Frog End

Psychometric Tests

2008-10-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

In preparation for applying for jobs I got a book out of the library on psychometric tests - describing the purpose and style of the different types of test used by employers when they recruit staff.

In general I would say that I am not a 'visual person'. Whilst I may notice the animals and plants around me more than most people I am generally quite unaware of my surroundings. I can rarely remember the type of cars my family own, let alone their license plate numbers. I never know what eye colour people have (though I do try to look people in the eye when I talk to them) etc.

Of the type of questions that come up in IQ type tests the ones I struggle with the most are usually visual. This is an example from my book. Please can somebody help me understand how to do these...

Neither Ian (a visual person) nor Mum (very good at puzzles in general) can do it either. I've put the answer in a comment to this blog and would greatly appreciate it if someone could explain how to get it. Thank you!

A new blog

2008-09-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have started a new blog, the reasons for which will become apparent when you have read the first entry:

http://hje-at-home.blogspot.com/

Pensthorpe Gardens

2008-08-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

I often use google image search to get ideas for gardens. My favourite gardens that I've visited are at Pensthorpe (http://www.pensthorpe.com/) in Norfolk. I was originally attracted to Pensthorpe due to its water gardens and associated wildlife, but the flower borders left a much more lasting impression.

My absolute favourite is their millenium garden, designed by Piet Oudolf (www.oudolf.com). Paths wind through enormous borders featuring colourful perennials and grasses. Careful planting has resulted in a most spectacular display from early summer right through the winter. Some of my favourite pictures are below, but see gap photos for more details.

In late autumn and winter the grasses and seedheads dominate the gardens.

Kinkajou

2008-08-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not generally keen on the phase lots of celebrities are going through at the moment - having odd pets, particularly small yappy dogs. I do, however, adore this little honey bear featured on the BBC today...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/7544862.stm

Book blog

2008-07-30T15:04:00.001-07:00

Having been inspired by my father I've started a new blog about books

http://frog-books.blogspot.com/

Both Ian and I will be contributing, but I can't say with what frequency. I feel very inspired to read at the moment, Ian having put up lots of shelving in the lounge. For the first time in a very long time the majority of my books are on a shelf. This has made me realise how many of them I haven't yet read and others that I want to reread. I suspect many will have to wait til winter though as it seems such a shame to stay indoors when the weather is good and the garden needs so much attention.

ga or wa?

2008-07-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Could someone who actually studied grammar at school (or anywhere else) please explain to me the difference between the topic and the subject of a sentence. I'm asking because my Japanese grammar book assumes that I know and I don't and I'm therefore unsure of when to use some particles...

'When the topic of the sentence is different to the grammatical subject, the grammatical subject is followed by ga (the topic is followed by wa)'

I have an example:

I don't understand English: Eigo ga wakaranai desu (literally, English ga don't understand)

I don't eat Japanese food: Nihonshoku wa tabenai desu (literally, Japanese food wa don't eat)

I'm sure I should be able to figure this out, but I can't seem to. Help please!

If you're feeling lonely...

2008-07-22T08:13:00.001-07:00

There's an article on the BBC website today about talking to strangers - whether or not people consider it polite, are willing to strike up a conversation and if the weather is the best subject to start on.

Often I read the comments section at the bottom of BBC articles. I really liked this one...

'The other day someone gave me a helium balloon shaped like a panda, and I had to take it across London. If you want people to talk to you, take a panda! I simply couldn't believe how many people (guys, girls, groups, couples, individuals, young, old) stopped to talk to me, to ask the panda's name, to ask if he was dangerous, what he ate... In a city where usually no one speaks to anyone, an anthropomorphic balloon is an instant bond with - apparently - everyone!'

So now you know what to do if you're bored and have no one to talk to!

Sunflowers

2008-07-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

I commented to Ian today that one of our sunflowers has a bud on it. That got me thinking about how much money we could save on bird food if we had room to grow a few sunflowers each year, which got us on to a conversation about sunflower oil and the fact that we weren't entirely sure which part of the sunflower the oil comes from. Of course it seemed sensible that it came from the seeds, but then as Ian pointed out, 'why is it not called sunflower seed oil'?

As you'll no doubt know the oil does indeed come from the seeds, or rather what we refer to as the seeds. In fact these are actually the fruit of the sunflower, the true seeds being encased in an inedible husk. I guess the fact that we call it olive oil and not olive fruit oil means that sunflower oil does follow the same pattern. In addition to the seed not being a seed, nor is the flower actually a flower - it is a head of numerous flowers crowded together.

Sekigahara

2008-07-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading 'autumn bridge' by takashi matsuoka, the sequel to his excellent 'cloud of sparrows'. They are primarily books about Japan in the 19th Century, but autumn bridge actually jumps around from the 14th to the late 19th century. This may sound confusing, and it is (especially when your bookmark falls out), but I'm really enjoying it.

Through reading these two books I've learned lots of new Japanese words and lots of Japanese history. The trouble is that I've no idea what is and isn't history. Like the Bernard Cornwell books they contain information on a number of major events and characters and are very well researched. Unfortunately whilst it is generally easy to determine who is and isn't 'made up' in the Cornwell books my lack of knowledge of Japan makes this much more difficult.

The primary rivalries among the samurai in the 19th century result from the outcome of the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. This is commonly known as the Realm Divide and cleared the path to the shogunate for the Tokugawa clan, the last shogunate to control Japan.

James Clavell's Shogun is also a fictionalized account of the rise to fame of the first Tokugawa shogun (thinly disguised as "Toranaga"), culminating in the Battle of Sekigahara.

These days one of Sekigahara's few non-martial attractions is the profusion of fireflies in the area. Lake Mishima is home to a particularly famous firefly spot housing hundreds if not thousands on a good day. A Firefly Festival is held there in the early summer.

Myanmar or Burma?

2008-05-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to blog this afternoon, but recommend this link to anyone who is confused what we should be calling the country recently hit by cyclone Nargis...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7389525.stm

3rd May 2008

2008-05-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

A few photographs from my Bryony and Mark's wedding yesterday...

Master slow

2008-04-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

ooops... accidentally posted this on the wrong blog. Does that ever happen to anyone else?

Having got back from California yesterday I was having a lovely relaxing lunch outside with Ian and william when I noticed that in fact there were four of us sitting on the gravel. Master slow worm was so still that we both feared he was dead. He even let ants run over him, but upon close inspection (and a little encouragement with a twig) he turned out to be very much alive.

This is the second baby slow worm we've had now; I uncovered the first last year, but it wriggled into the grass so quickly I could barely be sure that it was indeed a slow worm. This one was much less interested in getting away and actually stayed where we placed him in the undergrowth for over half an hour.

Whilst watching him we disturbed a frog. Our second frog in the garden and the first since we put in the pond. Very pleased.

Mr Bun the baker

2008-04-10T02:25:00.000-07:00

With the addition of some large shelves to the left of the fireplace in the lounge I have been able to display my favourite childrens books for the first time in many years. These include the Brian Jacques Redwall series, books by Colin Dann, Dick King Smith and a few other odd ones. A couple of days ago I decided to reread 'the rectory mice' and was amused to find a reference to the happy families card game and Mr bun the baker.

I spent many happy times playing happy families in my grandparents lounge. Having looked the card game up on Wikipedia I've found that there were many versions, with different families, but some of the other families I remember are Chop, the Butcher, and Sole, the Fisherman/Fishmonger?

Unfortunately I can't find a picture on the internet of the set we used to have, but the daily mail has made a set for the modern age, which is similar in style to the cards that we had.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=468633&in_page_id=1879

Ginkgo Biloba

2008-04-06T07:36:00.001-07:00

I've always wondered how to pronounce ginkgo biloba and have finally looked it up. Ginkgo comes from the Chinese (and later Japanese) ginkyo meaning silver (gin) apricot (kyo). In Japanese this would be pronounced geen kyoh. Engelbert Kaempfer, responsible for the current awkward spelling as written in his "Amoenitates Exoticae", unfortunately made a mistake by writing kgo instead of kyo when making his notes in Japan. The current accepted pronunciation is GINK-oh.

Biloba (pronounced by-LOH-ba) comes from the Latin for two-lobed (bi from Latin "bis" meaning double, loba meaning lobes), the leaf being fan-shaped with a split in the middle.

Cities of Germany

2008-01-20T02:45:00.000-08:00

Ian and I are currently taking a German language course at the University. One week we learned how to say 'city A is in Germany', 'city B is not in Switzerland' etc. Unfortunately we all hesitated as to which cities were in Switzerland and which were in fact in Germany. Coupled with the fact that I can't actually put on a map the German cities that I do know I've decided to put up a very simple map on the blog. Suspect one of Switzerland will appear on the blog sooner or later.

Chinese New Year Presiding Animals

2008-01-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Rat (2008, 1996...)
Ox (2009, 1997)
Tiger (2010, 1998)
Rabbit (2011, 1999)
Dragon (2012, 2000)
Snake (2013, 2001)
Horse (2014, 2002)
Sheep (2015, 2003)
Monkey (2016, 2004)
Rooster (2017, 2005)
Dog (2018, 2006)
Pig (2019, 2007)

Cashews

2008-01-09T05:09:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas we were wondering why it is that none of us could picture a cashew shell (whereas most other nuts can be bought in their shells). Cashews - the true fruit of the cashew tree grow attached to a false or accessory fruit, known as the cashew apple (though it looks more like a pepper in shape). The cashew apple is edible and very sweet, but difficult to transport (presumably why we don't ever see them in the UK).

Cashew nuts themselves are surrounded by a double shell. The nut is found on the end closest to the cashew apple. The other end is honeycombed with cells that contain a toxic fluid called cardol that blisters the mouth. For many years, the cashew was referred to as the blister nut.

Isaac Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics

2008-01-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

Having watched I, Robot last night I thought I'd put these up on the blog today.

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Leaders of the Soviet Union

2008-01-03T07:12:00.001-08:00

Vladimir Lenin (really Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) (1922-1924)
Josef Stalin (really Joseph Vissarionovich Jugashvili ) (1927-1953)
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkof (Chairman of the council of ministers under Krushchev from 1953-1955)
Nikita Sergeyevitch Krushchev (1953-1964)
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (1964-1982)
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (1982-1984)
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (1984-1985)
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (1985-1991)

Chestnut Centre & the New Forest Otters and Owls

2007-12-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

Today my father, partner and I went to the Chestnut Centre, a conservation and wildlife park located within the Peak District National Park, in Derbyshire. The Chestnut Centre is set in the grounds of Ford Hall, and much of it still comprises the original deer park.

http://www.chestnutcentre.co.uk/welcome.htm

The centre is home to a number of British mammals and owls, as well as some foreign species, including what had to be the highlight of the day - a giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) from South America. I had previously thought that giant otters looked ugly whenever I had seen a picture, but it turns out that they are lovely animals. They have shorter and darker fur than the otters I'm used to (Eurasian, North American River and Asian Short-Claw), but have a wonderful personality. Manoki the male otter at the chestnut centre was extremely vocal and happy to squeal or chatter to the visitors. Well worth a visit.

The Chestnut Centre has been open since 1984 and yet none of my family (all from the North West) had heard of it until Ian and I went to their partner centre in the New Forest.

http://www.ottersandowls.co.uk/welcome.htm

The two places have similar species, but being set in different National Parks have very different scenery. The Chestnut Centre has a lovely stream/river running through it, which runs past the Eurasian and Asian otter pens and actually through the pen of the giant otter. As one would expect the New Forest Centre is much more wooded, but also seemed to have more enclosures. Of particular interest is a large indoor section, which houses some of Britains smaller mammals, including stoats, harvest mice, hedgehogs etc. It also has (I think) all but one species of British deer (sika, fallow, roe, red and muntjac), wild boar, mink and probably a couple of other extra animals.

I recommend both places to anyone interested in seeing British mammals. The chances of seeing a Scottish wildcat, pine marten, European otter etc in the wild being so small they give you a great opportunity to see these less familiar species close up.

woodlands

2007-12-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

For at least 3 or 4 years I have on occasion passed the following sign whilst out in the countryside:

Each time I passed the sign I intended to look at the website when I got home and each time I forgot. Recently I began reading a book on woodlands and it suddenly dawned on me that I had never explored the site. Ian and I spent the next 2 hours drooling over woodlands all over the country. Many of them have strict guidelines regarding what you can and can't do if you buy them, but those are there to protect the wildlife so one cannot really mind that.

Since that night we have started a savings account for a wood. Unfortunately, according to my father the prices of woods have rocketed in the last few years. Fingers crossed that they don't continue to do so.

It's amazing how many woods are for sale in the UK and the variety of wildlife and landscapes that they capture. The woods mention deer, wild boar, badgers, otters, water voles, migrating geese, ... the list goes on. You can even purchase your very own stretch of a riverbank or the edge of a Norfolk broad (http://www.woodlands.co.uk/buying-a-wood/east-anglia/ferry-lane-wood/ in particular appealed to us).

Forestry qualifies for 100% relief from inheritance tax once you have owned it for more than 2 years. This includes the value of the land and the trees.

Beginners Russian

2007-12-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

It’s only December 19th and as usual I’ve already thought of a million things I want to do or learn over the Christmas period. This year it includes learning statistics (not a simple matter, the 6 months of courses that I took in the past having failed to sink in), revising the last term of a German course in preparation for the new year, reading half a dozen books, writing 2 papers...

To add to this I bought a book on beginners Russian today (the new penguin complete course for beginners). I’ve been wanting to learn Russian for a couple of years now and Ian and I made a good attempt at learning the alphabet last March, but have progressed little since (although da and nyet can be heard in our house every day). I really like this book as it has lots of example passages in Russian, including sections from Russian novels and maps of Moscow city centre, places in Russia etc.

Borders

2007-12-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

Norway has borders with Sweden, Finland and Russia. Apologies to all of you who think that is obvious, but had anyone asked me half an hour ago I would have said that it only bordered Sweden.

Reindeer

2007-12-17T15:21:00.000-08:00

Reindeer (known as Caribou when wild in North America) are a type of deer found in the arctic and sub-arctic. Domesticated reindeer are mainly found in Russia and Scandinavia, whereas wild reindeer are mostly found in Norway, North America, Greenland, Iceland and South Georgia.

Both sexes have antlers which (in the Scandinavian variety) for old males fall off in December, for young males in the early spring, and for females, summer. Reindeer eat lichens, mushrooms, tree leaves, sedges and grasses and on occasion have been known to feed on lemmings, fish and birds eggs. During the summer, when their natural climate thaws and the ground is soft and muddy, their hooves become a bit spongy, which helps them to maintain traction in the sticky, sludgy environment. In the winter, the spongy foot pads of the caribou will shrink to expose the rim of the hoof, so that it can cut into the ice and snow and help hold the caribou’s footing.

Santa Claus' sleigh is pulled by flying reindeer. These were first named in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, (which I know by the alternative name 'Twas the night before Christmas') where they are called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem. Dunder was later changed to Donder and — in other works — Donner, and Blixem was later changed to Blitzen. Some consider Rudolph as part of the group as well, though he was not part of the original named work referenced previously, and did not join the sleigh team until later.

Russian Names

2007-12-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working my way through reading the Heron book set of the Greatest Masterpieces of Russian Literature. Throughout I have found the Russian system of names confusing. Having looked into the matter it appears that there are a number of rules, which unfortunately have changed over time, but I'll attempt to describe the most important ones here.

The complete Russian name is formed of a given name, patronymic, and a family name. Russian given names are often taken from the names of saints, especially those from Eastern Orthodox tradition, which are often of Greek origin. In the last century traditional Slavic names have again come into use.

One of the earliest means of differentiating one person from another person with the same name was the use of a patronymic.

If the father's given name ended in "-a" or "-ia," the basic patronymic ending is "-in" or "-yn," respectively (with the "a" or "ia" dropping out). Otherwise, the patronymic ended in an "-ov" or "-ev." The basic rule is that an "o" occured after a hard consonant, while an "e" occured after a soft consonant or in place of a vowel (i.e., with the vowel dropping out).2 If the name ends in "-ii" or "-yi," both vowels tend to drop out. They are replaced with a soft sign (') and the "-ev" ending (e.g., Vasilii becomes Vasil'ev).

So... Aleksei fathers Alekseev, Anton fathers Antonov, Mikhail fathers Mikhailov Boroda fathers Borodin, Malina (a man's name!) fathers Malinin, Sviatoslav fathers Sviatoslavov Vasilii fathers Vasil'ev, Iakov fathers Iakovlev, Iev fathers Ievlev.

Patronymics ending in "-vich" were popular in Novgorod and Pskov amongst the upper classes. However, by the 16th and 17th centuries Moscow had restricted the use of the "-vich" suffix to only the highest dignitaries. Simply add an "-ich" to the basic patronymic construction above, with the exception of given names that end in "-av" (in which case, the "ov" used in the aboveconstruction drops out to ease pronunciation): Alekseev becomes Alekseevich, Antonov becomes Antonovich, Mikhailov becomes Mikhailovich Borodin becomes Borodinich, Malinin becomes Malininich, Sviatoslavov becomes Sviatoslavich (note the missing "ov"!) Vasil'ev becomes Vasil'evich, Iakovlev becomes Iakovlevich, Ievlev becomes Ievlevich.

In most cases, women used the same types of patronymics as men. However, their bynames had to agree with the gender of the subject, which, in Russian, means that they had to add an "a" on the end. Therefore: Alekseev becomes Alekseeva, Antonov becomes Antonova, Mikhailov becomes Mikhailova, Borodin becomes Borodina, Malinin becomes Malinina, Sviatoslavov becomes Sviatoslavova Vasil'ev becomes Vasil'eva, Iakovlev becomes Iakovleva, Ievlev becomes Ievleva The same applied to patronymics written with a "-vich," which also had an "a" added to them e.g. Alekseevicha, Antonovicha, Mikhailovicha, Borodinicha, Malininicha, Sviatoslavicha, Vasil'evicha, Iakovlevicha, and Ievlevicha.

The given names can each have several different diminutives. Those of you familiar with Doctor Zhivago, for example, will know that Larissa was known to the majority of the other characters as Lara and her husband Pavel was known as Pasha. Here are some of the other diminutives that I've come across in my reading...

Aleksandr = Sasha, Shurik

Andrei = Andryusha

Fyodor = Fedya

Grigoriy = Grisha

Ivan = Vanya

Konstantin = Kostya

Mikhail = Misha

Pavel = Pasha

Pyotr (Petr) = Petya

Vladimir = Vova, Volodya

Anastasiya = Nastya

Anna = Anya

Antonina = Tonya

Larisa = Lara

Nadezhda = Nadya

Nataliya = Natasha

Tatiyana (Tatiana) = Tanya

Yekaterina = Katya, Katyusha

Yelena (Elena) = Lena

On This Day

2007-12-14T03:03:00.001-08:00

A small entry to prevent my fathers second visit to my site beginning with the wombles.

On December 14th 1911 the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole.

The Wombles

2007-12-14T02:50:00.000-08:00

Many apologies to my father in advance for blogging so early regarding a subject he is less than fond of, but recently a Christmas quiz asked for the names of as many wombles as we could remember (including bonus points for guest wombles) and I'm afraid we only managed 4.

Elisabeth Beresford developed the characters around members of her family, and named them after places the family had associations with:

Great Uncle Bulgaria - the Wombles' leader, was based on Beresford's father-in-law
Tobermory - an engineer and handyman, was based on Beresford's brother, a skilled inventor
Orinoco - a shirker who loved sleep and food, was styled on Beresford's teenage son
Bungo - over-enthusiastic and bossy
Tomsk - athletic Womble
Wellington - scientifically inclined, named after her nephew's school
Madame Cholet - a cook, was styled on Beresford's mother

Later character names for the second series developed in the same manner:
Alderney - Madame Cholet's assistant, was named after where Beresford lived at the time of the second television series
Shansi - often paired with Alderney, as Bungo was with Orinoco
Miss Adelaide - schoolmistress
Stepney - East Ender with dreadlocks

My partner Ian would say his worst problem is his lack of a memory, and yet he can remember with extreme clarity many many things from his childhood. This includes a knack for childrens programmes theme songs (not just the tune, but also the lyrics - something I am completely incapable of). Remarkably the wombles isn't one of the ones he knows.

Underground, Overground, Wombling Free,
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we.
Making good use of the things that we find,
Things that the everyday folks leave behind.

Uncle Bulgaria,
He can remember the days when he wasn't behind The Times,
With his map of the World.
Pick up the papers and take them to Tobermory!

Wombles are organized, work as a team.
Wombles are tidy and Wombles are clean.
Underground, Overground, wombling free,
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we!

People don't notice us, they never see,
Under their noses a Womble may be.
We womble by night and we womble by day,
Looking for litter to trundle away.

We're so incredibly, utterly devious
Making the most of everything.
Even bottles and tins.
Pick up the pieces and make them into something new,
Is what we do!

DVD Regions

2007-12-14T02:23:00.000-08:00

Every time I buy a DVD online I have to check which region it can be played in. This would be a lot quicker if I could remember which region is which. Now most sensibly I would have attempted to remember that all I really care about is the European region 2 (of course the US had to be region 1). Unfortunately every time I check the map I attempt to learn all the regions (under the assumption that this greater understanding will lead me never to forget). Instead this leads me to be entirely confused (why are Egypt and south Africa not in the african region, for example??) and causes me to forget the simple important fact that 99% of the people I buy for need region 2.

As an alternative solution my family could always check that they've got the right region before they add a DVD to their amazon wish lists. Do you do this already?? I know I've got it wrong in the past.

The twelve days of Christmas

2007-12-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

Each year on 'tree day' I hang 12 little gold pears on the Christmas tree. Each pear has a picture for one of the 12 days of Christmas and each year I remind myself to learn the entire song. It has always seemed easy to go from 6 geese a-laying down to the partridge, but for some reason the other 6 have always remained muddled.

Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!

The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th). In these traditions, the twelve days begin December 26 and include Epiphany on January 6.

There have been many adaptations to the carol in recent times. Whilst the English version uses 'my true love sent to me', many US versions say 'my true love gave to me'. Modern versions tend to say golden as opposed to gold rings. Four calling birds was originally four colly (black as coal) birds and then of course there is the Andy Williams version, which is entirely different altogether.

1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Another new blog

2007-12-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Every day I think to myself 'I wish I knew that' at least a dozen times. Of course this is always succeeded by promises that I will learn various things, but more often than not the information goes in one ear and out the other. So today I shall begin to write down some random pieces of information that I wish I'd known years ago in the hope that from time to time I can use this blog as a reminder.