FIRST OF COURSE IT’S BOOK DROP:

C.J. Sansom (Christopher John “C.J.” Sansom is a British writer of crime novels. He was born in 1952 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was educated at the University of Birmingham, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history.  After working in a variety of jobs, he decided to retrain as a solicitor. He practised in Sussex as a lawyer for the disadvantaged, before quitting to work full-time as a writer. He currently lives in Sussex.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._J._Sansom)

This is the first in a series of murder mysteries set in the time of Henry VIII and featuring Matthew Shardlake, an attorney with a hunch back but a brilliant mind in the days when many believed the disability was an indication of evil.  This book deals with Henry’s dissolution of the Monasteries and a death of one of his agents at one.  It is a time of change, with the reform on one side and the old ways on the other.  An excellent read.

to learn more about the author and series series:  http://books.google.com/books?id=HzRiTUwsD74C&pg=PA358&dq=matthew+Shardlake&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EXUAVKyILcLKgwSTuYCgDQ&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=matthew%20Shardlake&f=false

25 YEARS AGO THESE WERE THE TOP TV SERIES (1989-1990 SEASON)

1.

Dan Conner: [Dan’s upset D.J.’s dressed as a witch] Why couldn’t he have picked something normal like a vampire or a nice axe murderer?
Roseanne Conner: Like Lizzie Borden?

2.

[after the saxophone opening theme ends]

Cliff: This is the best elevator music I’ve ever heard!

3.

Diane: He’s trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Carla: He wants you to wear a padded bra?

4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFYaxjqQxqI  CHECK OUT THIS END OF THE LAST EPISODE

5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Le_AO-S0xk  HERE’S A SAMPLE OF THAT ONE TOO.

don’t forget the STORE–above—pays for my blog                                              and maybe you have some valuable items?

Vintage Coca-Cola TV Trays – Set of Two  $59.95

ADAM-12 LUNCHBOX, 1972, Steel Embossed Malloy and Reed Characters …$110.00 used

Vintage Sony Tv-413 Tv/fm/am Receiver/ Portable Radio W Original Power $300.00

American Idol:  Americans cast more votes in the election of Taylor Hicks than the 1984 presidential election of Ronald Reagan.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/weirdest-things-tv_n_5627018.html

Star Trek’s Captain Kirk never, ever said “Beam me up, Scotty,” but he did say, “Beam me up, Mr. Scott”   Apropos of Captain Kirk, the mask worn by Michael Myers in the original Halloween film was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.  http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/30-weird-wonderful-pointless-us-tv-facts-trivia/

Top people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_paid_American_television_stars

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” ― Groucho Marx

AS DRAGON LAIR DIVA whose Blog is brought to you by a collectible store (see STORE above) I like to do an blog now and then on collector type things.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.—Kinky Friedman

Art Nouveau Frank Jones Homestead Ale  $48.00

Today it’s PRE-PROHIBITION TIP TRAYS:   These smaller trays were used to return the change to the tavern patron just as they are today. In days of old breweries used the opportunity to place advertisements in front of the beer drinkers.  http://beertrayscom.home.comcast.net/~beertrayscom/bttip.html

He was a wise man who invented beer.—Plato

Early 1900’s Hyroler Whiskey Tin Litho Advertising Tip Tray $75.00

While most of the trays advertised alcoholic beverages, some did featured ads for cocoa, tobacco, dry cleaning companies, stove manufacturers and even political parties.  

Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer. —Henry Lawson

Bartels Beer Tip Tray Shonk Edwardsville Pa $110.00

While tip trays were not considered valuable when they were being used in bars an restaurants, many costumers and employee thought them great souvenirs, so finding one in your parents or grandparent’s attic might be a real possibility.  Kovels–August 2013

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world. —Kaiser Wilhelm

1900s Maltosia Beer Lithograph Tin Tip Tray $195.00

An auction in 2013 sold from $60 (Old Reliable Coffee Tray with mark and nicks) to $720 (J. Christopher G Hupfel Brewing Company tray with outer-edge rim nicks)

Beer, it’s the best damn drink in the world. —Jack Nicholson

Pre Prohibition Dallas Brewery Home Beer Tip  $200.00

Prohibition was a period of nearly fourteen years of U.S. history in which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor was made illegal. It led to the first and only time an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. …In 1919, the18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol, was ratified. It went into effect on January 16, 1920…On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, making alcohol once again legal.   http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/p/prohibition.htm

They who drink beer will think beer.—Washington Irving

Pre-pro C. Pfeiffer Brewing Co. Tip Tray – Detroit  $240.00

 Illegalizing the production, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages – all of which were corollaries to the amendment – did not curb the desire…for liquor or beer. This great demand for and simultaneous illegalization of alcohol opened up a new illegal market for the gangster to develop and monopolize.  As Al Capone put it, “All I do is to supply a public demand … somebody had to throw some liquor on that thirst. Why not me?”(Sullivan, 111).  

There is no such thing as a bad beer. It’s that some taste better than others. —Billy Carter

Vintage Bohemian Export Lager Beer Pre Pro Tip Tray Union  $325.00

Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.  –Arnold Schwarzenegger

Your daughters are starting or going back to school and it’s very important that you deal with bullying—whether they’re being bullied (I spent years in private school that my parents could barely afford and I still bear the mental scars of being looked down on for my clothes and lower status with those perfect girls that took years to deal with and it sometimes still surfaces) or they are bullying.

Some methods dealing with bullies:

Many people assume that boys are more aggressive than girls. In fact, girls are equally as aggressive. They simply use different methods to express it. Boys generally act out their aggression physically — typically by hitting, shoving, or kicking. Girls tend to utilize subtler expressions, … — gossiping, group exclusion, and rumor spreading.  http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/social-emotional-skills/bullies-disguise

First you as a parent, teacher or otherwise involved adult must take responsibility:

DEALING WITH THE BULLY:

There are a number of reasons why girls engage in relational aggression including everything from climbing the social ladder to peer pressure. And yet adults often don’t view relational aggression as a big issue. In fact, most adults have very little sympathy for the girls who are targeted and often think being mean is just a normal part of girl behavior.

Discuss perspective. “Developmentally, adolescents often have no idea how their behavior hurts others.”    http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/mean-girls-why-girls-bully-and-how-to-stop-them

DEALING WITH THE BULLY’S TARGETS:

Teach them to Ignore her as often as possible. Bullies crave attention, and female ones aren’t much different.  Teach your daughters to move on and the bully will to.   http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-a-Mean-Girl-Bully/

Validate the range of emotions. Help your little girl understand that all emotions, positive and negative, are normal and that bad emotions don’t make girls bad. Use statements like, I can hear how angry you are about what happened. It hurts when friends are mean. Allowing your daughter’s anger or resentment to play out will help her calm down more quickly than if you minimize the   situation.   http://bullying.about.com/od/Responses/a/8-Ways-To-Cope-With-Mean-Girls.htm

“Be confident and assertive.” Every girl needs to learn how to stand up for herself, especially against mean girls. The best way to do this is to learn how to be assertive…without being aggressive or mean in return.   http://bullying.about.com/od/Responses/a/8-Ways-To-Cope-With-Mean-Girls.htm

 DON’T FORGET TO CLICK ABOVE FOR MY STORE 

some collectibles that might be hiding in old treasures:

SILVER & GLASS PRESENTATION DECANTER SET (1874) $5,000-$7,000

C.F. MARTIN 0-28 GUITAR (1895) $6,000-$7,000

AESTHETIC MOVEMENT PAINTED PIER MIRROR (1900) $1,000 – $1,500

 Girls… can learn to redirect feelings of insecurity and competition by trusting and counting on one another. Girls can and must be taught to value themselves and others and to only enter into relationships with those who share their values mutually. We can teach our girls to mentor and help one another in the safe space of real friendship, if we proactively guide them with empowering strategies and techniques, including how to acknowledge, recognize, and cope with difficult and aggressive relationships.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/girls-who-bully-and-the-women-they-learn-from_b_4034100.html

I’m featuring a Florida town that’s not on the usual tourist and visitors beaten path.  Longwood:  

Peter Demens (born Pyotr Dementyev in Russian) son of a nobleman he pissed off the Czar (1881) and fled to the USA.  He started in New York, but soon found that Florida was booming and moved south.  Here he came to Sanford and then bought a lumber mill in the small hamlet of Longwood.  He sent for his family, changed his name and was elected mayor of the town that was at the time a “wild place where farm hands and cattle herders roared into town for drinking sprees…”  (Best Back Roads of Florida/Waitley).  He (with some tough types of his own)  went a long way to clean up the town.

He took over the Orange Belt railroad (unpaid bills) and eventually ran that line to the Gulf and founded St. Petersburg (that’s a whole other story) and few other towns.

Longwood:  Has a total area of 5.6 square miles.    As of the census of 2010, there were 13,657 people and 5,244 households in the city.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwood,_Florida

OF INTEREST

1.  Longwood has 35 historical buildings  downtown   For a walking tour map:   http://www.longwoodfl.org/filestorage/210/212/412/Longwood_Walking_Tour.pdf 

2.  BRADLEE-MCINTYRE HOUSE:  (150 W. Warren St.)                                    Built in 1885 in Altamonte Springs, it was moved here in the early 1970’s.  Th architecture and appointments have been restored to its Queen Anne style.   (Hidden Florida:  The Adventure Guide). Hours: open 2nd and 4th Wednesday, 11am – 4pm and on the 2nd and 4th and  Sunday, 1-4pm.

3.  BIG TREE PARK:  (General Hutchison Parkway, north of town)           while the 126′  bald cypress once the largest in the country and over 3,000 years old was destroyed by a drug addict to get some light to do her drugs in 2010, the “Senator’s sister tree, “Lady Liberty”, an approximately 2,000 year old Bald Cypress Tree. ..donated to Seminole County by Senator M.O. Overstreet and dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge in 1929 still stands in this small park.

4.  Expedition Florida Adventures Day Tours:  104 Lake Oaks Blvd            guided kayak tours available on the St. Johns River and the Wekiva River.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Expedition-Florida-Adventures/177984472238132

5.  The Kerryman Pub:  988 W. State Road 434,                                                   Great Pub – Hole in the Wall”                                                                                                https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kerryman-Pub/177253371849

DON’T FORGET OUR AD:  CLICK ON THE STORE ABOVE FOR SOME GREAT STUFF AND CHECK OUT SOME LOCAL ITEMS THAT COULD MAKE YOU SOME MONEY        

Giant Cypress  Longwood Postcard  $9.95

 1988 COOK BOOK *  $9.95

Big Tree Park  Postcard  $19.95

THE INSIDE-OUTSIDE HOUSE:  141 W Church Ave

1873…constructed in Boston…shipped to Florida and reassembled. Originally Altamonte Springs, …moved to its current location in 1973 after saved from demolition The name comes from its unusual construction – the house was built in ship lap fashion, with exposed-stud framing on the outside.     Now a gift shop…staff have agreed that both Captain Pierce and his… cat, Brutus, haunt the home. Intense cold spots form when no air conditioning is on, and voices and footsteps are frequently heard.   http://www.hauntedplaces.org/longwood-fl/

My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that’s the law.  —Jerry Seinfeld

Britain has had many kings but only a handful of Queens and pretty much the remembered ones are Elizabeth I (who managed to overcome being made a bastard by her grasping father, and being made a martyr by her over-zealous sister (who was also a bastard at one time and you wander why I love the Tutors so much)).  Then of course there was Victoria a woman who ruled over the stiffest set of morals (which gave birth to some of the best porn) the country ever experienced and finally the eternal queen Elizabeth II who has reigned so long that there are now three generations of heir to the throne and most of us can’t remember Britain  without her.

But did you ever wonder what it means to be queen.

I have to be seen to be believed.—Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen’s official birthday is not a universally fixed day. In the United Kingdom it occurs on either the 1st, 2nd or 3rd Saturday in June and is decided by the Government. The Queen’s official birthday is marked by the parade known as Trooping the Colour, which has been held for this purpose almost every year since 1748. On this day The Queen’s Birthday Honours are announced.  http://www.royal.gov.uk/FrequentlyAskedQuestions/20%20most%20asked%20questions.aspx

 Queen Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of sixteen realms of the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations and the Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Queen Elizabeth II of England has a net worth of $550 million dollars. ”  http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/royals/queen-elizabeth-of-england-net-worth/

Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain’s sovereigns since 1837 and today is the administrative headquarters of the Monarch.  Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. In measurements, the building is 108 metres long across the front, 120 metres deep (including the central quadrangle) and 24 metres high.  http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/BuckinghamPalace/BuckinghamPalace.aspx

“The Queen has many different duties to perform every day.  Some are public duties, such as ceremonies, receptions and visits within the United Kingdom or abroad.  Other duties…include reading letters from the public, official papers and briefing notes; audiences with political ministers or ambassadors; and meetings with her Private Secretaries to discuss daily business and her future diary plans.  Even when she is away from London, in residence at Balmoral or Sandringham, she receives official papers nearly every day of every year and remains fully briefed on matters affecting her realms.  In front of the camera or away from it, The Queen’s duties go on, and no two days in her life are ever the same.”  http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/DayInTheLife/Queensworkingday.aspx

For state occasions she wears the Imperial Crown which includes several famous jewels:  St. Edward’s Sapphire, a sapphire taken from the ring of Edward the Confessor(1003-1066); the Black Prince’s (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), Ruby the  Cullinan II, or Second Star of Africa, Stuart Sapphire and Queen Elizabeth’s Pearls.

An animal lover since childhood, The Queen…highly knowledgeable interest in horses. As an owner and breeder of thoroughbreds, she often visits other race meetings to watch her horses run…http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/Interests/Overview.aspx

 COLLECTIBLES THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU RICHER…YOU COULD SPEND IT —JUST CL—CL—-CL—ICK ON STORE ABOVE

 Queen with Prince Charles & Princess Anne …$19.95

cookie tin,  $38.00

coronation 1953 souvenir $90.00

God forgive you, but I never can.—Elizabeth I

AND THE BOOK I’M DROPPING THIS WEEK

Deaver does a good 007—this book: Bond is in his early 30s and a veteran of the Afghan Wars, it has all the action, sex, violence and the hot anti-hero we have grown to know and love….I’m glad somebody took up the license to kill and kept our favorite spy going in a modern setting.

I’M ALWAYS FINDING INSPIRATION FOR MY NEW POSTS IN A LOT OF PLACES.  For instance while leafing quickly through a catalog I found a group of DVDs (8) all dealing with “Secrets of”  They ranged from Henry VIII’s Palace to Scotland Yard.  Only one was outside the UK and this same one was 30 min longer that the other seven and the only one that stated:  “Warning: Mature Content”  and that one was titled “Secrets of the Vatican”.   So of course that got my interest.

As far as Christianity goes the Catholic Church has long been the Major player.  Catholic doctrine teaches that the Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ. It interprets the Confession of Peter as acknowledging Christ’s designation of Apostle Peter and his successors to be the temporal head of his Church. Thus, it asserts that the Bishop of Rome has the sole legitimate claim to Petrine authority and the primacy due to the Roman Pontiff.^] The Catholic Church claims legitimacy for its bishops and priests via the unbroken line of popes, claimed as successors to Simon Peter.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Catholic_Church

The exact date of the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church is indeterminable. While the belief system recognized as Christianity is in place by the first century, institutional structures developed over time. Nor is it possible to distinguish Catholicism as a separate tradition until it can be differentiated from other Christian traditions (most notably, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism).  Scholars recognize a variety of significant institutional, theological, and cultural markers in this development:   http://www.patheos.com/Library/Roman-Catholicism.html#ixzz3B87ZyaB1

And then there was the reformation:  The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era….challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes. The disruption triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s delayed but forceful response …  http://www.history.com/topics/reformation.

There was much death and destruction and while the Catholic church got the bad press many Catholics were martyred as well.  For example:  Elizabeth’s resultant persecution of Catholic Jesuit missionaries led to many executions…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_Kingdom

So I decided to skip the Vatican secrets–I truly believe that all people, entities and large organizations have their secrets and I’m hardly the one to cast the first stone.

CLICKABOVE CLICKABOVE ON STORE ON STORE (THAT’S IT FOR COMMERICAL) please…..

And religious YOU-might-HAVE:

Holy Water Bottles/ Lourdes France/$21.95

Silver Pendants 2 Silver $61.17

Wood Statue, Mother Teresa …$165.00

 

“God has no religion.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly in fleas on small rodents, … Without treatment, the bubonic plague kills about two thirds of infected humans within four days.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague    The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly. Plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes, which is how it gets its name. The disease also causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black.  http://www.themiddleages.net/plague.html

The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever, unable to keep food down and delirious from pain. Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black boils that oozed blood and pus and gave their illness its name: the “Black Death.” The Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population.  http://www.history.com/topics/black-death

Synonyms

• Black Death
• Black Plague
• http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/bubonic-plague

Social Effects

• The marriage rate rose sharply — in part due to predatory men marrying rich orphans and widows.
• The birth rate also rose, though recurrences of the plague kept population levels reduced.
• There were notable increases in violence and debauchery.
• Upward mobility took place on a small scale.
• http://historymedren.about.com/od/theblackdeath/p/blackdeath.htm

Many people touched by the plague moved away from medieval cities and towns to unaffected areas. (negative impact)

On the positive side, some landlords began to concentrate on improving the fertility of the soil.

… in the cities, the declining population of workers meant that masters sought out new ways to produce which required less manpower…to construct labor saving machinery….produced a greater need for technological innovation.  http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture30b.html

The population around 1300 in England was around 5 million, in 1400 (dropped)5 million, — 1630 the population reached again 5 million. …

Plague caused huge social changes throughout Europe, there were less people to work the lands and those that survived had more wealth between them. .. Such drops in output caused grain prices to rise, and peasants were in higher demand for their labour and attain(ed) higher wages.   http://www.themcs.org/black%20death.htm

and items of worth

CHEROKEE CHIEF BANDOLIER BAG (1846)  $100,000

Don’t forget my store–just click

BREGUET WATCH W/FOB 1805  $30,000-$35,000

When people figured out that the Black Death was airborne, they began to visit—or even live—in foul-smelling sewers. It was thought that the sharp stench of rotting human waste would discourage the cleaner (but disease-ridden) air from coming near and infecting them.  http://listverse.com/2013/01/21/10-crazy-cures-for-the-black-death/

Disasters are called natural, as if nature were the executioner and not the victim.—-Eduardo Galeano

IT’S Florida city/town or whatever point of interest that grabs my fancy day.  TODAY IT’S Oveido:

Oviedo is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 33,342 as of the 2010 census…  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviedo,_Florida

The center of Oviedo is on 434 and Broadway where you;ll see the steepled Baptist Church on a small rise.

Oviedo, settled in the 1860’s was named in 1879 by a Swedish postmaster after the city in Northern Spain.  It appears as the town of Valdez in Coyle’s novel THE KNEELING BUS

Once a tiny isolated farming community, it is now in the middle of Seminole County’s fast growing areas.  THE INSIDERS’ GUIDE TO GREATER ORLANDO/Orlando Sentinel

POINTS OF INTREST

1.  CROSS SEMINOLE TRAIL:  Bisect old business area, edging past a few worse for wear industrial buildings which was once a loading zone for railway cars of celery to be shipped to Sanford.

2.  LAKE CHARM:  426/Geneva Rd–paved, in 1880s it was paved too but with logs placed cross ways to prevent wagons, etc from being stuck in the sand.  The lake was named by Martha Gwynn (before the Civil War) who’s father built their home on the shore.  Eventually others came and a hotel was built in the area.  Then the railroad to bring more.  A store sprang up and orange groves appeared.  This went on until the severe freeze of 1894-95 when the orange trees died and the snow birds departed for good.

3.  BLACK HAMMOCK RESTAURANT & FISH CAMP: www.theblackhammock.com/black-hammock-hosts-business-hours/  Casual place to dine on Lake Jessup.  Seafood, fried catfish and barbecued pork ribs.  Entertainment on the weekends. also: The Lazy Gator Bar:  The view of Florida wildlife from the lakeview terrace.  Buckets of beers and colorful mixed drinks …live gator and bird exhibit adjoining Black Hammock Gift Shop—bar snacks from the restaurant,

4.  THE TOWN HOUSE RESTAURANT:  http://www.oviedotownhouse.com/  The Townhouse has been serving up good times since the 1950’s .. Family owned & operated,

5.   LAKE JESUP: http://www.blackhammockairboatrides.com/  rumored to be one of Florida’s most ’gator-filled lakes, supports airboat tours.  http://www.centralfloridaairboattours.com/

MY STORE PAYS FOR MY BLOG…JUST CLICK ON STORE ABOVE TO CHECK OUT THE MERCHANDISE:

items you probably don’t have lying around but which bring in a few extra if you do:

WORLD WAR II PRISONER OF WAR ARCHIVE:  $1,500-$2,000

FRENCH PALISSY WARE MANTEL CLOCK (1880’S)  $4,000 – $10,000

JUMEAU AUTOMATON (1900’s)  $30,000 – $35,000

And where did I get the title?  Oveido has free ranging chickens that inhabit their old downtown.  They’ve been there for years.  Nobody knows were they came from.  City officials were at one time concerned about the responsibility for accidents that the beasties might be responsible for, but where discouraged from doing anything with them due to their popularity.  Finally  it was determined that since there were no known owner they were in fact wild birds for which the city could not be held responsible.  They put up several official yellow signs warning:  “Caution:  Chicken Crossings.”  and left it at that. 

I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.—Isaac Bashevis Singer

In the Ethiopian highlands, where the legend of Kaldi, the goatherd, originated, coffee trees grow today as they have for centuries.
It is said that he discovered coffee after noticing that his goats, upon eating berries from a certain tree, became so spirited that they did not want to sleep at night….he reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery who made a drink with the berries and discovered that it kept him alert for the long hours of evening prayer.  Soon the abbot had shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery… As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would spread its reputation across the globe.   http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=68

“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

After the Boston Tea Party of 1773, large numbers of Americans switched to drinking coffee during the American Revolution because drinking tea had become unpatriotic…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee

“Adventure in life is good; consistency in coffee even better.”
― Justina Chen, North of Beautiful

Coffee is the world’s most widely traded tropical agricultural commodity, accounting for exports worth an estimated US$ 15.4 billion in 2009/10, when some 93.4 million bags were shipped. – See more at: http://www.ico.org/trade_e.asp?section=About_Coffee#sthash.1e5KEHJF.dpuf

I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake.  —Lewis Black

The retail value of the U.S. coffee market is estimated at $30-32 billion dollars, with specialty comprising
approximately a 37% volume share but nearly 50% value share.
40% of 18-24 year olds said they drink coffee daily, up from 31% in 2010 and on par with 2009’s 40%, while
54% of 25-39 year olds said they drink coffee daily, up from 44% in 2010 and on par with 2009’s 53%.**
58% of consumers aged 18+ drank coffee yesterday, compared with 56% in 2010, 59% in 2009, and 60%
in 2008.**
There are two primary types of coffee, Arabica and Robusta, and the vast majority of coffee used in the
specialty industry is of the Arabica type.  http://www.scaa.org/PDF/resources/facts-and-figures.pdf

To me, the smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the greatest inventions.—Hugh Jackman

AND NOW FOR THE COMMERCIAL–MY STORE—LOTS OF NEAT ITEMS–PLEASE LOOK JUST CLICK ABOVE:

AND COFFEE ITEMS:

One of these sold at Auction recently for $2,786

An Old Glory coffee Grinder for $1,482

Bagdad Brand Coffee Pail $420

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.—Ronald Reagan

Kopi luwak or civet coffee, refers to the seeds of coffee berries once they have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet ,,,The traditional method of collecting feces from wild civets has given way to intensive farming methods in which civets in battery cage systems are force fed the coffee beans. …Kopi luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago. .Kopi luwak is one of the most expensive coffees in the world, selling for between US$100 and $600 per pound in 2010…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second.   Edward Abbey

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.  —George Bernard Shaw

Ah THE FAMILY,  what comes to mind when you think of the family in general, or yours in particular.  So many things with mine who are all far away and rarely in touch.

Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.—Cary Grant

Love them, hate them, we can never ever completely leave them though they may be miles away or long gone…the members are as much of our bodies and mines as our bones and our thoughts.

There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.—Jerry Seinfeld

“Family’ is a single word, with many different meanings. People have many ways of defining a family and what being a part of a family means to them. Families differ in terms of economic, cultural, social, and many other facets, but what every family has in common is that the people who call it a family are making clear that those people are important in some way to the person calling them his family. ” http://family.lovetoknow.com/about-family-values/meaning-family

A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss… That’s the trade-off. But I’ll take it all.—Brad Pitt

Roman families would include everyone within a household under the authoritarian role of the father, the pater familias; this included grown children and the slaves of the household.  Children born outside of marriage, from common and legal concubinage, could not inherit the father’s property or name; instead, they belonged within the social group and family of their mothers.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_family “

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

The term “Family of Origin” refers to the family that you grew up in – your parents and siblings. It may also include a grandparent, other relative, or divorced parents who lived with you during part of your childhood. These people strongly influence who we become.   http://www.foryourmarriage.org/dating-engaged/marriage-readiness/family-of-origin/

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” ― George Burns

COMMERCIAL SIGN–STORE—CLICK ABOVE–BRINGS YOU THIS REUNION WITH THE FAMILY

 OK I KNOW YOU DON’T HAVE THIS ONE BUT INTERESTING

1943 Olivia de Havilland Suit from ‘PRINCESS O’ROURKE’  $1,500.

POTTERY COCHITI PUEBLO POTTERY (1900’s) $8,500  

HOME: YOUMUT ASMALYK RUG (1870) $5,000

“When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching — they are your family. ” ― Jim Butcher

1. Having 1 child makes you a parent but having 2 makes you a referee

2. Marriage is a relationship in which 1 person is always right and the other person is always husband.

3. You can’t buy love but you pay heavily for it.

4. Wife and husband always compromise, husband admits that he’s wrong and wife  agrees with him. 5. Our language is called mother tongue because the father never gets a chance to speak! http://www.nairaland.com/985800/5-funny-facts-life ~

Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. ~ Evan Esar