Just A Couple Of Things To Do Today,

my store of sandwiches was getting low,

 so off to Friendship, 

 so the catering was all sorted, not so the on the clothes front, I went to drop off my laundry only to find the shop closed until the New Year, I had plenty of shirts and shorts, but only a couple of underpants, so off to Tesco,

 I knew it was going to be a long wait at the checkout, the motorbike park was packed as were the checkouts inside,

 Mr. Tony called round during the day for a chat, after he left I summoned up my courage and made a trip to the kitchen, I was on my last clean coffee cup, so the washing up had to be done, but first unblock the sink, for some reason a couple of days ago I noticed water was not draining away, the plunger worked well which was a relief, so water in, washing up liquid added, sponge cloth in hand, what could possibly go wrong? I lent forward and gave the top/front of my head an almighty crack as it hit the cupboards over the sink, kitchen 1 Stan 0, Jim and Cher are back, so we arranged to meet up at Cherry's,

 the restaurant is on Third Road, just opposite what was once the X-Cite disco,

 tonight they have the 399 baht all you can eat International buffet,

starting with the salad bar,

 next the starters,

 18 or so main courses,

 and the carvery,

not to mention a fine selection of deserts,

a very happy Jim and Cher,

 my first plate of starters,

 followed by a second plate,

 then time for the main courses,

I decided against a dessert and had another main course, we chatted the evening away and were the second to last table to leave, before I knew what was happening Jim and Cher had kindly picked up the tab, many thanks indeed, saying our farewells we made a move for our homes, where for me it was feet up a night cap and few from Judge Judy and I was off to bed.

Could You Call This A Piece Of Art?

and do you want a piece like it yourself?

if you answerer yes to the second question this is how you do it, but a word of caution, it is a very, very dangerous operation using a tin of Coke, lead and heat, lots of heat, 

this is a very dangerous experiment and requires lots of safety equipment, so do not blame me if you try it and it all goes mustang on you!

and what ever you do do not use water instead of Coke!

I Spotted This Colour Changing Cake On The Internet,

how was the effect created?

it appears you need a airbrush, you airbrush colour onto the icing from different directions, the ridges help delineate where one colour begins and another ends, turning the cake exposes alternate sides of the ridges, it looks too good to eat!

If You Own A Drone In The Land Of The Free,

here is another restriction you must obey,

already in place is the drone registration campaign and requirement, launched by the FAA earlier this month, the rules require people to register all drones heavier than half a pound with the agency by February 19th, and threaten $27,500 in civil penalties for non-compliance, with criminal penalties for failure to register including fines of up to $250,000 and/or up to three years of imprisonment, that is old news, what is new is that the FAA in September will extend a 15-mile no fly zone surrounding Washington, DC’s National Airport to 30 miles, it’s worth noting that a 30-mile radius around Washington National Airport encompasses not only the most heavily populated areas of the DC metro area, but extends well into rural areas in southern Maryland, spacious suburbs in Northern Virginia and Maryland, into parts of the Chesapeake Bay and nearly all the way up to Baltimore, it therefore means that some 36 sites, 14 of which are accredited by the Academy of Model Aircraft, that meaning they generally comply with baseline safety guidelines and are not located near airports will have to close, now do not get me wrong on this one, I am all for public safety, but how many of these drones can fly and be controlled over a distance of the in place 15 miles limit? none that I know of, so it does seem a shame that the pleasure of so many model aircraft fliers has now got to be stopped with the new improved 30 mile exclusion zone.

Great News For American Philatelist,

the U.S. Postal Service are going to issue stamps highlighting NASA’s Planetary Science program,

 on Wednesday they released a preview of its new 2016 stamps,

the Pluto stamp is of special interest for the NASA team, from the article from NASA, 'The Pluto stamps are of special significance to NASA and the New Horizons team, which placed a 29-cent 1991 “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” stamp on board the spacecraft, on July 14, New Horizons carried the tiny postage stamp on its history-making journey to Pluto and beyond, as members of the mission team celebrated with a large print, striking the words “not yet.” “Our stamps articulate the American experience through miniature works of art,” said Acting Stamp Services Director Mary-Anne Penner, “Our diverse stamp topics for 2016 are sure to appeal to everyone, and with the New Year just around the corner, now is a perfect time to get started in stamp collecting, it’s an educational hobby the entire family can enjoy.” the “Pluto Explored!” stamps will be dedicated in late May of 2016 at the World Stamp Show in New York.

I Decided On A Bit Of A Spring Clean,

as I had nothing else planned for the day,

 so during the afternoon I removed all of the mosquito screens, gave them a wash in the yard, also a good scrubbing with a brush to remove all of the dust and other bits and pieces that they had caught, then wash them again and replace them, it is surprising how long it took, one on each window and two on each door,

 in the evening Mr. Tony called round and we made our way to Jomtien,

 there was little parking in the complex so we parked in the main soi that leads to the beach,

 a little way before the archway, 

there is a walkway that leads into the complex so we did not have to walk to either of the ends of the complex,

 we made our way into the first soi then towards The Venue,

 turned right and there it was,

 Yupins,

 inside looking towards the kitchen and bar area,

 Mr.Tony went for their signature dish,

 the sizzling prawns,

 whilst I went for sheer indulgence,

 and ordered the caviar dish, red Russian caviar from Kamchatka in the Far East of Russia, served with quails eggs, salad, mayonnaise, gherkins and silver onions,

 I also opted for the Russian vodka to accompany it,

 we had a long break before our next course, so a quick look at a couple of the many masks that are on the walls,

 they give me the impression of a masked ball in for some reason Italy, 

 I have no reason as to why, 

 our main courses arrived,

 Mr. Tony decided on Florentine chicken breast alla Medici, which is a dish of chicken breast with a sauce of cream, Parmesan cheese, white wine and smoked ham, served with a choice of potato,

I went for the I went for the Australian black Angus steak served with three sauces, black pepper, white onion and fig marsala and a curry sauce,

with vegetables and sauté potatoes, 

 we were both full to bursting so we finished with a coffee, the meal, service and décor were everything you could ask for, we will be back!

 we made our way back to the car, past a few stalls selling decorations,

arriving home we watched The Aviator, then after saying goodbye it was feet up for a few from Judge Judy then I was off to bed.

Yesterday I Mention An Art Deco Style Train,

so for today some Zen Deco,

 when Japan started to open up to the West, Europeans were enamoured with the culture, including art,

 

 but influence also travelled the other way,

 

 You can see the influence in a collection of Japanese postcards from the early 20th century, U.S. postcard collector Ken Reed a part of who's collection is here shows how much influence the period had on Japanese postcard designs,

according to Reed, who cautions that he’s “not a scholar,” the European Art Nouveau aesthetic found its way to the Land of the Rising Sun via a group of Japanese artists who attended the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. “They brought Art Nouveau back with them and incorporated it into what was happening in Japan.” you can see more of his card collection here.

This Strange And Mysterious Looking Golden Object,

was found by a worker in a cemetery in Jerusalem,

 sparking a storm of controversy over what the object was and what was it's use bearing in mind where it was found, also the engineering skills that were needed to make it were so advanced, after 6 months of investing the object Israel’s Antiquities Authority (IAA) was left stumped, 

so they decided to post photos on the popular social network asking for some suggestions,

and this is what they received, it turns out that it wasn’t an ancient relic after all but actually a New Age energy ‘healing device’ known as a Weber Isis Beamer, the device, which costs £50, apparently creates a protective field against radiation, an Israeli man, currently living in Italy, called Micha Barak solved the mystery, I must admit I liked the response from the Israel’s Antiquities Authority  who said, “The object, which is produced by a German company, is called ‘Isis Beamer’ after the Egyptian goddess Isis, in Egyptian mythology she was the goddess of medicine, magic and nature, We hope that those responsible for hiding the object in the cemetery will contact us and inform us why it was buried in an ancient structure and to whom of the dead they wished to give positive energy.” Great response!