Happy New Year, and Remember Men...

When Women Lie

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river.

When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?'

The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.

The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires...'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked.

The seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies. 'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked.

Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble. 'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked.

The seamstress replied, 'Yes.'

The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water.

When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?'

'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!'

The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. 'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked...

Yes,' cried the seamstress.

The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!'

The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.

And so the Lord let her keep him.

Remember Men whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it!

Signed,

All Us Women

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from countries I've visited or worked in, try to figure them out, Merry Christmas,

Donn

Maligayang Pasko

Joyeux Noël

Frohe Weihnachten

عيد ميلاد مجيد

Selamat Hari Natal

Marjinal

Feliz Navidad

圣诞节快乐

Veselé Vánoce

Καλά Χριστούγεννα

Mutlu Noeller

Senior Texting Codes

Since more and more seniors are texting and tweeting there appears to be a need for a STC (Senior Texting Code).

If you qualify for Senior Discounts this is the code for you.

ATD: At The Doctor's

BFF: Best Friend Farted

BTW: Bring The Wheelchair

BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth

CBM: Covered By Medicare

CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center

DWI: Driving While Incontinent

FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers

FWIW: Forgot Where I Was

FYI: Found Your Insulin

GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!

GHA: Got Heartburn Again

HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement

IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?

LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out

LOL: Living On Lipitor

LWO: Lawrence Welk's On

OMMR: On My Massage Recliner

OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.

ROFL CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing.And Can't Get Up

SGGP: Sorry, Gotta Go Poop

TTYL: Talk To You Louder

WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?

WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again

WTP: Where's The Prunes?

WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil

LMGA: Lost My Glasses Again

GG, LKI (Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking In)

The History of Turkish Coffee

There are countless theories as to the origin of Turkish coffee, that distinctive foamy coffee which is cooked slowly in its own special pot over a brazier then served in a tiny cup accompanied by a piece of Turkish delight or some other confectionery. According to some, coffee originated in the Ethiopian city of Kaffa. Others claim that coffee originated in Yemen where it was called "qahwaw" which means "strength" or "fitness" in Arabic.

There are also countless stories as to how it was discovered. The central figure of the most popular is a Yemeni shepherd named Kaldi whose goats began frolicking about excitedly after they had eaten some red berries from a tree. The shepherd was curious and related his story to the local wise men. These sages ate some of these berries as an experiment and discovered that they were able to stay awake easily throughout their all-night worship rituals. The wise men decided that this was truly a sacred medicine. They boiled it into a drink and also used it as a balm for sores. Coffee immediately became popular, particularly as alcohol was forbidden by Islamic teachings. Coffee beans shipped out of the Mocha harbor in Yemen, were also taking on an historic mission, and thus the world discovered the pleasures of drinking coffee.

Sjehab-eddin, a mufti (muhammedan priest) during a trip to Abessinia (now Ethiopia) in the middle of 1400 century, learned to know about the brew which made the need to sleep disappear. The brew had been used and been grown for ages in Abessinia and beyond in the land of Kaffa. Sjehab-Eddin saw that it was good and decided to take bushes back to his hometown Aden in the land known now as Yemen. He especially felt that the dervesch (muhammedan monks), could use the brew to easier manage their nightly meditations. There is also consensus that the first users of coffee were indeed the Sufis who used it as a stimulus to stay awake during late night Thikr "Zikir" (remembrance of God). Coffee spread to the rest of Muslims of Yemen and eventually to all the Muslim world through travellers, pilgrims and traders. It reached Makkah and Turkey sometime in the late 15th century and Cairo in the16th century.

This 'stimulating' effect caused influential religious leaders to forbid the drinking of coffee in 1511, because it had similarly damaging effects to alcohol. Within a very short time this led to the burning of all coffee stores and a ban on sales. But the actual reason for the ban was less the stimulating effect of coffee than the growing number of coffee houses, which were suspected of being the breeding ground for free political thinking. The spread of coffee was not to be stopped that easily, however. Mecca was the hub of many trading routes, so it was only a question of time until the beans also appeared in the big trading cities of Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo. The Yemeni port city of Al-Mukha, a flourishing Red Sea coast trading centre between the Middle East and India, became the main coffee shipping location. It is from here that the strong coffee of the Orient takes its name: mocha.

To make sure that they maintained their world monopoly on coffee, the Yemeni rulers prohibited the export of coffee plants. Only roasted or boiled coffee beans, which were no use for planting, could leave the country. Theft of the plants was heavily punished. This explains why, for a very long time, no country outside Yemen was able to cultivate coffee.

The Ottomans were first introduced to coffee when Ozdemir Pasha served the sultan Suleyman the Magnificent with coffee he had brought back from Yemen. In this same period, Ibrahim Bey of Pesevel reportedly said that "a man from Aleppo named Hakem and a woman from Damascus called Sems opened the first coffeehouse in Istanbul's Tahtakale."

Soon coffee drinking became popular and widespread throughout the nation. Although coffee itself originated in Ethiopia, because of the way the Turks both cooked and served it, it soon became known as " Turkish Coffee." In 1543, when the public began to frequent the coffeehouse more than the mosque, the Sheikh ul-Islam of the time issued a proclamation to the effect that "the juice of an object which is produced from something burned until it is coal-like is not religiously permissible." However, coffee maintained its popularity, despite the prohibitions, arrests, and even executions. Cultural events were common in Turkish coffeehouses, particularly the traditional Karagoz shadow puppets, troubadours, mimics and instrumentalists. The fame of coffee soon spread throughout Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and Southeastern Europe. The beans reached France by 1669 and then to Venice. Even though the Church proclaimed coffee to be the " work of the devil ," Italian-style coffee soon became highly popular.

From the site http://maviboncuk.blogspot.com

The Origin of the Tulip

Tulips

History

The Tulip was originally a wild flower, growing in Central Asia. It was first cultivated by the Turks as early as 1000 AD; the flower was introduced in Western Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th century by Carolus Clusius, a famous biologist from Vienna. In the 1590’s he became the director of the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest botanical garden of Europe, in Leiden. He was hired by the University of Leiden to research medicinal plants and, while doing so, he received some bulbs from his friend, Ogier de Busbecq, the Ambassador to Constantinople (presently Istanbul). He had seen the beautiful flower called the tulip, after the Turkish word for turban, growing in the palace gardens and sent a few to Clusius for his garden in Leiden. He planted them and this was the beginning of the amazing bulb fields we see today.

In the beginning of the 17th century, the tulip was starting to be used as a garden decoration in addition to its medicinal use. It soon gained major popularity as a trading product, especially in Holland. The interest in the flower was huge and bulbs sold for unbelievably high prices. Botanists began to hybridize the flower. They soon found ways of making the tulip even more decorative and tempting. Hybrids and mutations of the flower were seen as rarities and a sign of high status. In the months of late 1636 to early 1637, there was a complete "Tulipmania" in the Netherlands. Some varieties could cost more than an Amsterdam house at that time. Even ordinary men took part in the business. They saw how much money the upper class made in the commodity and thought it was an easy way of getting lots of money with no risk. The bulbs were usually sold by weight while they were still in the ground. This trade in un-sprouted flowers came to be called "wind trade".

The traders made huge amounts of money every month. People started selling their businesses, family homes, farm animals, furnishing and dowries to participate. The government could not do anything to stop "Tulipmania"; the trade was all about access and demand. Finally, the tulip did not appear to quite so rare as to justify such high prices. Over-supply led to lower prices and dealers went bankrupt while many people lost their savings because of the trade. This "Tulip Crash" made the government introduce special trading restrictions on the flower. It is said that the tulip became so popular because of its bright colours, dramatic flames and frilly petals. To have tulips in one's home was a way to impress and, when the wealth spread down the social ladder, so did the urge for tulips.

In the 20th century it was discovered that the frilly petals and dramatic flames that gave the flower its stunning look were, in fact, the symptoms of an infection by the mosaic virus. The healthy flower was supposed to be solid, smooth and monotone. The virus came to the tulip from a louse living on peaches and potatoes. Diseased varieties of tulips are no longer sold. What you find today are hybrids that look similar but are genetically stable.

Borrowed in detail from the website www.holland.nl/uk

What do Tulips Mean?

Beautiful and romantic, tulip blooms are right for any occasion! The reason being, tulips have enjoyed an important position in our history and culture. In the ancient times, tulips were worn inside a turban in Turkey. (Tulips belong originally to Persia and Turkey.) Once the popularity of tulips spread, it was associated with true love. This was also because of certain Turkish legends. Over the years, however, the meaning of tulips has changed with time. In terms of color, red symbolizes love where as yellow tulips symbolize happiness in one’s life. A purple tulip stands for royalty where as white tulips signify peace or forgiveness. When one takes a trip back into time, one can know many more interesting facts about tulips. Tulips have a center that is velvet in texture and almost black in color, and this is said to represent the heart of a lover that is fired with passion!

From the site http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-do-tulips-mean.html