I know the easy joke would be my husband! but while his years are steadily advancing… he’s not nearly as old as this fascinating carved crystal oddity passed down from my father.
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It’s a bit of a weirdo and though we’ve tried repeatedly over the years, we’ve never been able to positively identify it.
Heck, we even took it to Sotheby’s in NYC a decade ago and if their experts were stumped? It may just have to remain a mystery.
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My paternal grandfather was a world traveler in the late 1800’s and brought this back from Egypt. It hung in my grandparent’s house, my parent’s house and now it hangs in mine. The family lore said it was ancient Egyptian but Sothebys said no, the skull was not used iconographically back then. They did think it could be early Coptic, and as they are the direct descendants… I suppose that’s close enough.
( Historical context. Copts believe themselves to be the descendants of Egypt’s ancient Pharaonic people. They were first converted to Christianity with the arrival of St Mark in Egypt in 62 CE. Egypt became part of the Byzantine Empire in 395 CE, and the Egyptian Church was separated from the Christian community in 451. )
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The famous auction house said the metal work was added later and in its present form could have been used as a talisman for pirates.
How cool is that?
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We never even bothered to ask what it was worth… which in hindsight was rather stupid. But no matter, it’s part of my father’s history and would never be for sale.
Any of my Florida friends ever have a drinkie poo here?
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Weird, yes. But I think I’d have a hard time partying under a hanging tree.
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Twigs and leaves aren’t the only things it sprouts…
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To be clear this is not one of my favorite decorating themes. I have enough trouble with bras in every day life, I really don’t need to drink under a ceiling of them.
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Wow.
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The oldest bar in Florida definitely has history.
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Damn.
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I’ve had drinks with my share of dead beats, but this takes dead to a whole new level.
ORIGINALLY A CHEEKY, IF TITANIC, piece of art, the one-room Hotel Casanus is a giant intestinal model that allows guests to spend a cozy night inside a massive colon. Resting in the Verbeke Foundation Art Park near Antwerp, Belgium, the cozy anatomical model was the work of Dutch designer Joep van Lieshout. The slim, curved interior of the furnished anus features a double bed, windows, heating, and of course, working plumbing. The exterior of the room is sculpted with bulging veins and a giant puckered sphincter (non- functional) on one end, and painted the visceral red of exposed organs. The colossal muscle tube almost seems out of place in the idyllic art park, near a placid pond, yet it is composed of soft, natural angles, no matter how gross. Despite the stomach-churning imagery, visitors still flock to the site to spend the night in the big colon which is also surrounded by such wondrous sites as black swans and an unobstructed view of the night sky. Hotel Casanus is somewhere between theme bed and breakfast and gross-out stunt tourism, but whatever the draw, guests can’t help butt visit.
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Not exactly what one would call luxury accommodations, but then again Le Negresco doesn’t have this….
The warning still stands. Graphic ( but funny ) sexual content to follow.
Read at your own risk!
Remember the days when you agonized over your Halloween costume? Dressing up and getting it just right was important.
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I don’t know about you, but a Grim Reaper penis is not likely to heighten anything for me except anxiety.
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Yes, there’s an entire section of this book devoted to Napoleon’s great grand niece and her crazy theories on female orgasms. I’ll spare you the details.
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I admit to shuddering slightly after reading this footnote. Rock salt and shredded newspaper? I have never in my life been so glad I don’t live in Indonesia.
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Sorry Betty. but I shall be referring to it as the Whipple Tickle from now on.
I shall never look at Peter Rabbit the same way again.
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Nope.
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I know you tried that, because I did as well. But the fact that it’s called a weenus? That’s the real headline.
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This is extremely good news… and may be cause for celebration. Cheers!
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Not being a mother, I admit this next one freaked me out a little.
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What! I’m getting tiny Sam Elliot and Wilford Brimley visuals here…
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May I just say… eww. Is the womb so cold a place every fetus has to don a fur coat they later consume? This falls under the category ‘I actually wish I didn’t know that.’
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I have never been to Disneyland. Point of fact? I never want to go to Disneyland. Alive… or dead. Though I’m sure it would probably be less annoying if I could haunt that obnoxious mouse ear wearing family from DuBuque.
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 