It Is Saturday Again,

and most of the usual suspects called in!

which was good news for all, Doc. Jeff had only flown in yesterday,

Mark was here also,

as was Tom, and Mr.Tony, soon Diana after getting the drinks was cooking pork loin which she had marinated,

and Mr. Tony had purchased a new cooker so he brought along a chicken he and Booie had cooked earlier in it, and very nice it was to,

Mark had prepared a delicious salad,

then Riza arrived with Mike, and they brought along a delicious spare rib adobo, which was so nice we ate it before I took a picture of it or Mike!

so mussels were on the go!

along with lots of other Thai/Filipino dishes,

also SK called in as a guest of Mike and Riza,

after dinner we all had a few Bassett's sweets, many thanks to Uttpal and Darshan,

then downstairs to see what the girls were up to, boiled prawns were next, the only problem was that like the mussels none of then made their way upstairs, it was obviously a girl thing!

then Gordan called in, as usual we all had lots to talk about this week things took a nautical turn with the origins of expressions, such as crows nest, where, when and how?

well the crow was an essential part of the early sailors' navigation equipment, these land-loving birds were carried on board to help the navigator determine where the closest land lay when the weather prevented sighting the shore visually, in cases of poor visibility, a crow was released and the navigator plotted a course that corresponded with the bird's because it invariably headed toward land, also hence "as the crow flies"

now I am not sure if Americans use this expression, as at this stage Doc. Jeff and Gordan had left so I could not ask, to "mind your P's and Q's," or in other words, to behave our best, oddly enough, "mind your Ps and Qs" had nautical beginnings as a method of keeping books on the waterfront, in the days of sail when sailors were paid a pittance, seaman drank their ale in taverns whose keepers were willing to extend credit until payday, since many salts were illiterate, keepers kept a talley of pints and quarts consumed by each sailor on a chalkboard behind the bar, next to each person's name a mark was made under "P" for pint or "Q" for quart whenever a seaman ordered another draught, on payday, each seaman was liable for each mark next to his name, so he was forced to "mind his Ps and Qs" or get into financial trouble, to ensure an accurate count by unscrupulous keepers, sailors had to keep their wits and remain somewhat sober, sobriety usually ensured good behavior, hence the meaning of "mind your Ps and Qs."

and last but not least "stick to the bitter end" as any able-bodied seaman can tell you, a turn of a line around a bitt, those wooden or iron posts sticking through a ship's deck, is called a bitter, thus, the last of the line secured to the bitts is known as the bitter end, nautical usage has somewhat expanded the original definition in that today the end of any line, secured to bitts or not, is called a bitter end, the landlubbing phrases "stick to the bitter end" and "faithful to the bitter end" are derivations of the nautical term and refer to anyone who insists on adhering to a course of action without regard to consequences, so now I know! "Cheers everybody, looking forward to next week!"