Lunedi Lunacy

There was an Old Derry down Derry,
who love to see little folk merry;
So he made them a book,
and with laughter they shook
at the fun of that Derry down Derry.

I'm not at all sure if children still read Edward Lear (I'm sure some must) but I always found his word play enchanting.  He conjured up such pictures of Jumblies, floating Owls and Pussycats, and various old men and ladies of sundry places whose strange habits made for wonderful limericks.

I thought I'd start off my week by revisiting a few of my favourites.  However since I didn't have one of his many books at hand I thumbed clicked through the videos on YouTube and came up with these two very different but fun animations of classic Lear stories.

Well I guess that little tag end answered my question about children still reading Lear.

There is a wonderful website devoted to Lear and his various writings, drawings and creations.  As well they have some fun examples of early limerick books for slightly before Lear's time.

November 3 -  1793: French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.

Lunedi Lunacy

I'm not sure if the good Dr Seuss actually wrote this but if he didn't he should have!

March 24 - 1837: Canada gives African Canadian men the right to vote.

What the Dickens???

Been a bit busy at work this week so I haven't been able to do much in the way of celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens - and besides I'm on a Mitford kick right now.  However lest you think of me as an uncultured dolt who doesn't observe important literary anniversaries I present the following sent me by my friend Cathy.

Behind every great writer there's a nit-picking editor!!!!


08 February - 1879:  Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.

Lunedi Lunacy Early

Soooo Canadian eh?

29 dicembre/December - San Davide Regno di Giuda e Israele

Friday Frolic

Okay I just couldn't keep this one for Lunedi Lunacy - its just too funny. So here for our Friday Frolic is a touching story for the religious right or the righteously religious .



Many thanks to my darling Larry in Roma - miss you and Vin caro.

23 settembre/September - San Lino

If You Can't Stand the Heat ....

I will not go into the global warming argument here but what the hell is going on? It reached 36c (96.8f) today here in Ottawa. And that was before they took the humidity index into account - anyone remember when we didn't have a humidex?

So is this some sort of punishment for me leaving Roma? Or maybe because New York approved same-sex marriage? Whatever it is going out today - the kids needed food and I needed money to get the kids food - was not a pleasant experience but thanks to my friend Cathy who chauffeured me around  it was bearable.  And also thanks to her for this laugh first thing this morning.

21 luglio - San Lorenzo da Brindisi

Lunedi Lunacy II

Every monday morning my own Girl of the Golden West posts Stumbles - just to get the morning off right. Well this morning she had a whole pile o'Canadians ROTFL with this one.



Check out Yellow Dog Granny and the rest of this morning's Stumbles for a chortle, laugh or giggle!

26 ottobre - San Folco

Do I Look Like an Idiot?

Aside from the fact that Hugh Laurie is one of the sexiest men alive, he's also a damn fine actor. Loved him with Stephen Fry, love him in House.


09 ottobre - San Donnino di Fidenza

Latin Lovers... Hmmm.....

I don't normally like to duplicate something that anyone else has put up but just had to comment on this one. The Daddy - and I mean Daddy - of bloggers Joe at Joe My God had this little survey from the Daily Mail (yes murders and rapes and specials on drapes)about the World's 10 best and worst lovers (catagory Male).


Though I am pleased to see Ireland and Canada in the top ten I question that ranking for Italy. Obviously the women I have coffee with here weren't amongst those expressing their views. And that thing about Russian's being too hairy - I always thought Slavs were - not to generalize - smooth??? And maybe the Scot was playing his bagpipe?????

Oh and did I mention that I'm an Irish-Canadian!!!!!!

30 settembre - San Sofronio Eusebio Girolamo

Advice For ...

the Lovelorn:

I read this on a chat profile today and as romantic advice it makes perfect sense:

Never make someone a priority in your life when you're merely an option in theirs.

the Technically Challenged:

Copy & Paste (Inspirational)
A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his Audience. He Said: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn't my wife!" The audience was in silence and shock. The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!"Laughter and Applause!!!

A week later a manager, who had heard the speaker, tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a drink. He said loudly to his wife who was preparing dinner, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!" The wife went speechless with shock and rage.

Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second Half of the joke, he finally blurted out "...and I can't remember who she was!"

By the time the manager regained consciousness, he was in a hospital bed nursing burns from boiling water.

Moral of the story: Don't Copy if you can't PASTE

Thanks to Bev in Islamabad for that one.

16 settembre - Santi Cornelio e Cipriano

Good Old 'Merican Know How

What can you say: In hard times you just have to think outside the box to make a buck!



And the whole Winkers story is right here.
Thanks to my friend Michael in Washington for this .

And blogger-extraordinaire Joe, My God featured this one today. You couldn't get much more creative than Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA, could you?

21 agosto - San Pio X Papa

Lunedi Lunacy

Wouldn't I just love to be doing some of these exercises with a few of those great Spanish wines I've been seeing this weekend. But sadly I've restricted myself to one small glass at dinner. Yes I know I shouldn't but damn it you can't have tapas without a splash of wine!

Thanks to my friend Cathy in Ottawa for this one.

23 marzo - San Turibio de Mogrovejo

Graphic Proof

Thanks to my old friend Bonbon.

Update: My good friend Dora mentions that there isn't a segment for "sex" - I'm not sure but I think it fits into that one called: Looking for things I had just a minute ago????

03 marzo - San Tiziano di Brescia

Mercoledi Musicale

I had a really cool video to post for this week's momento musicale and then my friend Larry from AmoRoma sends me this little gem. I just had to share it as it sort of wraps up the last of the Christmas music and the year 2008 in the USA all with one tidy little bow.



Thanks Uncle Jay - you explained it all to me!

07 gennaio - San Raimondo di Peñafort

Poli-Lite

I haven't posted anything here about today's U.S. election because I feel that it is not my place as an outsider. That hasn't stopped me from commenting on many friends' blogs but here I'd rather not talk politics - American or Italian. However, and you knew there had to be a however, I overheard a conversation here that had me doing that strange pumping motion with a clenched fist and mutter "Yes!" under my breath.

When we went to the Scavi last week we were in line between a group of older people, including a few priests and a very well dressed woman - expensive wool suit and white blouse with a string of very good pearls - of a certain age, and a group of students, most wearing sweat shirts proclaiming the University of Ohio as their Alma Mater.

Well-dressed Lady: (to a slightly hungover young lady from the Group) So where are you from?

Slightly Hungover Young Lady: (Duh! look on her face) Ohio

WDL: We're from Florida - we're the states that count next week. I hope you're going to vote?

SHOYL: I voted before I left home.

WDL: Well I hope you voted the way a good Catholic should.

SHOYL: I'm a Protestant.

Pumping motion - muttered affirmative.

04 novembre - San Carlo Borromeo

Lunedi Lunacy

Continuing with the Opera theme that seems to be dominating my life the past few weeks:



23 giugno - San Guiseppe Cafasso

Lunedi Lunacy

Now that spring has sprung and the grass has rise the Baseball season and the Shakespeare Festival season are both in full swing. Here's a tribute to those two great harbingers of spring.



I remember this sketch from a Wayne and Shuster radio show in the early '50s; this version in 1958 would have been from one of their early CBC TV shows. They were funny at a time when funny did not mean resorting to swearing and their comedy always assumed that the audience was literate and knowing.

From one of their classic sketches Rinse the Blood Off My Toga (The assassination of Julius Caesar as written by Micky Spillane.):

Detective (In a bar in ancient Rome): I'll have a martinus!

Bartender: Don't you mean a martini?

Detective: If I wanted two I'd ask for them!

As a grade 9 Latin student that one killed me.

9 giugno - Santa Columba

Signs of the Times

Times are tough in so many businesses, I guess everyone has to have a sideline!

27 aprille - Santa Zita

Lunedi Lunacy

Its was a Golden Age of TV Comedy: Carol, Harvey, Tim and a Guest.



Most people don't realize that Maggie Smith got her start in Revue comedy as a singer/dancer/sketch performer. I was fortunate to see her both in London (Hedda Gabler directed by Ingmar Bergman) and later when she decided to live in Stratford, Ontario and become a member of the famed Shakespeare company there. For 10 seasons she played everything - Chekhov, Congreve, Coward, Cross, Shakespeare. Her Lady Macbeth was outstanding, her Rosalind in As You Like It one of the finest comedy performances I've ever seen and even though she could do star turns she just as easily became a member of an ensemble. To this day I remember a frighteningly beautiful Three Sisters with arguably a group of the finest actors in North American at that time. It was another Golden Age.

31 marzo - San Beniamino

Ha! Ha! Very Funny

For some reason Stephanie, my niece, felt she had to send me this:

MY LIVING WILL


Last night my sister BETTY and I were sitting in the cellar and I said to her, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive. That would be no quality of life at all, If that ever happens, just pull the plug.'

So she got up, unplugged the computer, and threw out my wine.

She's such a bitch.

I really wish she had more respect for her old uncle.

06 marzo - Santa Coletta