THE MINT HOUSE

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kenetics
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by kenetics »

Oh, that Baron. He does manage to get some eye poppers!
Just watch out for those fangs...
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WELCOME TO THE HOUSE

Post by npap »

Welcome to our humble abode :)
King EdwardXXII I presume?
We have been waiting for you at the Dundgeon, Sir :)
The Baron.jpg
Please join the party for a few cocktails me Lord :D
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by npap »

PS
That's me reading, on the right at the end of the table. :)
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by kenetics »

I went by the Mint House at Halloween and was surprised to see it looking like this:

Image

Looks like a little fixing up is needed!
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by kenetics »

Wow, that was quick! Maybe it was haunted or something...

Image
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by npap »

Trick or treat! Ken.

The Minthouse was renovated by count Dracula last night.
Cheers,
npap
Lady Quindecim

Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by Lady Quindecim »

*Knock, knock*

Hi.

Anyone here?
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by npap »

Lady Quindecim wrote:*Knock, knock*

Hi.

Anyone here?
Knock on wood! Lady Quindecim
Nobody but us chickens and the Honorable Count Dracula.
Lady Quindecim

Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by Lady Quindecim »

So, what goes on here... when it is not Halloween?
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by npap »

Here's a toast to the ghost and those who post!

The count is going to dinner now :)
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Re: STORIES AND PARAPHERNALIA

Post by npap »

STORIES, MOSTLY TRUE

Little Johnny

Ever since he started to walk, Johnny never stopped roaming around the house scrutinizing everything with great curiosity. He wondered what was this and what was that.
He had many questions to ask but nobody to answer them. There was no man in the house.
His Mom and his grandmother had no time for him and, what was more, they didn't know much themselves.

Growing older,the questions in his mind grew with him. Now he wondered who he was, what was he doing here and who were all those people around him.
Still no answers; only questions.
He had heard other kids talking about a man in the family whom they called Dad. Dad answered their questions and explained things, but most of all he was a big and strong fellow and “you'd better stop buggin 'em cause they'd tell their Dad!”.

So Johnny now wondered some more: 'Where was his Dad?”.
Alright, they had shown him pictures of the man. He looked so nice; good looking and dressed in a fancy suit. But he was very far away, they said.
Some pictures showed tall buildings that almost touched the sky. They showed strange things with wheels but no horses dragging them; and strangely dressed people, and so many of them.
Johnny wondered some more.
'Where was this place that looked like the ones in the fairy tales?'.

Questions,questions and more questions. But still nobody to answer them.
Jonny grew older and started going to school. It didn't take long before he discovered books.
Some of them seemed to have answers to many of his questions. What bliss!
Reading them he could travel to strange places and learn about strange worlds.

But still, there was no answer to the question that bothered him most : why wasn't his Dad home like other kids' dads.
“Don't worry, your Dad is coming home for Christmas”, his Mom would say.
Christmas came but there was no Dad. Perhaps, it would be at Easter time, or maybe later in the summer.
Christmas, Easters and Summers came and went but 'Daddy' was still away. So Johnny was just happy looking at the pictures. ' Maybe some day he would get to see his father', he hoped.
But he wondered: ' What was a father like?'. 'Would he be happier and proud about him like other kids did?'

He had found the best companion in the books he read. His imagination kept growing. There were more unanswered questions in his inquiring mind.
Winters and Summers and Springs kept coming and going. And there were so many fascinating things
to see in this, what gown-ups called, life. And life was a mystery to Johnny: what was it,who created it and why.

As the beautiful snow flakes were falling on his face in winter, he kept examining the shape, and the design, wondering who made them so pretty and why.
Questions, questions questions.



The cold winter nights.

The crackling of the burning wood in the fireplace and the purring of the happy cat that was stretched
out in front of it were the only sounds of the night.
Johny sitting at one side and Grandma across from him were just trying to keep warm.
It was dark and cold outside, that night. All day long the snow was coming down without mercy, covering the footprints of the day.
And there was no moon to shine on the pitch dark village; no stars to be seen in the sky either but only
millions of snowflakes falling down.

In this mountain village, winter nights were too long. And after dark there seemed to be little life outside.
But once in a while, a dog would be heard barking, excited by the cries of a wolf coming from the forest nearby.
The wolf was heard crying tonight, and grandma spoke: “Oh!” she said, ”this is not a good sign”.
“Even the owl was heard last night”.
“Somebody in the village will pass away”.
She was a very superstitious old woman. So were most women in the village, living in a mythical world
of spirits and untold happenings.
They had just as many unanswered questions in their minds as Johnny did.

'What was life. Why did it have to come to an end?'. There! Another question without an answer.
He knew something about it: When the church bell in the bell tower would sound softly every two seconds, the bad news would spread fast.
People would ask one another, “who is it?” And the following day they would swarm the church to pay their last respects. This was everybody's duty in the village.

Superstition was a way of life here. There were mountain shepherds that would forecast tomorrow's weather, and even the weather of the coming winter.
Even the chickens could make predictions after dinner: holding their breast bone against a light, people could see things written on it.
'Oh, things didn't look so good; the colors and shadows were strange. The bone showed that there was another war coming soon'......

Nobody dared to pass by the four fountains at midnight , the village main water supply. It was an open ancient building with two high arches in the entrance and the fountains far back inside.
'The water fairies would come out every night at 12 o'clock'. 'They were evil and it was best to keep away from them. There was no telling what they might do to you'.

But Grandma's fairy tales were always interesting. Some of them were true, too. But the true ones were
not so pleasant.
Yes, there were thieves roaming the streets at night. That answered Johnny's question of ' why do we have so large and heavy locks on the doors; and always a heavy log across the large door in the back yard and the very strong one at the entrance in the basement of the house.
'This was a strange world indeed', he thought.

O well, he could always travel away to imaginary, fantastic places reading the books he borrowed from the village library.
'Alli Babbah and the Forty Thieves' was a wonderful escape to imagination, and it all sounded so real.
Johnny's mind would drift away, living in his own world.
It looked much better than the one he was in..............
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STORIES AND PARAPHERNALIA

Post by npap »

The Fox

Johnny had always observed that the chickens in the neighbor's back yard made peculiar sounds.
They had their own language it seemed. A different cackling for every occasion.
A cackling repertory when they were being fed, a different one when they had a close encounter with the rooster, and one that announced the birth of an egg; very strange, Johnny thought. Why would a chicken go to the trouble to tell everybody about the new egg she had laid.

But that night hell broke loose. The cackling sounded unusual ; it was something like an alarm.
It was loud enough to wake up the neighborhood The shotgun firing really meant that something bad was happening in the neighbor's back yard.
He just managed to get a glimpse of the creature that disappeared jumping over the fence.

Next morning: the toll, two missing chickens. The back yard was a mess, with feathers scattered around and blood stains all over.
The damn fox had done it again. He had raided many chicken coops in the village in the past.
Something should be done about it.

So, Johny's grandfather had a duty to perform: find and exterminate the culprit.
Early in the morning before daybreak, he got his hunting gear, his 12-gauge shotgun, and started for the woods.
It was still dark and he couldn't see any creatures among the bushes. A few hundred feet outside the village, he noticed that there were feathers scattered here and there. There! Blood stains.
“Well”, he thought, “the fox can't be too far away”.
Something moved among the bushes about 20 yards ahead. Boom!.... Boom!.... “I got you, you damned creature!”, he thought.

He approached with caution. The fox looked dead.
Now , like any good hunter would do, he was going to show off his trophy to the village people. So, he wrapped a rope around the poor thing's neck and started towards the village dragging it along the dusty trail.
The sun was already up and when he arrived at the town's square, he stretched the animal out on the ground so that everybody could have a look.
People gathered around looking and making comments. “Is this the fox?” somebody asked.
“That's the culprit!”, the hunter answered.
“I could swear it looks like a dog”, the fellow added.
“Look, can't you see the bushy tail?”, somebody else objected. “Look at the beautiful fur. But I can't be sure about the head. It's all messed up and dusty”.

Anyway, everybody was glad to see the damn creature dead. They had lost quite a few chickens.
But the screaming voice of another man who had just arrived, spoiled the party.
“Hey Mister!”, “why did you kill my best dog!”
The embarrassed grandfather took a careful look at the dead fox. “Yes”, he thought, “they were right!”
This fox was the poor man's dog!
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Re: SEASON'S GREETINGS

Post by npap »

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
As Christmas and the holidays are approaching, a few thoughts have been going through my mind.

Two thousand years ago the Savior was born. He came here to save man from his
sins : Hatred , bigotry, greed, immorality and all the evils that haunt his soul.
Did He succeed? There is more greed, more hatred and bigotry and more madness today.

Ten thousand years before, a fellow called Noah built an ark to save the human species and all other living creatures on earth.
He succeeded in some way. so today we are here to continue repeating mankind's madness.

I wonder. Who is going to come to the rescue of our insane world this time?
Man is standing by watching in anticipation of his doom. He feels useless. Is mankind committing suicide?
He sees the earth being abused by everybody and himself as well. Each one expects others to do something about it.

It's like the rats aboard a sinking ship; they don't care if the boat sinks because they have a lifesaver.

LET US ALL THINK! LET US DO SOMETHING!
BUILD A VIRTUAL ARK!

EPILOQUE

According to the news, a worldwide food crisis is already here.
Changes in climate around the globe is one of the major causes of diminished food production. The other serious cause, I believe, is the fact that governments are more concerned about filling fuel tanks than empty stomachs.
FedoraRefugee

Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by FedoraRefugee »

Merry Christmas npap.

It is probably against forum rules...I dont know what the rules are here...but I just had to respond to your post.

Did Christ come here to save man from his sin? I dispute that. He came to offer us a way out, redemption from our sin. We are all still sinners, every one of us. For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

My favorite Christmas line is "peace on earth." There was never meant to be peace on earth, not since Adam sinned. This world is cursed and is ran by Satan. Satan is limited in his power over us but this is still his playground.

Christ said:

Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

The parallel is in Matthew:

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Mat 10:41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
Mat 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Don't be fooled by prosperity preaching. This world is the trial, the reward comes later.
Ten thousand years before, a fellow called Noah built an ark to save the human species and all other living creatures on earth.
He succeeded in some way. so today we are here to continue repeating mankind's madness.
YES! You get it, but you don't realize that! The Bible is a continuous turning away of man from God. Of course we continue the mistake. The Jews continued the mistake all through Joshua and Judges, Kings and Chronicles. That is the whole point! There is only ONE WAY! Jesus Christ.
I wonder. Who is going to come to the rescue of our insane world this time?
Man is standing by watching in anticipation of his doom. He feels useless. Is mankind committing suicide?
He sees the earth being abused by everybody and himself as well. Each one expects others to do something about it.
Jesus Christ has already rescued any who choose to grab the life line. Man can do nothing. We tend to have exaggerated opinions of ourselves. We forget who is really in charge. One day Christ comes again. I feel that day is fast approaching. No one knows. Start reading the Bible. Study it, find all the different interpretations and views, and pray and let the Holy Spirit guide you. That is what you are to do.

As far as the global warming stuff, you listen to/read the wrong news. It is all political, the GW summit in Copenhagen just stirred things up. The climate always has changed and it will continue to change. Animals have emitted CO2 since God created this place. Plants take in that CO2 and emit O2. It is just how things work. No more, no less. This GW stuff is all a fraud, and like total suckers the whole bloody world bought into it. People running around crying about the planet when they should be concerned about their souls and the souls of their brothers and sisters.

Listen friend, no matter what science tells you, I have read the book. It does not end with global warming. Famines? Sure. Will the climate eventually cause us a problem? Maybe. But it better be God that you fear, not global warming.

All that aside, what would YOU like to do about our perceived problem? Send us all back to the dark ages so we can keep the planet 1 degree cooler in the next century? Do you really think that even a best case scenario of all the possible things we could do, would make even one iota of difference? This is the part I just don't get, even those that are totally serious about this, they see what the research tells us. Trillions of dollars and a world wide concerted effort and we still gain or save NOTHING!

Should we try to clean up this planet? Stop polluting? Conserve resources? Find better ways? Heck yeah! Sure! But we dont need to send ourselves back to the stone age doing it! Whatever happens with this planet is OUT OF OUR HANDS! It belongs to God, like everything else.

Anyway...I do not know if your post was serious or if it was intended to troll for someone like me. :D I dont care. I know many, if not most will disagree with what I said, and may even be offended or angered by it. Tough! The fact is I AM concerned about doing something, and I do it. I spread the Gospel. I glorify God. I speak of proper priorities wherever and whenever I can. That is what YOU can do. We all will die one day soon. Whether it is through global warming, famine, or cancer it matters not. This world is just the bus stop. You choose your bus here. Heaven or hell. That's all. No more. It really is that simple. I tell others of that choice. It is your choice to make.

Merry Christmas

and God bless.
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by npap »

God bless you, too, FedoraRefugee. :)

-My poem in another thread, titled "Greed," was copied from another, more relevant and timely post that sort of made fun of the world economic crisis. It was not directed at anyone and it was supposed to be just that. It is, of course, not a troll.
A poem may be interpreted by people in many different ways, depending on their cultural experiences and personal viewpoint.

-Anyway, I agree with you in many respects in your response above.
My post in this thread intended to question the sanity of today's mankind. It was not a troll directed at any particular person or his philosophy.

I hope that the best part of man may intervene. And reason, or logic may prevail to help mankind to build a better future for our grandchildren.
The ancient Greeks had a saying: "With Athena (Goddess) and your help". This is, of course, a free translation.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas,
Cheers,
npap
Last edited by npap on Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SEASON'S GREETINGS

Post by npap »

TO ALL THE FRIENDS IN THE FORUM:

To Christians: Have a Merry Christmas

To all other denominations: Season's Greetings
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by npap »

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE FRIENDS IN THIS FORUM
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BREAKING NEWS

Post by npap »


ANNOUNCEMENT
:D

Breaking news appeared in the news bulletin of the House yesterday:
the conception of a new offspring was announced. :)
This new addition to the Mint family will be called Isadora (like Pandora), as the happy Mint family has decided to name her ( an Ultrasonic Scan showed the child to be a female ).

We wish the happy family the best, hoping that the new baby will be as pretty as her sisters.

Here is the image of the baby; I managed to smuggle out a copy from the obstetrician's office; at some cost of course. But, to be honest, the picture looks a bit weird to me.
What do you think? :lol:
Aevum

Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by Aevum »

I think.. That I'm quite happy for this and I'm waiting for this new baby to be born! Only 3 months still, right?
So looking forward to welcoming Isadora in the Mint family!!
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Re: THE MINT HOUSE

Post by kenetics »

Hey npap, are you off on one of your expeditions for the summer?
(I'm sure he will fill us in on all the adventures he's probably involved in!)
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