Showing Tag: " humour" (Show all posts)

Of pygmies, palms and pirates (27 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 27, 2012,

Time for some poetry (another daily blogging challenge tradition!) -

Of pygmies, palms and pirates by Mervyn Peake

Of pygmies, palms and pirates,
Of islands and lagoons,
Of blood-bespotted frigates,
Of crags and octoroons,
Of whales and broken bottles,
Of quicksands cold and grey,
Of ullages and dottles,
I have no more to say.

Of barley, corn and furrows,
Of farms and turf that heaves
Above such ghostly burrows
As twitch on summer eves
Of fallow-land and pasture,
Of skies both pink and grey,
I made my statem...
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Cinderella (29 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 29, 2011,

It's something of a tradition that I post a favourite piece of nonsense verse at some point during a daily blogging challenge. I've previously blogged Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll) and On the Ning Nang Nong (Spike Milligan). I've even posted some of my own adolescent poetry :)

So here's another favourite:

Cinderella by Roald Dahl

I guess you think you know this story.
You don't. The real one's much more gory.
The phoney one, the one you know,
Was cooked up years and years ago,
And made to sound all so...
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Aspic Delight! (22 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, In : Food & Recipes

A colleague of mine recently took part in a retro dinner party, where all of the food had to be popular dishes from the 50s and 60s. We had a marvellous conversation on this topic, dredging up all kinds of memories of foods of the era that we'd seen in films or on television, but especially from our own recipe collections. It was this conversation that inspired us to make blancmange this week :)

During our discussion, I reminisced about a set of old Weight Watchers recipe cards that my Mum onc...
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Ning Nang Nong (23 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, June 23, 2010,

I have a real soft spot for nonsense verse :)

On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan

On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
and the monkeys all say BOO!
There's a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go Clang
And you just can't catch 'em when they do!
So its Ning Nang Nong
Cows go Bong!
Nong Nang Ning
Trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
The mice go Clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!

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Pie fight! (6 June)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Sunday, June 6, 2010,

I've been feeling a bit low today, so I'm going to post a link to a video that never fails to cheer me up :)

This pie fight scene is from The Great Race. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon were wonderful on screen together (Some Like It Hot is another of my favourite films). Tony Curtis plays the hero, The Great Leslie, complete with sparkling white teeth. Jack Lemmon is the villainous Professor Fate, dressed all in black (he also plays Crown Prince Hapnick in a mistaken identity subplot). Natalie Wo...
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A young poet

Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, February 5, 2010, In : Creativity

I've been working my way through boxes of "stuff" that migrated from my parents' garage into our spare room many years ago, never to be looked at again. Until now, that is. In preparation for our move, I have been busily sorting and culling. It's amazing how much paperwork can build up over the years!

I'll write a blog post some other day on the treasures and embarrassments that I've uncovered along the way, but today I thought I'd share with you some poetry that I wrote 20 years ago in high s...
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Advent Calendar - Day 13 (Roxy's 15 Minutes of Fame)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Sunday, December 13, 2009,

I can't think of anything to blog about today.

So I'll link to someone else's blog entry instead ;)

First Blog on the Moon - Reader's Pets (10 July 2009)

Earlier this year, Crikey's lovable cartoonist First Dog on the Moon put out a call for photos of reader's pets. I responded, and - voila! - our cat Roxy was featured on his blog! I was far more excited than she was, of course :)

P.S. If you do go and have a look at First Dog's blog, make sure to pass your mouse over the pics for more funnies ;)

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Advent Calendar - Day 7 (Jabberwocky)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, December 7, 2009,

Today I'm just going to share my favourite poem with you :)

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish th...
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Advent Calendar - Day 6 (Doctor Who)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Sunday, December 6, 2009,

I enjoy watching Doctor Who, although I'm not a mad keen fan - it veers a little too close to horror for me sometimes ;). But it's a show that holds a very special place in my memories, so I will always have a soft spot for it. The recent series with David Tennant as the Doctor has also been excellent - a wonderful reinvention of the show :)

I remember Doctor Who being aired in the 6.30pm time slot on the ABC when I was a kid. I have especially fond memories of watching it during the summer ho...
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Advent Calendar - Day 5 (lolcats)

Posted by Sally Cummings on Saturday, December 5, 2009,

I have a real soft spot for funny or cute animal pictures and videos. And yes, I love lolcats - those silly photos of cats with captions attached :). I visit I Can Has Cheezburger? every day for a dose of lolcat fun. Here's one of my favourites (so hard to choose!) ...

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

YouTube is a great source of funny animal videos, and Roxy's reaction to cat noises that she can't locate the source of can also be pretty hilarious :). I'll leave you now, with what is possibl...
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Yesterday, I had a great day!!

Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, April 30, 2009,

- It started out with a terrific client training session in the morning, out at the clients' office. It was an excellent 2-way conversation and learning experience. We covered the library's services and resources, and much more besides. The session lasted just over 4 hours!

- After the training session, I took advantage of the inner city locale to visit a couple of interesting-looking bookshops. Yes, I found some lovely new treasures.

- I then enjoyed a very nice lunch at an atmospheric veget...