Model horses: Hartland and Breyers

 

You are spending a day attending garage sales or browsing through antique stores and you come across a model horse. It reminds you of your childhood. Boys and girls collected and played with model horses of many brands but two of the more common ones were Hartland and Breyer-Reeves. WHat is the difference and how can you tell?

What is that doggie in the window?

 

I don’t consider myself a dog person or a cat person- I love both and have one of each. My dog is a Shar-Pei and there is no doubt when anyone sees her what breed she represents. In fact, my last three dogs have been Chinese Shar-Pei. Sadly, my favorite type of dog is becoming rare again.

horsecoat Shar-Pei

brushcoat Shar-Pei

bearcoat Shar-Pei

Google going away

I've not posted in a while. I have been working a major project at work so I have been 'saving' my wrists and holding off with the extra curricular activities. I do have some posts in the works. An interesting email came in from Google. It seems Google will be pulling support from non-commercial accounts. Here is a part of the announcement:

"In December 2018, we announced our decision to shut down Google+ for consumers in April 2019 due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers' expectations. We want to thank you for being part of Google+ and provide next steps, including how to download your photos and other content. On April 2nd,you Google+ account and  any Google+ pages you created will also be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted. You can download and save your content, just make sure to do so before April. Note that photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted."

So, how will this effect my blog? I don't know yet. Stay turned for further.

Stay safe out there.

Christmas: did you know that?

The Christmas season is upon us and neighborhoods are full of houses with bright lights. Families have trees full of ornaments. Cities and counties decorate streets with ribbons, bows, lights, and huge Christmas trees. Children anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Party goers hang mistletoe, giggling with the thought of the “mandatory” kisses bestowed under the greenery.

Where did these customs and beliefs originate?

The best time of year for reading epic fantasy

I love the holidays in general but even more so for reading. Books are published with the Christmas season in mind.

It makes sense. Books make wonderful Christmas gifts and I love holding a book. There is nothing like the smell of  anew book or the feel of turning a page and that is something a digital book can never duplicate.

A Century at a time- notable people and events of the 4th and 5th Centuries

      

This period has been referred to as the “Dark Ages” as well as the Middle Ages. The ‘center’ of the world was considered to be Rome (remember, all roads led to Rome). Emperor Constantine had been the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity when it spread but the “pagan” worship of Gods didn’t stop completely. The Church had to adapt local deities and traditions to encourage the populace to join even though the Romans banned the worship of paganism. In Egypt, the Temple of Serapis was destroyed during as part of a series of civil disturbances against Christians. Alas, the Roman Empire had been on a long downfall and finally crashed and burned in A.D. 476 when the Vandals took control of the territories. As Roman society fell apart, other peoples took advantage of the discourse: Ostrogoths, Visogoths, Burgundians, Franks, Saxons, and the aforementioned Saxons. By 493 AD, Italy was under the rule of Theodoric, an Ostrogoth. Clovis is names King of the Franks in 481 – Clovis drives the Visigoths from Gaul in 507.

New NHL season 2018-2019

October 02 starts the new NHL season and it looks to be one for the books. One of the best off-season acquisitions was landed by the San Jose Sharks when they picked up Erik Karlsson. Eric, a two-time winning Norris Trophy winner, along with Norris winner Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic & Justin Braun, are probably the best four defensemen in the entire league and now the four are on the same team.