Awesome Room Rentals From Queen Elizabeth II For Olympics

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeFrom Denny:  Just how far will it set you back to rent some of these glorious royal rooms in Buckingham Palace during the Olympic Games?  Rumor has it the Queen is asking $50,000 for the privilege.

Now there's a way to earn some cash to alleviate the burden of the royal salaries on the country's treasury.  This Queen is known for her frugality of turning off unnecessary lights around the palace.  Now she's got some marketing sense as well! :)

Some of the apartments that will be available for rent are the Throne Room, the Queen Anne Room and the Tapestry Room.  This is the first time any of these rooms have been made available to the public to rent.  Princes William and Harry have offices here.

The palace was built between 1531 and 1536.  It houses the usual suspects of family portraits dating back to King Henry VIII, historic tapestries and plenty of weapons displays to delight the tourists.

Speaking of the Queen's latest austerity program for the royals:  she recently sold off the royal yacht and the royal train.  After all, her utility bills for this monstrous but beautiful residence costs a good $2 million.  And you thought your energy bills were hard to pay.

Does Happiness Elude You?

From Denny: One of the beauties of coming from a family of very long-lived people is that you don't lose the institutional memory of historical events. Another plus is that you don't lose what former generations taught in the way of good character. What is in fashion in one generation is often out of fashion in the next and, so, we lose the cultural continuity of good values.

Like in any family there were those in mine who were, well, slugs, when it came to good character. To a person they lived miserable anti-social lives, unhappy the majority of the time because they focused too much upon themselves. In my book there is nothing wrong with being good to your self. Just try to make the same good faith effort for others as you would yourself and your life is enriched!

For instance, I enjoy writing all these many blogs. It gives me a creative outlet for color, design and writing about anything and everything that interests me in this world of awesome wonders. Writing these blogs also gives me a chance to share with others as if these blogs were the ultimate social site of sharing! By sharing with others a person can enrich the lives of others while they enrich their own.

Then comes the Joy as was taught in previous generations. This kind of Joy has lain dormant for the past 25 years or so, drowned out by business greed and the drive to unbalanced excessive and financial only success. There are a lot of facets to the concept of success. Monetary wealth and accumulation is only a small part of the equation. This much power and large wealth requires the learning of real wisdom in order to not be destroyed by such power. I could get into what the ancient Kabbalists have to say about the power inherent in money and how to prepare for basically trying to grab a tiger by the tail but that would be another very long post! :)

Perhaps it's time for global society to rediscover some of the ancient wisdom of past societies, learning to appreciate the success of others as well as their own. Happiness can be an elusive creature to those who are calculating and refuse to dig deep into their hearts and offer up greater generosity to those around them. Generosity of spirit goes a long way to creating a much happier life!

Funny Dog Photo by Phil Romans @ flickr

Goethe at age 69 Image via Wikipedia

Quote

“Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist. 1749-1832)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Money, History, Family, German language, Good faith, denny lyon, Arts, Kabbalah, Literature, Kids and Teens

Nature: Pannonian idyll

Pannonian idyll, originally uploaded by Katarina 2353 - rarely present in the next 2 weeks.

"Central Europe that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea dried out. It is a geomorphological subsystem of the Alps-Himalaya system.

The river Danube divides the plain roughly in half.

The plain is divided among Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The plain is roughly bounded by the Carpathian mountains, the Alps, the Dinaric Alps and the Balkan mountains.
Although rain is not plentiful, it usually falls when necessary and the plain is a major agricultural area; it is sometimes said that these fields of rich loamy loess soil could feed the whole of Europe. For its early settlers, the plain offered few sources of metals or stone. Thus when archaeologists come upon objects of obsidian or chert, copper or gold, they have almost unparalleled opportunities to interpret ancient pathways of trade.

The precursor to the present plain was a shallow sea that reached its greatest extent during the Pliocene, when three to four kilometres of sediments were deposited.

The plain was named after the Pannonians, a northern Illyrian tribe. Various different peoples inhabited the plain during its history. In the first century BC, the eastern parts of the plain belonged to the Dacian state, and in the first century AD its western parts were subsumed into the Roman Empire. The Roman province named Pannonia was established in the area, and the city of Sirmium, today Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, became one of the four capital cities of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannonian_Plain"

Video: Independence Day Trivia

From Denny: This is well worth the watching! While I knew most of the dry facts - what I didn't know were some of the ancedotal stories that went along with those historical facts that spoke a lot to the personalities and conflicts of that time.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Independence Day Fourth of July America Thomas Jefferson George Washington Declaration of Independence people and society holidays United States CBS videos American history

Awwww Sniffle Sniffle Sigh Awesome Photos

From Denny: This is one of those endearing profound emails you receive every now and then. Thought I'd share with you these awesome pictures. Thanks, Colleen in New Jersey! Try making your own version of this idea of matching photos with meaningful words that strike a chord in your heart! Feel free to share this post with others to enjoy.

*****

The Real Meaning of Words

LOVE



SORROW



INNOCENCE



DEPARTURE



PAIN



SOLITUDE



RESPECT



COMPASSION



FRIENDSHIP



MUSIC



PATIENCE



RESCUED



BEST FRIENDS



DIVINE



"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

People: present for fathersday?

present for fathersday?, originally uploaded by hans s.

People: reading the menu

reading the menu, originally uploaded by hans s.

People: 18th century lady

18th century lady, originally uploaded by hans s.