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I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

A British Grandmother is facing execution. At the start of this year a man was put to death by Chinese authorities. His death shouldn’t have happened. Please help save Linda Carty. Sign the petition today.

Quite simply brilliant. It is hard to say how useful this rack is without seeing it in action. We only have 5 chickens but were already getting confused with which arrived on what day. The Egg Skelter has solved the problem and solved it very well.

It is so simple and works so well. Whether you have chickens or not The Egg Skelter will work for you. It costs £19.75 from the website and download this order form to purchase.

And finally, it does look good as well!

After the last post on a new logo I thought I would try to improve the grunge look of my site. Have I achieved it please? I’m not sure. Elements work but do they work together? The white crumpled paper…. does it fit with the rest of the site design. I want to add other elements like different navigation links – maybe an image using a similar font as the header.

I never seem happy with my home site. I wish I could build one that really takes on my love of snails – maybe one day.

On Friday, I cooked for friends. I love cooking and I love doing it for mates. So if you want a meal give me a shout!!!

Anyway, here I am about to cook for friends and I turn to a recipe book given to me recently. It’s called “Sod the Diet” and it was written by Malcolm Harris and his alter-ego Shamus the Chef. He wrote it when he lived in Australia and so it definitely has a certain tang to it. It is a humorous approach to serious cooking and full of very interesting recipes. So I open and go looking…..

Well, a big up to Malc. This book is brilliant. In fact to good. Too many nice looking recipes and when you read how to make them you realise how simple. So I chose Lemon Peppered Chicken Goujon Salad with honey-chilli dipping sauce. Brilliant. Brilliant and did I mention brilliant. Very easy to make and I am told very tasty (I don’t eat meat). The salad that went with it was in superb company.

What did the guests say. “There was simply nothing wrong with the meal”. That simple.

If you want the book, buy Sod the Diet at The Cafe Academy and enjoy a calorie fest!

Ok this post is just a bit of fun.

Find out who truly is your role model. Mine was Steve MacQueen.

DON’T LOOK DOWN YET!!

FIRST, do the simple maths below…..

THEN, and only then scroll down to find your hero.

It’s CRAZY how accurate this is!

Ok here is the Maths:

1) Pick your favorite number between 1-8

2) Multiply by 3 then

3) Add 3

4) Then again Multiply by 3 (I’ll wait while you get a calculator…..)

5) You’ll get a 2 digit number…..maybe 42.

6) Add the digits together. Example 4 and 2 = 6

Now look down
………………

With that number, see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:

1. Albert Einstein
2. Charles Darwin
3. Mother Theresa
4. Winston Churchill
5. Nelson Mandela
6. Gandhi
7. Princess Diana
8. Martin Luther King
9 Richard Brown
10. Steve MacQueen
11. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
12. Dali Lama

I know…I just have that effect on people…One day you, too, can be like me…. Believe it!

P.S. Stop picking different numbers!! I AM YOUR IDOL, JUST DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!

1. Be grateful: Some study participants were asked to write letters of gratitude to people who had helped them in some way. The study found that these people reported a lasting increase in happiness – over weeks and even months – after implementing the habit. What’s even more surprising: Sending the letter is not necessary. Even when people wrote letters but never delivered them to the addressee, they still reported feeling better afterwards.

2. Be optimistic: Another practice that seems to help is optimistic thinking. Study participants were asked to visualize an ideal future – for example, living with a loving and supportive partner, or finding a job that was fulfilling – and describe the image in a journal entry. After doing this for a few weeks, these people too reported increased feelings of well-being.

3. Count your blessings: People who practice writing down three good things that have happened to them every week show significant boosts in happiness, studies have found. It seems the act of focusing on the positive helps people remember reasons to be glad.

4. Use your strengths: Another study asked people to identify their greatest strengths, and then to try to use these strengths in new ways. For example, someone who says they have a good sense of humor could try telling jokes to lighten up business meetings or cheer up sad friends. This habit, too, seems to heighten happiness.

5. Commit acts of kindness: It turns out helping others also helps ourselves. People who donate time or money to charity, or who altruistically assist people in need, report improvements in their own happiness.

View the full article here

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.
As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.
He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.
But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars.”
The man smiled and said, “Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose.”
He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers.
As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.
She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.”
She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.
The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s house.