WEDNESDAY WISDOM

There is so much truth in this and I can only wish everyone felt the same way.

TUESDAY CHAT

Firstly I am going to share a picture of Candy with you.   She loves to sit on my lap when I am in the living room whether it be morning, afternoon or evening  I often spend an hour or so out here at my computer early evening and then she will spring up on the desk as if to ask me to leave here and go sit in my armchair.  When I don't do so she hops down and into the chair in the corner where Phil usually sits when he comes out here for a chat.   She makes herself comfortable as you can see here and often stays long after I've gone in to make our evening meal.  She is a cat that really does sleep quite deeply so she must feel very secure with us.

Now about the week that was:  I eventually received those blood test results I'd been waiting so impatiently for and learned nothing at all.  For some reason there had been 'an interference with the sample" so the test would need to be repeated........again.   I made several telephone calls trying to find out what has 'interfered' with the sample but to nobody could tell me.

I paid a visit to Dr Ken (I had to have my vitamin B12 shot anyway) and he had no idea what was meant by 'interference' but decided not to repeat the test but would leave it to the Professor as it was his idea for me to have this particular blood test.  Dr Ken said he couldn't see any point in repeating the test as the particular problem it would show up is so rare he has never come across it in all his years practising as a doctor.   He said he thinks he has seen nearly every problem it is possible to see at least once but not this particular problem.  I will now wait till I see the Professor next month and await his verdict.  For now that is behind me.

We did something different this Easter.  Grandson Luke had requested that the family get together on Good Friday instead of Easter Sunday as he works weekend and as a result seldom gets to see the family as we frequently get together on weekends.  We went up to K and B's home for lunch and exchange of eggs.   It was unfortunately a rather hot day (32ºC) but with two large electric fans humming away we enjoyed our lunch, eventually moving indoors for a while (the airconditioning was doing a great job) before departing for home.  It seemed strange doing Easter on the Friday but it was good to see our grandson as well as 2 granddaughters and 3 great-granddaughters....in all there were 11 of us.   As we were leaving Luke said he'd see us at Christmas but we are hoping it won't be that long before we see him again.  He works in the hospitality trade so of course weekends are their busiest times.

The rest of the weekend we spent very quietly as neither of us were feeling very crash hot and we put it down to an over indulgence of chocolate, something which, as a rule, we eat very little of except the little squares Phil has each night after dinner.   We didn't really eat that much and still have some left but I think we will limit our intake over several days of even weeks.

Today I have an appointment at 11a.m. to see Jenny, my physiotherapist.  I've put off seeing her for some months now but my aches an pains are getting so bad I can't put it off any longer and am only hoping she can help me at least a little.   I have 5 free visits to her under my Care Plan and if I need further visits, which I think I will, I will at least get some refund from our health insurance.  I think I will ask her to treat my neck and left shoulder first and then work downwards over the coming weeks.  She knows all the sore spots and she does a wonderful job, so here's hoping.

MONDAY MIRTH

Hope this will bring a smile to your face to begin the week well for you.  Does you cat make this type of demand?

SOMETHING RATHER DIFFERENT No 6

I may have posted this poem in the last year or two but I still find the words in it are so true.  Do we stop frequently enough to 'smell the roses' and see the beautiful things around us?

LEISURE by W.H. Davies

What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheep and cows.
No time to seem when woods we pass, where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight, streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at beauty's glance, and watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can enrich that smile her eyes began,
A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.

DID YOU KNOW?

The GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA, commonly referred to as the Sphinx of Giza or just the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx (a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt.  The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the face of the Pharaoh Khafra.

It is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 73.6 metres (241 ft) long, 19.3 metres (63 ft) wide and 20.22 metres (66.34 ft) high.  It is the oldest known monumental structure, and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the Pharaoh Khafra (c. 2558-2532 BC).

The Sphinx is a monolith carved down into the bedrock of the plateau which also served as the uarry for the pyramids and other monuments in the area.  Because of the geological history, the nummulitic limestone of the area consists of layers of widely differing quality offering unequal resistance to erosion, mostly due to wind and windblown sand, which explains the uneven degradation of the body of the Sphinx.  The floor of the Spinx depression and lowest part of the body including the legs is solid, hard rock.  Above this, the lion up to its neck is a heterogeneous zone with friable layers that have suffered considerable disintegration,  The layer in which the head was sculpted is also much harder.

The Great Sphinx is one of the world's largest and oldest statues but basic facts about it are still subject to debate such as when it was built, by whom. and for what purpose.  Pliny the Elder mentioned the Great Sphinx in his book, 'Natural History', comment that the Egyptians looked upon the statue as a 'divinity' that has been passed over in silence and "that King Harmais was buried in it".

Though there have been conflicting evidence and viewpoints over the years, the view held by modern Egyptology at large remains that the Great Sphinx was built in approximately 2500BC for the pharaoh Khafra, the builder of the Second Pyramid at Giza.

Taking all things into consideration, it seems that we must give the credit of erecting this, the world's most wonderful statue, to Khafra, but always with this reservation:  that there is not one single contemporary inscription which connects the Sphinx with Khafra; so sound as it may appear, we must treat the evidence as circumstantial, until such time as a lucky turn of the spade of the excavator will reveal to the world a definite reference to the erection of the Sphinx.

There is much more discussion about the Sphinx on Wikipedia if you should want to pursue it.  It is all very fascinating to read.

Phil has been interested in Egyptology since he was a young man and his knowledge is far greater than mind and he often quotes things to me about the early Egyptians.  It never fails to amaze me how much he retains in his memory about things he reads or hears about especially when it is in his field of interest.

P.S.  I trust everyone will have a happy and peaceful Easter weekend.

FRIDAY FAVOURITES

I first discovered the voice of Roger Whittaker on a double CD we bought some years ago.  This was one of the songs and I loved it then and still do.  There are several versions on YouTube but this is the one I prefer.  Hope you will enjoy it along with me.   It's called "The Last Farewell".

Hope everyone enjoys a very happy Easter weekend.  Stay safe.

THINKING ALLOWED

On Tuesday when I heard of the terrorist attacks in Belgium where so many people were killed and injured I got to thinking about the many dreadful events that have occurred during my lifetime.

When I was born in 1932 the world was in the grips of the Great Depression but eventually it recovered and life went on.  We didn't have a lot but we were happy.

From when I was 7 until I was 13 World War 2 was being fought in so many countries including our own.  

I remember there being trouble in Malaya but was too young to understand what it was.

Then there was the Cold War.  I don't think people in the southern hemisphere were affected as much as those in England and European countries.  Here we were being told there may be a communist under very bed and in the US that was taken even further with many being proven to be sympathisers even if they were not.

The Korean and Vietnam Wars came and went and nobody really understood what they were all about and of course communism was, I believe, at the base of those troubles.

 In later years came the invasion of Iraq and then Afghanistan and in both cases there is ongoing trouble in those areas, trouble I feel will never be completely resolved.  Phil's grandfather fought in the Afghan wars in the mid 1880's and they seem to have continued on ever since then, in one form or another.

Now we have ISIS and the terrorist attacks in so many places where innocent people are being killed, maimed and displaced.

We had the dreadful terrorist attacks first in London and then in Paris and now Belgium is suffering.

Why have I listed all these events?  Because it makes me wonder what makes mankind tick!!  Why so much hatred and so many killings.  When I sit and really think about it I find much of it is caused by regimes that want to take over places or in other cases by one religion or another.   I am not a religious person but have never criticised what another person believes in as I feel that is their right to have those beliefs.  I don't expect them to try to indoctrinate me and have never had a friend do so for which I am very grateful.

Are these present happenings worse than any that went before or just different?   Will mankind ever agree to resolve its differences and learn to accept each other as they are instead of constantly wanting to change them or take what is not rightfully theirs?

When I have these type of thoughts my mind always returns to John Lennon's song "Imagine".  I do think John had it all worked out and I can't help agreeing with him,