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 |   A place where everybody can feel easily offended - my head! |
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I'm gathering quite a collection of blogs. "Invalid Item"  is a bit-of-a-rant. I've got a big gob, and it would be a shame not to use it. "Invalid Item" is just that. It's the product of the bits of me mentioned above  filtered through my subconscious."Invalid Item" dealing with all things to do with battling sexes, especially exes.Want to know something trivial or obscure? Not really bothered about whether it's right or wrong, as long as it's believable? ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** WELCOME TO THE HUMAN GOOGLE!  I may never have mastered the art of tying shoelaces, but I win every time I play Trivial Persuit. Friends place bets on how many people I can, unintentionally, upset on a night out. I am the place where boundless enthusiasm meets embarrassing arrogance. Important Information - Please Read I realise some folk do not get Satire. I love a little baffoonery and believe, rather like the jesters of old, you can say quite a lot more than kings when people think you are an idiot. If you are literal minded, best not read on. If you can tell your arse from your elbow, and recognise when an attack isn't an attack then please read:
Heck, even if you can't tell your appendages from one another, read it anyway: who am I to tell you what you can do and what to take from my writing?  The XGC rating is due to the unknown content of many minds - it may be fluffy bunnies or....not! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED Welcome to my world! Acme  ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** http://twitter.com/acmetweet Skype me at acmetoo template thing-a-ma-bob: {c:green}Write{/c}: {c:green}Edit{/c}: {c:green}Kids{/c}: {c:green}Relationships{/c}: {c:green}Physical{/c}: {c:green}FFF{/c}: |
 I'm so proud of Hubby! He's like a demon with a paint brush - check these new ones out: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** and theres even a nuddy one of me at http://foundmyself.com/gallery/andytetlow Write on and take care, Acme |
My attention span is reducing  I joined WDC at the end of June and since then my writes have got smaller, and smaller, and smaller!. I joined because I have actually written an entire book; by hand  , and just got fed up with Hubby upgrading computers (and other assorted gadgetry) making my Windows 95 floppy copies obsolete. He reckoned I should embrace technology and write on-line and I agreed. My reasons were thus: I don't like killing trees with my musings No-one reads this stuff anyway (oh, boy! did I learn how wrong that one was!  ) Hubby would stop nagging A writer needs to write I may make a couple of cyber-friends (I love my strangely unreal buddies!)Anyway, I'm mostly a part of Humanity for the easy ride, so can easily ignore the death of trees through increased Carbon footprints from using electricity to run my mega-computer. As such, it's the nagging that really made me join WDC and the expectation that my writing out-put would increase Not for silly Acme... From Novel to Novella:"Books, Serials and Assorted Ramblings" From Novella to Short Story: "Saturday Night, circa 1944" From Short Story to <1000 wd Cramp: "Invalid Item" From <1000 to Daily Flash "Invalid Item" From Daily Flash to WRITER'S BLOCK  I hate to admit it, but other than the occasional blog, and excellent email, I have run out of juice  All I can hope is that my excuses hold out; I'm ill. I'm tired. The kids are on 1/2 term. I have something HUGE waiting patiently to explode (from the keyboard, not me...) Nightmare stuff, but for one thing: I can really concentrate on supporting all my buddies through NaNoWriMo  Write on and take care, Acme ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| I don't think I've let Castor out of the box for a while; here he is: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** There are a few things in the world that I am truly passionate about, bordering on the fanatical. HP Sauce, Buffy and Xena, Homer (Simpson and Classical Greek), Shakespeare's Political/Historical plays, Ancient Rome... and my loyalty. Obviously, the last one is the more serious of the bunch. I trust on sight. My trust never has to be earned. It demands something much harder, and that is; to be 'kept'. My loyalty* is stubborn and faithful, only ever being withdrawn upon being taken advantage of. Some cynical people may think me rather stupid, but I figure if you try and see the best you probably will - you only have to look down to see shit *Note to Con-Men - I said 'loyalty' not 'gullibility'! Anyhoo! This Blog Entry is about Loyalty and feeling As Proud As Punch, here's why: I went to a better school than Harry Potter! The Blue Coat School ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I took this photograph as Acme Jnr and I toured around the campus on Open Day. She wants to go there too for her Secondary Education (hence the whole 'As Proud As Punch' thing). I'm an Old Blue through and through and hope she makes the selection criteria - we should know by March 2008 if she will be part of that September's intake. Blue Coat School is voluntary aided and provides the best education that money can't buy. Oh, you can get a good education (roughly $15,000 per year) at the near-by Grammar School for the next 7 years of your childs life. However, Blue Coat take just 218 students a year out of quadruple the requests for places. They have students who spend hours a day traveling to and from school, from Lancashire (and even Derbyshire). Just like Harry and his peers had House Groups, Blue Coat has it's own. I had the luck joy of being in Rountree Wrigly (Rountree Wrigly Roughyheads - HURRAH!), other's had to make do with Lord Mothersil (Lord Mothersil Snobs - Boo!), or Birley Hall (Birley Hall Bummers - Ha!). We also had our Durmstrang rivalry with Crompton House - but to be fair, that only ever superseded the in-house rivalries when it came to inter-school competition and sporting events. I'm proud to say I got over my bigotry and Mrs C (current Art Department Teacher at Blue Coat, and former Birley Hall Bummer) is the God Mother to both my daughters I know that people can have rose tinted glasses when they think of their old school days, but mine truly were blessed. Even if Acme Jnr ends up with Bummers, Snobs, or Crompton House Fops, I'll still be proud of her, and know that she too has a chance of the best education that money can't buy Click here to see all my fuss and nonsense: http://www.blue-coat.oldham.sch.uk |
| It's nearly 11pm here and I'm ready for bed, but for the house guest my husband is abusing. He's a good friend, so he's taking it well! Poor bloke. D turned up hours ago to twiddle with hubby's laptop, trying to get a new dongle to work. I love that word  - in fact I only bought the thing for him so I could drop it in to occasional conversations:"Yes; I can download your bluetooth photographs with this handy dongle!" The dongle I treated Hubby to was supposed to let him watch FreeviewTV when he has to work away from home, staying in telly repressed areas of the UK... he couldn't install it  Happily, neither could D, Hubby's techno-whiz old band mate. Now, I promised myself not to bother them and leave them to their manly gadgetry, but honestly; these are the snippets of some of their conversation: D - "So have you tried to *insert 'Star Trek' techno babble here*?" Hubby - "Yes; I ran it through... [lost] ...firewal...[lost] ... signal... " D - "Do you still have the installation instructions?" Hubby - "I threw the box away when I opened it" I am proud to announce... I said nothing! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| I consider our local church to be part of our family routine on a Sunday, but not today. Sniffles and coughs were just to bothersome to spread around again, so we stayed in and had a Pajama Day*. These don't happen very often, but the whole family secretly loves them  Start with a 'lie in' (anything beyond 8am is considered as such) Progress to 'pinning back hair' (no brushing required on a PD*) 'Have what you want' for breakfast (potato chips, cold pizza etc. Today we had Pancakes**) 'Do what you want' - following the one major principle of Anarchy; "Provided thou hurt none"So today involved: Baby Acme made pipe cleaners and pompom balls into pet spiders Acme Jnr made her favourite Aunt take her to the cinema to see Nancy Drew Hubby mixed a new kind of green and created another landscaped masterpiece Acme played all day on WDC! Fun and japes were had by all **Pancakes: not fat little sugared ones, or French style Crepes... somewhere in between lays the British Pancake; the same salt and peppered seasoned mix for Yorkshire Pudding, fried off and served with concentrated orange juice for the kids and HP Sauce for the Acme Representatives - luuurrrvly! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
Acme's Bountiful Harvest ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Last year's harvest was thirsty and starved, as the UK experienced uncharacteristic blazing heat, with very little rain fall. When the rain did come, the ground acted like a dry sponge, and took no water, causing massive floods. This year, we gardening Brits decided to fore-go the demanding mistresses of our Greenhouses and plant our tomato plants outside... Oops. The British Summer went back to it's usual habit and I, amongst others, exchanged one plant disease (Black Bottomed Rot) for another (Blight) My husband 'helped' in my veggie patch, this year. What can I say? He is a wonderful hubby, dad and artist... Upon witnessing a caterpillar invasion, he sprayed them (and the cabbages) with bleach.My corn didn't root deeply enough and my spring onions (scallions) mysteriously disappeared (although a rather smelly-breathed, Baby Acme, got terrible stomach cramps and told us that she'd seen a 'cheeky pixie' in the bushes...) The slugs ate all my courgettes (zucchini), my peppers didn't flower and nothing happened at all with my invisible radishes. I have just counted my entire crop (please see above ) and have decided not to turn self-sufficient next year. Perhaps I'll wait until I've installed the solar paneling and wind turbine  -------------------------------------------------------- In other news; I have just acted really responsibly! I left the ladies at the Church Coffee Morning to fend off the parishioners alone. It was as I tried to twist my body away from the eclairs, in an attempt to stem my sneezing germs, I realised: "I'm ill. I'm riddled with disease (probably Black Bottomed Rot). These parishioners are mainly Little-Old-Ladies, and I could end up killing them with a contaminated cream horn. I'll go home." I came home  and watched James Bond films ALL DAY!Happy Acme ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| How rude! I am blogging under the influence ! It's the one thing I swore that I wouldn't do, but as I have already told Tigger thinks of Prancer  that I love them; heck! Why not? As anyone who knows me... knows? I have been hit by the Human Papilona(spooling?) Virus (the common cold) - I thought I got rid of it, but even Lornda  's beach exploits and SouthernDiva 's warm and inviting charms, have not been enough to chase the British germs away. I even thought that I dreampt (one of my favourite words; next to 'milk' and 'leapt'), that Lauriemariepea entered one of my Hallowe'en contests... This turned out to be real, and NOT an halucination*. It has also made me realise that if I'm an incredibly selfish person, who connects so much with everything that Laurie has ever written, I may have turned her into an Acme Chattel. Now, I realise that is wrong and I should share the beauty of my muse with everyone. Here it is; Acme's Shrine to Laurie
* there are some words, in English, that I feel should be honoured with 'vowel status'; these include 'hour' and 'hotel', as well as 'hallucination'; hence the 'an' instead of 'a' as the singular article. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
I have been tagged by spidey  The Rules Are... Link to your tagger and post these rules. List eight (8) random facts about yourself. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them). Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs. 1. I love commas. 2. I have a huge fear of flappy things (moths/birds/bed sheets etc.) 3. I love soup. 4. I used to have a pet potato when I was a kid. 5. I think I'm taller, thinner and prettier than I am (it can lead to unfortunate chair incidents) 6. I can make milk come out of my tear ducts (only if I have some milk to use - I can't produce it...) 7. My favorite colour is orange. 8. I am taller, thinner and prettier than you think The people below were tagged by me: Lauriemariepea SouthernDiva Kaya MaryLou isiacs_mom Lornda zwisis |
I am so lucky!  I had to tidy up the port today and amend my Acme Map - I'm not one of natures 'tidy' people. In fact, an old boyfriend tried to excuse my messy nature by telling his mother that 'I had an affection for randomness' Before you get the wrong idea; I am actually hygienic! Under the sofa is free of dust-bunnies, old candy, and valuable minted coins - on top of the sofa you will probably find scraps of paper, magazines, cardigans, and other 'handy' items. You know those people who can walk through a muddy field in white and come out without a fleck of dirt? Well, that's my twin sister. I'm the one who can wear black, in a black room, with no fluids, for five minutes - then wind up with knots in my hair, and an unidentified food stain down my front... Anyway, whist tidying the port I came across some beautiful sigs and wanted to show them off! So, here they are: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Okee-dokee Let me treat you to a trip in the Acme Time Machine! Eleven years of wonderful Hubby. A real man, so perfect in so many ways. So imperfect in all the right ways. Eleven years of being head over heals and slightly sickly in my adoration... So, all this is a given. Keep it in mind as I take you on a trip down Memory Lane and to the dark side of Somnambulism... It's no surprise that we all have our little foibles when it comes to sleeping. Everyone, who has ever had the pleasure of being in the same building as a sleeping Acme, comes away with a newly found appreciation of their hearing. I've been called 'biblical' in bed, and have naturally attributed this to my Babylonian exuberance. No. My mother informed me that it is a reference to "...a great moaning and a gnashing of teeth..." Well, the fact that I can be measured on the Richter Scale, is nothing compared to Hubby's physical activities: Buttons for eyes: The first time I became aware of his strange nocturnal habits was the night that I awoke in an uncomfortable position, turned to face the edge of the bed, and came face to face with the lifeless, doll-eyed, stare of sleep sitting Hubby. Like Norman Bates mother, smiling in a rictus, stuffed and buttons for eyes... Creepy Bond: James Bond: I turned (no doubt disturbed by the noise of my teeth) to watch Hubby raise like a corpse from the slab. He surveyed the room, brought his fingers together, in a half prayer, and proceeded to shoot the invisible assailant at the foot of the bed. Best of all, he made sure to blow the heated smoke from the tips of his fingers, before he re-holstered his hands and went back to sleep - like a babe in arms. Wife Beater: Not really! He was actually kicking the crap out of a robber (which just so happened to be me) and only woke when I complained.That was the most recent, but there have been many other examples of 'winning goals', 'endless laughter' (that was a funny one ), 'convening meetings', 'making dinner', 'making out with mystery pillows'.Rightly, or wrongly, I have always considered any reaction of mine to be within the boundaries of Hubby's fantasy. That is why I am currently nursing a bruised hip, and he; a slapped cheek. Ah, living with someone sure is an eye-opener Now, come on... 'fess up, how the heck abnormal is your sleep life?** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Well, perhaps not quite as exciting as all that! Actually, it's been more of a case of .I do hate admitting to things which tarnish my armour a little. But, I told myself there was no point in over editing a life in a blog - so here's my confession: I'm a bit of a bloke, when it comes to being ill I said; I'm a bit of a bloke, when it comes to being ill See, it might look like 'just a cold' when the kids or Hubby is ill... but, when I get the Lurgy, it has to be flu, or the plague, or a heinous government experiment gone wrong. I don't do 'sniffles'. Poor Acme Jnr, was sent to school at the age of 4; with a ruffle on the head, a 'pull yourself together', and a couple of junior paracetamol - turned out she had broken her collar bone. Hubby was told to stop 'over-exagerating'; he had a couple of broken ribs. And before you start thinking that I'm either a rather abusive person, or that we are a stunt family of circus freaks; Acme Jnr fell off a chair at school, and Hubby tried to score the winning goal in a soccer game (where the other players were cruelly younger and fitter  )Anyhoo! I've employed my Dunkirk Spirit, strengthened my Stiff Upper Lip, and waded my way through the medicine cabinet for nearly a week now, and... *drums roll*... I have a cold! Hurrah!Now that the veil between this world and the next is less gauzy, I think it's safe to resume my blog. I don't wish to strain myself, but feel I must reserve some energy to blow up Baby Acme's 5th Birthday balloons. I just hope that she realises what a selfless and giving mother she has Next time I must tell you about the strange assault that I suffered in bed... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Sorry I haven't been around for a bit! I'm just such a huge fan of Hallowe'en. I've no idea where I got this joy from... Oh, yeah! Sure I do! Let me take you back to a little fishing village on the west coast of Scotland... On the coast road up from Rhu, the tarmac rolled and lilted around the lock to Gaerlochead. I seem to have vague, childlike (8 years), memories of it taking us to Oban, but I may be wrong... Anyway, it did take us past the Painted Rocks. It was like being in 'The Wicker Man'. The villagers were a close set. Now, we still had 'Scottish Country Dancing' on the school curriculum, our house backed on to woods, full of noisy nature. Jays cawed, squirrels terrorised, and even house cats earned their keep. The village with the Painted Rocks was as alien as a foreign land to us children, but those faces were seared into our cultural conciseness. Set, like rounded teeth around the head of the bay, the pale grey rocks had coloured celtic faces on them. The salty elements must have meant that they were repainted every generation, but they gave the impression of being timeless gods, crudely using magic to do their jobs. They were like gargoyle sentinels of a powerfully fearsome appearance, and I remember asking my Mum why the villagers kept them, as they were really scary. "That's why they keep them," she told me. "They scare away things that are a heck of a lot worse." Not long after that I discovered Robert Burns, and was fascinated and hooked by the fearsome spectacle of his poem Tam O'Shanter. Tam was a little rebellious - so was I. He had a Kirk to pass on his travels - so did I, as the primary school backed onto our local church. It seems to me that we were always observing some sort of pagan ritual, or tradition. First footers at Hogmanay New Year, May Pole dancing in Spring, Summer Fetes and Keileighs (no idea on that spelling!), Harvests and the Glorious 12th, and of course, Hallowe'en. As all the adults conspired to continue these events (with added whisky) it's no wonder that we kids adored the magic that was woven into our everyday lives. Scotland was magical too. Perhaps it was because the part of England we ended up moving to was barren moor and slate skies, I found the spirit of everyday magic was darker and repressed; I don't know. I was growing up, as well! and probably had other concerns as a teenager. You may have to give up Santa when you're 13, but you can still listen to The Cure and celebrate Hallowe'en. Anyway, it stayed with me and I'm soooooo glad that it did. I wouldn't have it any other way. The Painted Rocks are still vivid in my memory, and one day I'll take the Acme clan to visit them.... ... Happy spooks! |
| Hey there, I'm plonked in front of my 'puter after a day of days. One that has actually ended in plonk (rose) Went to church as Emmy and DID NOT GET STRUCK BY LIGHTNING! Ok, so technically, I didn't cross the threshold... I am the glitter queen, and as such; it is my role to construct the Sunday School activities. Today was Harvest Festival. I crafted, glued and glittered, all over the Parish Hall, and then left before entering the Apse.Mark flirted and made a pressie for Lauriemariepea just haven't delivered it yet... Amanda tried desperately to write 'helpful' reviews, and just succeeded in confusing the reviewees and herself (back to the usual daft reviews, then!) Castor investigated the reality of the importance of the role of the Bank of England; being as though you can't have a mortgage or savings account... Apparently, it's an out-dated institution which may be better served as governmental gruarantor, given powers of independence in statute. As adverse to an semi-automonous institution with economic powers on a governmental scale. Erm? Soooo, no real difference, then? Ahh; politics!The whole darn gamut of us, had to go out en-masse, to celebrate the father-in-law's 65th birthday. I couldn't help but feel smug when our side produced the 91 year old Nana Lena  Still going strong, like a Duracell Bunny, and out maneuvering all the young'uns on the dance-floor to Sean Kingston... Hurrah, for family Acme!One day I'll tell you all about Nana Lena - boy, has she lived! I'll have you know that I hail from good, old-fashioned, gypsy stock But if you can't wait until 'One Day' then feel free to read an excerpt from her life
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| Baby Acme is having a field day! She just wants to keep on dressing up for 'mummy's funny 'puter friends' - I've had soooo much fun playing with the "Invalid Item" - I can't believe it took me so long to raspberry the boredom of waiting. I'm not patient, but I have found out that I'm not the only one! As well as excitable Baby Acme, I've had to cope with excited Lauriemariepea (funny, funny, gopher ) and equally excited LIS - Here Again! (normally very grown up and sensible Captain of Team GB in PWW) in fact everyone seems to have gotten drunk on Random Acts of Daftness a little too easily. Well, except my wonderful bastion of sensible fun and gentile humour She rocks! I swear; you know how everyone should have an angel, watching over and protecting them? She's mine She's pretty good a spotting typos too!Hurrah for Jo Who's made you feel safe and mothered recently? (and you can't choose MY - I don't share!) |
Hey, there. Just a quickie to say that I was bored and realised that I could make my own fun -
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| There are some things in life that are just plain creepy and unnatural. If seeing a woman use straightening irons on her hair is upsetting or unsettling in any way - please look away now! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Remembering to wash, shave, brush and pluck, has got me thinking beyond personal grooming. I have decided to conduct a mini-blog-poll, after reading Nada 's recent blog on plastic surgery:If you could have unlimited plastic surgery, would you get anything done? If your husband/partner had the final say on 'improvements' would their ideas be so very different from your own? If you could give one celebrity the power of the knife, and take it away from another, who would you chose? See! You step away from the 'fro at your own discretion - I feel a little lost and strangely lady like. In fact, I think I may have giggled at a bad joke by a strange bloke in the supermarket... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| I have two of those evil 'update your blog' reminders This means that I have been neglecting to 'off-load', and have been accused by some people of "having a life". Not true - I've been WRITING. Not on the 'puter, though. I've been experimenting with that old fashioned favourite - the pen and paper Monday night was full of Bacardi and Americas Next Top Model (cycle 8 has begun in the UK) - We're model baiters. It has become a kind of sport, to watch these types of programme and pass critical (hypocritical) judgment on booty, hoochy, and goofy girls. We don't have to try very hard, as most of the fun comes from them letting fly at each other. The girls and I just nod to each other in a knowing way that says; 'poor contestants - they wouldn't last 5 minutes in my world'. Then hubby sneaks through, trying desperately not to ogle at a bitch-fight, and failing miserably. "Bet you're glad, you've got your wife!" says one of the Divas. "Third wife..." Adds another. Hubby scurries off and hides in the Virtual Pub that his web-buddies have created - perfect for these sorts of occassions... ... I meant to get on-line on Tuesday, but did the Christies Hospital run with my mother for her last dose of Chemo (fingers crossed). Took Acme jr to the doctors to look at her huge tonsils. Then went to Writing Class to catch up with my fleshy, writer friends. We had some hellish homework last week ( the kind that made me search for a pen and paper ): Write a short story in the Crime/Detective genre !I may just write it up on here for folks to laugh at. When I tried my hand at romance, I killed characters off, rather than let them 'sloppy kiss'. Now I'm submerged in James Patterson's world, I have trouble swatting flies - no one died. "WHAT KIND OF WRITER ARE YOU, ACME?" "I don't know! I guess I kinda like prattling on and taking over the world with comedy..." "WHAT?" "I said; I don't know! I guess I kinda like prattling on and taking over the world with comedy..." "HOW, THE SAM HELL, DID THEY LET YOU IN TO WDC? YOU... PRATTLER!" "Ah, well. I'm a great believer of the Virginia Woolf School of Lighthouse Writing!" "THAT BLOODY WOMAN HAS SOOOOOOO MUCH TO ANSWER FOR!" In other news - I've just got tickets for Henry V, next Monday in Manchester! Hurrah ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Hubby doesn't like Sundays. He says that they take him too close to Mondays and that is just plain mean. I like Sundays. I get an extra half hour in bed Nothing else much bothers me if I get that. I go to church, cook Sunday dinner (a form of meat + roast & mash potatoes, cauliflower cheese, carrots, broccoli and, of course; Yorkshire Puddings + gravy) Todays meat is Turkey and I can smell it from where I sit... I was a strict vegetarian (owned a copy of Meat is Murder by the Smiths!) from the age of 14. Ten years after that I was expecting my first born and dreampt of naught but fish. Fishies on dishies, fishies in batter, fishies in fingers, fishies in sushi, fishies pies, fishie, fishie, fish... I cried as I ate my first piece of cod. Salty tears added a delightful seasoning that I've never since recaptured. The only way that I could usurp my belief systems was to ask myself "Could I kill this animal in the wild, gut it, skin it, cook it and then eat it?" "Yes." Since then I feel like an evangelical ex-smoker (you know the ones! Always complaining louder and more violently than the ones who never smoked ) I've eaten more animals than I've petted and my family hate my realism about the whole thing, but I NEED my realism about the whole thing. If some poor animal is going to die for my dinner I want to acknowledge that death and salute it. I want it to have been reared humanely (organic), transported humanely (local abattoirs) killed humanely (no abuse and fetid holding pens), used completely (waste not wont not). The one thing guaranteed to rile my anger is the burger munching generation who want to kid themselves where their dinner comes from. I tell my children exactly where their meat is from and let them know any facts about is journey to their plate that they ask me about. When Acme jr decided to become a vegetarian, I knew that she had really thought about it and made an informed decision. Hurrah for her . Hurrah for Sunday Dinner - I'm off to season the roasties... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| I just recieved some wonderful deliveries from the WDC postie! Thank you, guys! This place looks real homey now ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Pretty flowers from pretty ladies - oh,my! I sure am spoiled (and I love it!) ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Castor reckons that 'Holy Smoke' is a reference to the Roman Catholic practice of using smoke signals in deciding the new pontiff during conclave. See, now that went right over my head, and I probably spelt it all wrong, and offended some Mother Superior somewhere... My (Mark) point is this; religion and spirituality are two very separate entities. Problem being that Amanda and Castor disagree, and Emmy sails soooooo close to the updrafts of hell, that I think it would almost be unfair to say that she wasn't involved in religion. The jury is out for me. I think that, as one of natures cynics, it's hard for me to have faith in anything and, ultimately, that is what all religions are based on; a leap of faith, a belief in something beyond the rational and scientific. I'm almost envious of the atheist that can say 'No God here!' - again I'm too cynical; 'Prove it?' I answer, stirring the pot. And fundamentalist believers who say, 'Feel the Power of the Lord!' - 'Mmm, where exactly should I be feeling it?' Amanda, who is lucky enough to have a faith, returned home from church a few weeks ago in a saddened state, due to the Parish Priest spoiling the end plot of 'Evan Almighty' before she'd had a chance to see it. "How can I trust this man to convey God's wisdom through his church, if he can't do so with out a spoiler?" "Were we going to see this film?" "That's not the point!" "Weeell, maybe He works in mysterious ways - but I don't think we'd have chosen it over the Transformers movie, do you?" "Look, just back off, Mark. I'm feeling a little naughty for bad mouthing the Priest in my head anyway - you know that I like the guy..." "Ohh, and on a Sunday too, you little minx! Just keep this conversation down or you'll get Emmy involved, and we all know where that'll end up..." "Bloody Druids." "That's the spirit!" Yeah, Religion is a funny one in our head. Spirituality and politics are a lot easier to understand ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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