my virtual notebook

(Black) swan in love

From Germany comes news of a black swan ("Petra") who apparently has fallen in love with a white-swan shaped paddle boat....see the article (in English) with pictures at the Spiegel site.

Funny advertisement: Project 365 #78

Taken on Tuesday, January 16, 2007.

I took this photo while we were at the tractor supply store on the second morning without power. Our thoughts had turned to heater possibilites...we ended up with a little heater that uses propane (I think). It took the edge off of the cold but one had to be careful with it and one couldn't leave it on at night. Later on on this day I though we should try and heat the upstairs bedroom so I ran around putting all the candles in thee and then the little heater only to be overcome by a wave of nausea as it got dark. So we packed our stuff and left for a hotel. Since we really disliked the Albion hotel we went to the Hampton Suites in Marshall. Nice place, except for the luke-warm shower in the morning.

Cat-squirrel encounter: project 365 #73

Taken on Thursday, January 11, 2007

Hansi and I heard a rattling sound outside the window. I pulled up the shade and there was thie squirrel looking in the window. It was a cute moment! Hansi was quite intrigued....he always notices squirrels when he goes outside.

I'm Charles the 6th of France, I am I am!

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?

Courtesy of The Little Professor, who is of course a Victorian Lunatic! 

From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Guess what I spotted at the supermarket! Project 365 #41

Taken on Saturday, December 9, 2006

I did what every good project365-er is supposed to (for once...) and took my camera with me to the supermarket. I'm still shy about taking pictures in public though-don't want to inadvertently offend anyone.  I saw this in the British foods section and simply couldn't resist making it my 365 shot of the day... Actually I was kind of tempted to try the treacle, but I thought it was a bit pricey for something that might be disappointing.

Here's some info on "spotted dick":--get your spotted dick links here...ok I'll stop now....

• The Straight Dope on Spotted Dick
• Spotted dick back on the menu
• Wikipedia entry on spotted dick

A nifty diy site

I stumbled across this neat website describing simple diy projects while browsing a bit it at photojojo.  Ok - after looking at all of these I think some of them a more humorous than anything else-the cactus pacifier for example.  Here's one of my favorites: Lauschtopf  ....you see what I mean about the funny...