Presidents day

Hello again Gentle Readers. The 3rd Monday of February in the USA is a public holiday called "Presidents Day". Originally it fell on George Washingtons birthday but now it is seen as a celebration of all presidents, yes, even the current one.

As we are in the US I thought I would share the wit and wisdom (perhaps) of some of the men who have held the position of POTUS.


Be sure to put your feet in the right place and then stand firm.

Abraham Lincoln

The fact that my 15 minues of fame has extended beyond 15 minutes is surprizing to me and completely baffling to my wife.

Barack Obama

I don't like losers!

Donald Trump

You can fool some of the people all of the time and those are the ones we need to concentrate on.

George W. Bush


It is better to be alone than in bad company.

George Washington

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

John F. Kennedy

Voters quickly forget what a man says.

Richard M. Nixon

Trust, but verify.

Ronald Reagan

Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.

Bill Clinton

#presidentsday #clinton #reagan #nixon #obama #trump #lincoln #washington #jfk

A Scotsman in New York. Day 2

Welcome Gentle Readers to day 2 of our New York extravagaza.

Thanks to the time change Robert had us up really early.

As our hotel (hotel 91) was very close to the Brooklyn bridge we decided to walk across the bridge and find the view that is on Lena's jigsaw. We wanted to find the carousel and I really wanted to find the view that you can see in the picture below.

This is Robert on Janes Carousel.

Robert and Lena enjoying the view of Manhatten from Brooklyn.

After walking so far we decided to take the train to Battery Park where we were going to take the Staten Island ferry.  Before we went Robert did his impersonation of the Statue of Liberty. You can see it below.

The ferry itself was great and it gave us some wonderful views of New York, Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty....

.....and the US Coastguard waving their big guns around.

Staten Island was not that exciting but the weather was sunny and warm. Robert fed the seagulls and we got amazing views of the city.

On our return to Manhatten we walked to the Capitalist centre of the universe.

We also went to the 9/11 Memorial.

And we saw the tallest building in New York close up.....

.....and this couple enjoying the sunshine (check where her hand is)

#newyork #janescarousel #statenislandferry #statueofliberty #statenisland #wallstreet #9/11

A Scotsman in New York. DAY 1

 Well gentle readers. (How you doin?) Its half term in Latvia so Lena, Robert and I have travelled to the USA to visit the Big Apple, New York.

We have never been across the Atlantic ocean before. This is my 4th continent (only 3 to go).

We travelled from Riga to Berlin and then flew the 8 plus hours to get here. We are staying in China town on East Broadway just a short walk from the Manhatten and Brooklyn bridges.

We arrived at around 5pm local time so didnt do much sight seeing but today,  its 8am local as I write this, we are going to walk across the bridge to find the great views of Manhatten.

I will post more pictures later.
Robert has a wobbly tooth he hopes that the American tooth fairy will visit.

See y'all later on.

#newyork #bigapple #chinatown

Today in History 13th February

Hello gentle time travellers. Lets dip our toes into the bathtub of history.

1692: The Glencoe Massacre, Scotland. About 80 members of the MacDonald clan are murdered for not pledging allegience to William of Orange.

1950: Peter Gabriel, co-founder of Genesis and experimental musician is born.

1974: Robbie Williams pop star is born.

2010: Australian Prime Minister Paul Rudd makes an apology to all Aborigenes after hundreds of years of abuse.

#glencoe #petergabriel #robbiewilliams #paulrudd #aborigene

Chilli Lemon Pepper Trout

Hello again Gentle Reader. Here is tonights dinner recipe.

Ingredients
2 x whole trout (cleaned)
One onion
Half red pepper
Half a red chilli
1.5 kg potatoes
5 cloves garlic
Lemon juice freshly squeezed
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Method

Peel and part boil the potatoes

Chop the onion, pepper and chilli finely and mix with 2 table spoons of olive oil, salt and a good squeeze of lemon.

Wash the trout carefully and fill the cavity with the pepper/onion mix. Any veg left over and can be placed on top of the fish.

Squeeze on a bit more lemon and wrap the fish loosely in foil. Place these in the bottom of an oven proof dish.

Place the garlic cloves in the bottom of the dish and pour the part boiled potatoes over the top of the fish.

Place in a preheated oven at gas mark 8 for approximately 30 minutes.

weightlifting 2

Hey there again.

If you saw my last post about the smaller femaile weightlifters looking more  masculine, maybe someone can answer this question.

The larger weight girls in the weightlifting look much more feminine.

Rim jong sim of North Korea wins the 75Kg gold at Rio 2016

Is this because they dont use as much steroids or does their larger body frame mean that increased muscle size doesnt mean they lose their feminine features?

Xiang Yanmei wins 69Kg gold at Rio 2016

 I would very much appreciate it if someone out there could answer the question.

Lidia Valentin wins bronze in the 75kg class

 

#rio2016 #xiangyanmei #rimjongsim #lidiavalentin

weightlifting

 

Hello there Gentle Readers. Well the Rio Olympics is underway and the 6 hour time difference means I have not been able to watch as much as I would really like.

One sport that Lena have been watching though is the weightlifting and  we have been really enjoying it.

The female weightlifters are fascinating however because some come across as being really feminine, while others look very much like men, especially in the lighter weight categories.

Hsu Shu-ching wins 53Kg Gold at Rio2016

We are aware that the use of steroids can sometimes make women more masculine looking but Lena asked the question
"Will small young women who develop their muscles become more mannish naturally?"

Sukanya Srisurat wins 58Kg gold at Rio 2016

I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe someone reading the blog out there will.

#rio2016 #weightlifting #sukanyasrisurat  #HsuShu-ching