before hitting the road again.

Their troubles were far from over. They had no bread, and no meat. They began to complain to Moses. Why had he brought them to a land where there was not enough food? But G-d was watching out for them. He sent them quails and manna, which they used as bread. When they wanted water, Moses hit a rock with his rod, and water poured out - enough for all the thirsty people and their animals.



All through the desert, as the Israelites traveled, heading for the promised land, G-d took care of them.

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Moses became their lawgiver,

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receiving his commandments directly from G-d.

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Finally the children of Israel were free.

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The story of Passover reminds the people of the Jewish nation of the history,

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and reminds them that the ultimate goal is to be “a light unto the nations.



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The bracelet can be found here.