Whales 'POOP' is valuable!

I learnt some interesting facts today ... and no .... it wasn’t via the purveyor of all things inane, ie Google though I must admit, I HAVE since VERIFIED them on Google.

I didn’t know that Ambergris, which is used as a fixative for perfumes, is actually a substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales and ‘pooped’ out! This little gem of knowledge came courtesy of a fellow human with hounds who stopped to ask what the hound was unearthing in the sand.  He was hoping, for my sake, that it was a lump of Ambergris as, apparently, it’s worth a lot of money. He was wrong in the one aspect of the story he regaled me with .... he called it whales’ vomit when it’s not.

I wouldn’t mind the hound unearthing some of that ... scientists call it ‘floating gold’ and whales produce it to protect their gut from the very sharp beaks of squid.  There was an article in a UK newspaper recently about it. 

Maybe I need to give the hound some lessons in WHAT she should be retrieving from the waves.

It was her log she was unearthing from the sand though, all ready to bury again in the hope that I’d let her re-unearth it.  She’d buried and unearthed it once already whilst Pete and I were having our morning chinwag on the boardwalk.  

It’s Wednesday and I have to get home to shower and change for work.  She knows that and is trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible. It’s easy to forget the time when the mornings are so beautiful.

I just love this time of year ... ambient mornings and the sun rising at a respectable time over the islands. My world rocks.

The second gem came courtesy of a customer in the shop who’d been examining the labels of some of the frocks ... yes, very old-fashioned word but used often by some of the ladies who frequent the shop .... to determine what the fabric was.  Her daughter is a fashion designer in the UK.  Apparently viscose is made using a blend of wood pulp ... that’s another snippet of inane information that I wasn’t aware of.  Papers made from wood pulp too so it it’s probably not MUCH of a stretch to make a fabric from it as well.

I love it when friends who’re humans with hounds come into the shop to shop.  One such friend has clothes shopping down to a fine art.  She hates buying clothes.  She breezes in, selects the items she likes, finds her size and buys them.  Just like that.  No trying on.  No indecision.  Just charge the card.  

I need to take some lessons from her!

“The primary cause of unhappiness is NEVER the situation, but your THOUGHTS about it.” 
~ Eckhart Tolle

THINK happy!