Welcome to Jolly Monday, friends! I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve already had enough of this ‘heat wave’, and there is no end in sight through at least July 15th, according to The Weather Channel. The picture above is from January 4th. The last two days have seen heat-indexed temps over 100° with humidity between 96% – 99%. Despite the heat, humidity, and my inability to breathe in this weather, I got up early just to bake special treats for your visit this morning. Now, I have one very young reader (4 years old, in fact) who has been a bit critical of my baking skills, calling the results “burnt”, so I did my best this morning in hopes that young Benjamin can find something to his liking … and the rest of you too, and David — I hope the rhubarb crumble is to your liking! Grab a bite and a cup of something and let’s share a special moment or two and a smile, okay?
This one’s for you, Hugh, but shhhhh …
It didn’t take a rocket scientist or a team of police detectives to catch this thief! It happened in Pine Bluff, Arkansas last Tuesday, when 21-year-old Shamon West tried to pay for his meal at Shannon’s Restaurant with a credit card. A stolen credit card. A credit card stolen from … his waitress, Flora Lunsford! She promptly contacted the police and indicated that she did not wish to pay for his meal, so they arrested him and took him to a place where he will be fed 3 squares a day for the foreseeable future. Ms. Lunsford’s purse had been snatched from her car at a local gas station two days prior while she was inside paying for her fuel. Mr. West is young yet … I hope he either learns a lesson or perfects his technique, else he is going to spend a lot of time in orange.
Who knew there is a ‘wife-carrying’ contest in the UK? But wait! It isn’t only in the UK, but also in the U.S., Australia, Hong Kong and other parts of the world. It originated in Finland, where even today the World Championships are held. The UK event took place in April and the winner there was one Chris Hepworth and his partner Tanisha Prince.The couple beat around 40 pairs over the 380 meter (quarter-mile) course on Sunday, in a race that was marred by the injury of one wife when her husband slipped in the copious mud and landed on her! The sport is open to any adult couple, married or not, with the wife – of any gender – required to weigh at least 50 kg (110 pounds). On the British course, runners have to tackle hay bale obstacles and are showered with water by spectators.
Most of the competitors adopt the “the Estonian carry”, with the wife upside-down, their legs over their partner’s shoulders and gripping them around the waist from behind. I don’t think I could do that without my breakfast ending up on the track somewhere! Some participants take the race less seriously than others. One wore a wedding dress, a blond wig and make-up as he carried his wife, piggy-back style, dressed as a jockey.
The International competition in Finland has some interesting rules:
- The wife to be carried may be your own, or the neighbor’s, or you may have found her further afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age.
- The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kilograms. If she weighs less than 49 kg, she will be burdened with a rucksack containing additional weight to bring the total load to be carried up to 49 kg.
- All participants must enjoy themselves.
- The only equipment allowed is a belt worn by the carrier and a helmet worn by the carried.
Every year since 2009, the championship has been won by a Fin, except in 2016 when it was won by a Russian, Dimitriy Sagal. Taisto Miettinen of Finland and his partner Kristiina Haapanen took the trophy from 2009-2013, and again in 2017.
I hope you guys will forgive me for being a bit lazy today, but the weather has thoroughly wiped me out and I cannot do much more. But I do have some funny pictures to share with you!

I’ve always said that duct tape can fix anything!!!

Ooooopsie!
And I’m sorry but our time has come to an end for this Monday! I shall miss you all, but please stay cool, keep safe, and have a great week. Remember to share a smile and a hug with somebody whose mouth is turned upside down like this 😒 so that it will turn upright like this 😊. Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa!
Dear Jill,
Heat in the summer in Florida is always brutal but it is just as hot in places like Denver.
This rhubarb crumble must be pretty tasty.
Thank goodness, there are some dumb and dumber crooks out there.
The Fins have to be a hardy lot to keep winning the wife carrying contest.
Thanks for another fun post.
Hugs, Gronda
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Yes, it is hot EVERYWHERE this summer, even in the UK I hear! But no global warming, no climate change … all a hoax, right? I find myself hoping the a/c goes out in the White House 😉
Glad you liked the Monday post! Have a great week, my friend!
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Thanks for the morning laughs (although, truth be told, it is almost noon here…time for my shower!) I will definitely enjoy our 16 degree C weather today (sunny, and no rain…might get to 17!) Keep cool, my friend.
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Glad I made you laugh, although I suspect being on holiday had every bit as much to do with it as my post! 😀 Have a great week!
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Everything looks yumalicious! Wouldn’t you know, Benjamin is not even here today to see this perfect display of your culinary skills! I doubt that there will be any leftovers, so I’ll take two of those divine looking filled chocolate cakelets with my coffee…one may, or not, survive until he returns tomorrow. That crook definitely needs to try another line of work. Imagine how surprised that waitress was to be given her own stolen credit card? Bum up and head down bouncing along for 1/4 mile, this is what passes as sport? Love the pictures! How can one not love Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World?! Maxine is always a bright spot in any day. Wishing you the best Monday ever. Thank-you!
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Glad you enjoyed the post and the sweet treat! Tell Benjamin not to worry if Gem ate all the cakes … I shall make him a special treat! Have a wonderful week, my friend!
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Jill, carrying one’s spouse for 380 meters without a race is a feat. Maybe when we were younger, lighter and stronger, but 380 meters? Wow! This does remind me of the scene from “Gone with the Wind” where Rhett carries Scarlett upstairs which looked pretty challenging in its own right.
I think we will just walking holding hands instead. Keith
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I agree with you, for I have no desire to hang upside down off my guy’s shoulders, and bounce about, likely getting dropped on my head at some point! A lovely walk, hand-in-hand through the forest sounds much nicer! Have a great week!!!!
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The rhubarb crumble was especially good this morning! Many thanks for the happy post!! Have a good week — stay cool and above all else, stay calm. This, too, will pass.
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I am so happy you liked the rhubarb crumble! And the post … did you find your Famous Grouse? I’m working on both the cool and the calm … and longing for an end to both the heat wave and the wave of foolishness that try our patience. Have a great week, dear friend!
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I didn’t as it happens. But the wait was worth it. Delicious!! Have a good week!😊
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Good, entertaining post, Jill. The monsoon has finally started here and it’s cooled down a bit. It’s usually the other way round. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thank you Suzanne … glad you enjoyed it … and I’m really glad it is cooling down for you. Have a wonderful week!
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Rhubarb crumble excellent thanks Jill. Great Monday blog post.
xxx Cwtch xxx
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You are most welcome!!! Have a wonderful week!
xxx Cwtch xxx
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That rhubarb crumble was awesome, Jill, just the right amount of sweetener. Really needed milk with it, though, luckily I brought my own. Glad to see you favour protecting cockroaches, cucaracha! 😂😂😂😂😂😉😉
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Oops, the emojis turned on me. Now I know why I hate them. Hugs.
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They likely turned on you because you called me a cockroach! 😀 😀
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But it was intended as a term of endearment…
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Awww … now I feel guilty for rejecting the name cucaracha. But remember … people step on cockroaches and squish them ‘neath their boot heels. Could be rather painful …
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I am not saying this, being a life protector as you know, but you have to catch a cockroach, or at least see it, before you can stomp on it. They are fast little buggers,
(Come on, dad, hit me again for saying buggers, you f***ing hypocrite!)
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Yes, but in order to avoid the crushing heel, they must confine themselves, for the most part, to dark places, and I am addicted to sunlight! So, sorry, I must be Lobo, not La Cucaracha.
If you got hit for saying ‘buggers’, your father would have had apoplexy if he had heard my language! 😀
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Yes I got hit, but had I said notning I would have got hit anyway. He was a no-need abuser. He needed no reason to swing.
Did you mean lobo, or loco? Or loco lobo? Ah, I think that is the one.
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What a sad childhood. Were there any happinesses in your childhood?
Okay, if it stops you calling me La Cucaracha, the Loco Lobo it is!
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There was lots of happiness, when I was staying at my BFF’s house. But that never lasted long enough. Sometimes my mother trired to protect me, sometimes she was worse than my father. She died when I was nine, After that was hell.
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Words fail me. I thought I had a tough childhood, but mine was a bed of roses as compared to yours. Hugs, my friend.
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Tough childhood, tougher adult (as in stronger living being, mentally and spiritually. The physical or pre-spiritual-mental never had a chance!)
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There is a saying that “what doesn’t kill us can only make us stronger”, or something close to that. Soooo … you must be a very strong man, yes?
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Psyche-wise, yes. Physically, not so much, lol. Don’t know if you know the psychological term “self-actualized”, but Carl Rogers I believe it wss who came up wiyh it. A person who makes their own rules, and lives by them, without letting their actions hurt those around them. It is what I call responsible anarchy. I allow no one to tell me what to do, except when I give them that power. I give few that power, if any. Don’t know if you remember the old hippie rant, “Be whoever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t purposefully hurt anyone.” That is my rule for life. And I take it very seriously.
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Well, given that I know you take responsibility to all living things seriously and I know you wouldn’t intentionally hurt any creature, your rule for life works. The problem I have would be if everybody decided to adopt your rule, for I think that 98% of the people in the world would forget the responsibility part and act to the detriment of others. You’ll notice I’m not very trusting of my fellow humans 😉
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You have a right to be, given our present culture. Our present culture cannot last. Even the3 Romn Empire disappeared. This one shall too.
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Very true, but to be replaced by … what????
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That I cannot tell you, it might be the vision I showed you, or it might be something in-between now and then. Technology will either have a lot to say, or it might just disappear. I mean, who in the Roman Empire could have predicted the Golden Horde, or wars not of conquest but to keep things pretty much the same. But the unknown is the exciting part, what will we become? Will we be here to become? No one knows for sure, and though we can extrapolate from current trends (Science fiction–what hapens if X continues…}, or we can try to create something where life is completely different…
Eventually, we will have to get rid of nations, races will integrate through mixed parentages, marriages will go the way of the dodo bird, commerce will not be about profit, and hunger and disease will be unheard of. Humans will learn to share the planet with all other living beings in symbiotic relationships, and suffering of any kind will end. I will not call such a place a paradise, or a Shangri-La, but I will call the whole world Home.
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You are much … MUCH more of an optimist than I am! I only foresee mankind destroying the entire human race in one way or another. I’ll try to ponder on your visions & ideas and see if I can reach a gentler conclusion, but don’t hold your breath. 😉
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Actually, Jill, despite my words, I am a pessimist. People say to me, What could be worse?
I answer, You could be dead.
That gets them so pissed off at me, they forget what they are sad or frustrated about.
Meanwhile, they don’t know it, but I am actually offering a release from their present woes. Death precedes life (Reincarnation!), and is the door to a new, possibly better, life. At worst a different kind of bad. But, yes, possibly worse. You can’t win them all.
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I have said the same thing to people who are wallowing in self-pity, justified or unjustified. But in truth, I suspect we have all experienced times when we felt that death would have been preferable to our current situation. Fortunately, the feeling for most of us is fleeting. I vacillate as to whether I believe in reincarnation or not. I want to, for I’d like to come back and try to do better next time. Other times I’d like to come back as a wolf in the wild and not deal with humans at all. Just depends on my mood of the moment.
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I understand the basics of reincarnation, Jill, but I cannot say I understand its intricacies. You have said several times you want to return as a wolf. The question is why? Is there a lesson you can learn by being a wolf that you cannot learn while being a human? That might be the gist of getting your wish. I was speaking to S’T the other day, and she wants to come back as an avatar of compassion. I have the sense in my spirit your next life can be determined by your desire in this life, and one possible way to do it is to think as you are dying, I want to return as a wolf. Keep that as a mantra, and think it or say it outloud often. That might get you your wish. But careful what you wish, what are possible ramifications? Often, what people wish for is not what they really want…
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Oops, thank you for your love. (I hit the send button too soon.) But never think you had it easy. Pain and suffering are all relative, to you, and no one else.
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This is true … some people, however, take that a bit too far and believe their lives are so very hard because they get a flat tire!
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That is their choice , Jill, though they may be in for a rude awakening somewhere along the line. But no, what they believe as rough is what is rough for them. We can look at them and think, they have no idea. By our standards, they don’t. But by their standards, they do. Each yo their own. Really!
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I’m so glad you enjoyed the crumble … hope you left a little for David! And sorry about the milk … an oversight I shall correct next time! Meanwhile …. Yo no soy una cucaracha, soy un lobo!!! Lobo!!! 🐺🐺🐺
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November can’t come soon enough! (Hrrrumph!). Must be all this hot air which is being generated over Brexit and out of Washington (DC, that is).
Great selection of pictures though Jill
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Yep, there sure as heck is a lot of hot air around these days, and some stinky air at that! Let’s hope that November takes care of the problem! Glad you liked the pics. Have a great week, Roger!
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