Today's funny :0)

Senior Day

Tuesday is Senior Citizen's Day at our A&P. They give you 5% off your order if you spend a certain amount. Yesterday was "meat day" for us. Got enough ground beef to make twelve big meatballs and six good sized hamburgers. They are made with seasoned breadcrumbs, an egg, diced onions, celery and spices. Made a big pot of sauce for a  linguini dinner! Have enough sauce and meatballs left over, so we'll have meat tortilla wraps for dinner tonight. I'll just add freshly diced pepper and stir in a bit of hot sauce, add a fresh salad and dinner is done!

10 pork chops: marinated and coated with a great coating mix and topped off with fresh basil and parmesan cheese..

 All wrapped and ready to go into freezer bags.

I also made up 10 chicken legs and four chicken breasts (no, not my girls) and into the freezer they went, too!

It takes most of the afternoon to get all this ready for future meals, plus all the cleanup that needs to be done preparing it all. But it is worth it - I don't have to worry about what to have for dinner for a long time!

Places to visit

            How about a wonderful glass house?                             

http://bits.wikimedia.org/favicon/wikipedia.ico

From: GoMadrid.com.

Palacio de Cristal

Located in the centre of the Buen Retiro Park in central Madrid is an imposing glass palace modelled on London's Crystal Palace. It was built around 36 years after its London counterpart in 1887, and designed by the architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco who was responsible for another building in the park, the Palacio de Velázquez. He had also worked on such prestigious restoration projects as the Mezquita in Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada.
The Palacio de Cristal, in the shape of a Greek cross, is made almost entirely of glass set in an iron framework on a brick base, which is decorated with ceramics. Its domed roofs makes the structure over 22 metres high. The glass palace was created in 1887 to house exotic flora and fauna as part of an exhibition on the Philippines, which was then still a Spanish colony. The exhibition spilled out into the park itself, and included a reconstruction of a native Philippino village. The palace is used today for contemporary art exhibitions organised through the Reina Sofia Museum.
In front of the entrance to the palace are steps leading down into the large artificial lake of the Retiro Park. The lake contains ducks. geese, black swans and terrapins, who will swim close to the steps, or you can hire boats on the lake for a closer view.

Only 19 years earlier, in 1868, the Parque del Buen Retiro had become the property of the City of Madrid. Prior to that, it had been the site of a Royal Palace and grounds. The original residence, built in 1632 for Philip IV, was located outside the official town limits as a royal retreat, but was destroyed during the Napoleonic period, and in the 17th century the grounds became a focus for festivals, bullfights, mock naval battles and theatre.
The park is set in around 130 hectares with a wide variety of over 15,000 trees, and is the venue for Madrid's annual book fair in May and June, where a long avenue of stalls present literature from all over the world in a variety of languages. There are a number of entrances to the park, the main one being in the Plaza de la Independencia, with other gates in the Calle de Alcala or Calle O'Donnell. The closest metro stations are Retiro and Banco de España.
From October to April, it is open from 10am to 6pm, closing at 4pm on Sundays and holidays. From May to September, it is open from 11am to 8pm, closing at 6pm on Sundays and holidays. It is closed to the public on Tuesdays year round.


Second photo courtesy of Jose M. Azcona

http://madridspain.ca/attractions/crystalpalace.html

The crystal palace, madrid, spain photo via themonicabird

Today's funny :0) ,

A big H/T to Donna !

Company

Just sitting outside on the deck last evening reading and Laverne (R) and Shirley (L) came up to see if I had any goodies for them.

They just wandered around, waiting.

 When they realized there weren't going to be any treats, they turned around and went back down the stairs.

Charley came up a little bit later - he didn't get anything either. Lucy  has a lot of trouble going up and down the stairs, so sometimes when the others aren't looking, I bring her up on the deck and let her sit on my lap. Sometimes she nods off and takes a little nap.  Poor old girl is really slowing down. (But she can still eat like a horse)!

Potlatch

The Potlatch - First Nations of the Pacific Northwest

A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. The word comes from the Chinook Jargon, meaning 'to give away', originally from the Nuu-chah-nulth word p̓ačiƛ, to make a ceremonial gift in a potlatch. It went through a history of rigorous ban by both the Canadian and United States' federal governments, and has been the study of many anthropologists. At potlatch gatherings, a family or hereditary leader hosts guests in their family's house and holds a feast for their guests. 

The main purpose of the potlatch is the re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth. Different events take place during a potlatch, like singing and dancing, sometimes with masks or the real regalia, such as Chilkat blankets, the barter of wealth through gifts, such as dried foods, sugar, flour, or other material things, and sometimes money. For many potlatches, spiritual ceremonies take place for different occasions. This is either through material wealth such as foods and goods or non-material things such as songs and dances. For some cultures, such as Kwakwaka'wakw, elaborate and theatrical dances are performed reflecting the hosts' genealogy and cultural wealth. Many of these dances are also sacred ceremonies of secret societies. Typically the potlatching is practiced more in the winter seasons as historically the warmer months were for procuring wealth for the family, clan, or village, then coming home and sharing that with neighbours and friends.

Edward Curtis photo of a Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch with dancers and singers

Within it, hierarchical relations within and between clans, villages, and nations, are observed and reinforced through the distribution or sometimes destruction of wealth, dance performances, and other ceremonies. The status of any given family is raised not by who has the most resources, but by who distributes the most resources. The hosts demonstrate their wealth and prominence through giving away goods. Chief O'wax̱a̱laga̱lis of the Kwagu'ł describes the potlatch in his famous speech to anthropologist Franz Boas, 'We will dance when our laws command us to dance, and we will feast when our hearts desire to feast. Do we ask the white man, 'Do as the Indian does?' It is a strict law that bids us dance. It is a strict law that bids us distribute our property among our friends and neighbors. It is a good law. Let the white man observe his law; we shall observe ours. And now, if you come to forbid us dance, be gone. If not, you will be welcome to us.'









Celebration of births, rites of passages, weddings, funerals, namings, and honouring of the deceased are some of the many forms the potlatch occurs under. Although protocol differs among the Indigenous nations, the potlatch will usually involve a feast, with music, dance, theatricality and spiritual ceremonies. The most sacred ceremonies are usually observed in the winter. It is important to note the differences and uniqueness among the different cultural groups and nations along the coast. Each nation, tribe, and sometimes clan has its own way of practicing the potlatch with diverse presentation and meaning. The potlatch, as an overarching term, is quite general, since some cultures have many words in their language for various specific types of gatherings. Nonetheless, the main purpose has been and still is the redistribution of wealth procured by families.

Caption on image: 154. Indian visitors attending potlatch at Kok-Wol-Too Village, Alaska. Copyright 1895 by Winter & Pond

An interesting side note about the Canadian government can be read here:

http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/631

Today's Funny :o)

H/T to Terry:

A new business was opening and one of the owner's friends wanted to send him flowers for the occasion.

They arrived at the new business site and the owner read the card,.... "Rest in Peace."

The business owner’s friend was angry and called the florist to complain…

After he had told the florist of the obvious mistake and how angry he was, the florist replied, "Sir, I'm really sorry for the mistake, but rather than getting angry, you should imagine this: somewhere, there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying,... 'Congratulations on your new location!'"