Category: Random thoughts

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Seven swimming swans (make sure they’re swimming now, mind!)

Well, today spells the last of the bird gifts. Some interpretations of the meaning behind the song state that each gift represented something special for each month. Meaning that the swans would have been a gift for the seventh month. July. (Although I’ve also heard that October used to be year’s end, just a few hundred years ago, so maybe the seventh month for the ‘true love’ and his ‘singer’ wasn’t the same as the seventh month for us? I wonder…)

Anyway, why swans? Unlike the partridge, the hens, the ‘rings’ (pheasants) and the geese, they’re probably not edible – well, they’re not known for it, are they?! So maybe, like the turtle doves, they were included for aesthetic reasons, instead. (Their swimming abilities, methinks?! Hehe!) And I never quite decided why those Colly birds were included on Day 4, did I? Oh well… Swans, for me, remind me of that Fairy Tale “The Ugly Duckling”. I loved that story. The duckling had so much to be bitter about, but wasn’t. Something to aspire to!

Interestingly enough, that was one of the DVD’s I played for my kids in our long drive home, late last night. (Yes, we’re no longer flooded in – yay! As of yesterday, 4am, we were still on the “island” of 1770 / Agnes Waters, but by 6 had sneakily crossed over to Miriam Vale, by midday were doing a reccy of Gin Gin, and by 4pm had made it through Gin Gin and headed home. Twas a very late night, but SO worth the huge drive just to get to dry clothes and mud-free sheets!)

But back to the song. It looks like tomorrow’s on to the people. Maybe the ‘singer’ told the ‘true love’ that she’d had enough of birds?! But that, I guess, is a ponder for another time.

See you tomorrow, folks!

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

So it’s half a dozen geese today

So now it’s geese. Bigger birds, this time. And laying ones. (Hmmm… was that ‘Goose that laid the golden egg’ fable was around when this song was first created, by any chance?) But that brings us to six days of birds, with one more to go. Interesting, really. And I wonder if this song is the first example of when birds were associated with Christmas?

Never had geese. My only experience with them was a couple of years back, when my next-door neighbour had a small flock of them, half a dozen or so, visit her back verandah and swimming pool area. Being in her mid-60’s, she was powerless to drive them away. So there they stayed, all afternoon, apparently making the most horrendous noises, until their owner came home from work that evening, realised they were missing, and collected them. She didn’t mind too much – but wasn’t particularly impressed when she realised their deposits had stained her concrete. “They must do acid poos!” she kept on saying. We both just laughed.

No – my experiences are with ducks. As a kids, Dad brought home two of the cutest little ducklings for us one day. These two soft and fluffy creatures were quickly joined by another two (seriously – who could resist that softness?!) and we kids had fun making dams for our ducklings in the backyard. Another one joined them, and then two drakes, so we ended up with seven large white ducks within just a few months. Which was wonderful fun. Well, up until the drakes (Donald and Bilbo, from our interests at the time: Disney and Tolkien) learned how to nip at our ankles – and then, nip at any other part of our bodies they could reach. Hoo boy – then we were in for it! We quickly built a pen for them. And when they got out, there was a lot of squawking trying to get them back in! (From both two-legged species, let me tell you!) Still… they are some good memories. (Glad I’ve decided to bring my kids up with hens, though. Much safer than ducks!)

Well, I guess geese provide good meals. Both in eggs and in meat. And seven of them! For the next five days?!! That’s a lot of geese. A lot of noise. And a lot of acid poo!

Til tomorrow, folks!

(Oh, and if you’re interested, we’ve been able to re-supply with more fuel this morning, and milk too. Yay! Hopefully enough for another few days, at least…)

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

gold = yet more birds??! You’re kidding, right?

So what’s with all these birds? According to the ever trustworthy Wikipedia, “The fifth day’s gift of gold rings refers not to jewellry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant; or to “five goldspinks” – a goldspink being an old name for a Goldfinch.” The entry then goes on to say “When these errors are corrected, the pattern of the first seven gifts all being birds is restored.” So again, I ask you – what’s with all these birds? Hmmm…?

So yes, that was a bit of news for me. I had always thought that the ‘golden rings’ were just that. Gold rings. So finding out this next bit of trivia didn’t surprise me in the slightest:

The ‘Christmas Price Index’…

“Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the song have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. This custom began with and is maintained by PNC Bank. Two pricing charts are created, referred to as the Christmas Price Index and The True Cost of Christmas. The former is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The latter is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased. The total costs of all goods and services for the 2010 Christmas Price Index is $23,439. The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10.”

In 2009, this article was written: “Making one’s true love happy will cost a whopping $87,403 this year… according to the latest cost analysis of the items in the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

That’s the grand total for the single partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming, purchased repeatedly as the song suggests, according to the annual “Christmas Price Index” compiled by PNC Wealth Management.

Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investment for PNC Wealth Management… has been calculating the cost of Christmas since 1984. And the reason for the increase in 2009? He writes, “The main driver behind the higher cost is that the price of gold has increased 43 percent, bringing the five gold rings up $150 to $500.” Ha! I was not alone in my misconceptions then!

Still, for the gift to be 5 more birds – I guess the singer must be fond of eating bird meat?! I must confess – all birds, to me, taste like chicken. Hehe!

See you tomorrow, folks! (P.S. The rain seems to be stopping. The Laundromats all have queues out the doors, the bread’s all gone, and the local servo’s run out of petrol, but there’s hope that maybe we’ll get to something other than longlife milk yet!!!)

 

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Birds making the meal…

I guess blackbirds must be good for something. I wonder why the ‘true love’ wanted to give the singer four of them though?

(I should probably state upfront that whenever I think of blackbirds, I think of crows. And I don’t like crows. I mean – who does? When I lived in Brisbane and studied for my B.Ed. at Griffith, there were simply hundreds of the creatures at the MtGravatt campus. They were more obvious in the late afternoons, when the student population had decreased for the day, picking scraps out of the rubbish bins and making a horrible mess. Large creatures they were, too. But apparently I’m wrong. Crows aren’t blackbirds.)

Instead, blackbirds are, again, birds used for food – just as the partridges and hens were. The ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ nursery rhyme confirmed this. They’re quite a bit smaller than the crows I mistook them for though – which I guess is why you’d need 24 of them in a pie! They also form strong pairing relationships, so they fit in with the ‘devoted love’ theme of the song. Aww.

So back to my original question. Why four? Because you’d need that many for a reliable meal? Maybe so. Food is something at the forefront of my mind at the moment. Not just because it’s Christmas, but because I find myself for the first time, flooded in, and in a situation where we have a limited food supply for the foreseeable future. So for those of you believe in it, I’d love a few prayers sent heavenwards, to stop this rain so we can get some more food!!!

Anyway, best go. Nappies need changing and breakfast needs giving. Have a lovely day, everyone! Til tomorrow and its five gold “rings”!

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Three hens (the ones from France, please)

Okay, I’ll come right out and admit it. This one had me stumped. “Three French hens.” Seriously? Three hens? Why French ones? (Apparently the song itself is probably French in origin, so why specify the country when you’re living IN the country?)

And why something so bland and mundane after the rapturous “Two turtle doves”? We already had partridges and pear trees in the first verse, so I would have thought that the ‘food’ part of the gift was covered. (The silly section of my brain is saying “Would you like eggs with that?” right now…) Maybe the ‘true love’ was imparting the thought that the raptures of devoted love aren’t enough to meet the practicalities of daily living. Let’s face it. Three hens generally means three eggs a day – one for each meal. (Maybe not enough for two people to live off, but when you combine it with a pear or two, you might survive…)

Being practical makes sense to me, actually. Give me pragmatism any time, I think. People often tell me I’m pragmatic. (Hopefully they see it as a good trait! I certainly choose to take it as a compliment…) Super-organised is another word I get a lot. (Again, I’d prefer to see the positive side of that than the all-too-obvious negative I know that it generally manifests as! But back to my topic…)

When reading up on the song, I discovered that tomorrow’s was actually changed. It’s now ‘four calling birds’ but it used to be ‘four colly birds’ – otherwise known as blackbirds. And I’m mentioning it now because it’s going to take me at LEAST a day to think up what to write about them!!! So if I don’t post ‘til late tomorrow, you’ll know the reason why. Wish me luck in my ponders! And til then, Merry Christmas Day 3 style, all!

 

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Two turtle doves…

Okay, so I feel less guilty today. At least I checked Wikipedia for this one! (And yes, I was right in my assumptions yesterday about those partridges.) So, for those of you who didn’t know, turtle doves are the symbol for devoted love. (Aww.)

Pretty apt, when you think about the fact that we’re in the Christmas season. God sending His son to the world as a tiny baby, completely helpless in a soiled and sordid world. Now if that’s not love, I’m not sure what is. Becoming a mum recently enough to remember that feeling of utter incredulity at how helpless my own newborns were, I continually find it amazing that any parent could send their child into such a situation. Especially when already aware of the ending! But He did – and I for one am glad. But back to the song…

Today marks the second day of Christmas. The day the ‘true love’ gives ‘two turtle doves’ – birds known for their love and devotion. By the end of the song, the singer gets 22 of these doves. Eleven pairs. I guess the ‘true love’ really wanted to make sure his message was clear!

It makes me wonder though. What, in my life, am I that devoted to? Hmmm…

Thought to ponder for the day. So. ‘Til tomorrow, Merry Christmas, dear readers!

 

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#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Of partridges and pear trees

There’s a line in one of my daughter’s Winnie the Pooh DVD’s where Eeyore says to Tigger, “I didn’t know what to get you, so I got you me.” (He had wrapped himself up as a birthday present for Tigger’s first ever birthday.)

That’s kinda the way I’m feeling at the moment. This is my first ‘real’ post on my first ever personal blog, and I’m not really sure of ‘what to give’. In the words of the brief I’m currently writing (I’m studying a Masters in IT at QUT and am taking a Minor Project over the summer semester under the brilliant @katiedatwork) my ‘aims and objectives’ aren’t clear in my own head yet. Not too sure if I’m ‘meeting the needs of my audience’. Heck – who IS my audience even??!! (Do I have one? Probably not. Will I ever??! Hehe! Who knows?!!)

So anyway, here I am. Christmas Day 2010 and my head’s singing “On the first day of Christmas” because of this #blog12daysxmas challenge I’m attempting. (Thanks, @fionawb, by the way, for this fantastic idea! I doubt I would have had the guts to just ‘start blogging’ without your help!) Which brings me back to my initial thought of gifts, and of partridges and pear trees.

I don’t know much about partridges, except that they’re birds. Some people eat them, don’t they? A part two: find out more about topic of blog BEFORE commencing writing of same. Whoops!) Anyway, I’m pretty sure that they belong in the ‘poultry’ category – which makes sense when you pair them with the pears of the same line in the Christmas song. Both edible. (BTW, I liked that ‘paired with pears’, didn’t you? Hehe!)

So maybe that’s something to aim for with this little blog of mine. Something edible. Something to sink your teeth into, dear readers. To provoke thought, even. Something worthwhile. (I hope that I would NEVER waste your time! That my posts will always be worthy of that most precious of your commodities…)

I’m also thinking that I’d love it if I could use this blog to get feedback from you, my audience. (That’s assuming that someone out there actually does read this ramble! LOL) So please, if you’ve the inclination, I’d love to read your comments! I’ll even try to reply when I can!

So anyway, that’s about it for this first ever ‘real’ post. I hope you enjoyed it – and have a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

(PS Just got sent this one. Loved it so wanted to share it with you…)
watch?annotation_id=annotation_485296&v=GkHNNPM7pJA&feature=iv

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Random thoughts

Hello world!

Never had a personal blog before. Wondering how it’s all going to go…