Hi Carolyn,
I am sorry to hear of your jarring experiences at Downton Abbey this year. I have to put this series in the same category as Dr. Who - i.e. ones I simply have never seen. Seeing Maggie Smith in the credits is often enough to make me have a look see, but not yet. It does sound, from what you've noted, as if the script writers have experienced a famine or it's "jump the shark" time for the show after only three seasons. I'm more inclined to buy into the cheap sensationalism argument though. It's always worked before - human nature being what it unfortunately is.
My LSBH has a slight penchant for the police and forensics series stuff ( " Cop Glop" I call it ) and has it on while she does her needlework or other sewing related hobbies. It's incongruous to behold someone doing something as passive and wholesome as that while watching people shoot, dismember or otherwise visit various kinds of emotional and/or physical violence upon each other. If I were looking for some media diversions to have on while I works I'd want to laugh, laugh and laugh some more. I find myself more frequently simply moving to another room or such just to avoid having to be exposed it. I've even stepped on the soapbox more than once about the desensitizing aspect, etc., Must be the media teacher in me. Ironic, in one respect, that the same popular culture that promotes the Disney Effect also thrives on guts and gunfire at the other end of the yardstick.
BTW - I really like the Vonnegut good date image.
It's starting to look like the first stage of our renos won't be be completed before we scuttle off to Merida. Here's where good friends, webcams and other marvels of connectivity will come in handy. We've already become used to camping out in our own house, as it were, since we've been without a functioning kitchen for over a week. Each day the whole living and dining area beside the kitchen takes on a whitish patina as the dust, drywall and insulation powder settles, even though the doorways are covered with thick plastic sheeting.
My very sincere apologies for leaving out the riddle answers. In fact it appears that I didn't provide answers for the last two of them. My bad, twice over - arrgghh.
The riddle about the opening up a world of possibilities ( two entries ago ) was a bottle opener and the one about deceptive and receptive to one sense in particular ( last entry ) was perfume. My proof-reading stinks lately. I shall take a moment here to excoriate my editorial staff.........there! I've been assured by myself that it won't happen again.
While trolling Wikipedia for a bit of background for the perfume riddle I made an interesting discovery. I had always thought that the whole perfume scene began in earnest during the Renaissance when Descartes and the rest of those enlightened and well-to-do Europeans couldn't bathe as regularly as we do. This " I stink, therefore I am " situation, so I surmised, begat the wholesale creation of scents to mask the unsavoury bouquet of human bodies that hadn't had close encounters of the soap and water kind for awhile.
were found in a 43,000 square foot factory. That's not a small stinkin' operation!
In Western Europe the art of perfumery was known ever since the twelfth century. It prospered especially in Renaissance Italy and in the 16th century Catherine De Medici's personal perfumer, Renato il fiorentino ( Rene The Florentine ) , brought them to France . His laboratory was connected to her apartments by a secret passageway so that no formulae could be stolen en route. Rene's fragrance wizardry almost single-handedly transformed France into one of the powerhouses of perfume and cosmetics manufacture. It has been thus ever since.
The Wikipedia entry is substantial and leaves the reader far more conversant in the olfactive arts once read fully. For example, I realize now that those various terms that begin with "Eau" - Eau de Cologne, Eau de Parfum , Eau de Toilette, actually designate the concentrations of perfume extract or strength. The full palette ranges from Esprit de Parfum through seven other levels to the lowly Eau de Splash or aftershave.
I kinda wish I'd known about that when I was first using them. At 15 I found myself, for awhile, taking a two bus journey on Friday and Saturday nights to visit the love of my life at the time. The transfer point was right at the centre of town and the schedule allowed my enough time to zip into the Sears department store and hit the perfume counter ( or the " Smellies Counter" as I still call it ) and douse myself with something from the men's cologne testers that were out. Usually I went for aftershave ( even though I didn't shave at all! ) Obviously, on a few occasions I picked a stronger mix because sometimes I got on the bus and swaggered down the aisle to the stares and wrinkled noses of my fellow riders. People would conspicuously sidle away from me when I sat beside them. I thought nothing of it at the time, submerged as I was in furtive teenage love thoughts - wondering what base I'd get to or even if I'd get up to bat at my amours' house out in the posh suburbs.
"Ah," as the French would say, "L'Amour" .
To the cave now...
Last week's answer is already in the air here, of course. I think your most recent one was one of those nifty little USB storage drives that can be used to keep all of your vital info thereupon. I return herewith with:
Comes with multiplied numbers or water or covered in cloth
Turning them can lead to reversal of fortunes
Can be periodic or contain treasures for
the budget conscious
Hopefully nothing will stink in your world this week.
Don
All Images sourced from Google Images
Fig. 1 - pbs.org
Fig. 2 - diyexplore.com
Fig. 3 - thespacebetweenblog.net
Fig. 4 - craveonline.com
Fig. 5 - history-world.org
Fig. 6 - estotericonline.net
Fig. 7 - frenchrenaissancecostume.com
Fig. 8 - articles.latimes.com
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