Tree decorated with mugs - what to do to decorate dead trees

 

Tree decorated with mugs. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Why wait for Christmas to decorate trees? The Chinese decorate miniature orange and lime trees with seasonal and goodwill messages at Chinese New Year in January or February. I saw this tree decorated with mugs in August. 

A friend commented> Many cuppas.

Angela Lansbury

What to do with your old mugs when you progress to more elegant and practical cups and saucers in sets. What to do with mug

 oddments. How to decorate a dead tree? Use the tree to display mugs.

We have a dead pear tree in London. No more pears. The tree is useless to us. Tree fellers wanted to knock it down, costing us a large sum of money. Then more money to cart it away. 

But birds enjoy hopping up and down the branches. A woodpecker with a red head was busy tapping away at the bark. We could add a bird feeder. But there is no need. We already have one on a nearby apple tree. Another resident complained that parakeets ate all her greengages and squirrel made holes in apples which they had knocked to the ground.

Modern Souvenirs To Wear From Russia

Problem
What are Free Sights Selling?
Language lessons on the internet are often free, but surely they will try to sell something sometime. You can't begrudge them that. They have to make a living. Eventually, they hope to sell you an advanced course, or run advertising, or capture the data.

You have probably heard sayings about business, and marketing, and everything: if you are not with us you are against us; if you are not moving forwards you are moving backwards. If you are not making money, you are losing money.

This language learning website is no longer selling just language items, but now items from the country or about it, for enthusiasts.

My free Russian course just sent me a link to their Russian souvenirs page. Of course, I was curious to take a look. Why not!

In general, I like to buy traditional items, not kitchen tee-shirts and mugs with puns. However, I just loved their website. I don't know why it's so funny to see keep calm and learn Russian written in Russian. It's a double joke.

First, it was originally a WWII government slogan.

Secondly, the Russian language is a challenge, but if you can read the tee-shirt, at least you are making some progress, and seeing the Russian on the tee-shirt is a remember of the alphabet. I thought their souvenirs were great fun.

And the mug which says in Russian, I am a Russian spy - why is that funny? Again it makes me laugh on so many levels. He is using Russian as a code. Only people who bother to learn Russian or are born in Russia and are Russian speaking are likely to be spies. But if you can read the words on the mug - maybe you are also a spy, at very least pro-Russian.

Years ago a spy stayed a spy, hidden.  Only after he or she died did the rumours start. Now we have spies all over the newspapers. This ex-spy accuses that ex-spy. You wonder whether spying is one of the courses offered at uni, perhaps in the careers advice leaflets.

Finally, would you drink coffee prepared by somebody who claims to be a Russian spy, admittedly as a joke.

I love it, love it, love it.

I also liked the Moscow skyline pillow and the balalaika mug.

Useful Websites
https://funrussianstore.com/?utm_campaign=Conversational+Russian+Video+Course&utm_content=Announcement%3A+It%27s+finally+here%21&utm_medium=Announcement%3A+It%27s+finally+here%21&utm_source=getresponse
https://funrussianstore.com/collections/pillows