Mr McTavish Bequeaths His Estate

Edinburgh man Willie McTavish is on his deathbed. He knows the end is near and is with the nurse, his wife, his daughter and two sons.

"So", he says to them: "Bernie, I want you to take the Braid Hills houses."

"Sybil, take the flats over in Morningside and Bruntsfield."

"Tam, I want you to take the offices in Charlotte Square."

"Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings in the New Town."

The nurse is just blown away by all this, and she says, "Mrs. McTavish, your husband must have been such a hard working man to have accumulated all this property".

Sarah replies, "Property? ... he's talking about a paper round!

Cactus Blooming At Home: Dec 2013

Each year our cactus plant puts on a show for a few days, then the blooms are gone. The way they bust out for such a short time with such boldness fascinates me. I don't even know the reason why it is so brief, but enjoy them I do.

How Many Couples Communicate

Aging Comes Up On Us Very Quickly

It's hard to imagine if you are young, but youth is fleeting. It passes like a dew on the grass. Photographer Tom Hussey captures this so beautifully in these pictures. To see the full set in a larger size, visit his website by clicking here. The series is called 'Reflections'.

Technology In The Confessional

A Barista's Art

There are many places selling coffee drinks so standing out by doing something artistic with the froth could attract customers. It also would give pleasure to the artist.

Kazuki Yamamoto is just such a barista. He creates images for the customer. Personally I would be happy with a swirl but 3D images would be more than I would want. Still, one can admire the effort and skill involved.

A Montage of his work

For customers who are dog tired 

Over the top I think

Kids would love these

Well done but unsure who it may be

This is a cuty

Irony Pics

My Rules Of Living: Honesty

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you.

So sang Billy Joel. He was referring to truth within a relationship. Honesty has various facets and they are all important in our dealings with both our self and others.


1) Not taking what doesn't belong to us. That can mean stealing items, ideas or intellectual property, time from an employer or credit due to someone else.

2) Telling the truth. No one likes being lied to. Sometimes the consequences of owning up to something can be painful, but better in the long run to be honest. Creating a wrong impression by omission of detail or using misleading language is not being truthful, but rather cunning.

3) Be honest with one's self. People can 'self deceive' into thinking what they are comfortable with. Being totally frank with ourselves can be a difficult thing to do. Some of this can be about past issues we have never resolved (professional help may be required to get past this one). For others, pride gets in the way. What I have found is that self deception can hold us back from personal improvement.

4) We can be too honest. If we lack tact or cannot be trusted with confidential information, then a strength has become a weakness. Being brutally honest should be a last resort, not a first port of call. Also, telling what is not necessary - or kind to reveal - shows lack of common sense, a desire to hurt others or wrongly thinking it makes us look good.

As we can see honesty has many aspects. These are some that came to my mind, and you may be able to think of others. When used properly, honesty gains us the respect of others as well as self respect. The latter one is especially important.

I Fancy A Whine