Welcome to yet another Monday morning, my friends.  Come in and warm yourself by the … er … never mind … I forgot we don’t have a fireplace.  Have you noticed that Mondays seem to come around sooner than they used to?  And … I would remind you that we are halfway through November already, so there are only 10 days until Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and 39 days until Christmas!  GAWK!!!  No no no!!!  I’m not ready!  In fact, I just ordered my first Christmas gifts yesterday for friends overseas … I’ll be biting my nails now, in hopes I can get them mailed soon enough to arrive before Christmas.  My own fault … procrastination seems to be my middle name this year.  Anyway, enough talk about holidays and time for us to start this week off with a bit of humour, yes?  Joyful is feeling a bit under the weather this morning, so there are fewer snacks than usual, but I did my best, and I remembered the bacon.  So, grab a bit to eat and a nice warm cuppa coffee or tea, and let’s find a reason to smile.

It shouldn’t need to be said …

An elementary school in France put up a pair of posters outside their fence with an unusual request for parents: Don’t throw late students over the closed gate.The Trillade school in Avignon put up signs outside its gate showing a cartoon of a parent sending a small child airborne to get over the fence. The text on the sign asks parents not to throw their children, and instead wait for the gates to be opened again at 10 a.m. or 3 p.m.

Principal Sanaa Meziane said that parents “literally threw their children” over the gate when they arrived to find it closed.

Meziane said there were only a few scattered incidents, and no reported injuries, but there were enough tossed children to inspire school officials to take action and post the warnings as a “reminder.”

Holiday potholes?

You know those annoying potholes that chew up your tires … and they don’t do your car’s suspension system much good, either?  It seems around here that it takes the highway department at least 8 months to get around to filling them, and then it takes them two months of lane closures to get them filled.  Well, a Massachusetts man may have found a unique solution …

Kevin Martin said his plan began Saturday night, when he was on his way to pick up dinner in North Attleborough when he hit a series of potholes on Route 1 and ended up with all four of his tires flattened.

Martin said he had previously complained to the town and state governments about the potholes, but no action was taken.

“I needed to make sure that it got fixed one way or another. I know that I’m not the only person who’s gotten flat tires from that area.”

So, he went to Home Depot and purchased some potting soil and small Christmas trees, and he planted the trees in the potholes on his way to work Monday morning.

“Looks like someone is getting into the Christmas spirit early…guess that is one way to fill pot holes?” the North Attleborough Police Department wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post.

Martin said he wanted to force officials into taking action to fill the potholes. His gambit appears to have worked, as the trees were removed and the potholes filled Monday afternoon.  Wow!  Next time … if I ever get to drive farther than the Kroger across the street again … I’ll know what to do about those darn potholes!

And now … you all know what time it is, right?  It’s TOON TIME!!!

And memes …

Our friend Hugh, who is going through a difficult time right now, lives in Minnesota.  Last night, I checked the temperature in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and it was -3° F, or -19° C!  Either way you calculate it, it is C-C-C-COLD!!!!  The good news is that it is supposed to warm all the way up to 9° by Thursday – a veritable heat wave!

So here, my dear friend … I hope this warms you up a bit … thinking of you!

And, of course I can’t let you go out into the cold, cruel world without first warming your heart with a cute animal video … Kangaroos it is!!!

Jolly, Joyful and I wish you a peaceful week, and please … share those smiles you’re wearing right now.  It’s … tough times for us all, with the pandemic and other issues that are making us sometimes feel that our lives are not our own.  So smile at someone, see if you can get them to smile back … and in this way, we spread the smiles and pretty soon the whole world is smiling, yes?  {Okay, so I’m a bit naïve} 

Can’t forget our bacon-lover fwiends!!!