Happy Guy Fawkes Day!
Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I see no reason that Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot...
I had nearly forgotten that today is Guy Fawkes Day. It's getting pretty late for our Fiends from the UK to check in on this, but we can get their views in the morning.
I am pretty sure you all know the story, but just in case, a quick history lesson. A long time ago in a Galaxy...Wait. Belay that. A long time ago HERE, in 17th century England, 1605 to be exact, Guy Fawkes and 12 of his closest friends decided, what the heck, let's kill King James, and his Family AND most of the nobility and as many member of the House of Parliament as happened to be there at the time.
This may have been because as Catholics, under Queen Elizabeth's rule, they were somewhat harshly treated and they had THOUGHT when her nevvie James came to the throne, things would get a bit better. This did NOT prove to be the case. In spite of having a Catholic Mummy, James was every bit as harsh. (don't get me started on his views of Witchcraft!)
Or it may have just been a case of "Seemed like a good idea at the time".
I believe they thought that things would get better for them , as Catholics, if they succeeded in this. What happened next was, as Adam Stemple likes to say "A Perfect Storm of Suck."
They hatched their plot (love that phrase) under the cover of Darkness in the Dark hours of the night. (made that bit up, but it may have been tru) They would smuggle 36 barrels of gunpowder into the House of Parliament, disguised as barrells of herrings, into the basement, that being rentable due to a budget crisis at the time.
It was almost immediately discovered, in part because of Our Hero Guy standing around outside on guard, dressed as the 17th centuary equivalent of a modern day Ninja.
They were quickly rounded up, tried, and then, on what must have gone down as one the worst Bad Days in history, Guy was Hung, Drawn AND quartered. Bummer. Very harsh they were.
The story might have ended there, but for the Famous Gunpowder Sermons that started getting preached shortly after, giving those Wacky Brits better ideas than "Treason is Bad", which was what they were meant to do.
It quickly became a tradition that every year on 5th November that kids would make an effigy of Guy, and pull him around in a wagon, singing "Penny for the Guy, Penny for the Guy" and collect money and buy fireworks. Later in the evening, make a Bonfire and Burn the Dude in effigy, while lighting off the fireworks!
Is this a cool Holiday or WHAT?????
As for myself, no Bonfire tonight. What I have to do needs to be done under the cover of darkness. Much like moving Bee Hives, tho less scary.
I have been having a series of talks with my next door Neighbour Micheala, lovely girl, about the leaves that seem to be littering my lawn to the point where I can no longer see it. I have shown her these leaves as they are CLEARLY Maple Tree Leaves from HER yard. I have no Maple Trees. Q.E.D. SHE needs to come over and clean them up.
I mean, if my trash got knocked over into her yard, clearly I would have to go clean it up. She refuses to listen to reason, and so, under the cover of darkness (worked that phrase in THREE times tonight!) I am going to rake up all the leaves, sort out hers, and dump them in her car.
Girls got to have fun.
Especially on Guy Fakes Day.
Love and Gunpowder,
Lorraine
posted by FabulousLorraine @ 4:17 PM
152 Comments
152 Comments:
I LOVE it!
Excellent. This is what I had hoped.
Yay! I was first!
I just wanted to say Antonia Fraser wrote a wonderful book called "Faith and Treason, the Story of the Gunpowder Plot". It was a well balanced look at the whole story....
Ah, so many things happen under cover of darkness!
But please don't mix them up and put barrels of gunpowder in your neighbor's car, okay?
um... I gotta say... I would be pretty nervous to pull a prank like that... but I am a bit of a chicken when it comes to that sort of thing.
Love your version of history... and the 'perfect storm of suck' ... and the modern day ninja reference... what really puzzles me is WHY go the trouble of drawing and quartering someone who has already been hung??? is this burocracy again? It seems like a waste of money to me.
I have that book, or rather Boss does, she is great, love her writing.
So, what is this? FINALLY I am done with my long hard rather stressful (Hey how about making up an schedule for NYC, and FINAALY getting an address for one of the events and finding out it was in another state? NOT a close one)
Anyway, here I am. Where are my Fiends?????
(oh, pulled it off, the different state thing. Works. I am very very good. He will make it, unless Fod sends a blizzard.)
I guess what I mean is... leaving leaves ON the car is one thing... but IN the car... that could make one late for work.
Oh, great, I whine about no one being around and you sneak back in when Iam whinning!
The leaves in the car were, uh, just a joke. I called to tell them to read the blog, and uh, her husband had already BEEN over here raking, just to be nice, not because of the leaves we had been joking about.
I love my town.
Rubious, I can tell you if you like, but it isn't pretty and you may not want to know...
Bout the hung drawn and quartered thing, I mean..
Lorraine, I want to read more of Antonia Frasers books, she makes the history palatable.
Right now I am trying to download pictures of my wonderful weekend and set up a flicker account.
I need some fun after today. Work was hard and you guys are my respite.
I love this community!
Rubius - I too am too big a wuss to actually do anything like that, but a girl can live vicariously!
We used to celebrate Guy Fawlkes night here, until too many kids had lost bits and pieces of themselves by doing silly things like putting Penny Bungers in their pockets.
Living on a farm as we did, we used to put them in pumpkins - made a splendid mess, blowing up pumpkins that way. The cows always seemed pretty impressed by it too (not). Hmmm, you guys carve em, we blow em up. Ironic, that.
Now, you have to get permits to have fireworks in Victoria at least. Alas, you can get them by mail from Canberra, so around Christmas time the city is awash with illegal fire works *grin*
ticia -- your icon looks like the dog that lives downstairs with the Godchild!
I remember being a bit confused by this holiday when I first heard about it. I could not figure out who thought he was a hero enough for his own day. I love that it is not like that. That it is really complicated really simple all at once. I think I should start celebrating this day myself.
That sounds like fun Sally. There is supposed to be a big Guy Fawkes bonfire on the beach somewhere by my work in Marin County, but I haven't found it yet. One day.....
AletaMay:
She's a Bichon Frise. I am allergic to fur and she has hair. SUCH a great dog! Her name is Olivia and she weighs 9.7 pounds. She is practically a cat.
I think the godchild's dog is part Bichon Frise part Poodle. Her name is Tess and she is a great dog too!
Tisha; I made a wall hanging for a friend of her Bichon with the phrase underneath "If it's not a Bichon, it's just a dog". She loved it! Her dog is named Pebbles.
Fab; honestly; drawn & quartered; big deal. If you really want to be nasty; you eviscerate them first. Or you could flay them alive. We humans can come up with such nasty tortures can we not? And the old ones are the most gruesome. What has always puzzled me is how someone can perform a torture on someone else? All that screaming and crying and begging... If the pain is too intense wouldn't one just pass out? If ever there was a prime reason for being misanthrope; that would be the one human quality that would do it.
Loved the movie 'V for vendetta' with the Guy Fawkes twist. Nicely done.
History is DARNED entertaining if you tell it right.
Get me to do my Henry the 8th someday, hee-hee.
I had always wanted to turn Macbeth into a really cool song and had been working on it, but then Mitch Benn came out with HIS version and darn it, it is WAY better than I could have done...
No one has done Henry 8th yet tho...
Tho who has heard Hamlet in a few easy verses?
Just spent a delightful hour on the phone with Thecatcoach.com otherwise known as Marilyn. Apparently Le Leopard coming out while I was there and no hiding was HUGE!
She has a pretty new blog going on at her site and tho she has been writing for oh, say Everyone like Cat Fancy Cat Channel NPR for many years, she has never blogged.
If you get a chance nip over and let her know how it is going. Or if you have Cat Trouble, she can help.
Stay, can't fathom it myself. I mean HOW someone could do that to another being????
I don't even believe in the death penalty..Hasn't anyone ever read Tolkien????
I paraphrase "Do not be so quick to deal out death to those who deserve it, They may well play thier part before the end. "
Okay- I did it! (I think!)
I did many fun things over the Halloween Weekend. The one I thought you Fiends would get the most excited about was Dia de los Muertos in San Francisco. This is the "Day of the Dead" in Mexican culture. I took pictures of the altars, sugar skulls, and some musicans.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32192813@N08/
Ticia I am the Day of the Dead Girl! They used to live in my closet, all those skeletons but now they have places all OVER the spooky house...
If you want some weather fun go to wunderground.com and type in Minneapolis, the jaws are closing in....Go to regional radar.
I had a feeling the pictures would be right up your alley. Unfortunately, my posting is a big fail! I must research the flickr site and figure out what I am doing wrong!
Well, it goes like that. Where is Dread Val? She was meant to go home and be drinking for me.
I still feel sober. Is she slacking?
Okay I'm trying again. Then I'm checking out your awesome weather. My IPHONE is saying thunder and lightning - I wish I had some thunder and lightning...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32192813@N08
And Stacy, do you have any photos? I loved the dragon....
I'm with you Fab. I would have loved a glass of wine tonight. *sigh* The vodka in the freezer would just be overkill.
When the film of Fellowship came out, and it got to that line, I remember thinking, People need to hear this right now. I'm not sure how many actually did, but I'm glad it was in the film and Got Said, anyhoo.
Happy Guy Fawkes Night. Bang! You have extra-nice neighbours. Good on them, raking the leaves!
Grumpy. Bad workshop tonight. I'm gonna go hide under the covers till morning.
Tish; I didnt take any. Which is really dumb; but usually 'presents' don't get pix. Only commissions & show pieces. Sorry!
I can vouch and say those dogs have the softest coats. For some reason I think it's because they are white; my white cat has the softest fur of the bunch; and our tuxie; her white parts are super soft too. I figured it was cos there wasn't the melanin in the hairs; but i'm probably talkin outta my butt.
Those are cool pictures, Ticia! :)
Right. Now bed. G'night!
Thanks Jess! Goodnight!
Stacy - she has hair like those super soft baby blankets they sell now. Everything else feels rough to me now. And I understand about the no pictures dilemma! Maybe when I'm rich I'll commission you to do one for me!
Okay I'm a California doofus. I can't make hide nor hair of your radar thingie Lorraine....If it's not a simple picture of a sun or a sun hiding behind clouds, I don't get it!
Jess, sorry you are grumpy, seems to be that way across the board today, lots of Those Days for everyone..
Stacy, maybe Dread Val could drink for you too tonight? She has a good heart...
and a strong liver!
Jess -- sorry for your tough night. Thanks for your comment earlier on my post. Sleep well.
Day of the Dead photos look great!
Hurray for nice neighbors who rake your leaves!
I think tonight is a good night for crawling into bed early.
Also Lorraine -- so cool that you could have made mistakes but did not. I love it when it works out that way (even if it is a bit stressful).
One never knows and cannot plan with this job. And I do love it.....
Going off to bed seems to be a fine idea..
Surprise me in the morning. Or night, I do grab my phone and read, when I wake, kind of a Fiends security blanket...
I have a small window to do a quick smash & grab on our PC.
I loved the Guy Fawkes history lesson. I remember when I was a kid we used to have a bonfire & crackers, but I always used to hate it when they threw the "Guy" in the fire.
I had a huge day of presents today (all of which I had organised for myself, I always think they're the best ones).
Quiche, I received more of your cd's than I thought I was getting, thank you so much. I can't wait to listen to them.
I also received the cd from my Amanda Palmer pack and also my Amazon copy of Prince of Stories. They couldn't have come at a better time.
So, these have really flooded me with sunshine and I'm as happy as a pig in poo!!!!
Ok. Sorry. probably too much information (she says as the window is slamming shut)
I love that there was a pre-planned fireworks and fire celebration the day after Obama was elected :) All to celebrate a HUGE upheaval!
Looks like real weather coming your way! eek! We just had rain, that's all we get and hopefully this year we get a lot of it, we got nuthin' last year and had major drought conditions.
My parents should be on their way over, i think they called while i was reading ben his bedtime Dr. Seuss books--i need to check the messages--they'll be babysitting while we're in vegas. Heading to the airport tomorrow morning!
*Pouts*
Not fair Jac. Why didn't my Prince of Stories arrive today? Our Graveyard Book came on the same day.
Looks out window in home that postman might appear with a present.
ticia, i really enjoyed your pictures. i'm a fairly heavy user of flickr, so feel free to ask if you have questions. i friended you on flickr :)
so sugar skulls are so pretty. do they stay or disintegrate?
for some reason when i was little i confused sadie hawkins wiht guy fawkes and thought dances were strange...
Jac- I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who loves getting presents in the mail from myself.
Well, I'm off to watch Pushing Daisies in bed...
Chantrelle, have a wonderful trip.
I also hope California has much more rain this year. Droughts are not fun.
I REALLY wish we got thunder and lightning storms more often with our rain...
Thank you Vampi! I appreciate that. I'm really spreading my wings here!
The sugar skulls disintegrate, unfortunately. But aren't they pretty?
You cracked me up with the Sadie Hawkins reference... Do they still have those dances?
Thanks for the history lesson, Ms. Fabulous. :)
And for everyone who is down about California Proposition 8 passing, have no fear! The ACLU is taking action.
Off to look at Ticia's pictures.
they do still have those dances. :)
and ewwwww i just wikipedia'd hung drawn and quartered.
Yay for the ACLU! Thanks Ariandalen.
My boss and her partner (of twenty-five years) were just married two weeks ago and my work wife and her partner married on their twentieth anniversary. You can imagine the atmosphere at my work today! They were so hurt.
Yay for the ACLU!
And yet again, the fiends are more irresistible than TV. I should be going to bed, but I'm not.
oh yes, women getting preferential treatment; because burning at the stake would be much less horrible...
wtf?
thanks for the link. hooray for aclu.
i was just discussing with my bf at dinner how this prop 8 thing has made me soo mad. i don't understand how people can be so wrong. we've decided that should this come to vote again, we will both campaign for the right to marry for 2 people in love.
You're welcome! :)
Actually, someone on my LJ friends list posted it, and that's where I got the link from.
Beautiful pictures, Ticia! The Art Center in Waco has a public Dia de los Muertos celebration. They invite you to bring pictures and such of your departed loved ones for a public ofrenda. They've only been doing it for about 4 years. Unfortunately, I haven't made it there yet.
Stacy - you've got to stop reading that stuff... You're going to give yourself nightmares!
You should really go Ariandalen. The altars are very powerful.
The community has been doing this for 3o years. They also encourage you to bring pictures, candles, and remembrances.
You can read more about it at:
www.dayofthedeadsf.org
Good Mornevening, ya'll.
Brain dead zombie stumbling in here.
Need brain.
Need tea.
Need more hours of Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
I like my Zzzzzzzzs, they are cushy.
Well, I have definitely chatted here more tonight than I ever have before. Thank you all for the stimulating conversation and interaction. Now, I really have to go to bed.
I'm glad you guys liked my pictures. That made me happy.
Good Night Fiends!
(And Lorraine, I forgot to mention earlier how happy I am that "He Who Cannot Be Named" was out in the room with you. You are a miracle worker. I bet he tells you who he is very soon.)
Crayola.com has instructions for making your own, fake, sugar skull and milagros. I've got the materials for the sugar skull, but I haven't made any yet. I'll probably make some milagros, too.
Yeah! thanks for the link Ariandalen... much appreciated.
Thanks Lorraine, I think I will pass on the torture story. Sorry I had to run away earlier... a friend knocked on my door, as it were.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day all.
I heart the skulz
I'm to bed, myself.
Night all.
Ticia, thanks for showing us the day of the dead photos. Every year our paper runs a story on it and I have always been fascinated by it. One day I hope to be there for it (sigh. one day).
Sally, I'd like to say "sorry my copy turned up today and I wish it would turn up tomorrow, the same day as yours", but that would be a complete and utter lie. So I won't ;)
OMG, Quiche. You have 3 degrees.
OMG, you have 3 degrees in the daytime??
Brrrrrrrrr.
Hola, everyone who has probably already gone to bed....
Our rehearsal tonight (a run through) stretched to INTERMINABLE length. And then the director wants to SLOW down some scenes a bit.
I wish he had an adjustor dial; I would tweak him just the wee bit. Sigh
BUT that said....I've started to help with the drinking. We have a micro-brewery here, you can purchase a really large bottle to take home and share. It's a GALLON! weee.
And I've had my pint. It was good.
Now that the cat has removed himself from wrapping around my entire left arm, I can try to type a little...
As Himself is just a generation away, I looked at the only Asian language I know (Korean) when I had some name thoughts:
도로
Pronounced DoRo (Doro, long o)
is a short reference to being
"Redeemed"
If you want something longer;
고양이 친구
Ko Yangi Chingu
which means
Cat Friend
Interesting note, the Hangul (Korean) for hometown and for cat are remarkably close. Just a thought!
Back to beer and Henry Rollins (Frank Black right now!)....since I a)cannot change the vote on Prop 8 and b)
darn
there was a b here somewhere...
well, Quiche will know where it went....
OH, now I remember.
It had to do with torture.
I learned just a LITTLE too much about that, over the last several years.
What some people, somewhere have been doing (and in some cases still are) to other humans....and how in that part of the world it is either considered "only to be expected" or at WORST something to be distastefully tolerated.
sigh.
Trust me, Americans are amateurs. And the Brits (even in Guy's day) wimpily civilized.
Okay, no more nightmares.....
Time for another pint!!!!
WAIT! That came out wrong...
"In that part of the world"
Obviously, not everyone in a certain area believes this...
Just that the governments of these areas....many of the religious leaders of these areas....and even far too many people (in my opinion) only think these activities are wrong...
When performed on "the wrong people."
Okay, I'm done now. Feel like I'm sliding down a spiral
(yes...I"m REALLY depressed about prop 8.)
So...if any one is truly bored and curious, you can feel free to ask questions
greylemur
at
hotmail.com
But I'm done blathering here. Really.
How are things where YOU are?
Lys, get Dan onto that adjustor dial
One of our tv channels here has been run ning the most brilliant series called The FIrst Australians, which is all about how the aboriginal people were treated by the colonists. Motst nights I have to turn away from it because I just get so bloody angry at how inhuman humans are...
gonna email you.
Quiet in a greyish way.
Or maybe the tea and coffee have not yet reached my brain.
More tea is needed. I have tons to do because I am taking the afternoon off to go book hunting in town.
Sal--good idea (re Dan).. if anyone could, it would be him.
I'm still up....will check email....
WAIT! That came out wrong...
"In that part of the world"
Obviously, not everyone in a certain area believes this...
Just that the governments of these areas....many of the religious leaders of these areas....and even far too many people (in my opinion) only think these activities are wrong...
When performed on "the wrong people."
Okay, I'm done now. Feel like I'm sliding down a spiral
(yes...I"m REALLY depressed about prop 8.)
So...if any one is truly bored and curious, you can feel free to ask questions
greylemur
at
hotmail.com
But I'm done blathering here. Really.
How are things where YOU are?
OOOPS..
Don't even ASK me how I did that (reposted that long comment..)
NOT on purpose.
But please accept my apologies in any case.
dragonsally, check your mail...
Lys, You've always been exceptionally interesting before, now after a few pints, you have elevated yourself to a higher level!!
I really have to ask.
What is worse than Disemboweling, Draw and Quartering while you're still alive, the Iron Maiden, the Oubliette, the Chinese Burn, scratching your fingers down a blackboard, squeaking a balloon, and my own personal favourite rubbing dry feet together?
Ok, beat that!!!! (flysandwr!!!) :)
Jacquib:
When those things, or things most like them, are being done TODAY!!
and the culture amongst which they are being done, will only condemn such actions when they are performed upon "the other guys"
As I said, more than that...email me.
But you might have me with squeaking the balloon..
Hey, haven't I read that drawing and quartering was actually most often done *after* the victim was dead or "mostly dead"? Not that it makes it better, I was just wondering....
I always thought they were alive when the started the quartering, but that ultimately the purpose was to have parts of the body at different locations as punishment, and to prevent further evil doing. Or maybe my imagination took over at some stage when reading about it.
Actually, I realised there I may have trivialised some pretty awful things. I didn't mean to and I've heard stories from people first hand.
I've also been a nurse, so I've actually been on the torturing side of things. Sorry, sometimes humour helps.
I'll email you LYS.
I just saw your comment Sally. In "Braveheart" I'm sure he was alive when they did that, maybe it was just for the cameera.
dragonsal;
I'm too bloody lazy to research it right now, but I seem to think it was a post-hanging activity. More, as you put it, to prevent evil.
Jacquib--oh, hey. I was going w/the humour as laughing is better than crying. Myself, never felt you were trivializing ANYTHING.
We are safe to be ourselves here, I think. That is one thing Rainie has done for us, in creating this Garden. We may disagree, but I just don't see someone coming down on someone else for....
daring to think/imagine/think differently/look at something possibly irreverently
There, have I covered it all.
back to finishing my last pint, and then bed.
If you email me, J, and don't get an answer tonight....you will get one after my body is willing (the spirit is all over it!) on the morrow...
Cheers
Most of it was just for the show - people did not have violence available daily on TV back then - so a little quartering could go a long way.
Okay, I;m going to have to google and find out Jac, We can't operate under misapprehensions, can we!
I'll google Lys - you sleep!
Yup. You're right Spacedlaw and that only covers the news.
I think the drawing part went on when one was still alive - the whole hanging being more of a slow strangulation. But I guess a sympathetic executioner might change that.
My favourite description of the Gunpowder Plot (Except Quiche's, obviously) is from '1066 and all that'
"..plan to blow up the King and the bishops and everybody else in PArliament assembled, with gunpowder. Although the plot failed,attempts are made every year on St Guyfawkes Day to remind Parliament it would have been a Good Thing"
Incidently, it now seems one of the plotters may have been innocent
OK, that link isn't working properly. Supposed to be to here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7688786.stm
Okay, I am going to link, because its really disgusting and not the sort of thing to read with your porridge, especially if it has drunken heads in it.
hung,drawn and quartered.
That was fascinating Marjorie. A political expediency to get rid of the head of the Jesuits. Ahhh, religion and politics.
Yep. the Jesuits just can't avoid controversy.
They do a great job here in Melbourne helping the homeless and disenfranchised, but they still manage to annoy quite a lot of people, including their own.
Great links BTW Marjorie & Sally
"Next Wednesday is a new dawn for the bendy cucumber and the amusingly shaped carrot," European Commission agriculture spokesman Michael Mann said.
The full story. I think this is a secret plot from the marrots and cthulhots to take over the world.
All power to the Marrots and cthulhots and their tastiness.
Sally, "drunken heads"? *giggle* Alas, not at breakfast (today, sourdough biscuits, toasted, with honey).
The Crayola skulls are cute (but Crayola dough contains gluten, and this must be explained at great length). For anyone feeling ambitious, there are directions for the sugar ones.
Oh, but best of all - skull molds!
he Ctharrot's take over the world. I meant to link to thisstory when I first read it, but I forgot..
OK, that one isn't working either. Are my links not working properly for eveyone, or are they just not working properly for my computer?
that last one was to a story here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/02/sainsbury-supermarkets-eu-regulation-halloween
My namesake! I can't believe my parents named me after the Guy. Serves them right, be turning out like I did.
Afternoon all. Loved those Day of the Dead photos, thanks for sharing ticia. dragonsally, if you're interested in early Australia, I highly recommend The Secret River, or for anyone interested in early 1800s London, or for anyone interested in a good book. And yay for book hunting! The best way to find unexpected gems.
Frustrating as it can be that due to different time zones some of us miss out on participating during the most lively commenting time here, I love that this is a 24/7 community, that there's someone saying "Good morning" just as others are heading off for their zzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.
*hangs head*
I, uh, might've slacked in my drinking duties.
Got home, finished a bottle of wine from the night before, then started in on my pile of mending as I put in Second Sight... and got totally absorbed in watching Clive Owen brood. Then I looked around for more wine, and realized I was Out of Wine! I must remedy this.
Clive Owen evidently having a powerful effect as this went into completely the wrong post. Sigh.
If drinking is needed this evening I feel it only fair to offer to help, the least I can do. Especially if it involves Clive Owen... mmmm..... Clive Owen.... [disappears into happy daze]
Hello, lovelies. How are you? I see we are talking about Skulls and Crayons. Both are relevant to my interests. Please continue. I will add to the discussion by being random:
I'm glad I don't have a gluten allergy, because I wouldn't be able to play with the contents of two mini tubs of Play Doh I have left over from Halloween (we handed them out along with the candy). Mainly I squish it. It's fun to squish. I also like molding it into a cube, for some reason.
I can't believe that, up till last weekend, I hadn't played with Play Doh since I was about eight. How could I have ever given it up?!
It is a bad thing to be out of wine, Val. Though I'm usually out, because we tend to drink the bottle the same night we buy it. I need to invite more people to the house-- then maybe they'd bring it along, and I'd get a surplus.
Someone wrote in on the Bossblog saying they'd been NaNoWriMoing and invented a squirrel called Nimrod in the process-- did you guys read that yet? That made me happy. Nimrod is a brilliant squirrel name.
Thanks for the links, Phiala!
The instructions call for Crayols Model Magic Fusion, which does not contain gluten, but is made on the same machinery that Crayola Dough is made, hence the CYA warning.
Is gluten absorbed through the skin? I would think that you would have to ingest it for it to be a problem, if you are allergic. That just means you wash your hands after using the products and before eating and/or reminding your child to do so. Oops, I forgot; that would mean using common sense. ::rolling eyes::
Jess, wait until the PlayDoh dries in tiny pieces everywhere. BTW, how can you stand the smell?
And I did read about the squirrel named Nimrod. :)
Off to read Nathalie's link.
I like the smell! Play Doh's a happy-childghood-memory smell. And it doesn't get little pieces all over if you keep it moist. Mine's still pliable. Squish squish squish. :)
Yep. Definitely a plot for world domination. Of course, it is a lot easier to dominate the world from the moon...
Just sayin'.
;)
Jess.
I have a 5 year old and a 7 year old. PlayDoh always gets left out to dry up. The smell is happy in small doses, not so much all day or when you're not expecting it, like embedded into the kitchen table.
Randomness - Loreena McKennitt narrates and sings a song or two in the movie "Tinker Bell." And Angelica Huston does the voice of Queen Clarion. Gee, can you tell it's DD2's new favorite movie?
I am trapped in training hell.
I spent the entire day yesterday doing video and online training, and thought I'd completed the year's quota (government year starts Oct 1, so we're going through the 2009 requirements now).
But no: today I received notification of a whole set of training that I need to do because one of the people I supervise does such-and-such, even though I don't do that task.
This training consists of some nicely-done but idiotic "how to use our web system" training. The worst part: the quizzes at the end, that must be passed to receive credit, are things like:
To log out of the system at the end of your session:
A. Click the logout button at the top right of the screen.
B. Click the logout button at the bottom of the screen.
C and D. Obviously stupid answers.
How should I know??? I'll click it where ever it is, but you expect me to MEMORIZE this kind of detail when it will be right in front of me as I (don't) use this system???
Apparently, yes.
Morning Fiends! Been up for a while, and working hard....Now am going to make tea and see what you have been up to in the night...
I'm sorry, Phiala. It will end eventually. ::sigh::
Then you can get some real work done.
Off to vegas! Talk to you guys when we get back (unless i get some time on hubby's computer, then i'll post from there) :)
Have fun, Chantrelle!
Have a safe trip, Chantrelle! :)
Ariandalen - yes, I see. You're definitely not in a happy Play-Doh situation. That's a Play-Doh Hell scenario, there. :( I cannot blame you.
My mother never let me leave it out. I had to keep to a vinyl placemat (a Cookie Monster placemat, for the curious) on the kitchen table, and clean everything up when I was done-- and put all the Play Doh lumps back in thweir respective cans. I think I was the only kid I knew who actually kept the colors separate-- whether of my own accord or because Mom said so, I don't remember. But it didn't matter as I mainly liked making snakes anyway, Snakes, and Fabulous Wigs for my fingers. :D
Have fun Chantrelle! Sorry about Penn and Teller being dark, but have a greta time, and MAKE time to send us an update! How is a poor Assistant-girl to know what is going ON????
Thank FODS for the ACLU!!!!! You can't just simply VOTE to take someones rights away.
Man, I go to sleep for a few hours and Europe goes nuts on the Veggies. I have been growing weird Veggies all summer. Must have inspired them...
play dough & crayons. every now and then; when at the store; i wander the isle & open the boxes of crayons just to smell them. i really must get my very own box someday. the big giant one with the sharpner.
Crayons and Play-doh are definitely good investments! I even buy coloring books for use with the crayons... I'm not artistic in the slightest but there's something about coloring on low-grade paper with crayons that's very soothing.
If you want to pretend to be more artistic, you can pick up some of the fancy coloring books. At Dover. (Sorry I don't know how to make those fancy links.)
http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-coloring-books.html
They're great fun!
What about Doodle Art? Does anyone remember this?
www.doodleart.ca
Wow ticia... that's pretty lush.
I used to really like those stickers packs that you could colour in and then stick on things (I still have some).
My friend is finally getting rid of her spiral squirt-art thingy.. I can't think of its real name... I gave it to her as a gag-gift one xmas a few years ago when they came out again. You remember those things? you have a card that spins around like it is on a record player and then you squirt paint on it and it splatters in a colourful pattern.. splatter painting. I found a glow-in-the-dark version and we had a great time playing with it... but now she is getting rid of it. I might just take it for a lark for a while... but I would happily pass it on if any Fiends (or their Fiendish children) would like to play with it. It still has all its bits... we just used a bit of paint and paper.
Rubius - I DO remember those things. The original (from MY day) was the SPIROGRAPH. I enjoyed them so much as a child that I bought a paint-spitting one for my daughter when she was small - She was NOT as impressed as I had been as a child.
Amy _ Wonderful Books from Dover!
I remember crayons. And I remember how cool it was when your parents FINALLY gave in and got you the BIG box with the sharpener....
Oh wait Rubius - I'm wrong. I do remember what you're talking about.. but I don't remember the name. The SPIROGRAPH was different.
yes... I admit I was a nerd in elementary school too.. and I love the smell of crayons.. my favourite time of the year was when we went to get all the new school supplies. I just loved the newness of hte art supplies.
I always wanted the big box with the sharpener. I don't think I ever got it though.... but I still have my crayons at my parent's house in a big colourful waxy coffee tin, with carpeting on the outside (go fig).
I always wanted a spirograph. Never got one. Still think they are pretty damn cool though. oooh fractals.
Oh man! My mom wouldn't let me have one of those spinny paint things. She was worried about the potential for huge messes. Silly mommy....I wouldn't have poured paint all over everything. Nope. Not me. Some of my friends had one though, so I got to play with it at their house.
I was lucky, I always had huge new boxes of crayons. Mom likes to color, and only liked them when they had the nice factory point on them. (Once you sharpened them they weren't the same anymore.)
I had a spirograph too. (Mom thought they were neat...do you see a pattern here?) It was awesome. I wore it out. By the time I threw it away, only 3 of the gears had enough teeth left to work.
Wheee! I'm spammy-comment-girl!
Doodle art! Yay! I had one of those a couple of years ago.
Now I will go home, to the land of no internet. And look at my box of crayons. Maybe I'll color something. (Ha! And that's why I'm so far behind on Nano.)
-I- never got to have an easy bake over, a plastic goo bugmaker OR a slip and slide bcause my parents thought they were too Dangerous.
I asked what could possibly be dangerous about a slip and slide and they told me "A rock or a stick miight be under it"
Like you couldn't CHECK?????
Deprived I was. Mads got all three by the time she was five.
Spirograph! I love those, and keep a little one in my desk drawer. Try this one. (Hints: Uncheck the "automatic" box and turn the velocity way down.)
Spirographs aren't fractal, though a fractal spirograph would be a whole 'nother level of geeky cool. How would you do it, though? Fractals "look the same" as you zoom in on them. (Lots of cool pics at the fractal link.)
Spirographs remind me of fractals.... and some of them are kinda like fractals... if I remember right.
I didn't have an easy bake oven.. or a gooey bug maker.. or a lot of play doh... but my mom used to make really salty home-made dough and I could make lots of permanent things with it.
and I did get a slip n slide... it uh.. WAS kinda dangerous. I always ended up kinda scraped up... no matter how hard I looked for rocks and branches... but what would have really helped would have been if the slide was longer or wider. There were always over-the-edge and off-the-end problems as I recall... that and the gooey muddy mess of grass at the end of the slide.
Oh the pretties!! Love fractals, those are gorgeous, speshly the Mauldin Gasket (which I first read as Maudlin Gasket)
Maudlin gasket" - that's what you get if you color it in black and gray, right? :)
Shouldn't Maudlin Gasket be in a Charles Dickens novel?
What a way to wake up, discussions of some of my favorite things...the smell of new supplies at the start of the year at school (Coincidence...I wrote about this yesterday in Nano), crayons, spirograph, play doh/plasticine...sigh - happy memories.
My favorite crayon at school was a salmon coloured one that had shiny flecks of other colours in it.
Louisa, The Secret River is a great book, I totally loved it.
Phiala - sod their training, That sounds soooo bad, poor thing.
Glad you liked Secret River DS, such a well written book with excellent plot *and* educational! Even if some of it was hard to read; as previously mentioned, the things people do to each other...
Every time I go to say something I have to read about 5 more comments and links (which aren't working for me at the moment). Can't get a word in edgeways!!!
Morning all (or whatever time of day it is for you).
Thanks guys, I am having a terrific morning. I am listening to Folk Underground as loud as I like without anyone telling me to turn it down. It is fabulous BTW.
AND there is playdough and crayons. I love the smell of playdough. It has been banned from the house for a few years, because my daughters ground it into the carpet and we had to rip it up. Not that I liked carpet anyway, but they don't need to know that.
I'm going to buy a secret stash of playdough for myself, for therapeutic purposes of course. And some crayons, a colouring book, doodle art and spirograph to go with my recently acquired bubbles and bubble wand!
(And there I was thinking spirographs were just pretty pictures!)
And my very own toy box :)
Thanks for the link...I LOVE Dover coloring books especially for colored pencils and had been wondering where to find them.
Spirograph! Okay did anyone actually successfully use the the ones that were squarish or oval? I could only ever use the round ones.
and the other thing with a slip-n-slide... you had to throw yourself at the ground... hard and fast... to get a good momentum.
I recall losing my bathing suit top to the slip-n-slide. and so many grass stained knees.
LOVE the link to hte spirograph.
Jac, while your girls are at school one day we must have a big girls playing with fun stuff meeting...
Oh, I just remembered, Phiala, rats on the training, bah!!!!!!
I am tired today, could it be cold and raining? I suppose I ought to be glad, if this much rain had been snow, ugh!!!!!!!
We should have a playday DragonSal, we'll have to organise one.
Quiche, your cd's are fantastic, they'll probably be worn out by Christmas :)
I had a look at your weather report yesterday, and you get 37.4 degrees in the daytime?
Ewwwwww.
I would have loved to get my girls a slip 'n slide, but we've been in drought ever since they were born.
Thanks for the history lesson. Most of that information had gone out of my head since the last time I'd read about it, which I think was a good long while ago ... Happy Guy Fawkes Day.
~Emily
We're in vegas in our hotel. Couldn't get here early enough to make it over to Boss's signing but will head over to the venue for the keynote soon.
Let's see, spirograph ruled but, yep, only the circle ones worked for me! I loved that and Light Bright the most as a kid!
Wait till we get to WINTER, then you will hear about some COLD!!!!!
Chantrelle, you must hop on late tonight and tell us EVERRYTHING! We need to know these things.
will do! heading out now.
I never know how many rabid fans are going to get there early and i like good seats :)
I never had an Easy-Bake Oven either. I wanted one, but I suspect Mom wanted to avoid messes.
I did have a Spirograph, but never used it for some reason. I liked free-form drawing with markers-- mostly princesses, as I recall.
Finger paints. Anyone have finger paints? Those were cool.
A couple of weeks ago I was reorganizing all my bookshelves and found a "Barbie Wedding" colouring book that someone gave me at my bridal shower. I'd never seen so many green-haired Barbies with antennae and fangs. :D I remember sitting in at the coffee table in my apartment at PSU and colouring those! Fun times.
I don't think we ever had easy bake ovens here. Did they really work? How long did they take?
I love Barbies with antennae and fangs, My eldest would love that. My youngest, however, still loves Barbies.
Spirograph was my favorite. I even got the one with the weight on the bottom (boring) but the best ones were when I learned to draw whatever shape I wanted free hand then put all the tiny dots around the edges & create my own designs with a ruler. Then I'd sit for hours & color in all the little & big spaces with colored pencils. Cool, psychodelic colors. And space tape. And new school supplies. My favorite thing was to stare at the blank page & practice all my different forms of calligraphy trying to decide which form I wanted to use that year. I could always tell what year my old school work was from that way. Don't have any of it now *it's all been replaced with Daughters works*. I still do calligraphy but on a much larger scale. In my archives on my blog you can find some pieces that were all transcribed into Irish Gaelic by me using the Irish Insular designs. Come to think about it; no wonder I loved doing my own spiro designs; that's rather how you start Celtic knotwork designs too.
Hey, if you ever want to cook something with a light bulb, Easy Bake is the way to GO....
Stacy, I'm so with you. I used to draw them with dots and a ruler as well. I got the idea from some older girls in my Irish dancing class. Their dads had hammered some nails around the edge of a square block of wood and they were using rubber bands, or wool or cotton to make designs.
I thought it was so cool.
I don't think cooking anything other than moths with a lightbulb would be fast enough for me ;)
jac; they used to do 'string art' that way. tapping nails all around in a shape then using colored strings to create 3-D designs. It was very cool. Very dust collecting things however less you covered them in clear boxes.
I always wanted an easy bake; mom said no so one night I went into the kitchen and tried making popcorn (the old fashioned way we used to have to make it in hot grease) but not before the grease caught fire in the pan; then I ran to the sink for water & you all know what happened next... my mom wasn't home that night; the fire dept. came; next thing you know I was being picked up by the police because it was like midnight and I was alone at 10yrs old. It was cool though; my grammy & grampa picked me up & I got McDonalds for dinner!
That Christmas; I got an easy bake oven. We never did get the smoke stains all the way off the kitchen ceiling... To this day my grammie has never forgiven my mom; but we are going to her 90th! birthday this Thanksgiving!
GREAT story, Stacy!!!!
New post is up for you. Some cool info and more talk about Childhood Toys and I end it all up with Porn.
What more could you want???
wow... I almost forgot about the litebright... I wanted the litebrite more than anything!! I finally got one... after years of begging. but those black sheets with the pattern were such a rip off that I just about never got any patterns... I preferred to just use black construction paper.
I wanted to clarify... it wasn't 'getting' the school supplies that was so much fun... it was the potential of the school supplies. whole worlds could be created with such things. i loved that. i was always the kid who wanted art supplies for gifts (I figured the litebright counted as art when I was pretty small).
Anyone remember the joy of opening a new pack of those jumbo sniffable markers? brown was cinnamon, red was cherry, I think black was licorice and dark green was pine?, dark blue was blueberry, yellow was lemon, light green was mint, orange was predictable, and light blue and pink were my favourites, melon and something else. I loved those markers... still have a few. They last FOREVER if you treat them right.
wow stacy... now THAT's how you get an easy bake oven.
Ha
Rubius, I am still that way about school supplies, except now they're office and art supplies. All the things I could do!
I am nearly done with all the training, I think. Except the one that was assigned and is not actually available yet. sheeeesh.
I have to say Phiala, that sounds absolutely horrific about the programs. I had to do a 45 minute video the other day and at the very end it said that the only browser the program could use was IE 6.something. but I use macs and you can't even get IE 6.0 on a mac cause they don't make it. My frustration level went through the roof! I feel your pain.
... and actually... I'm still like that with art supplies too. hehe
I use linux at work. Most of our online stuff is IE only. I have to borrow a computer.
Although you can get Firefox to announce to the world that it is IE, and that fixes a surprising number of things. Apparently a lot of sites won't work if they think you aren't using IE even if they are actually perfectly compatible with Firefox.
One of the online trainings I did this week said that it worked with Firefox, and I got very excited that it didn't require IE. They were lying.
and krissy dolls. where you pushed her belly button & her long ponytail just grew right outta her head!
I have Mac's. What is IE? Mistress, I just read your post and have no idea of what you and Rubious speak.
I was doing better with STacy burning down the house, THAT is something I can handle..
Alas, it is that abomination known as Internet Explorer, IE to those too lazy to type the full name. Tho I hear you can get it to run on Mac, for some reason Microsoft hasn't made a linux version. Heh.
Someday the powers that be are going torealize that I use linux at work and take it away.
I'm sure you all know this, but it is very difficult to NaNo with a large fluffy cat sitting between your face and the laptop screen. Just saying.
Yes Mistress; what is it with our obnoxious felines??? I could be anywhere in the house; no cats; come into the computer room; sit down; start clacking away and *poof* evil feline faeries here to wreak havoc and let slip the cats of drool!
Oh, drooling would be even worse! Ewww.
ya; then when they shake their heads...
*all together now: EWEWWWWW!**
cat spit. ick
Ah, makes more sense now. I haven't used a non-mac for many years and had forgotten about it. I like Firefox.
Cats and computers. I was SKyping in French with Nathilie today and I think she saw more of them than of me.
Then I gave each of them a part of my blueberry muffin (if I am eating it, they want it) and Mim took hers over and dropped it onto the keyboard to eat it!
Furbutt!
Also very hard to read and comment with a cat between you and the laptop. tysie got very shirty with me yesterday when I told her I wanted to tell my Fiends something...
yeah.. Lamie and I go through that routine too. I keep saying 'tail' but she just keeps featherdusting my face.
IE works for my work mac but not past V5.2.something. MSN won't make IE 6.anything for mac. and don't get me started on the .docx and .xlsx.
Linux users impress me. Vastly. I work in an office where I am the IT department and I used to understand Unix.. but no longer. I know that is close to Linux and some of the benefits of Linux but I am too lazy to learn it... and I don't need to know it since my boss is a 'point and click, as basic as possible' type of user, which is fine.
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