Buffy's Salon

What are conkers?

 

I didn't realise this was a word peculiar to the British isles!

Conkers is both a game played by children and the item with which they play the game: namely a horse chestnut.  The conker is threaded on some string through a hole a responsible adult drills through the conker.   You play by letting the conker hang freely from the end of the string and then taking turns with someone else striking each other's conker until one of them breaks.  Ever time a conker breaks a rival one, its score (its racing form if you like) increases.  So a conker that has destroyed 10 others is a ten-er.

For obvious reasons conkers is traditionally played during the autumn months.  Serious players will collect horse chestnuts and save them for a year in order to harden them up, before bringing them out onto the playing field.

Horse chestnuts should not be confused with their cousins, sweet chestnuts which are very tasty and often used as a stuffing with the Christmas turkey or goose.

Fabblog Award

 

Thank you kindly to Vintage Kitten (Domestic Diva) for being sweet enough to give me such an pretty award!

The hardest part of receiving an award is passing it on.  This is not because it is hard to find worthy blogs, oh no, it's hard to choose only three or four!  All the ones I follow (see Recommended Blogs) I could happily award!  However, I appreciate I need to restrict myself so I am going to choose four very different blogs to whom I will pass on the fabblog award.

Most thought provoking blog - Chrysalis

Prettiest blog - Brocante Home

Best blog about sustainable living - Walk Slowly, Live Wildly

Best for bookworms - A Booklover's Journal

If you have the time and inclination, please pass the award on.  If not then just know you've had a pat on the back.

Cat Facts # 1

more animals

Recommended Blogs

Friendship is Reaching

Finally I have managed to include a list of blogs that I enjoy reading (or sometimes just smiling over) on my site, which you can see to the right hand side of this post.

I have tried to make the list user-friendly by including a few words about each blog which can be seen when you hover over the title.  This means you are not jumping blind, as it were!  I have tried to use the words that the bloggers themselves have used to describe their own blog, but if you feel I have misrepresented you please let me know so that I can change the description.

I have a few more to add, but these are twenty of my favourites.  They are all different so don't expect them all to agree with each other on everything.  As always, although I enjoy these sites I obviously don't share their opinion on all matters, and so urge you to use your discrimination.

Happy Blogging!

TV Dinner

Another hilariously accurate reminder of how cats can rule our lives.   See also Let me in and Before man invented alarm clocks.  

Blog Housekeeping

Good Housekeeping, February 1918

I've been busy doing housekeeping on my blog today.  You probably can't tell much difference so you're going to have to take my word for it that it is much more streamlined and organised.  Basically I've sorted out my categories and you can now see a category cloud on the right hand side.  Some categories have disappeared and there are a couple of new ones.  One of the interesting things about writing a blog, as I'm sure those of you that have one have found, is that its form is not static.  You find it heading in quite a different direction every few months!

I've also added a link at the top right if anyone wants to email me.

Have a lovely Sunday.

What City do you Belong in?

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

 

Well, this is appropriate.  Anyone want to join me in London?

A Tale of Two Cats

Meet Tama, a nine-year-old station master in Japan.  Originally a stray, she took over the job in 2006 when the station became unmanned because of lack of funds.  She was so successful at meeting and greeting that the number of passengers using the station rose by 17%.  The railway company formally appointed her as station master in January 2007.  Following a further 10% increase in passengers she was promoted to "super stationmaster" in January 2008.  She is the only female in a managerial position, has her own office and is paid with cat food.  Apparently she works nine to five and takes Sundays off.   Or perhaps you might be more interested in watching Henri, who provides us with a beautiful demonstration of existentialism.  Oh the interminable ennui.  

Accidental Humour

The Norwich Union included in their Christmas magazine a selection of some of the more entertaining claims following motor accidents that they had received.  Many of them beautifully illustrate the ease with which the English language can be misused, others simply how our point of view may sometimes be a little...skewed. 

I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.

I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.

Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.

I thought my window was down, but I found out it wasn't when I put my head through it.

I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.

The guy was all over the road.  I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front  I struck the pedestrian.

An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.

The pedestrian had no idea which way to run, so I ran over him.

And the pièce de résistance:

I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman, as he bounced off the roof of my car.

Happy Birthday & Thank You

Happy Birthday, Lady Harlequin with ChampagneYes, Buffy's Salon is celebrating its first birthday.  I cannot believe how fast the year has gone, it feels like I only started blogging a couple of months ago.  It really has been fun and I've learned so much.  I would like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to all of you out there who take the time out of your busy lives to read the posts here, and especially those who are kind enough to leave comments.  A blog is nothing without its readers, after all. 

The Lord bless thee and keep thee; The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:  The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.