HERO by Zhang Yimou 2002

In ancient China during the Warring States Period, a nameless prefect of a small jurisdiction arrives at the Qin state's capital city to meet the king of Qin. The king has just survived an attempt on his life by three feared assassins (Long Sky, Flying Snow, and Broken Sword), and has taken precautions to protect himself, including forbidding visitors to approach closer than 100 paces to his throne. Nameless claims that he had slain the three assassins and he displays their weapons before the king, who is impressed and allows Nameless to sit progressively closer to him and tell him his story

This is one of the best visual movies I have seen, made in 2002  released in 2004 but I had never heard of it till the other day! don't know where I have been hiding. Beautiful and beguiling a true  martial arts extravaganza the colours are stunning loved every minute of it. If you have not seen this then you are in for a visual treat.

****Jewelry versus Jewellery****

I was tweaking a listing yesterday, relisisted said item and went on the hunt to find it! after several attempts I almost gave up and then I saw why I could not find it. Before Etsy I spelt Jewellery not Jewelry as the American's do but then I went with the flow as most American's would search for Jewelry when shopping. So, going back to my listing and  the reason my item was not showing became apparent. For some reason I had spelt Jewelery and not Jewelry! Confusing well it gets worse.

Doing a search on Etsy using various spellings, here's what I found:

1. Jewelry  (Items listed 2,649,600)...... Correct spelling American

2. Jewellery (Items listed 62,806)......... Correct spelling English

3. Jewelery (items listed 9,030) .............no such word

4. Jewellry (items listed 4,483) ..............no such word

13,513 items found listed for number 3 and 4 spellings does this mean they are losing out in the searches? and if so the challenge is how to inform them that they need to amend their listings. I have noticed that some sellers have added both the English and American spellings, some with correct spelling of both which is probably a good idea and one I had not thought off.
The most commonly used variations of this noun, meaning precious items of personal decoration, are jewellery and jewelry. The correct spelling in both Australian and British English is jewellery. In American English, the correct spelling is jewelry. Canadian English, on the other hand, uses both variations, with the most popular being jewellery.


This post may help a few but I for one don't fancy sending out 13,000+ emails and getting muted for my efforts. So go check your spelling  and will be interesting to see the results. Think I might go and have a quick look at my own.
Have a great weekend

MegOriGirl Boutique Clothes & Accessories for 18" Dolls

Had to share this fabulous shop with you.Meet Lang from MegOriGirls Boutique where she creates beautiful Clothes and accessories for 18" Dolls.

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Customer Feedback

Received already! Darling shoes and so well made. Will definitely be making future orders. Thanks for the little "extra" barett. Very satisfied with my purchase...


Can't say enough about the wonderful pieces that this shop continually creates. I'm a huge fan, and can't wait to buy more. Thanks!


They fit wonderfully and look great. Thank you so much for custom making them for my daughter's doll. You are very talented :)


Wonderful feedback and  indeed talented, wondering if you do the polka dot shoes for big girls?


Pop over and see her other beautiful work here:

www.etsy.com/MegoriGirls
follow Lang on Twitter & Facebook
https://twitter.com/#!/MegOriGirls
https://facebook.com/megorigirlsboutique

Suffolk Puffs with Lavender *****Tutorial*****

As I was in the middle of making a hairband with what I call Suffolk Puffs also known as Yo Yo's. I wondered what it would look like if I stuffed them with lavender,best way to find out it is to give it a go, and that's just what I did:) forgive me if you have done this before as I am sure this is not an original idea but thought I would pass it on all the same. I used a bronze silk but you could use almost any cute little scraps you have lying around and these are now hanging in my wardrobe and look pretty good even if I say so myself.  So if your ready, go gather your bits and bobs.

Scrap of material
needle
matching thread
scissors
beads or button
little ribbon or cord
filling

Cut out a circle 14cm (5.5") (this will give you 5cm (2") finished size) you can make them any size you want really but I think this is a good size for putting on a hanger.


 

Fold over edge as you work round the circle and using a  baste stich , try to keep the stitches roughly the same size.



Pull up and gather leaving a gap, add your filling,then pull tight and tie off and it will give  you a lovely little puff ball with lots of folds. Then just add a bead or button and either a little cord or ribbon for hanging and your done. Very simple and makes a great little gift to yourself or friends. Would love to see yours if you make any. Here are the hairbands which started me off.

Around the World Story

I thought that it might be a bit of fun to ask you my lovely readers to add a short paragraph to mine and see if we can make up a story together and see where it goes ( if anywhere)!! without you it's just a paragraph, so if you feel like adding your pennies worth lets see what we get. I know a lot of you write great blog posts!!! so this should be easy.  You can add whatever  you like! ( I will have to remove spammers they generally try to spoil things, so don't waste your time I am watching you)
 So, here is it is and now it's your turn. Thanks in advance and if nobody plays I have a delete button:) 

*************

The ice was tossed into the glass, the lemon already in place, the impact on the lemon caused the ice to splinter and crack, then the splendid measure of gin began its decent cascading over the ice and reminded her of  a firework party a few years back.  As she sauntered  drink in hand over towards.....

And the Moral is

An old Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey . He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent
I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Paopa


A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Papa
Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried.
Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. The next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Papa, Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love you,

Vinnie

----------------

The moral of the story is: Wherever there is a will, there is a way - so never lose hope :)

My Feet Went to Heaven

Imagine yourself lying on a long, large white soft cushion which not only massages your neck, back and hips but takes you for a magical tour through an enchanted forest. The sounds of an invisible waterfall cascades softly over moss and occasionally emits a soft and gentle gurgle, exotic birds sing in the far distance, hold your breath amd you can hear them better and just for a moment or two you are flying with them.

By this stage my right foot had just been treated to the most amazing 30 minutes experience ever! A Thai massage with a mixture of Camphor and green tea oils massaged into my foot, then wrapped in towels and a sensation of coolness and well being takes hold instantly. The rest of me meanwhile was reluctant to come back from frolicking in the forest, but knowing that I can go back again as soon as the left foot gets its turn I will be off again.

A birthday present from my son and daughter in-law and I for one will definitely want to experience that again and again and ... well I think you get the picture.

Seems to me the perfcet reward for my feet, as just the other day I managed to step into a pot of paint that was loitering with malicious intent.

Just a little shop with a big heart here in Gailliac simply called Feelingly, beautuful  relaxing decor and a cup of Thai green tea with mint to finish, total bliss.

Tweet Treats Recipe Book..... Sharing a Great Giveaway

I am more than happy to share this giveaway blog post from Nettie as it is for a great cause and one person will win a free copy. Easy to enter so pop in and go for it.



Last year I was browsing through my twitter feed when I noticed a call for recipes of 140 characters or less from my Twitter Bestie, Jane Travers. When she told me she hoped to collect enough recipes to publish in a book and that proceeds would go to Medecins Sans Frontieres, I felt a challenge brewing.

I’m not known for my brevity. My current tweet counter sits at over 45,000 and many of my ‘pronouncements’ take more than one tweet, so trying to condense an entire recipe into just 140 characters - less if you included the #TweetTreats hashtag - was a massive challenge. But I had a go and found there were a few I managed to cut down. Soon it became addictive and I was rummaging through my mind and cookbooks looking for suitable candidates.

My daughter Claire saw what I was doing and she contributed a few of her own - I can heartily recommend her flapjack recipe - mmmmm!

As well as collecting recipes I got involved with #TeamTweetTreat, trying to encourage celebrities to contribute to the project and Claire came into her own here. She spent hours tweeting at as many of the famous twitterati as possible and managed to snag quite a few - Casualty actor Tristan Gemmill and TV Chef Gizzy Erskine among the most exciting.

TweetTreats soon became a pasttime we enjoyed together. We sat in the living room, each on her laptop, calling out the names of the celebrities we were trying for and re-tweeting the other’s requests. I have to put my hand up and admit that I think my then 15 year old daughter won the contest and got far more celebrities than me.



Claire is now an accomplished baker and cook. She makes wonderful muffins, cupcakes and bread and does a fabulous pasta with pesto & asparagus and a butternut squash risotto - soooo good. I think it’s more than possible that her interest in all things culinary can be traced back to her involvement in Tweet Treats. She is also very active politically and supports many causes important to her such as Amnesty and Greenpeace. Her involvement in Tweet Treats may be over, but her desire to contribute to make the world a better place isn’t and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

I have been more than pleased to share this experience with my daughter. We are close anyway, but Tweet Treats was a great opportunity for us to work together, having fun and helping a very worthy cause. I shared the experience, but I’m not sharing my Tweet Treats recipe book. She can buy her own.

After all, it is for a good cause.

And here is your own opportunity to snag a Tweet Treats Recipe Book. Simply leave a comment telling me why you’d like to own a copy and the one Jane and I like best wins! Closing date of the competition is 8pm on Saturday October 15^th and the winner will be announced on or before noon on Monday 17^th October.

My Twitter name is @NettieWriter and my daughter is @ClaireCatrina.

You can find Jane as @JaneTravers.

See the Tweet Treats Book Trailer here

Buy Tweet Treats from Amazon in the UK and the USA and from O'Brien Press.


...Words and Pictures...
http://www.nettiethomson.com/

Amazing we all learned English!

If you ever thought English was easy!


1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted n the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?



Let's face it, English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is is a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down; you fill in a form by filling it out; an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this:

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP'
It's easy to understand UP meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?
Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends.
And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.
We lock UP the house, and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary.


In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you re UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.
It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.
When the sun comes out we say it is clearingUP.
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP,


for now my time is UP,


so........it is time to shut UP!

***An Unexpected Trip - Chateau de Cas***

Ever have one of these days that turn out to be completely different to what you had planned? Well yesterday for me was just that. I went to a friend’s house to lend a hand to do a bit of painting, which I duly did, on the way home I popped in to say a quick hello to a lady I had met just a few days ago. There was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen and she invited me to eat with her, how could I refuse! So over lunch (which was a frittata) a very tasty form off Spanish omelet, she then asked if I fancied a run up to see a house she might be interested in buying on the banks of the Aveyron near St Antonin-Noble-Val. I was in paint splattered shorts and equally splattered t-shirt and said I will have to come like this though! Fine she said we won’t see anyone so who cares!

So off we went, eventually found the house and to cut a long story short, to isolated and not what she was looking for. However, as we were leaving we saw a sign which read “Chateau de Cas” Lets go and have a quick look? Ok, I replied but I am not going in dressed like this, probably be closed anyway.

As we entered the car park there was a charming couple waving to us! We looked at each other and we had to get out of the car, the couple shook our hands, (the paint on my hands was fortunately by this stage dry). They looked us both straight in the eyes and were thrilled that they had captured/gained two visitors and did not bat an eyelid as to what I was wearing.
2.5 hours later! I kid you not, we were back out in the sunlight after the most amazing tour I have ever experienced, the guy knew the place and history inside out and was in love with it.

Briefly, the Chateau is on the outskirts of Caylus and was built in the 9th century on a site occupied by the Gallo-Romans, it suffered severe damage during the French revolution. It was then restored at the end of the 19th century and was again sacked during the Second World War and was then abandoned until 1979 where the current owners who are the descendants of Claude-Marie de Saint-Jak Lastic again raised it from its ruins and opened it to the public.

The building has undergone over the centuries many architectural modifications and some stones still remain from the 9th century. As for its interior, it was designed to present the evolution of styles from Louis XIII. Stunning interior which is enriched by many family memories, allowing us to imagine life in Cas over the centuries. So if you ever find yourself (covered in paint or not) anywhere near this beautiful Chateau I highly recommend a visit.

http://www.chateaudecas.fr/visite.html