Baldur

It seems that Chloe has discovered the cursor on our computer monitor, she will watch it and try to catch it for the longest time.
All this lunging at our gel screen surface cannot be good for the computer.
While trying to type this brief entry I have removed her from the desktop more than a dozen times.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Chloe Bridges, Chyna, Bill Goldberg, David Knopfler, Karla Bonoff, Ernesto Zedillo, Gerard Depardieu, Bill Ax Eadie, Cokie Roberts, Charmian Carr, John Amos, William Masters, Oscar Levant, Marlene Dietrich, Sydney Greenstreet, Louis Pasteur, Pope Pius VI and Johannes Kepler.

AuntieB

A belated Merry Christmas to all my marvelous friends here on ThinkDraw!

Auntie B was whisked off to Prague for Christmas, by my dear old friend Anatole. He owns the most wonderful hotel right in the center of the most historic part of town. The top floor is his penthouse and it is quite amazing.
I felt I was in fin de siecle Vienna. He threw a delightful Ball on Christmas Eve.
Dinner ended just before midnight, then, and can you imagine this,,, all the guests were brought by carriage to the Cathedral for Midnight Mass.
Heavens!
It was truly a night to remember.
Toly is such a dear. He knew I would probably wear my favorite Swarovski Crystal tiara to the ball (and he was correct). He found a photograph taken of me and the tiara in New Orleans several years ago and comissioned his jeweler to copy it using actual diamonds. It's a bit over the top but he was so sweet to do that.
We were just getting into our carriage to go to mass and I saw the tiara sitting there on the cushion.

AuntieB

After Midnight Mass we returned to his penthouse to find every trace of the ball had been cleared away. His furniture was back in place and a light snack of fruit, cheese and chocolate (not to mention Champagne) was waiting in front of the roaring fire.
There was a tiny Christmas stocking hanging on the mantelpiece.
Inside was a pair of earrings made to coordinate with my new tiara.
Toly cranked up his old gramophone and we danced until breakfast.

Baldur

Auntie B, just out of curiosity, what did you give Anatole as a Christmas gift?

AuntieB

I'll have you know that I gave him an entire batch of my homemade chocolate pecan fudge.
The first time he'd tasted it many years ago he had instantly proposed marriage.

Seeing the extravagance of his gifts might require an additional plate of my Viennese Almond Kipferl.

lilalee

AuntieB, what did you wear with this tiara?? Some fancy gown?? What color? Details!!

AuntieB

A Merry Christmas to you dear lilalee.
I can show you an image of the gown, it is based on a historic design actually. The original was painted by John Singer Sargent in his infamous 'Portrait of Madame X'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginie_Am%C3%A9lie_Avegno_Gautreau

My seamstress is quite gifted, she worked from thr portrait to recreate the piece for me.

AuntieB

I wore heels of course, the shoes were black velvet with a very retro pointed toe, I've always preferred that look. The only thing taller than Auntie B in the ballroom was the tannenbaum itself.

Dragon

Ah, sounds like AuntieB was the epitome of elegance. Glad she had such a lovely Christmas. Dragon wonders if she will be gifting the Swarovski tiara to some deserving soul or will keep it in her collection for sentimental reasons?

lilalee

The dress, lovely!! AuntiB's evening, grand!! Dragon, we get all her tiara's when she gets her crown!!

Baldur

Happy Birthday to David Archuleta, Taryn Terrell, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, John Legend, Jason Ridge, Franke Sepe, Francesca Le, Twila Paris, Lanny Poffo, Denzel Washington, Tatsumi Fujinami, Richard Clayderman, Edgar Winter, Dame Maggie Smith, Nichelle Nichols!, Stan Lee, Pops Staples, Cliff Arquette, Earl Hines, Woodrow Wilson and John Molson.

Baldur

Baldur had to intrude in a different forum and conduct a short class in Roman Numeral usage. I believe it was recorded here in the early years of Radio Baldur, but here I present it again for my faithful listeners:

LIX is 59, LX is 60
In the Roman Numeral system:
I=1
V=5
X=10
L=50
C=100
D=500
M=1000
You combine numbers to get larger ones always starting with the largest number left to right for this addition.
Examples are
III=3
VII=7
CVI=106
To avoid long strings of numbers you may abbreviate particularly long combinations by writing them a different way.
IX is 1 before 10 so it equals 9.
The clue in reading these properly is in noticing use of a smaller number in front of the larger number. So...
IX(=9 is) a shortened form of VIII
LIX(=59) is a shortened form of LVIII
CCCXC(=390) is a shortened form of CCCLXXXX
MCM(=1900) is a shortened form of MDCCCC

MMMCMXLIV= 3944.........
3900(MMMCM)+40(XL)+4(IV)
If not shortened the same number would be written as MMMDCCCCXXXXIIII

In Roman Numerals there is no 0 and the largest single digit given is M(1000).

Baldur

I tried proofreading this and believe it to be correct, but if I have erred anywhere please feel free to correct the misinformation.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan, Jude Law, Sean Payton, Prince Takamado of Japan, Yvonne Elliman, Ted Danson, Marianne Faithfull, Jon Voight, Wayne Huizenga, Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Flanders, Jess Willard, Andrew Johnson, Charles Goodyear, Madame de Pompadour and Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

zum117

thank you Baldur for this roman lesson &the Valuable information. I can give you hieroglyphic lesson instead of LOL
I wish that you will Participate in that challenge & forgave my Error because I didn't study this numbers before
thank you again

Baldur

I did make errors, Clorophilla found 2
it should have read:
IX(=9 is) a shortened form of VIIII
LIX(=59) is a shortened form of LVIIII

Baldur

You are quite welcome zum117.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to LeBron James, Haley Paige, Tyrese, Laila Ali, Tiger Woods, Nacho Vidal, Carl Ouellet, Heidi Fleiss, Michelle Douglas, Chandler Burr, Ben Johnson, Tracey Ullman, Steven L. Smith, Matt Lauer, Suzy Bogguss, Meredith Viera, Bill Kazmaier, June Anderson, Jeff Lynn, Michael Burns, Patti Smith, Vernon Wells, Concetta Tomei, Davy Jones, Fred Ward, Michael Nesmith, Sandy Koufax, Del Shannon, Skeeter Davis, Bo Diddley, Jack Lord, Seymour Melman, Jo Van Fleet, Bert Parks, Rudyard Kipling and Titus.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Matthew Capiccioni, Donald Trump Jr., Carlos Morales Quintana, Nicholas Sparks, Heather McCartney, Val Kilmer, Sir Ben Kingsley, John Denver, Andy Summers, Rosalind Cash, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Rex Allen, Elizabeth Arden, Henri Matisse, King Kelly and Pope Callixtus III.