Stupid riddle…

giraffe.1This is one of those silly FaceBook fads at the moment. One of my friends had this message posted:

I lost the great giraffe challenge. I dare you to try it. The deal is I give you a riddle; you get it right, you keep your profile pic. You get it wrong, you change your profile pic to a giraffe for the next three days! Message me only the answers! Don’t give out the answer! Here is the riddle: 3am, the doorbell rings and you wake up. It’s your parents and they are here for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, wine, bread and cheese. What is the first thing you open? Remember …MESSAGE ME only. If you get it right, I will post your name here, otherwise you change your picture. GIRAFFE IT UP!!!

So I answered, but incorrectly.  Here is the answer. Now my FaceBook profile is adorned for the next 3 days with this adorable little giraffe.

By the way, he could be yours—

UPDATE—I’ve taken the giraffe off my Etsy listings and submitted him for our National Transit Building fundraising auction this Saturday November 9th.

Happy St Crispin’s Day!

But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Spoken by Henry; from William Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act IV Scene 3

Gang, this beautiful language is our inheritance—a gift to us from people long gone. Here is the entire scene. More info here. If you saw the Queen Elizabeth movie that came out a few years ago, you’ll remember Cate Blanchett in armor giving a speech to her troops just before they battle the Spanish. I assumed the screenwriters had been inspired by the King Henry speech above. Silly me, I got it backwards—in fact it was Queen Bess’ speech that had inspired Shakespeare.

An award for Finnegan!

m_9781585367849Finnegan and Fox: The Ten Foot Cop has been selected by the Creative Child Awards committee (consisting of moms and educators) for a 2013 SEAL OF EXCELLENCE AWARD in the Kids Storybooks category!