General Chat

I bet that gave the teacher something to think about Persie!!! It must have been the last thing he/she was expecting!!! I think putting that in the funeral booklet was a really nice thing to do, and a very appropriate memorial to your Dad.

Nigglenellie

Congratulations, you have posted number 400 on this thread. Well done. :-D

There's no point in carrying an umbrella if your shoes leak.

Perdue,what a delightful little story. I bet that teacher thought twice before she spoke to a child in the same manner again.
10.03hrs
Spain

On the whole they were probably not the best behaved family in class... they along with others were right little tearaways... but they have their good points. My father was good at arithmetic.. they used to have to add up these long lists of figures.. If the teacher gave them 10 to do my Dad would do 9 and get the 9 right, if they were given 6 he would do 5 and get them right. The teacher used to get so annoyed.. but he would not budge.

Now me I collect Owls ... and this is an Owl poem that I really like.

The Owl Critic

"WHO stuffed that white owl?" No one spoke in the shop:
The barber was busy, and he couldn't stop;
The customers, waiting their turns, were all reading
The "Daily," the "Herald," the "Post," little heeding
The young man who blurted out such a blunt question;
Not one raised a head, or even made a suggestion;
And the barber kept on shaving.

"Don't you see, Mister Brown,"
Cried the youth, with a frown,
"How wrong the whole thing is,
How preposterous each wing is,
How flattened the head is, how jammed down the neck is--
In short, the whole owl, what an ignorant wreck 't is!
I make no apology;
I've learned owl-eology.
I've passed days and nights in a hundred collections,
And cannot be blinded to any deflections
Arising from unskilful fingers that fail
To stuff a bird right, from his beak to his tail.
Mister Brown! Mister Brown!
Do take that bird down,
Or you'll soon be the laughing-stock all over town!"
And the barber kept on shaving.

"I've studied owls,
And other night fowls,
And I tell you
What I know to be true:
An owl cannot roost
With his limbs so unloosed;
No owl in this world
Ever had his claws curled,
Ever had his legs slanted,
Ever had his bill canted,
Ever had his neck screwed
Into that attitude.
He can't do it, because
'T is against all bird-laws.
Anatomy teaches,
Ornithology preaches
An owl has a toe
That can't turn out so!
I've made the white owl my study for years,
And to see such a job almost moves me to tears!
Mister Brown, I'm amazed
You should be so gone crazed
As to put up a bird
In that posture absurd!
To look at that owl really brings on a dizziness;
The man who stuffed him don't half know his business!"
And the barber kept on shaving.

"Examine those eyes.
I'm filled with surprise
Taxidermists should pass
Off on you such poor glass;
So unnatural they seem
They'd make Audubon scream,
And John Burroughs laugh
To encounter such chaff.
Do take that bird down;
Have him stuffed again, Brown!"
And the barber kept on shaving.

"With some sawdust and bark
I could stuff in the dark
An owl better than that.
I could make an old hat
Look more like an owl
Than that horrid fowl,
Stuck up there so stiff like a side of coarse leather.
In fact, about him there's not one natural feather."

Just then, with a wink and a sly normal lurch,
The owl, very gravely, got down from his perch,
Walked round, and regarded his fault-finding critic
(Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic,
And then fairly hooted, as if he should say:
"Your learning's at fault this time, any way;
Don't waste it again on a live bird, I pray.
I'm an owl; you're another. Sir Critic, good-day!"
And the barber kept on shaving.

James T. Fields

At home we used to say that the following described my Stepfather:-

The wise old owl sat in the oak,
He didn't move and he hardly spoke,
The less he spoke, the more he heard,
Now, wasn't he the wise old bird!

And he was!!!!

Oh Nigglllynellie I did laugh when I read the saying that you said was I like your Stepfather. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Persephone

I also collect owls but not stuffed owls. I have brass owls, china owls, wooden owls etc. some are very tiny others are about as big as a cuffed hand. I do not recall when I started to like them but is was sometime when I was very young. When I first went info nursing one of the medics said I was like an owl....never quite sure what he meant.
OH and I have been under the weather with sore throats and high temps so have kept away as much as possible from our visitors.

Not much to say today but will be back tomorrow sometime.
Good Night everyone

21.07 hours Spain

I don't have stuffed owls, I have china, glass, wooden, pottery, bronze, silver a few toy ones a couple that go on the Christmas tree.. one that came from the States has peacock colouring... and my OH recently bought me one from a secondhand shop and it is a candle... and it is not about to be lit.
I also have an old one that is in blue bakelite and it opens at the back and originally had a bottle of Midnight in Paris perfume in it... he is a valuable little one. Oh and someone gave me a soapdispenser one as well... bit of a joke that one.

Persie

The penalty for bigamy is two mothers-in-law.

Today I was given as a thank you present a new Owl! I am delighted. It is meant to be in the harden but I am displaying it on my stone fire place mantle.
It is basically creamy brown stone and has a face that follows me around. It is about 10 inches high, so I rushed into the garden and rescued my brass owl which has stood on the edge of the waterfall for the last two years, gathered together the tiny owls that my sister was going to through away and then I can start to set up a new display.



I have not got any sayings to add so might try to find one about owls and

Some say matches are made in Heaven but I'm fairly sure they are made in Sweden.

This poem is called 'A Great Time' by W.H Davies. I used to sing it at school many moons ago, and it's always been a favorite.


Sweet Chance, that led my steps abroad,
Beyond the town, where wild flowers grow -
A rainbow,and a cuckoo, Lord,
How rich and great the times are now!
Know all ye sheep and cows, that keep on staring
That I stand so long in grass that's wet from heavy rain -
A rainbow and a cuckoo's song
May never come together again;
May never come this side of the tomb.

here's an old one---
Go my son and shut the shutter
A mother to her son did utter
The shutter's shut the son did utter
I cannot shut it any shutter

Tracey, you have made me chuckle out loud! :-D

Tracey, I used to have to say this because I had a lisp! I had completely forgotten it until a few moments ag. So as the crooner said " Thanks for the memory"

Dermot, you made me laugh with this witty comment, please keep sending them.

NigglyNellie,, I have not heard or read your entry before. I wonder if children still learn poetry and sayings at school? I do hope so.

Anyone who goes to see a Psychiatrist any more should have their head examined.

As useful as a three-legged horse speaking on his mobile while trying to put out a forest fire using a left-handed screwdriver, with its price tag attached.

Welcome Spanish eyes it came by way of Scotland(my home)

There's a knocker on the door
and the number's 44
Just round the corner to your right
Hit the number pretty hard till the servant takes your card
And she'll give you every comfort for the night!!!!

Inaction can sometimes be the best course of action.

"It was no marvel to teach a woman to talk. It was far harder to teach her to hold her tongue". (Queen Elizabeth I).

OOP'S SORRY

SHOULD READ

HIT THE ''KNOCKER'' PRETTY HARD

What fun entries we are having, they a great, please keep them coming, whilst I try to think of something to add.

09.15 hrs Spain :-D