I Can't Help the Way I Feel

Pictured is "I Can't Help the Way I Feel" - a sculpture by John Isaacs from the Wellcome Collection in London, England.

It's a commentary on obesity.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Royal

An excerpt from a recent article on the world's richest royals at Forbes.com:

"The list's youngest member and the only one from sub-Saharan Africa is 39-year-old King Mswati III of Swaziland, with a net worth of $200 million. Almost every year, he chooses a new bride from among 20,000 naked bare-breasted virgins; so far, he has 13 wives and is building a palace for each."

20,000? And all bare-breasted virgins? Seriously?

Good call though on the seperate palaces.

Full story here.

Ciaran and Shay

A friend of mine at work, Cris, had twins with his wife back in July. More than three months earlier than anticipated. The little guys - Ciaran and Shay - have had a bit of a rough go at it and are still under hospital supervision but are getting stronger every day.

I was chatting with Cris today about how things were going.

Cris told me all about the special treatments the boys have received (and will have have to receive) as well as the special equipment they are hooked up to and how he and his wife are helping out by doing their own physiotherapy with the twins.

He told me about fitting in hospital visits while juggling work, dealing with the setbacks and also even dealing with the highs of little victories. And he told me that he doesn't think he can hear "We'll just have to wait and see." from the doctors one more time without losing it.

Sounds like Ciaran and Shay aren't the only ones that have to be strong. Mom and Dad do too.

All my best to the family. We're all rooting for you!

Church Lady or Drug Lord?

There's a little yellow house at the end of the street. Very tiny. We've seen many folks come and go from there. Mostly renters. Priceless was the "Little Curiosity Shop" that tried to make a go of it in the outbuilding beside the tiny house. Scary dolls and knick knacks and such. Creepy.

After a year and a bit on the market the house finally sold. We were interested in learning who had bought it. A single mom and kids perhaps? Maybe a widower? Someone who doesn't want to be bothered with more than a 100 sq feet of lawn? Someone who likes being on the main street of the village with transport truck traffic not 15 feet from the front door?

Alas, we still aren't sure who bought the place. Why the confusion? Well, there have been oodles and oodles of cars and people at the place since it turned over. Expensive cars. Cheap cars. Kids helping out. Elderly folk helping out. Trade men. A crazy woman in pajama pants with pigtails. You name it... A revolving door of people!!!! The place is over run with folks helping out.

So we came to a conclusion. No, actually LB came to a conclusion. "It's either a church lady or a drug lord. Both inspire that kind of fanaticism," he said.

Humph. He may be right. Regardless, I like the colour of the new window shutters.