Mabel's ‘Be-Able' - Tips and things ....

Written by Jo Wickham


Continued from page 1

Garden: Don't bother to buy gardening twine, plastic ties, etc. for tying back your plants, just use old tights/stockings and I promise you will never revert back. You can cutrepparttar tights into strips for delicate plants/branches or make use ofrepparttar 101331 whole stocking or tight leg for tying back shrubs. |You cannot beat them for strength and also they do not rot like garden string, but, more importantly, althoughrepparttar 101332 material acts as a firm support, it 'g-i-v-e-s' so that it does not cut intorepparttar 101333 plant, and is almost invisible amongrepparttar 101334 branches and flowers. We even have a use forrepparttar 101335 foot (nothing is wasted) as tied ontorepparttar 101336 end ofrepparttar 101337 downpipe as it goes intorepparttar 101338 rainwater butt, it collects allrepparttar 101339 leaves and debris before they have a chance to foulrepparttar 101340 water, and whenrepparttar 101341 foot is full you can just slip it offrepparttar 101342 pipe and depositrepparttar 101343 contents ontorepparttar 101344 compost heap or putrepparttar 101345 whole thing intorepparttar 101346 refuse bin. The thick part ofrepparttar 101347 tight can also be used as padding to stop branches rubbing and becoming diseased. I also find tights very good for wrapping large cordylines into an umbrella shape before covering with winter protection, as they holdrepparttar 101348 long pointed leaves gently but firmly. (As you are probably aware, ifrepparttar 101349 winter rain accumulates inrepparttar 101350 inside ofrepparttar 101351 cordyline and freezes, then unfortunately it is goodbye cordyline, which is a shame as it is such a beautiful architectural plant).

Garage/Shed: Tights are also very useful for storing garden bulbs, onions, apples, old carrier bags, etc. Hang up in garage or shed and just take fromrepparttar 101352 bottom and reseal with peg. Also, good for straining lumps/skin from old paint, or placing overrepparttar 101353 tin before replacing lid - it makes a good seal and you can removerepparttar 101354 lid with ease. Useful when painting - cover half ofrepparttar 101355 open top with a tight in order to make a temporary rest for your brush and any excess paint drips back intorepparttar 101356 tin

. . . . . and so on . . . . .

I know that our brains feel as though they are hibernating this cold weather, but I hoperepparttar 101357 above has started them ticking over and we really look forward to hearing your bright ideas. So, don't throw away all those old tights when you are doing your spring clear-out - WAIT FOR ALL THE FORTHCOMING GOOD IDEAS . . .

Talking of spring cleaning, I've just remembered another tip; avoidrepparttar 101358 messy job of extracting cobwebs etc from your fluffy duster after dusting ceilings, lamp shades, etc., just putrepparttar 101359 stick duster inside an old tight and then peel offrepparttar 101360 tight (the cobwebs are then insiderepparttar 101361 tight) and deposit into bin.

I'll leave you on this happy note -repparttar 101362 next time you ladder your tights, you won't feel quite so annoyed - you've not lost a tight, you've gained a useful friend!

Visit Mabels...Maintaining Bygone Times, containing numerous articles thoughtfully researched mainly for the older person. You may access Jo's articles by visiting http://www.mabels.org.uk/ - You will learn about the best tips to improve your health, fitness, finances, safety as well as information on nostalgic topics, places to visit, leisure & lifestyle, mobility & helpful organisations to make the most out of life.


Five Must-Knows When Getting a Kanji Tattoo

Written by Stephen Munday


Continued from page 1

Let’s see if we can find a pattern here: Look carefully atrepparttar examples above. What are they communicating - concrete concepts or abstract ideas? Can you seerepparttar 101330 difficultyrepparttar 101331 translators had? The kanji for “dragon”, “samurai”, “love” or any other concrete ideas are pretty easy to discover. But go for anything with an idiomatic meaning and whoever is trying to help you translate it is going to get a major headache!

Just an idea, but how about this suggestion: Rather than trying to force a round English peg into a square Japanese hole, why not find a real Japanese phrase that you like and get that instead? Bushidou (the Way ofrepparttar 101332 Warrior) and Ninjutsu (The Art of Stealth) are two good examples of real Japanese terms that would make great tattoos.

4. Your name in Japanese

As I’m sure you remember from 2-minute Japanese boot camp, katakana arerepparttar 101333 characters usually used to write foreign words and names. So, if you want to get a tattoo of your name, technically these would berepparttar 101334 characters you would choose. But I am guessing that, like most people, you want your name written in kanji.

Do a quick search on Google and you can find a number of sites that specialize in translating names into kanji. Basically there are two different methods that these sites use, so let’s look at them here.

Translatingrepparttar 101335 meaning

This method involves finding outrepparttar 101336 original meaning ofrepparttar 101337 English name, and then researchingrepparttar 101338 kanji equivalent.

For example, my name has its origins in Greek and means “crowned one”. The one who is crowned isrepparttar 101339 king, so I could translate my name intorepparttar 101340 kanji for king and call myself ohsama. (Perhaps a little pretentious – and disturbingly similar to Mr. Bin Laden’s first name!)

Translatingrepparttar 101341 sound

This is a lot more difficult! Flick through a dictionary and you will find a bunch of kanji that can be combined to sound like your name. But sound isn’t everything: Remember that kanji have meaning as well. In fact, it is even more complex than this! Be sure to check each ofrepparttar 101342 following factors with anyone who translates your name like using this method:

1. Sound – Does it sound like your name or not? I have seen my name “translated” on certain websites to sound like Stefan. Shame my name (Stephen) is actually saidrepparttar 101343 same as Steven!

2. On-yomi and kun-yomi – Yes, more technical words! But don’t panic – they are easy to understand: Basically, kanji have two kinds of reading. One kind, on-yomi, is their original Chinese sound. The other, kun-yomi, is their Japanese-only sound. What to watch is that (like oil and water) on-yomi and kun-yomi don’t mix. Use either all on-yomi reading or all kun-yomi readings to makerepparttar 101344 sound of your name.

3. Meaning – Dorepparttar 101345 kanji have a good meaning together? Now, it can be very difficult to find kanji that sound right and have a good meaning, so you may need to compromise a little on one of these.

4. Masculine or feminine – I guess this is more like a sub-category of meaning, but it is something you need to check out to avoid embarrassment. For example, while “Asian Beauty” may be a great combination for a woman, I getrepparttar 101346 feeling most men would not be too happy about having that permanently written into their skin!

5. If in doubt, check!

First, use your new-found knowledge of Japanese to ask a few difficult questions to your tattoo artist or kanji “specialist”. If you getrepparttar 101347 feeling they don’t know what they are talking about, you probably want to look elsewhere.

Next, before you get anything permanent done, use an online dictionary (likerepparttar 101348 one at http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict) to check whetherrepparttar 101349 Japanese really means what you want it to. You may not be able to input Japanese yourself, but you can copy and paste characters from an email or web page and see what they mean.

Finally, if you are lucky enough to know any, ask a Japanese person what they think. Their confused expression may tell you that you have come up with another “big daddy”!

Follow this advice and you will avoidrepparttar 101350 most dangerous pitfalls of Japanese tattoos and get a kanji tattoo you can be proud of.

Stephen Munday lives in Japan and is the creator of http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/ , where you can download images of over 2,200 names in kanji or have a unique phrase translated into Japanese for a tattoo.


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