Sunday AM Open Thread

 

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Good morning everyone. 🌈 🐸

Wednesday Evening OT 🏴‍☠️

 

Sunday Evening again!

 I've been watching the livestream of the volcano in Iceland, and it's very soothing. It's a slow eruption, so no big explosions, just slow moving, glowing lava. It was really pretty in the evening when the sky was all purply blue.

You can see some "before" photos here, along with links to more volcano webcams.

Discover magazine Iceland volcano

I got a number of things done this weekend, yet somehow the things I still need to do have multiplied. How does this happen? It was absolutely gorgeous this afternoon, so I was doing yard work wearing a t-shirt and jeans- no jacket! No hat! Or mitts! Woo hoo! I considered setting up the bbq, but I know spring is just toying with us.

Here is some Spring nonsense. See you in the comments!

Bonjor, everyone, c’est mardi! (OT)

 

“Good morning, mes amis!” Miss Piggy says, “It is time for moi to rise and shine bright like a diamond.”

Sunday Evening OT♥️

Sadly, the line outside the grocery store was too darn long, so I postponed the shopping, and don't have a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Here's to hoping they won't have cleared them all away to set up the Easter chocolate before I have a chance to get there on Tuesday! Discount chocolate, please!

In case you're feeling crafty and chatty: 

the spruce eats homemade conversation hearts

What message would you put on a candy heart?

Let's kick off the conversation below!

Sunday evening already

At the moment, all I can think about is the mac'n'cheese meal kit I picked up today to put together tomorrow at lunch. It comes with salsa verde, and it's the most amazing thing. 

This isn't quite what the kit looks like, but close enough.

This summer on a kayak trip, I tried spicing up my campsite kraft dinner (what box mac'n'cheese is called in Canada) with a little bbq jerky (soy jerky) and some cherry tomatoes. Also an excellent combination! So basically I've got cheese and noodles on the brain. What are your favourite dress-ups and variations for a nice, comforting dinner of macaroni and cheese?

Also this is happening, and I don't think we've discussed it yet.

Surely, this is the darkest, pinkest timeline.

The Muppets Lost Christmas Carol

 

Auntie Beeb has the skinny on a song that was cut from the original cinema release of A Muppet Christmas Carol.  Will they reinstate in time for Christmas?

Saturday Stuffing

 

https://youtu.be/deSPDfdVSxo?t=3

Get stuffed! It's National Stuffing Day in some quarters. So get out that pack of Paxo and plump up some poultry. Why is Paxo called Paxo? Not quite sure, but butcher John Crampton from Eccles, Manchester concocted the herby breadcrumb mix as an extra for customers in 1901 when chicken was still a luxury meat. Come the Fifties, popularity began to snowball.

Of course, this time of year you need a big bird.

It is also Gingerbread Cookie Day, World Television Day, Red Mitten Day, Adoption Day, Pumpkin Pie Day, Guinness World Record Day, Alascattlo Day, False Confession Day, International Games Day and others.

You might need to indulge in some time travel to check these out.

Odd stuff!

Tomorrow is the day for mixing mincemeat to use in pies, puddings and tarts.

#OnThisDay 1978: Miss Piggy was in town and her mind was very much set on Mr Parkinson. Poor Kermit! pic.twitter.com/57Auidvns7

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) November 20, 2020

Pretty sure that Frank Oz later reminded Parky that he had been making love to his left arm.

Beyonce is ladling the love for the December Vogue. Her gear is inspired by Welsh lovespoons, the colour of cottages at St Fagans Museum, and fabrics on display. Last year I could say "Amgueddfa", this year it has gone.

A hero of the Resistance.

Jan Morris dies. Obituary.

Translating the cat's meow! 

I can tell them that Tiddly has more than 13 ways to say feed me.

And as for this chap ...

You could get philosophical about this.

Not just mice then ...  

Sack o' Bats.

Dozy Dormouse gets stuck.

The World of Pygmy Sea Horses.

Shiver me timbers, lover. It's Blackbeard.

There is a tv version of this, but I'm not sure it travels so well.

Barak Obama talks to David Olusoga. 

Obama takeaways.

Radio 4's Book At Bedtime will be serialising Obama's memoir in December and it will be available online after broadcast. It usually comes in 15 minute chunks.

Some years back, the buzz word was "imperial overstretch", broadly the idea that empires had a finite life expectancy, hence the end of the Roman, Ottoman and British empires, to name a few, and part of the forward projection was about America reaching that tipping point, if it could be averted, and so on. Wondering if that deserves a relook?

So what do recent years tell us about America? 

Hidden figure behind GPS.

In Scotland there is no sympathy for Margaret Ferrier, MP after her Covid flit to London and back.

#OnthisDay 1985: Glyn Worsnip caught up with the “pictorial poet” Norman Thelwell to chat about his career as a cartoonist. pic.twitter.com/8NAV0oKlPN

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) November 20, 2020

Just in case you were wondering ...

Last week I asked who was the swish chick knocking down a baddy henchman? No guesses, no answers given, no points awarded. It was, of course, tennis champ Jamie Sommers as played by Lindsay Wagner in the tv series The Bionic Woman. Jamie's dog was Maximillian the Bionic Dog, commonly known as Max. I don't think she had a cat. 

The image was from the comic version as drawn for Look-In by John Bolton before he went on to Night-Raven, Hulk, Kull, Black Dragon, X-Men, Books of Magic, Man-Bat, et al. They had a bit of a bionic overload in Look-In for what felt like an eternity. There was a Six Million Dollar Man feature upfront and then The Bionic Woman later on. The two eventually combined as Bionic Action. Simple days!

This week, who voiced Teller in the Penn & Teller episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?

Over to you folks!