Here is my take on Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Ripples this week.
First, some evening shots along the shores near my home:
This morning I shot these pics of my husband and Vivian on their pre-breakfast jaunt:
There were a few “ripples” of laughter from behind the camera too. 
I’m sharing a few smiles I’ve collected from around the world in today’s post. While you listen to the great Louis Armstrong, it is my hope these photos will put a smile on your face too. 🙂
Cuba:
Jamaica:
Italy:
Friends in Florida:
Relatives in Ottawa:
Dominican Republic:
This morning I read a funny post by 40 is the new 13, a fellow blogger, on how children make crazy assumptions based on their own brand of logic, such as dogs are boys and cats are girls.
It sparked a memory for me. It wasn’t of an assumption one of my kids made, but a memory of what my son said one day when he was in grade two. I think it would be considered a malapropism.
Above is a pic I took of my boy back in the day, waiting for the school bus on his first day of kindergarten. When he got to second grade, his teacher, Mrs. Snow, was a kind and lovely young woman, and all the children adored her.
One day, when my little boy was nearing the end of that school year, he got off the bus and came home with an interesting piece of news. My friend and I were chatting over coffee when he entered the kitchen. He dropped his book bag and announced,
“Guess what? Mrs. Snow isn’t going to be a grade two teacher anymore.”
“No?” I asked, curious. “Is she giving up teaching already?” It seemed odd because she was nowhere near the age of retirement. “Oh, she’s going to teach a different grade, is she?”
“No,” he said. “She’s going to be a prostitute teacher.”
I nearly choked on my coffee, while my friend tried in vain to suppress her laughter.
Now the first thing I did was gently correct him. “You must mean substitute teacher, honey.”
The next thing I thought was, where did he hear that word? It wasn’t a word that was bandied about in our household. It wasn’t like he was living in a bordello, or that we let him watch a steady stream of TV shows like Hill Street Blues or Spencer for Hire. And I sure as heck couldn’t imagine it as a topic of conversation among him and the other kids around his age. How did this word get into his vocabulary?
To this day, the answer remains a mystery.
Another one I liked was when my niece asked for a “girl-cheese” sandwich. Even when her mother corrected her, she continued to say it.
“It’s my cheese sandwich. And I’m a girl, right?”
Did you have any “verbal typos” to share from your childhood, or from one of your own kids?
(Of course, you don’t need to be a kid to say the darndest thing. The other day I called a take-out restaurant and asked if they had any “pressure-treated” chicken. I’m still shaking my head over that one. 😉 )
More fun reading:
Dogs are boys, Cats are girls
This week’s photo challenge at the Daily Post inspired me to have a look back on our memorable trip to Italy and France. It didn’t take long to come “up” with some photos that fit nicely with the theme.
(Not sure if it’s against the rules to share more than one. ;)) I hope you enjoy them.
I’m baaack!
Hello there, Peeps. Vivian K. Perry here, Jennifer’s (dare I say) favourite cat. Just don’t tell my sister Maisie, capiche?
Jennifer asked me back to host her blog today, because she is a little bogged down writing an especially exciting chapter of her new novel.
Whatever! I was happy to oblige, nonetheless. This is my second time guest blogging on Jennifer’s Journal. If you’re interested, and I’m sure you are because I’m so cute, you can see my first post from last summer here.
Maisie and I do agree on one thing: we are getting bored with the cold weather. We miss the summer days of hunting little creatures, and basking in the sun. It is warming up a bit, but it’s still darn chilly on the paws most days.
So we while away the hours with our indoor activities.
Sometimes, we get on each other’s nerves, as sisters often do. I was thinking Maisie looked entirely too comfortable having our little house all to herself, so I had to act.
Of course, at other times Maisie and I are closer-than-this:
But what is my Number One Favourite Activity?
That’s right,
Dreaming of Summer
Thank you for visiting Vivian’s View from Here! We hope you enjoyed it. 🙂
Would you like to see more of Maisie and Vivian? Check out these links:
Cats on Ice: Exploring Spring Thaw in Iceberg Alley
Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to learn my blog has been nominated for the Liebster Award, by Alessia and Fabrizio, the authors of a lovely blog I’ve been recently following, Maple&Saffron.
Thank you, Alessia and Fabrizio! I recommend for my readers to check out this wonderful cooking and travel blog, by a couple who have immigrated to Canada from a country I adore, Italy.
Here are the rules for this award:
Okay, time to get down to business. Here are my random facts:
Maple&Saffron ask:
Here are my nominations, lovely blogs on some of my favourite topics. For those of you nominated who don’t do awards or don’t have time to participate, please know that I understand. For those who do, thank you for participating. Your questions to answer are after the nominations list.
Welcome to my Mind, Pull up a Chair
Here is my contribution to this week’s travel photo challenge, Bridges, by Ailsa at wheresmybackpack.com.
I simply had to begin with my favourite bridge from my travels in Europe, the Ponte Vecchio.
And now for a couple of bridges that are closer to home:
When you get a beautiful sunny day around here in the middle of February, it’s almost impossible to resist the urge to get outside and enjoy it. And especially so, when the forecast is telling you that it is the calm before yet another winter storm.
Yes, the winds are going to whip up again tonight, and we’ll have to be content with more cocooning. But yesterday my husband and I enjoyed a walk on the branch road, on perhaps the most brilliant winter day we’ve had this year.
Here is a sampling of some photos from our walk.
How about where you live? Are you enjoying your February weather?
I was a little disappointed this morning when I learned our area wouldn’t be getting the big dumping of snow that St. John’s and the rest of the Avalon Peninsula has in their forecast. Everyone there is bracing for up to seventy centimeters of the white stuff, while we are only expecting five to ten.
Boo! 😦
But then along came a little visitor down by our beach.
I thought it was an adult harp seal first, because he appeared to be mostly black.
But as I inched closer…and he turned to see me…
I could see more spottiness and some “whitecoat” on his other side.
When I reassured him that I meant no harm, he seemed to squint his eyes…sort of like my cats do when I talk “love talk” to them. 🙂
Don’t worry, little seal.
You are so very close to my house.
I’m not fond of seal meat or flipper pie, so you have nothing to fear from me.
So even though I’m going to miss the big snowfall back home, I never could have gotten these pics back in my old backyard !
To see photos of the baby seal, or whitecoat, that visited us last winter, click here, and scroll down. 🙂
Jennifer's Journal 