So I am going to let you do some work today…
Five simple questions.
Huh? You want me to answer them first? Wellllll! Ok then.
How do you unwind? - With a corkscrew!
Who do you sing along to? – Kiri Te Kanawa (in my dreams!)
Favourite food? – A meal in front of me!
Most treasured possession? – My memories.
Closest moment to death? - The last one! 
Our topic this week for the Fab Four Loose Bloggers Consortium was chosen by Ashok:
Religion/Spirituality
Remember to visit Conrad, Ashok and Ramana for their take on the topic.
While I am thinking of a word or three to write on the subject I need some spiritual inspiration. How about The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra with Pachelbel - Canon in D
Where to begin….
Remember the more you complain the longer God makes you live ~ Anon
Every day we live is a gift of God.” That rule applies whether or not you believe in God, because life, unless you hate it, is surely a great gift. We did not earn our earthly existence, but we can justify it by our good works. ~ Henry J. Stern
Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars…
and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence
is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. - Osho
If God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though Sometimes It’s Hell in the Hallway.’
Grace before meals, as said by my Granny:
“Gracious and glorious, a Herring between four of us
Thank God there’s no more of us
Amen.”
Indulging in luxuries, wine, and rich food will never make you wealthy. – Proverbs: 21.17 (I wonder how long it took to work that out?)
O Jesus, I offer You my prayers, works, thoughts and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Most Sacred Heart. Amen – The Morning Offering – a prayer for Roman Catholics to be said on waking each morning.
No one is better than another. We are all different. In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends. - John Churton Collins
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Sting once said “A lot of people approach risk as if it’s the enemy when it’s really fortune’s accomplice”.
Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard. – Anne Sexton
I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I’m here than a whole truck load when I’m gone.
Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and coyness sets off an extravagant mistress, while the door always open tempts no suitor. - Marcus Valerius Martial
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. - Albert Camus
The healthy and strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it. Whether he’s got an abscess on his knee or an abscess in his soul. - Rona Barrett – (I need to learn this quick, fast!)
Unless we dream the best dreams of which we are capable, the future will be poorer than it might be. - Brian Stableford
About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won’t like you at all.
Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.
I invited a guest to say Grace, as we sat to dine. He said GRACE! 
The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship. - Norman Douglas
You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do. - Olin Miller.
When facing a difficulty or painful time in life it is important to have a goal or carrot to work towards.
Yesterday it was decided in the comments to my blog post, that to help me on my way to hippy hoppy happiness when I get my new ’shock absorber’; I should call on Darlene, Bikehikebabe & Ramana so the four of us can exercise and train for a show of our special hippy sequence dancing. It might even make the Olympics for 2012 
For promotional purposes I provide some snapshots of us in action.
Do you know which is which?
Take your time… but remember to come back at 5pm for some Loose Blogging.
I recently picked a new primary care doctor. After two visits and exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing “fairly well” for my age (now over 60).
A little concerned about that comment, I couldn’t resist asking him, “Do you think I’ll live to be 80?”
He asked, “Do you smoke tobacco or drink beer or wine?”
“Oh no,” I replied. “I’m not doing drugs, either!”
Then he asked, “Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?”
I said, “Not much — my former doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!”
“Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?”
“No, I don’t,” I said.
He asked, “Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?”
“No,” I said.
He looked at me and said,…
“Then, why do you even give a shit???”
,
,
Thats not me up there….. good old email sent it!
Forty weeks down the line… long enough to produce twins! :roll: Today there is a little suprise in store. I have a date with some Toyboys so while I am playing, I am letting you do all the work.
Now you have the chance to come up with 5 handy hints….. just like that! 
I am thinking of a change of topic for a Wednesday. The household hints have run their course.
The other day I went in search of a Tall Ship. Alas, I was out of luck. From 13-16th August, Belfast will play host to the Tall Ships fleet of over 40 ships as they cross the finish line of the 2009 Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge a journey of over 7,000 nautical miles, arriving into the Port of Belfast to berth along the mouth of the river Lagan.
Two of the ships had already arrived but I would not get near to where they were before Thursday. Crowds and walking are not my friends at the moment. I hoped to head for Carrickfergus or Whitehead and catch one or two heading into Belfast Lough
I may not have found what I was looking for but I did find a little beauty. Perched on top of a bollard I was reminded of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen.
Meet Saskia, lost in concentration as she sketched Carrickfergus Castle.
This talented young lady was on holiday with her family and she told me she took her notebook everywhere with her to sketch whatever took her interest. Sometimes it was flowers and sometimes it was buildings. She hoped to fill the notebook with memories of her holiday. She showed me the previous pages with a collage of pictures from her day at Belfast Zoo.
Saskia’s sister does a hand stand.
Saskia about to do a Cartwheel.
I enjoyed meeting this lovely family and mum and I exchanged email addresses. I hope they have their photos by now.
I love Fennel, steamed, roasted and raw. Today I have a salad with the uncooked variety.
Fennel with Radish and New Potatoes.
Serves 4
Cook the potatoes in their skins in boiling salted water, with one sprig of mint for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well. Finelly slice the fennel, radishes and potatoes. Chop the remaining mint leaves. Put the fennel, radishes, potatoes and mint in a salad bowl. Pour over the dressing while the potatoes are still warm and toss well.
On Friday morning I posted a picture of my sky at night.
It drew a variety of comments suggesting that it was:-
a) ‘huge fireball shooting across the sky. Or a giant torch.’
b) ‘That’s some searchlight!’
c) ‘a “Holy Picture”’
Late on Friday evening my eyes were opened to the apparitions it contained.
So at enormous expense and the risk of world war³ I present you with….
Da Daaaah!
Ashok, Conrad & Ramana; a right shower of loose bloggers!
Thanks Maynard. 
These LCB@5 come round very fast….. is it really a week since our last confession topic. Remember to visit Conrad, Ashok and Ramana for their take on the topic chosen today by Conrad:
*Should translate to:
Modern Journalism
No doubt the boys will begin their Anthologies with Cave paintings and how they were the beginnings of Journalism. So while they sculpt and paint with words…. I’ll give you a picture. Well they (whoever THEY are), say a picture paints a thousand words and sells newspapers and magazines!
Neolithic cave paintings found in Tassil-n-Ajjer (Plateau of the Chasms) region of the Sahara**. Ancient cave paintings were often produced using the blood of animals killed for food. We have moved on since then.
Have we really moved on?
Hoarding covered with graffiti on the Falls Road in West Belfast, above and below. Some people call it Street Art; but no matter what you call it, a message is given, therefore it it is a form of modern journalism.
In an article for Journalism.co.uk some years ago, Veteran Indian reporter Palagummi Sainath once branded modern journalism “mindless notetaking” in a speech to Canadian students. “In my view, the bulk of what is happening in the press these days is stenography,” he told journalism students at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
In Ireland, there have been occasions where blog post articles have literally been cut, pasted and used by journalists without reference or regard to the original author. That is not journalism. It is lazy working and theft. With both Radio and TV these days news is dumbed down and dispensed in Sound-bites. News items reduced to one or two sentences repeated at least every half hour. Soon they will be as short as Twitter messages - 140 characters or less.
This reminds me… Twitter can prove of benefit with breaking news. On the day a US Airways plane with 155 people on board ditched into a chilly Hudson River, we heard about it in Ireland and had pictures on Twitter, before it hit any of the news networks on either side of the pond.
To finish…….
Journalism of a different ilk!
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* Online Hieroglyphic Translation of… Modern Journalism:
