We all went to the Zoo....

Newquay Zoo is a little local parochial zoo hidden behind a housing estate in Newquay Cornwall.

Everything from pot-bellied pigs to Owston's Civets, a rare small carnivore from Vietnam. The latter born at the zoo, the first outside Vietnam. The zoo picture is at the bottom, I couldn't get a decent shot in their day box.

Is it too much to ask for some GRASS??

Has that nasty lawn-mower fingy gone yet??

woohoo!! Lunch!

I know I saw a left-over fish in there from lunch......

[YAWN] It's exhausting getting up here......

OK, so walk past - nothing to see here.....we're just goats....

Ain't we just AMAZING????? (link: about Owston's Civets)

Then there are the lions (a certain group of young people know not to tease Connie the lioness again!) the apes, the tropical house, the farm animals, meerkats (always on patrol), capybara (or as RCA calls them, giant gerbils), fossas (previously mentioned) and the wonderful small animals wandering free.

Funniest thing heard at the zoo. Two young boys with their mum watching the Macaques and their awe-filled voices.....

'Wow, mum' one of them breathed almost overcome with awe 'My first ever electric fence! I've never seen an electric fence before....'

I will quite happily spend hours at this zoo, watching the common and the rare.....the small and the large.....the ugly and the beautiful......the sleepy and the hyperactive.

cq

Wordless Wednesday - Eden

Eden - Paradise on Earth?

Wordless Wednesday

Photos courtesy of bionicdwarf and RCA

Crazies In Cornwall

Finally, sickness, depression and remembrance out of the way, it's Cornwall time!

Eleven of us, two couples, four 'singles', and three children under 7 filled our fab rented house - here is most of the gang relaxing in the lounge with the girls asking non-stop questions......

This was my bedroom - pink, ain't it? I'm kinda hoping they are going to re-decorate!

And, of course, we always take our pet Jawa with us on holiday......

We went to the beach (Towan) - the big rock has a bridge to the mainland and the house is for sale - a snip at £750,000! (Of course, the day I went to Towan Beach the tide was in - this was taken by the Jawa - Bionicdwarf)

And you know, there's nothing so nice on a sunny afternoon as a munching on a pasty in a picturesque harbour in your fave Cornish fishing town with a good friend :-)

cq

Tears of Bitter Irony

(follow the blue links)

I'm as patriotic as the next person but.......

While we were saying our prayers and laying our wreaths to remember our war dead....

Fallen Generation

This was happening in Basra....

Boat Blast

and so it goes on...........

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History of Remembrance Sunday

HM George V laying the first wreath in 1919

In the United Kingdom Remembrance Sunday is the Sunday nearest to 11 November - Remembrance Day, which is the anniversary of when hostilities in the First World War ended at 11 a.m in 1918.
Remembrance Sunday is marked by ceremonies at local war memorials in most towns and villages, attended by civic dignitaries, ex-servicemen and women (principally the Royal British Legion), youth organisations (e.g. Scouts and Guides), and military cadet forces. Wreaths of poppies are laid on the memorials and two-minutes' silence is held at 11am.

From 1919 until 1945, Remembrance ceremonies were held on Armistice Day; observance was then moved to Remembrance Sunday but since the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995 it has become usual to hold ceremonies on both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.
On Remembrance Sunday in 1987, a bomb exploded by the Provisional IRA killed 11 people and injured 63 in Enniskillen (see Remembrance Day Bombing).
In 2006, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown proposed that in addition to Remembrance Sunday, a new national day to celebrate the achievements of veterans should be instituted. The "Veterans Day", to be held in the summer, would be similar to Veterans Day celebrations in the United States.

At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918, the Armistice marked the moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front. The "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" thereafter became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the First World War.

1919: Introduction of the Silent Tribute
On the first anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1919, two minutes silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony in Whitehall, London. King George V had personally requested all the people of the British Empire to suspend normal activities for two minutes on the hour of the Armistice. Two minutes' silence was popularly adopted and it became a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day.

1920: Tomb of the Unknown Warrior
On the second anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1920, the commemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front. Unknown soldiers were interred with full military honours in Westminster Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey attracted over one million people within a week to pay their respects. Most other allied nations adopted the tradition of entombing unknown soldiers in their capitals over the following decade: Washington, Rome and Brussels in 1921, Prague and Belgrade in 1922, and later Warsaw and Athens.

1946: Introduction of Remembrance Day
After the Second World War, the British and her Dominions, including New Zealand, agreed to change the name and date of Armistice Day to Remembrance Day, now to be observed on the Sunday prior to 11 November (it was later transferred to the second Sunday in November). Armistice Day was no longer viewed as an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate the war dead of both World Wars. In short, Remembrance Day "Sundayised" the observance of Armistice Day. By the mid 1950s, however, the public gradually lost interest in commemorating Remembrance Day. It was believed that the decline of Remembrance Day was a result of its "Sundayisation" and the loss of the association with the eleventh hour of the 11 November.

Armistice Day again
Since the 1990s the United Kingdom and many countries of the Commonwealth have increasingly returned to commemorate Armistice Day 11 November because the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" has so much significance. In 1995, for example, the Royal British Legion embarked on a campaign for the reintroduction of two minutes' silence on 11 November at 11 a.m., which steadily gained momentum to the point where today it is estimated that three-quarters of the population of the United Kingdom participate in the observance.

Borrowed from various souces.

Remembrance Day

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
WE SHALL NOT SLEEP,
THOUGH POPPIES GROW
IN FLANDERS FIELDS

The day before he wrote "In Flanders Fields", one of John McCrae's closest friends was killed and buried in a grave decorated with only a simple wooden cross. Wild poppies were already blooming between the crosses that marked the graves of those who were killed in battle.

Unable to help his friend or other fallen soldiers, John McCrae gave them a voice through "In Flanders Field."

[cough]

It must be Saturday - I'm not well [cough]

Admittedly, I was sick in Cornwall - but then everyone was.

Now it's my turn [sneeze]

Aginoth was off work ill last week, K was coughing up a lung back in their house in London, Mrs A was ill yesterday and today it's me [sniff]

This...

seems a lifetime ago.....

[crawls out of bed]

[weak hurrah] Perfect Movie for a Sick Person!! [snuggles into chair with sewing]

cq

Attempting Serenity

Rock Bottom

Here I am, rock bottom.

Still off the fags and in order to cleanse my system I came off the Prozac before Cornwall, so Ugly Monster is fighting back.
Perhaps I was a little over-optimistic.........?

[slaps cheeks] Hell, I am such a little drama-queen......here, I'll take my Prozac.........

and I apologise to all the people who are really ill (like Aginoth) who have to take all those drugs.

Guess I wouldn't get away with having a sneaky cigarette too???

cq

Birthday Haul

So, while we were in Cornwall we did the whole pressie swap thing (there being four birthdays!).

What did I get? Lots of stuff from my wonderful and generous friends.....[blows kisses to Crazies]

Music

Films

Books - lots of books.......see a pattern in the first few books?? They'll be 'homework'...

Then finally, there was my 'surprise' gifty from Bobkat.

First of all, a small black jewellry box......

which contained a coin - which we all checked out........

But we were no nearer working out what it was about - until we opened Part Two of the gift......

It is a prop coin from 'that' movie......any ideas who might have handled it?? I love Bobkat! :-)

cq

Holiday Memories

I'm having a few holiday flashbacks........

Starting with toilet roll - a house of eleven people got through at least 16 rolls in a week.....were they eating it??
Bread - we managed to munch through about ten loaves of bread - and that was just ten of us, as one had her bread-free-bread.

We reckoned Cornwall was -

for the season......

And we went to see this......(Tintagel Castle)

But all we saw was this......

But we did get to see these.....

Handsome, eh? The Madagascan Fossa.....Newquay Zoo have two they are preparing to breed.

More later.

cq

I am not a nice person

What a horrible self-centred post yesterday! I am definitely not a nice person.

I have a house, MB, a car, a job, friends, blogbuddies, and my two sweet pusskins. I have so much more than some other people.

I even have this....

But I want to be here.......

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D'ya Want Fries With That?

So - what did the Queen do on her birthday?

Big pressie night with sleepypete, Mrs A and bionicdwarf in Cornwall.

Dinner out last night with the Crazies, with kidlets, to a lovely little restaurant in Padstow.

Got up early this morning as usual (waves thanks to Agi Jnr, LMB and LMD).

Got BIG Huggy Hug from my bestest mate, Aginoth. Hugs from all the Crazies over the following couple of hours!

Packed, cleared house of evidence of 11 occupants, locked up and hit the road.

Was home by 1.30 to find my car on the ramps and that I had forgotten to renew my tax before my trip.

MB was getting my car ready for its MOT (annual roadworthy test).

BUT:

Virtually no food in the house.

No flowers.

No chocolates.

No dinner booking.

No fireworks outing.

Nothing.

So - my birthday was 'celebrated' with pie and chips (fries in the US) (cooked myself) and half a bar of chocolate (bought myself) and a load of recorded TV.

Biggest thrill was my Huggy Hug and an email from Blue Mountain wishing me a happy birthday......

MB has just cracked a beer - no sign of anything for me.

Now its time for me to clean up the kitchen. Special Day? Yeah - right......

Can I go back to Cornwall?

cq

Happy Birthday To Me....

Lookee at the Counter!!

Zero! Nada! Nil!! It is holiday time!! Just an hour until Bionicdwarf collects me and my bags - and we're away!!



As we will be away over Hallowe'en, here's a wonderful scary treat for you - enjoy!!

And me, cyberkitten, Aginoth, Mrs A, sleepypete, rca and bionicdwarf will all be home next weekend.....

cq