Rocky’s Nut Brunch

 Welcome my friends to another edition of Rocky’s Nut Brunch.  This week I want to talk about national animals.  Specifically what is the national animal of Scotland.  I bet you don’t know.  Am I right?   I did some research on this and you will be surprised to know that the national animal of Scotland is – a Unicorn.  Really it is.  You can google it.  Because you know it’s on the web.  Are you wondering why the Unicorn is their national animal?

“Well since the 12th century, a unicorn has been a Scottish heraldic symbol when it was used on an early form of the Scottish coat of arms by William I.”

Strange but interesting tidbit of information, right?  But let’s not stop there.  There are other strange national animals.  The komodo dragon is the national animal for Indonesia.  The phoenix is the national animal for Greece.  Monaco has three national animals – the hedgehog, the rabbit and the wood mouse.

 

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II.

 Today we finish up our tour of the World of Coca-Cola here in Atlanta, Georgia.  Last week, I left you with us visiting the awesome polar bear in residence.  He was such a hoot and so friendly!  We all had a blast playing with him – and I think he took a great liking to Jean.  I also think with enough soft whispers in his little polar bear ear, Jean might have been able to take him back home with her.  Then again, that would be a hard one to explain to Customs… you think?

After we finished with the polar bear, we went to explore a 4-D Theater.   The title of the film was The Search for the Secret Formula.  You got these really neat glasses to wear while watching the film.  Now remember we said 4-D. Thankfully, we went with Bill and Jean and got in the line of the non-moving section seats.  That was a most excellent move because let me tell you something, once you watch something in 4-D you will be astonished.  The seats moved and rocked like you wouldn’t believe to the
movie.  At one time, water was lightly sprayed on the audience.  And with the glasses on watching the movie, people were ducking and dodging the things coming from the film.  You can’t miss this movie – you have to watch it and experience the 4-D effects.  Way to go World of Coca-Cola for this awesome show.

After the film, we were thirsty.  The bottles of free coke they gave us at the beginning of the tour were starting to wear off.  And hey, this was the best of time.  Now we were going to the Taste It part of the tour – something my mom couldn’t wait to try.  They had freestyle drink machines set up all over this room with over 100 different Coca-Cola drinks from all over the world.  You could taste as many as you wanted from anywhere – Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America.  Some of the drinks were:

• Beverly. Introduced in Italy in 1969, Beverly is a non-alcoholic aperitif that is typically consumed before meals. Because of its distinctive taste, it is one of our most popular, must-try drinks.  This was a high consensus in our group of no thank you.
• Bibo Candy Pine-Nut. This African favorite is part of a fruit-flavored line of drinks. Bibo Pine-Nut tastes of pineapple and coconut.  This one wasn’t too bad.  Daddy really liked it.
• Fanta Pineapple. This sparkling beverage from Greece imparts a sweet and juicy pineapple taste. The pineapple (commonly known to Grecians as “ananás”) is quite a treat for Europeans, often imported from tropical regions.  This one was mom’s favorite.
• Guaraná Kuat. Introduced in Brazil in 1997, the beverage was named after an Amazonian Indian sun god. Guaraná Kuat (pronounced “Kwatch”) tastes of fruity guaraná berries, similar to ginger ale with a mild berry twist.  Um… no.

So you see this was just a few of the different flavors from around the world that you could try.  Some tasted fantastic while others were like how do they drink this?  Afterwards, on the way out of the tour going into the store, you got a souvenir glass bottle of coke.

Now, the Coca-Cola store.  Some peeps – cough cough – had way too much fun in the store.  Bill was trying to find a good hat to wear for those cold snowy days and nights in Canada.  What do you think about this one my friends?

Do you think it would keep him warm?

Of all the hats to choose, this one was his favorite.  I kind of dig the polar look and the nose on this hat though.  I think it brings character – a fun aspect if you will.

On the other paw, all of the kids in the neighborhood would be screaming for cover when they see daddy outside.  Look at the get up he went with – shaking my head.  These two.  What will we do with them?

So my friends, that concludes the tour of the World of Coca-Cola.  Did you have fun?  Did you learn anything (other than Jim and Bill are crazy?) that you didn’t know?

Stay tuned for next week to find out where these crazy peeps went to eat… and the GPS hang out that had everyone laughing.

 

Romper Room Throw Back

Mom told me about this show that she used to watch growing up as a child. It was called Romper Room. Do you remember it? She said that it was a series that ran from 1953 until 1994. Of course, snort – mom came in there sometimes in the late 1970’s.

She told me she used to watch it ALL of the time. We even found an old back issue of one of them and she showed it to me. Even dad said he watched it growing up. Of course, it was right up there with shows like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers.

There were lots of things that mom and dad both said they learned. One thing was when they served milk and cookies to the children. You remember the little prayer given before eating, “God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food. Amen.” I think I’ve even heard daddy still mutter that before dinner sometimes – snort.

And do you remember the bumblebees, Mr. Do-Bee and Mr. Don’t-Bee? Do-Bee good little children and Don’t Be Mean. Those were so hilarious when we watched the show the other day – LOL

The ending was my favorite – the magic mirror. “Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?” The teacher would then name off names, “I see Jimmy and Lucy and Tiffany and Judy…” I *so* hoped she would say Bacon in the episode we watched, but she didn’t. Mom said she never said her name either. Pooey.

So, I kind of wanted to do a throw back to the old Romper Room Magic Mirror. I wanted to look in my Magic Mirror and ‘see‘ all of the people that have seen my blog.

I see Hungary, I see Italy, I see Bosnia and Herzegovina. I see Greece, I see Lebanon, I see Australia and I see Oman (I had to look that one up on the map!).

I see Saudi Arabia, I see Denmark, I see Maylaysia and I see United Republic of Tanzania. I see Estonia, I see Kenya, I see Vietnam and I see Pakistan.

I see Israel, I see the United States, I see the Netherlands and I see the United Kingdom. I see Canada, I see South Africa, I see Mexico and I see Germany.

I see Singapore, I see Spain, I see Georgia (not to be confused to the Georgia where I live in the United States 🙂 and I see the Phillippines. I see Brazil, I see India, I see Portugal and I see Indonesia.

I see Switzerland, I see Poland, I see Russian Federation and I see Ireland. I see Serbia, I see New Zealand, I see Malta and I see France.

I see Thailand, I see Taiwan, I see Guatemala and I see Sweden. I see Republic of Korea, I see Norway, I see Hong Kong and I see Austria.

I see Columbia and I see Aruba. I see Peru and I see Ukraine.

Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you again REALLY SOON my friends. Hogs and Kisses – Bacon