Something More..

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

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And just a small reminder - don´t forget to make your own Peace Globe! The days are counting and there are just 6 ahead to do so.

Feel free to join us (we don´t bite) and make the blogosphere full of solidarity and hope.

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Baking, Drawing, Tasting

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Yesterday at about 10 at night I was decorating the rest of cookies I baked a day before for the Halloween party with my older students.

The original idea was - to bake two types of cookies and one decorate as pumpkins and the other one decorate with bats.

On Wednesday I baked two types of cookies as I knew I wouldn´t have any time to do so on Thursday. But the whole baking thing took longer than I had expected and I had to decorate them on Thursday after all. So about 10 at night I made the icings, decorated the cookies and then waited another hour until the icings solidified.

The result is - well, let´s check by yourselves:

The first problem was that I had to cut the "pumpkins" out by myself, so the shapes are the way they are (my grandfather: "Oh honey, they are so cute. What are they? Small rockets?" - I love him anyway:-)

The second problem was the black edible colouring to give pumpkins their faces and to draw bats. I couldn´t buy it anywhere. As Halloween is not celebrated here, the black colouring is very rare to need (and I didn´t have time to check all shops in the town..).

So I bought a blue colouring which seemed to be the closest to the black one (the other possibilities were red, orange and yellow), made icing and started to draw.

And that was the third problem - I wasn´t able to draw them! After first five cookies decorated with my bats I stopped trying to draw another ones. Because all those five cookies looked like clowns´ heads or quadriplegic butterflies. So I changed the pattern and the rest was drawn with something unspecified.

The cookies looked the way they looked, but they were really tasty (luckily) and were eaten in a very short time.
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I haven´t been posting any recipe yet so let´s change it. Here you are:

Vanilla Cookies

1 cup of butter

2 cups of granulated sugar (or vanilla sugar)

2 eggs

1 dessert spoon of vanilla extract

4 and 1/2 cups of flour

pinch of salt

4 dessert spoons of baking-powder

1/2 cup of milk

Mix the sugar and butter and make mousse. Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir the mixture. Then add flour, salt and baking-powder and stir thoroughly. At the end, add the milk and stir again.

If the dough is tough enough, you can cut the shapes out. Then the dough should be 6 millimetres high at most. If it is not tough enough (depends on the amount of butter), you can make small balls which spread in the oven a bit.

We bake the cookies on the greaseproof paper for about 8 to 10 minutes. The temperature in the oven should be about 190 °C.

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Chocolate-butter Cookies

3/4 cup of butter

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 yolk

1 dessert spoon of almond extract

1 and 1/2 cups of flour

1/4 cup of cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Make a mousse from butter and sugar. Add a yolk, almond extract and stir the mixture. Then add flour and cocoa powder and make dough.

Then you can cut the different shapes out, or make small balls (about 2,5 centimetres big) and bake them on greaseproof paper for about 7 to 9 minutes. The temperature in the oven should be about 190°C.

If you decide to bake small balls, you can cover them in the icing sugar after taking out from the oven.

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Tomorrow I am going to post here some pictures from the the Halloween (let´s say) party with my older students. They weren´t wearing any costumes (they thought they are too old to wear them - they were wrong) but still they were so sweet!:-)

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Skywatch Friday

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Yesterday the sky was a bit angry again, and grey almost all day long. But in the evening its mood became a bit better and some clouds appeared.

And there were like two layers of the clouds - the white ones (which were higher) and the black clouds (which were under the white ones). And because the sun was just setting, the orange colour appeared on some places and the result was this:

Doesn´t it remind an angry face with two orange eyes to you (the Halloween is coming...)? But it vanished after a while:

.. and the sky was quite clear again. Just few crows were flying over.

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To see some superb photos of the sky all over the world, visit the Skywatch site.

"Knock, Knock" "Who´s There?" "Halloween!"

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The Halloween is coming. On Thursday and Friday there will be parties in all classes I teach.

My small students´ party will not be a party much. This year it is going to be about telling spooky stories, talking about the traditions and origin of Halloween, trying some superstitions. I´ve decided so because the year before we celebrated this day with music, tons of eerie food and sweets. So this year it is going to be a bit different but, I think, fine day as well.

And I am curious what my older students will do. They´ve divided to five groups and each group should make something to eat (or to drink), arrange some decoration, and prepare some presentation about anything relating with Halloween. That will be the party. I am going to take thousands of photos.

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I like the history of this event and stories behind it. The whole night is so magical. Do you know that Halloween has its own site? You can find there everything - stories about origin of Jack-O-Lantern and Halloween itself, some delicious recipes, costume ideas, haunted hauses, and many many more. So visit http://www.halloween.com/ and enjoy the fun.

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I am a bit sorry that Halloween is not celebrated in our country. The festival which reminds Halloween the most is the All Souls´ Day. It is celebrated on 31 October and commemorates our passed away beloved ones. People put candles on their graves and memorialise them.

And after the sunset, the graveyards become magical and enthralling fairylands studded with a soft light from thousand of candles.

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Doodles, and Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

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This weekend has been the complete relaxation. I deserved it. It began on Friday. I was visiting my Sister and Smallone.

Smallone´s father painted her playroom. She is a keen artist and her masterpieces were all over the walls there. She helped with the painting (had a small paintbrush and at the end was covered with the paint more than the wall) and had a great fun.

Since then Smallone knows she can draw only on the sheet of paper and only while sitting by the table. So she does. I wonder what time it will take to make her strawberry playroom walls full of her doodles again. Her mother gives it two, maximal three weeks. I bet she is right.

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I was browsing in the bookshop on Saturday morning. I was looking for the latest book of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (they´ve ordered it for me), but I found Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer. How could I resist? Of course, I had to buy it. It is already the fifth book of Artemis Fowl´s adventures. And I love it. As the previous ones.

Artemis Fowl is an extremely smart, cynical human individual. He possesses a dry, sarcastic sense of humor and a ruthless, almost psychopathic nature.

In the first book he is only twelve years old, and because his father, the crime lord Artemis Fowl I., is missing (and his mother is quite unstable thanks to this fact), Artemis has to take the control over the family business.

So the first book follows the adventure of this criminal mastermind, as he kidnaps a fairy for a large ransom of gold.

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I must say I love these series. It is so funny and clever and witty. And Artemis is a perfect villain-hero turning to hero-villain during the series.

It is some kind of opposite to Harry Potter, who is too positive to me. On the other hand, Artemis is very wry and is like a small James Bond. As Eoin Colfer said, these books are like "Die Hard with fairies,". And they are.

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The author of Artemis Fowl´s adventures is Eoin Colfer as I´ve mentioned before. He´s written more than just Artemis Fowl series. My favourite book by him (other than Artemis Fowl) is called The Wish List.

If you are interested in what this book is about, I was posting here the contents of the chapters as I was reading it to my small students. So write the words Wish List in the left corner, press find in the blog (or what words have you there), and you´ll see what will appear:-)

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To learn more about the plots (but beware the spoilers!) and characters of Artemis Fowl series, go to this wiki site. There is everything, of course:-)

And to find out more about the great Eoin Colfer, you can browse his official site.

Skywatch Friday

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My last contribution to SWF was about hoping for some better weather and more interesting sky than something grey and shapeless as the week before.

And it happened. After posting my last skywatch post, the weather became absolutely perfect. The whole weekend and Monday and Tuesday the temperature was about 20°C (some people were wearing just tee shirts) and the sun was shining all days long. Wonderful. And I never had my camera with me those days.

So I´d decided to take some pictures of my sky today. But when I woke up today morning I got chagrined. There was a constant and endless rain behind my windows. And the sky was grey and shapeless again.

Despite this downpour I packed my camera into my bag, took my umbrella (the biggest one I have), and went to work.

Today I was in both of my jobs (perhaps you remember I teach at two schools), so I wanted to take some pictures of the views I have there. And the miracle happened again - it stopped raining and even the sky wasn´t very nice I took some (let´s say) average photographs. But they made me happy after all the rain.

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This is the view I had today from the staffroom in the primary school I teach at. It was took about noon. And the sky was pretty gloomy and made the whole world dismal as well.

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These photographs were taken about four o´clock in the afternoon from the stuffroom at the second school. I was lucky that the weather turned fair. Even the sun appeared and made the world happier place with the sharper shapes.

I am curious what the weather was around the whole world, and I am sure you are interested as well. So let´s check the other people´s skies at the skywatch site!

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Blog for Peace

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I was tagged by Mimi, the Queen of Memes and how can I refuse? Her memes are fun and the group of participating people is also the fine one. And, you know, she´s got a dungeon....

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So, let´s blog for the peace! Here is the part of rules copied from Mimi´s blog:

Join The Revolution

Here are the rules and the story.
(1) Copy this into a post (2) ADD YOUR NAME to the bottom of the tag list(3) Tag at as many people as you'd like.

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The Peace Globe project began in the fall of 2006 with a simple post from one blog, Mimi Writes. The post ignited a flame in the blogosphere. The flame became a passion. The passion became a movement. It amazingly traveled from blog to blog to blog across the globe. Bloggers wrote passionate articles on what peace means to them, along with the promise of three Latin words scribbled on a globe - Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) - branded with the integrity of their names or blog names. It was positively inspiring to watch. And it began to happen all over the world - from Singapore to China to Afghanistan to Brooklyn.

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It was simple. And powerful.
In less than three weeks bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace.We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day.Won't you join us?

November 6, 2008

How To Get Your Peace Globe In 4 easy steps!

1. Right CLICK and SAVE the peace globe below or choose from other designs here.

2. Sign the globe using Paint, Photoshop or a similar graphics tool. Decorate the globe anyway you wish. You can even include the name of your blog. Click here for hundreds of inspiring examples from previous BlogBlasts.

3. Return the peace globe to me via email ~ mimiwrites2005 at yahoo.com - Let me know your blog's name and url by leaving a comment here and signing the Mr. Linky. Your submission will be numbered and dated in the official gallery . Your globe and post will be listed on the Official BlogBlast For Peace website and The Peace Globe Posts page.

Here's the most important part.

4. On November 6, 2008 DISPLAY YOUR GLOBE IN A POST. Title your post "Dona Nobis Pacem". This is important. The goal is for all blog post titles to say the same thing on the same day. Write about peace or simply fly your globe.

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Do you like the idea? I do. I´ve decided not to tag anyone. It is up to you to join us but I would appreciate if you do so. So, please, join this revolution and make the world a better place, even if just here, in the blogosphere.

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To get your own picture of a globe and to read more about this idea, please visit this post or this post by Mimi. You can also browse through the official gallery where you can find an inspiration for your globe.

My globe will be posted here on November 6th. Hope you come and look at it:-)

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Flowers for Algernon

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Just have come back from the theatre. And I am absolutely disorganized and my mind is torn into pieces. So strong performance. The leading character, Charlie, was played by the actor who is on the wheel chair so the whole stage direction was subordinated to this fact. So brilliantly. The shadows and light were used a lot, and the dramatic effect was huge. Wonderful. Perhaps I am not going to sleep tonight...

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The play was called Flowers for Algernon. It is a dramatization of the short story by Daniel Keyes (who later expanded the story into a novel).

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have an IQ of about 68? How would people treat you? How would you feel about yourself? Would you want to become "smarter"? If someone you respected came to you and told you they could make you smarter, would you take them up on their offer?

Until he was thirty-two, Charlie Gordon --gentle, amiable, oddly engaging-- had lived in a kind of mental twilight. He knew knowledge was important and had learned to read and write after a fashion, but he also knew he wasn't nearly as bright as most of the people around him. There was even a white mouse named Algernon who outpaced Charlie in some ways. But a remarkable operation had been performed on Algernon, and now he was a genius among mice. Suppose Charlie underwent a similar operation...

Published by Harcourt Brace (1966) and by Bantam Books (1967). Reissued in the Harcourt Brace Modern Classics series (1995).

"HUGO AWARD" for short story, "Flowers for Algernon," 1959,
"NEBULA AWARD" for novel version, Flowers for Algernon, 1966.

(www. http://www.danielkeyesauthor.com and http://www.thematzats.com)

For more information go to see the article here, for one of the reviews go here, and to download the novel for free let´s check this site.

Note: Just a small comment on the spelling and language used in the novel - don´t be surprised while reading it. Yes, those mistakes are there on purpose. Keep on reading and you´ll understand.

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Giving Flowers

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I love flowers. Occasionally, I buy some flowers by myself (they make my home more beautiful and cheerful place to live in) and as most women, I love being given a bunch of flowers as often as possible. I prefer white lilies (Lilium auratum), scarlet or gold chrysanthemums, or marguerites. Just in case you feel like give or send me some flowers:-)

Some men give flowers as an apology. Well, why not. But I am not a woman who likes getting such a bunch of flowers. The bouquet of flowers given without any intentions but one - to make me happy,... well, makes me happy. And glad and grateful.

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Talking about men giving flowers:

A 91 years old woman received a bouquet of flowers and a note after confronting a burglar in her home about 4a.m. on 9th October, in Halifax, UK.

The robber sent his elderly victim these flowers to apologize for frightening her. The note explained that the man thought the property was empty and apologized for breaking in.

Police said the burglar left the house empty-handed.

Chm, men......

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Skywatch Friday

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Another skywatch Friday. Today it was a bit difficult to post anything else than light grey picture of nothing. To make you understand - the winter is coming, but the autumn has not left yet. And it means that the sky is grey. No shapes can be seen, no sun. There is one big light grey cloud as far as the horizon is. Usually all day long.

But yesterday something appeared on the sky. Probably, the sun was a bit bored and wanted to peep what we were doing. So it fought that one cloud and glanced at us for a while.

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The skywatch group is the finest group of talented people and you should visit the skywatch site to check their photos. You really should do so. Really, really, really!!

Autumn Leaves and More Wedding Photos

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I went shopping with my sister and Smallone today afternoon. As we were walking the streets in the centre of our town, I realised that there was something wrong. First, I couldn´t understand what was it. Then we were passing a small hillock of fallen leaves and I got it. There were no fallen leaves anywhere except that hillock. And walking the streets I miss them cracking under my shoes.

In the centre of our town two ladies appear and start to clean the streets up early every morning. And they also get rid of the leaves. No single one has a chance to survive their attack.

I also love autumn because of the leaves. I like watching the way they change their colours. And no matter if they still hang on trees or they are fallen on the ground.

Since I was a small girl I´ve loved to wade through the hills of fallen leaves, dip my shoes deep into them and scatter them around. I love the sound they make when walking through them. It is a sound of the autumn.

And I missed this sound these days. Walking through the streets of our town today, I realised I am not the only one. When we were passing that small hillock of fallen leaves, my sister stealthily changed her way a bit so she could go through the leaves, dip her shoes deep into them and scatter them around.

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Fortunately, the lack of fallen leaves is just in the centre of the town. Around our home, there are lots of trees with wonderfully colored leaves. And when the leaves fall, nobody cares and there are tens of them to play with.

On Sunday, my sister´s family came to have lunch with us, and Smallone picked some of the leaves up in front of our house and she was enjoying them a lot.

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Here are some more photos from my sister´s wedding. They were took by the professional photographer.

Smallone loves umbrellas:-) Anytime she sees any, she needs to open it and hide under it. The day when the wedding took place, the weather forecast wasn´t very good, so she secured herself:-)

My sister and her husband also walked on the leaves...

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The Dual Personality and Kendra Stout

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I am Gemini. Whatever you have ever read about this zodiac sign, it is all about me. I perfectly fit to every of those descriptions. Well, to most of them (I don´t like bright yellow or green to wear.)

The main thing is - there are two minds inside my body (and, no, I am not a lunatic.... hmm, I guess I am not...:-)). Two sisters, the twins, but with different states of minds.

If you have ever read The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, maybe you remember Agnes (the fat witch with a thin witch called Perdita X. inside). In general - Agnes is well-mannered, shy, amiable and obedient. In contrast, Perdita X. is cocky, courageous and (let´s say) furious and rough.

And that´s it. I am usually very amiable and kind (I try to be), but from time to time the other Namnet appears and she can be very wild and sarcastic. My body tries to keep the balance between them both, so I can be very kind, and very ironic at the same time - I don´t make cruel jokes to anybody, everything what is said, is said in jest, and to make other people laugh a bit.

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Yesterday this dialogue between me and my friend happened:

Friend: "... ehm, I read your post about the Tudors, marriages and the stones.."

Me: "Really? And did you like it? Those stones, interesting, is it?"

Friend: "..err..yep, that was absorbing, but..."

Me: "What? Come on, tell me."

Friend: "Did you really mean it? The part about guidances how to live in a happy marriage?"

Me: (laughing) "What do you think?"

Friend: "I don´t think you were serious about that, but I am not sure. Do you really like seeking these type of information on the net?"

Me: "Silly. Again - what do you think?"

Friend: "It was just fun. Something you found funny and interesting, so you posted it. Am I right?"

Me: "Of course, you are. It was so zany research I had to post the results. As if the relationships could be generalized.."

Friend: "Yep, I agree. When reading it, I couldn´t see your face, you know, so I wasn´t sure if you mean it or not.."

Me: "I see. That is why I put the label Thoughts about funny-bone to every post I don´t mean so seriously."

Friend: "I thought so."

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From time to time, I am posting here some things I find amusing, silly or wacky. I think they are interesting and giving evidence of something, after all. But please, do not take me so seriously. You know, the ironic girl inside me almost always wins.

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The picture above was drawn by Kendra Stout (http://www.evileherbivore.deviantart.com/)
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Skywatch Friday

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I haven´t been posting the skywatch photos for three times since today. It was "thanks" to lots of work, preparations for my sister´s wedding, and even more work. But now, everything´s got stabilized and here is my skywatch post.
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There are some moments in your life when you look at the sky with worry and apprehension. Then you pray for the better weather for a while, and look up again, now gratefully with a cheerfulness in your heart, because the sun shines again.

Well, it is usually not so easy, but last Saturday it worked. It was my sister´s wedding day. When I woke up that day I looked at the sky and was ferrified - the black clouds were heavy and it was raining cats and dogs. I felt so sorry for her.
But when we were arriving to the chateau (where the wedding ceremony was held), suddenly the rain stopped falling from the sky. The clouds were still black and grey, but there were no rain any more, and my sister and her then future husband could be photographed in the garden of the chateau without being soaked to skin.
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Happy couple with their small daughter, my beloved niece (who was very quiet and a bit scared as she couldn´t understand what was happening and why there were so many people)

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All these photos above were took by my brother-in-law´s cousin´s girlfriend:-) Her name is Vlaďka and I thank her for them a lot.

This skywatch is not so good or interesting as the skywatch by the others (they are amazing), but that day the sky was so kind to my sister an her husband that I´ve had to share it with you:-)

Two Quotes by G. K. Chesterton

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"What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."

from Tremendous Trifles (1909)

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"There are two ways of dealing with nonsense in this world. One way is to put nonsense in the right place; as when people put nonsense into nursery rhymes. The other is to put nonsense in the wrong place; as when they put it into educational addresses, psychological criticisms, and complaints against nursery rhymes or other normal amusements of mankind."

from Child Psychology and Nonsense (1921)

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To learn more about the author of these two beautiful quotes, click here.

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The End, the Middle, and the Beginning

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Last night I was watching the end of the second season of The Tudors series. It ended with the execution of Anne Boleyn, brilliantly made, by the way. I was so moved and sobbed the last fifteen minutes of this episode. Definitely, I am a huge fan and looking forward to the third season a lot.

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British psychologists have solved the secret of happy marriage. The group around doctor Ludwig Lowenstein (I wonder if it is a real name:-)) says that 22 short periods of quality time spend together a month are enough. These moments must include also a walk and romantic dinner or a trip.

They discovered that to be in a happy marriage you should do certain things every month. You should spend 7 dinners together, go for 2 romantic walks, and go to the theatre or a pub once a month without your children or friends. And a man should buy flowers (or any other present) to woman at least once a month as well.

What interesting things you can find browsing through the world wide web....

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It Québec, Canada, the scientists have discovered the oldest stones in the whole world. The stones´ ages are estimated to be more than 4,28 milliard years old. According to the Jonathan O´Neil, the main author of the treatise, they could give us a new perspective of the origin and the birth of our planet.

Well, we will see....

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Today´s Poetry

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Sea Fever

by John Masefield

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life.
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

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John Masefield (1878 - 1967)
John Masefield was born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, in 1878. He was orphaned at an early age and, after a brief period at the King's School, Warwick, was educated aboard the Liverpool school-ship Conway. As an apprentice, Masefield sailed round Cape Horn in 1894; as a result of sickness, he was classified a Distressed British Sailor upon arrival in Chile.

After convalescence in England he secured a new position in New York. Although he crossed the Atlantic, he never reported for duty. He later noted, "I was going to be a writer, come what might."

After a period of homelessness and vagrancy, bar and factory work in America, Masefield returned to England in 1897. His first published poem appeared in a periodical in 1899. The friendship of W.B. Yeats provided encouragement, and in 1902 Salt-Water Ballads was published. A distinguished literary career followed, with work across a broad range of genres.

Masefield was appointed poet laureate in 1930, and awarded the Order of Merit in 1935. He died in 1967; his ashes are buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.

(from http://www.carcanet.co.uk/)

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If you are interested, you can find more Masefield´s poems here. For more information about his life and work, visit this site or this pages.

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My Little Sister

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Tomorrow is my little sister´s wedding day. She is so nervous that she didn´t sleep yesterday night and perhaps today night she won´t sleep as well. But I know everything is going to be fine, she is going to be the most beautiful bride ever, and even now it is raining, tomorrow the sky will be cloudless.

My sister is a smart, lovely, kind, generous and beautiful person. She can be quite wry but I like it about her a lot. Maybe because I am the same kind. She is always able to make me laugh, her sence of humour is brilliant.

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I remember the day my parents brought her home from birhing hospital. I was so curious and she was so small and sleepy. And more sleepy. It is one of my first memories ever. I was three.

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Our childhood were bright and full of loving people. They made up thousands of games and plays for us. We were exploring the caves, going to the woods to pick up mushrooms or blueberries. We spent our holidays in the areas full of green meadows, forests, and hidden footpaths leading to springs of water. We were told hundreds of fairytales and stories and then we made up our own ones.

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We also invented a very special game called Gargling. Do you remember sweety? Each drank about three litres of water in about one hour. We were laughing and soggy. And it was a great fun.

Aren´t we cute?

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Here we are with our maternal grandmother. After our parents divorced, we (me, my sister and mother, and my mother´s parents) spent a wonderful week at the hired house. The week was so relaxing and fun. We played cards every evening and night and we enjoyed ourselves a lot.

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This photo was taken in our family friend´s shop. She sells bikes and things connected with them. She also has two spaniels (as you can see) and they are very friendly and nice dogs. My sister is always willing to dedicate her time and smiles at anybody. She is very friendly and sociable. So this photo is very typical for her.

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When she finished secondary school she moved to lived with her boyfriend. It was quite hard for me to hadle the fact she wouldn´t live with me anymore, but I had to get used to it. Luckily, she lives about 10 minutes far from us, we visit each other very often and we are even closer now, when she has a daughter, my sweet niece. I must say she is a wonderful mother, so patient and so loving.

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And today (it is after midnight already) she is getting married. I wish she enjoyed herself today. And I know she will. Even she will be very nervous I know she will.

I love you, honey. And even you have a child, and even you are getting married, you will be my little sister forever.
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