Mr. Nobody

As I was thinking of what I could write about for the letter N, "Mr. Nobody" jumped into my head! Hmmm, where on earth was Mr. Nobody?

He's in a wonderful children's poetry book -- The Golden Book of Poetry, edited by Jane Werner and illustrated by Gertrude Elliott. This was my absolute favorite book as a child! It was kept at my aunt's house -- I had various toys and books there since I stayed with her a lot when I needed to be babysat or just to visit.

"MR. NOBODY"

Anonymous

I know a funny little man,

As quite as a mouse,

Who does the mischief that is done

In everybody's house!

There's no one ever sees his face,

And yet we all agree

That every plate we break was cracked

By Mr. Nobody.

Tis he who always tears out books,

Who leaves the door ajar,

He pulls the buttons from our shirts,

And scatters pins afar;

That squeaking door will always squeak,

For prithee, don't you see,

We leave the oiling to be done

By Mr. Nobody.

The finger marks upon the door

By none of us are made;

We never leave the blinds unclosed,

To let the curtains fade.

The ink we never spill; the boots

That lying round you see

Are not our boots, --- they all belong

To Mr. Nobody.

Hmmm, wonder why that particular poem jumped into my head? I just wonder.....

The book has all kinds of poems, short and long, familiar and not so much. Poems like "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley (this one scared me with its chorus!)

"Er, the Gobble-uns 'll git you

Ef you

Don't

Watch 

Out!"

and "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll,

and this one also by the infamous Anonymous:

"I'M GLAD"

I'm glad the sky is painted blue,

And the earth is painted green,

With such a lot of nice fresh air

All sandwiched in between.

It has beautiful illustrations like this from "The Road to Raffydiddle" by Margaret Plew Meigs

It told about the "fiddler with his fiddle" and all the people who came to dance. I never tired of matching up the people in the poem with the people in the picture! Do you see the fiddler?

  

I'm so glad I kept this book! Even though it's falling apart now, it will always be a part of my childhood and visits with my aunt..... and Mr. Nobody!

sharing Mr. Nobody over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter N

♥♥

Moose, Meese and Moosie

According to the Urban Dictionary, the plural of moose is meese and I absolutely agree!

"The real plural of moose. Many people, including the dictionary and English teachers, will attempt to tell you that "meese" is not correct. However, please consider the following: 

One goose = goose 

One moose = moose 

Two+ goose = geese 

Two+ moose = meese? 

Yes, meese is grammatically correct. Don't let them fool you.

Look at that wild flock of meese!"

(source - Wikipedia)

mom and dad meese

(source - Wikipedia)

what could be cuter than a baby moosie?

or is that mooselet  :p

When I was little, I had an imaginary friend named Moosie. Moosie went everywhere with me and I carried him by his tail. His long tail. He looked like a monkey, but his name was Moosie. I know this because I drew a picture of Moosie and Me and Moosie was definitely quite monkey-ish. 

You'll just have to believe me on this -- I had the drawing in my buffet but for the life of me I cannot now find it. Of course, if you could see inside the drawers of my buffet, you would understand why I cannot find it.

In any case, on one our trips to Colorado we decided to pick up some moose memories and start a collection of sorts.

This is my favorite. He's made of glass and is on a wooden base 

that's covered in something to make it shiny

There was information on the artist in the shop where we bought it

and it explained his process....

but of course I don't have that anymore

This is neat -- an etched granite tile

A cute moose couple

and guess who picked it out?

Yup, hubby!

Couldn't be a trip to Vail without buying a mug!

This one is big, and great for hot chocolate...

lots of space for marshmallows!

Chocolate Mousse  :)

I cross stitched him a bunch of years ago

and he hangs in my kitchen

This cutie ice skater was a gift.

He comes out at Christmas and helps decorate

Last but not least, Moosie!

He's a Gund and is actually named Moosie on his tag!

He's also Oliver's love....

I have to watch very carefully if Mr. Oliver is around lest we have something going on that we don't want to talk about in mixed company, if you get my drift.  :D

So Moosie stays where Oliver can't get him.....

sharing my meese over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter M

♥♥

Opening Ceremonies 2014 Olympics ~ The Lighting of the Torch

This is the fourth installment of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. 
To see the first, go here -- Beginning with the alphabet.
To see the second, go here -- The Athletes Enter
To see the third, go here -- The Performances


If you're like me and are watching the Olympics, the lighting of the torch is old news -- but it's still fun to see! One of the most memorable torch lightings had to be when Muhammad Ali lit the flame in Atlanta in 1996. Even with Parkinson's he stood tall and proud!

However, this year's lighting was also exciting to watch as the flame was handed off to several Russian athletes before it was finally lit.

Arrival of Olympic Flag

This was a spectacular light show

A tribute to all the athletes

Maria Sharapova, silver medalist in 2012 and Sochi native, ranking World No. 5 by the Women's Tennis Association, was the first to carry the flame after it entered the stadium.

It was handed off to several Russian athletes

This was the longest Olympic Torch relay in history!

The lighting

Of course, the torch is outside!

Fireworks!

You'll have to excuse some of those pics -- I ran out of battery power on my main camera and used my small, take it in your purse, camera for these.... and it doesn't have a stop action setting (or at least one that I have found!), so some of the photos are a bit blurry.

Well, that's it! Now we can all settle back and watch our athletes! May they stay safe and bring home lots of gold! (They've gotten a pretty good start already!)

♥♥

Opening Ceremonies 2014 Olympics ~ Performances

This is the third installment of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. 
To see the first, go here -- Beginning with the alphabet.
To see the second, go here -- The Athletes Enter

The Russians put on quite a grand performance during the Olympics Opening Ceremonies -- it was a celebration of their history and was very colorful, exciting and interesting to watch. The following pics are just an example of what was shown....

This has an ice sculpture look

There were a number of these horses floating above the floor

Do they remind you of the Lilliputians in the Wizard of Oz?

The little girl who read the alphabet made appearances in this part of the program

Next was a kind of carnival atmosphere

Everything swirling and turning around

with Saint Basil's Cathedral in the center

These guys reminded me of those balloon men that 

flip and flop and flutter at the car lots!!

The little girl begins to walk on a human staircase!

This depicted the ballroom scene from Tolstoy's War and Peace

Have you read it?

Anna Karenina is one of my favorites but I could never get into 

War and Peace.

Maybe I'll rent the movie one day!

The dance was beautifully done

Russia's Industrial Revolution

Soviet space program

I'm not so sure about these floating heads....

a bit creepy if you ask me!

The little girl floating with her red balloon

This was gorgeous

The "wings" created streams of light that the dancers 

twirled above their heads creating a spinning light show!

Oliver slept through the whole thing!

Of course, that's not unusual for him!

I hope you'll come back tomorrow for the last installment -- the lighting of the torch!

sharing on Blue Monday


♥♥

Opening Ceremonies 2014 Olympics ~ The Athletes Enter

This is the second installment of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. To see the first, go here -- Beginning with the alphabet.

It's always exciting when the athletes enter the stadium -- they always have such big smiles and you can tell they are totally thrilled to be there! This year, except for Greece and Russia, the teams entered in order of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet rather than the usual ABC line-up that we're used to.

These are a few shots (taken on my TV!) of some of the participating countries. Hope you enjoy the fashion show!

Greece is always the first country to enter

Bermuda had one athlete

Gotta love the Bermuda shorts!

Germany with 153 on the team had these beautiful pastel uniforms

Kyrgyzstan was another country with only one athlete participating.

I'm loving those scarves!

Speaking of scarves, Latvia had some cool ones too with matching hats!

This is Nepal, another one athlete country!

I thought it was interesting that Nepal has the only non-rectangular flag in the world!

I couldn't get a good shot but it's two triangles, one above the other.

Plus his hat is very cool  :)

and here's the USA! We have 230 athletes, 

second only to Russia which has 232!

Their uniforms are again by Ralph Lauren Polo, but this year they are 100% made in America!

If you remember, the uniforms for the 2012 summer Olympics were made in China and caused quite a disturbance. Ralph Lauren was a smart guy to change to American made this year!

Raising that flag high!

Shaun White with his new haircut...

I kind of liked it long....

She's got red, white and blue hair!

This guy is from Timor-Leste, a country in southeast Asia.

He has trouble explaining his sport because there is no word for "ski" in his dialect!

Czech Republic -- more cool hats!

Russia -- the host country always enters last.

Their 232 athletes wore these fabulous coats!

That's the end of the Olympic fashion show! So many athletes, all so proud to compete for their county!

I hope you will come back tomorrow to see some of the amazing performances showcasing Russian history!

sharing on Blue Monday

♥♥