Nails!!!

Thanks Dagney!

Word of the Day

clinquant \KLING-kunt\, adjective:

1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled.

noun:
1. Tinsel; imitation gold leaf.

Clinquant is from French, glistening, tinkling, present participle of obsolete clinquer, to clink, perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken.

Pants!!

This is actually a Dockers add... but I like it. So, go find your hero, buy him some new pants and present them with a kiss!

The Coffee House As Your Office

"Wanted, one small band of thieves to carry off the accumulated clutter of the Coffee House. Competitive pay and benefits."

~The Black Dragon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear THE:

We're all grateful for the Coffee House and for having a place with such a cool vibe (sorry--I am a casualty of the 1960's) to hang out in as a place of study and conversation.

The Coffee House, however, cannot be your office. Even though it has sofas, it cannot be your living room. Stuff is just left there. Currently, for example, there are 2 computers unattended, 2 backbags,various library books, bibles, and journals just lying around.

Now in most American colleges and universities today, this would not be a problem because all of that would immediately be stolen, leaving the area nice and uncluttered. It is a tribute to THE that you can leave your belongings and come back in five minutes or five hours and find them still there. And yet, the Coffee House is a public space, and people from off campus are welcome. We probably don't need to import thieves to help keep the Coffee House in a pristine condition, since some may come on their own. In the meantime, it just looks bad to have all of those personal possessions scattered around a place of business.

So, please, keep control of your belongings and do not leave them in the Coffee House. Starting Monday, we will be collecting unattended objects.

Thank you and carry on.

GEV
Provost

Postcards

Let Google send a Christmas postcard for you!

Suggestions Welcome

I need a nice book to read.

Not like Grapes of Wrath, or War & Peace, or Middlemarch, or Anna Karenina, or Age of Innocence...

Yes, am reading heavy books, and I want a light one next. Something along the lines of guy & gal meet, fall in love, get married, have a family, and live happily ever after. And if any dragons happen to get slain along the way, that would be fine too.

Word of the Day

myrmidon \MUR-muh-don; -duhn\, noun:

1. (Capitalized) A member of a warlike Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy.
2. A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question.

Myrmidon derives from Greek Myrmidones, a warlike people of ancient Thessaly.

Word of the Day

billingsgate \BIL-ingz-gayt; -git\, noun:

Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.

Billingsgate is so called after Billingsgate, a former market in London celebrated for fish and foul language.

A Letter From Home

"I say, Berg, my dear fellow," said Rostov, "when you get a letter from home and meet one of your own people whom you want to talk everything over with, and I happen to be there, I'll go at once, to be out of your way! Do go somewhere, anywhere... to the devil!" he exclaimed, and immediately seizing him by the shoulder and looking amiably into his face, evidently wishing to soften the rudeness of his words, he added, "Don't be hurt, my dear fellow; you know I speak from my heart as to an old acquaintance."

~Count Nikolay Ilyitch Rostov - Николай Ильич Ростов

War & Peace - Война и мир
Book Three, Chapter Seven

Congrats to Teiro!

This is such a Ken face.


Way to clean up!

Vote

A reminder to all readers in Virginia to vote tomorrow (11/3).

Chronicle of Cocktails: The Colonels' Lady

For Four Servings:
8 oz. grapefruit juice
4 oz. bourbon
2 oz. apricot brandy
1 oz. grenadine

I have renamed this drink. Some people, who are silly, call it a Kentucky Kernel, but that is a ridiculous name for such a pretty drink. Being of a good CLA-trained mind I chose the homophone that at first I thought was attached to the drink and made it his wife. If you come to our place and ask for the Lady I will give you the drink above, if you ask for the Kernel I will tell you to go talk to Jonathan, who is more understanding about things with vapid names.

Happy All Saints Day!

Great Old Quotes

When going through some old notebooks from the THE days we found these and thought y'all might get a kick out of them.

From Dr. Sanders:

"Never let the facts get in the way of a good trial and a good conviction."

"Everyone debates when Lenin will be given a decent burial."

"We always seem to end of talking about that corpse." ~on Lenin's body

From Dr. Stacey:

"Do you know how many times I've wished I had a handmaiden?"

"Have you done something to your hair, or have you grown paler?"

"It incrementally grew exponentially." ~Summarizing a student's confused argument

"Jefferson is an enigma. He's also kind of weird. He's like Hugh Heffner. Sort of. No, he's not at all."

"If that were any of you, I would give you an F." ~On Latin kids

"The Bay of Pigs -- not very kosher."

"We should retain the senate just to keep Hillary busy."

"Tea is for sissies, whiskey is for men."

"Those people we know & love and have foundations named after them because they're dead."

"Presidents of old didn't die quickly, they lingered."

"That was a beautiful story. Unfortunately, it was completely wrong."

"Courts are very generous when they are worried about getting blown up."

Wine Glass Rack - By Jonathan

Materials:

Pine & Steel
32 feet of 2x2, 16 feet of 1x3, 40 feet of 2x1, box of number 8 2inch screws, box of number 6 1 inch screws, 4 L-plates

Brains & Grit
Sorry, you will have to figure that out on your own.

We have a lovely cedar wardrobe given to us by a dear friend. At the moment we have no need for more clothing storage, but we are however rather short on a glassware repository. So, my Darling Husband decided to construct this wine glass rack to hold our stemmed goblets.

Lest you worry, we did not in any way deconstruct the wardrobe, nothing is bolted to it or puncturing it. This was my only stipulation for the project.

Now we have loaded our glasses, and I am so proud Jonathan. He came up with the design all on his own, adapting the base anchor pieces from a woodworking website, but drafting the plan to construct the rack in the already existing wardrobe, and the top frame as original plans.


Now you can come and enjoy a drink of something delicious from glasses that are stored in cedar. And I will not have to get them out of a box, unwrapping them from packing paper each time you do.


NB: Storage of glassware in wardrobes is not recommended for highest degree of comfort when planning inter-universal travel, but in no way impedes the movement of bodied of appropriate height deprivation when combined with a belief in the improbable.

Flick Pick: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

If you are looking for an exciting adventure and charming romantic, song-and-dance movie in the best tradition of Bollywood, then check out:

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Lover Will Take the Bride)

We very much enjoyed this movie and it got us started on a discussion of the relationship between parents and adult children. (Leave it to us to turn a romantic-adventure movie into a discussion forum.)

Many thanks to Celia for the suggestion.

The Art of Power

The Royal Armory in Madrid, assembled at a time when the Spanish Crown was at the height of its international power, is the oldest and one of the finest and largest armories in the world, imbued with great historical, artistic, and symbolic significance. Armor drawn from the unsurpassed holdings of the Spanish Royal Armory is shown in this exhibition alongside portraits of rulers dressed in the same armor, painted by such masters as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Diego Velázquez, and Alonso Sánchez Coello. Several large and magnificent tapestries from the royal collection also depict the armor in use.

(Armor is a very serious subject with Jonathan!!
And yes, that is a crescent and star on the pennant in the top left corner )

Together, some 75 works illustrate the use of luxurious armor in projecting an image of royal power in Imperial Spain. The exhibition includes several full suits of armor, helmets, shields, and equestrian armor—worn in battle but more often in Renaissance parades, pageants, and jousting tournaments. The works of art on view date from the reigns of the Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I of Austria (1508–1519) and Emperor Charles V (1519–1558), to those of his successors, King Philip II (1556–1598), King Philip III (1598–1621), and King Philip IV (1621–1665). This is the first time that the armor has been exhibited together with the portraits in which it is depicted. ~From the NGA website~

(I find your lack of faith disturbing.)

Click here for a slideshow from the exhibit. The exhibit is in town until November 1, 2009.

Mr. New Mexico - By Cosmo

Page 137 if you are looking at this month's issue.

And he made the news too!

Word of the Day

pukka \PUHK-uh\, adjective:

1. Authentic; genuine.

2. Superior; first-class.

Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks."

Dogs

...Dorothea, anxiously, also rising and going to the open window, where Monk was looking in, panting and wagging his tail. She leaned her back against the window-frame, and laid her hand on the dog's head; for though, as we know, she was not fond of pets that must be held in the hands or trodden on, she was always attentive to the feelings of dogs, and very polite if she had to decline their advances.

~Dorothea
Middlemarch, by George Eliot

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

The point of this weekend trip was actually to hear a Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra performance at the Forum, but we decided to make a downtown-day of it.

We started by going to the late Mass at Saint Patrick Cathedral. It was a baptismal service, which was especially interesting to me, since half my family is Catholic, and I have been to Catholic weddings, Catholic funerals, and dozens of ordinary Masses, but not a baptism. I must say, the Godparent relationship that is formal in the Catholic and Anglican churches is a very touching one. The Godmother of the baby who was being presented wore a corsage, and this seemed to me to a beautiful detail that symbolized the relationship that this lady and her husband were entering into with the new little one. They were standing with the baby's parents and promising before God to help teach the little girl about the faith that they were bringing her into in the service. The lady and her husband cherish the little girl and her little blossoming faith. It is a solemn thing, but you could boil it down to: when teaching children about God, the more adults involved the merrier. I hope that does not seem frivolous but it struck me that way.

During the Mass the priest gave a very encouraging sermon on the proper arrangement and place of marriage in society. As far as international institutions go, the Catholic church has been the foremost in defending the traditional views of marriage, abortion, euthanasia, family, and community. It was amazing and wonderful to visit this beautiful church and find such a realistic and healthy understanding of man's sin nature, but how marriage should be honoured and maintained despite our fallen nature.

The priest also spoke about the counseling that is available within the Catholic church. They suggest premarrital, marrital, and postmarital counseling. Many other churches have standardized premarrital counseling, but it seems that fewer have regular marrital counseling. The Catholic understanding is that marriage is a sacrament, and divorce is an extreme option and should not be entered into without a great deal of struggle to keep the marriage in tact. They have an established process which they ask couples to complete so as to avoid having to break their sacred vows. Perhaps I am generalizing, but it seems that in other kinds of churches divorce takes the church by surprise. We do live in a sinful world and we should be ready in advance to deal with our own sinful hearts when it comes to marriage. If we do not have things arranged in advance it is not likely that when it comes to a crisis we will be terribly well equipped to deal with that crisis. (I think I sound like Mom.....)

The Catholic church also has established postmarrital counseling. This struck me as a very valuable idea. If you hold marriage in such a place of honour, when it is ended by the death of one of the spouses, the spouse left behind does need to understand that a new system of thinking and living will have to be implemented in their life. Having a system in place which the church can extend to the grieving person might be a help in what would seem the worst time of their life.

I know I speak from my inexperience, and I tend to like things to be well arranged. But I wanted to mention the good things I found at Saint Patrick's. Good practices should be evaluated and copied from all parts of the church. The Catholics might be able to teach us Protestants a thing or two yet! It was so refreshing to see Christ at work in a differnt body, different city, different expression of the faith that we hold in common.

From Mass we walked a few blocks to find the pub. Yes, this is a very good thing to do when you have been to church, have the car parked in a garage for the day, and will be walking over to an enchantingly beautiful theatre for a concert after the meal.



Especially when it is such a fun pub. If you are in Harrisburg and need sustenance and provender, try Molly Brannigans.



The food was fantastic and the company even better. It was wonderful to bask in the friendship of people who have known us for so long and still like us. I am sure you are going to ask how much we had to pay out to be able to make that statement... but really a few Guinnesses later and everyone is very jolly.

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Ceil had us up for the weekend. We had a very restful time, especially watching Auburn beat Tennessee. Before the game we went down to Mechanicsburg and wandered around, checking out the pretty little town. It all seems like something out of a model kit.

We especially liked the gingerbread, Victorian styling on the buildings.

We stopped at a "vintage clothing store" and tried on outrageous items. Ceil pointed out that if it was called a "second-hand store" we would all be grossed out, but since it was "vintage" it was cool. Nevertheless we all appreciated her bottle of hand sanitizer on our way out.

The only way to end a day of frivolity is with Hershey's Ice Cream in a darling little shop with these neat little booths. See the Auburn sweatshirt, we are ready for the game!

A very manyly thing to do in the kitchen

Slice meat, and then marinade.

Place on dehydrator for a few dozen hours.

Enjoy your very own jerky!

Word of the Day

eldritch \EL-drich\, adjective:

Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie.

Eldritch perhaps derives from a Middle English word meaning "fairyland," from Middle English elf, "elf" (from Old English aelf) + riche, "kingdom" (from Old English rice).

Incantations

As to his religious notions - why, as Voltaire said, incantations will destroy a flock of sheep if administered with a certain quantity of arsenic. I look for the man who will bring the arsenic, and don't mind about his incantations.

~Dr. Lydgate
Middlemarch, by George Eliot

Words

ah
audit
bin
damnation
dot
ewe
fez
gin
go
hell
jew
kiln
legion
lit
mercy
nero
papal
qadi
quaff
risen
rome
run
stage
stray
to
to
unblessed
vatican
vex
vicereine
wash
zoo


the vatican is in rome from which papal mercy is dispensed on behalf of the jew who is king of the jews, nero was also in that city, but now he is in hell which is lit with fire from a kiln, it is also where you will go if you drink gin or stray in any other way that a qadi who is wearing a fez might bring down a verdict of damnation on you, which is similar to an audit, that is mostly run to vex the one who was unblessed enough to have to dot the legion of i's in the bin of paperwork, which was propbably relating to a zoo that had a ewe which was a gift from a vicereine who wanted to wash her hands of the political stage and to quaff all those who have risen against her, saying ah.

Congrats to Andrew & Liv

We are so Virginia. Jonathan was the only one wearing a linen suit.

Truth in Advertizing

Mountain Dew = Ick
But it so works with the mug!

Thanks to DJS for allowing me to snap the picture of his beverage.

Spinach Bacon Pie

20 oz frozen spinach, or something like that in fresh/cooked
8 oz ricotta cheese or cream cheese
4 oz parmesan cheese or romano cheese
16 oz muenster cheese, shredded
dash of garlic
2 eggs
8 slices of bacon, cooked, drained, chopped
pie dough

Line baking dish with pie dough, preferable a 10 inch, deep dish, or quiche dish. Boil and drain spinach. Spread half of the muenster cheese on the bottom of the baking dish. Mix spinach, ricotta, parmesan, garlic, and eggs thoroughly. Spread on muenster. Place bacon pieces over mixture. Use second half of muenster to form top crust. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Alternate ingredients: Substitute swiss cheese for muenster and add mushrooms or sauteed onions to the spinach.

NB: Do not let the man hanging over your shoulder salivate onto the pie!!

Old Country Buffet - Fairfax

Thank you Grampa and Gramma for such a fun evening out. It was great to see all of you!


If our readers have not eaten at an Old Country Buffet, next time you are with a large party and you cannot agree on what type of establishment to frequent try OCB. They have lots of great options.

The Day After

Thanks for a great weekend, all you long distance travelers. Especially the guy who wanted to hide in the corner with a bottle of scotch. It was wonderful to see you.

Senior Pranks

Finally, a real beach!! After all these years.

I really think they should raise the price.

And maybe the event which produced the most happiness...

Chronicle of Cocktails: Lovers' Delight

For Two
2 shots Mount Gay Rum
1 shots amaretto
4 shots cranberry-white grape juice
2 dashes grenadine

Shake well. Pour over crushed ice. Drink. Kiss.

(Yes, this is a girly drink!!)

For the Pink Pixie

A pink building we passed yesterday on our way to a delicious lunch.

Chocolate Pizza

Spread one batch of cookie dough from the Joy of Cooking chocolate chip cookies recipe on a lightly greased surface. Bake 20 minutes at 350 OF . Allow to cool for 2 minutes after removing from oven. Spread with nutella before the crust has cooled completely. Then sprinkle with dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips. Then sprinkle with chopped peanuts, coconut, and finely chopped maraschino cherries. Bake 2 more minutes.

Boating

'Nice? It's the only thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. 'Belive me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolute nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on deamily: 'messing - about - in - boats; messing - '
~The Wind in the Willows

(See Jake, the little black head/streak about 25 feet behind us? He followed us the whole time (1.5 hrs) we were boating. Needless to say, he slept like the dead that night. He was so sad that we would not let him in the kayak.)

Words of the Day

These words are all really amazing. I am thrilled every time my word of the day is something I either do not know or something that I am not sure about. English has such an fascinating mix of words from all over the world.

Now for your enjoyment: the words of the last week, which are astonishingly sumptuous!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

paladin \PAL-uh-din\, noun:

1. A knight-errant; a distinguished champion of a medieval king or prince; as, the paladins of Charlemagne.
2. A champion of a cause.

Paladin derives from Late Latin palatinus, "an officer of the palace," from Latin palatium, "royal residence, palace," from Palatium, one of the seven hills of Rome, on which Augustus had his residence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

crepuscular \kri-PUS-kyuh-lur\, adjective:

1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling twilight; dim.
2. (Zoology) Appearing or active at twilight.

Crepuscular comes from Latin crepusculum, twilight, from creper, dark, obscure; ultimately of Sabine origin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

etiolate \EE-tee-uh-layt\, transitive verb:

1. (Botany) To bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight.
2. To make pale or sickly.
3. To make weak by stunting the growth or development of.
4. (Botany) To become bleached or whitened, as when grown without sunlight.

Etiolate comes from French étioler, perhaps for s'éteuler, "to become like straw," from Old French esteule, "stubble or straw," from Latin stipula, "a stalk, straw."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

amatory \AM-uh-tor-ee; -tohr-\, adjective:

of love; expressing love, especially sexual

Latin amatorius "of or pertaining to love," from Latin amator "lover", Latin amo "to love."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ephemeral \ih-FEM-er-ul\, adjective:

1. Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; as, an ephemeral flower.
2. Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only.

Ephemeral derives from Greek ephemeros, from epi, upon + hemera, day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

quiddity \KWID-ih-tee\, n.:

1. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity of a thing.
2. A hairsplitting distinction; a trifling point; a quibble.
3. An eccentricity; an odd feature.

Quiddity comes from the scholastic Medieval Latin term quidditas, "essence," from quid, "what."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

labile \LAY-byl\, adjective:

1. Open to change; apt or likely to change; adaptable.
2. Constantly or readily undergoing chemical, physical, or biological change or breakdown; unstable.

Labile derives from Late Latin labilis, from Latin labi, "to slip."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

discursive \dis-KUR-siv\, adjective:

1. Passing from one topic to another; ranging over a wide field; digressive; rambling.
2. Utilizing, marked by, or based on analytical reasoning -- contrasted with intuitive.

Discursive comes from Latin discurrere, "to run in different directions, to run about, to run to and fro," from dis-, "apart, in different directions" + currere, "to run."

Chronicle of Cocktails: Chocolate Milk

This is for those times when a little chocolate just will not help.

1 iced beer mug
12 oz milk (the higher the percentage the better)
several squeezes of chocolate syrup, until you feel better
1 shot vodka, or more if it is a really bad day
mix with cool swizzle stick for effect

Cool swizzle sticks can be found here.

Hot Chicken Salad Pizza

This is an idea that came to me after enjoying Jackie G's Hot Chicken Salad.



To make the pizza:
1 cubed chicken breast
mushrooms
onions
Dijon whole grain mustard
shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
honey wheat crust

Make homemade honey wheat crust. Saute chicken, mushrooms, and onions with Dijon whole grain mustard. Brush thin layer of drippings from saute over crust. Place cheese over crust. Then add chicken, mushrooms, and onions. Bake 415 OF for 20 minutes.

Chronicle of Cocktails: Brandy

Neat!!!

Word of the Day

frisson \free-SOH^N\, noun:

A moment of intense excitement; a shudder; an emotional thrill.

Frisson comes from the French, from Old French friçon, "a trembling," ultimately from Latin frigere, "to be cold."

I love this word. It sounds like it should make you shiver when you say it.

Chronicle of Cocktails: Lost Lime Bikini

3/4 shot Galliano
3/4 shot amaretti
1/2 shot white run
2 shots limeade

shake well with ice

Actually, the camera did not get the colour right. It is prettier than that.

I'm Henry The VIII, I Am

Herman's Hermits

I'm Henry the eighth
I am Henry the eighth I am,
I am I got married to the widow next door
She's been married seven times before
And every one was an Henry (Henry)
She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam)
I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry
Henry the eighth I am

Second verse same as the first

I'm Henry the eighth I am
Henry the eighth I am, I am
I got married to the widow next door
She's been married seven times before
And every one was an Henry (Henry)
She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam)
I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry
Henry the eighth I am

I'm Henry the eighth I am
Henry the eighth I am, I am
I got married to the widow next door
She's been married seven times before
And every one was an Henry (Henry)
She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam (no Sam)
I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry
Henry the eighth I am

H-E-N-R-Y
Henry (Henry)
Henry (Henry)
Henry the eighth I am, I am
Henry the eighth I am

Yeah!

Happy Spring

This was made for and eaten by our Wing Guys...
and they thought it was really funny.

Margrave & Margravine

Ranks of Nobility

Emperor & Empress

King & Queen

Grand Duke & Grand Duchess

Archduke & Archduchess

Prince & Princess

Infante & Infanta

Duke & Duchess

Marquess & Marchioness/Marquis & Marquise

Margrave & Margravine

Count/Earl & Countess

Viscount & Viscountess

Baron & Baroness

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weird titles exist all over the world!!

Hold On

Hold on, hold on

You've got a girl who really loves you
(you've got a girl who really cares)
She'll do anything you ask her to
Yet you treat her wrong
Oh you just string her along
Brother, if I were in your shoes

I would hold on, hold on, hold on tight
And make the whole world know she's mine
I would hold on, hold on, with all my might
A love like hers is very hard to find

She does her best to make you happy
(she always does her very best)
You do your best to make her blue
Buddy, you've got it made
But you'd rather go and play
I know one thing for sure, if I were you

I would hold on, hold on, hold on tight
And make the whole world know she's mine
I would hold on, hold on, with all my might
A love like hers is very hard to find

She's always there each time you need her
(each time you need her she is there)
She gives her love so willingly
But you just don't care
You know that she'll be there
How I wish she'd felt that way about me

I would hold on, hold on, hold on tight
And make the whole world know she's mine
I would hold on, hold on, with all my might
A love like hers is very hard to find

Hold on, hold on

Office Birthday Party

Today my office mates from many different departments threw me a splendid little birthday afternoon snack party. There was fruit pizza, and dark chocolate brownies, and fresh strawberries, pineapples, pears, and apples with nutella. They are a charming bunch and I heartily thank them all for a lovely time! This is the invitation, written by Elise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A PARTY FOR JENNY!!

TODAY IS JENNY'S BIRTHDAY!!

PLEASE JOIN US TO CELEBRATE,
WE'LL HAVE THE FORKS AND PLATES!

SOMETHING SWEET FOR YOU TO ENJOY & SAVOR,
WHY NOT ACT IN A LITTLE CHILDISH BEHAVIOR

TRUTH AND LIES* WILL BE TOLD IN THIS AFFAIR,
YET WE WILL STILL SHOW THAT WE ALL CARE.

THE TIME IS 2:30 TODAY AT THE CENTER DESK,
SHE DOESN'T KNOW OF THIS I MUST CONFESS.

WE'LL SEE YOU THERE WITH PLENTY OF SMILES,
A FEW MINUTES AWAY FROM YOUR WORK IN PILES!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*At each birthday celebration in the office we play the game "Two Truths & A Lie", the birthday celebrant makes three statements and the rest of the party-goers guess which is the lie.

Mine were as follows:
+ The first gun I ever shot was a Glock model 19
+ I have climbed to the top of the Salisbury Cathedral Tower
+ As a child I decided to hate bananas

If you guess the right one you get a prize!

'Sausage-pony' prompts 999 calls

A pony with short legs and a long body has caused numerous people to call the emergency services in the mistaken belief she is stuck in the mud.

Hampshire fire crews were last alerted on Tuesday as Mayflower was grazing by the River Test in Southampton.

An animal rescue expert said Mayflower seemed to be a cross between a Shetland and a New Forest pony, making her look like a "sausage-dog horse".

Her owner is now considering erecting signs advising passers-by.

Rescue specialist Anton Phillips said Mayflower could appear to be stuck in mud as she was half the height of other nearby ponies.

"We have been called out several times for the animal now and it is getting a bit ridiculous.

"We are changing our mobilising policy for this particular area now and in future we will only send out an animal rescue specialist to evaluate the call-out before sending a full team out," he said.

"These calls from the public are with good intent. When viewed at long range, this pony looks like it is trapped, particularly if it is standing still next to its mates which are twice its height."

Story from BBC NEWS

Dagney & Michael's Engagement Photos

Click the title and you can see more, but this is my favorite.

You can vote for your favorite on the site.