Another view of Christmas

My sister in Los Angeles is as intrigued with new words as am I.  She asked if I knew this word – Conciliabule.  No, I didn’t, do you?    It is a clandestine meeting of conspirators.  So how can I use it in a sentence?  “Obviously, the group of women in the coffee shop was a conciliabule.  What were they planning, and against whom?” Is that OK although it isn’t one sentence but two?

And today into my inbox popped this from Qantas.  That is the Australian National Airline.  As an aside, years ago when we were in New York I had to meet my husband at the Qantas office.  When I told the cab driver where I wanted to go, he asked if that were one of the newly emerging African airlines.  Our friends at Qantas were not amused.

Anyway, back to the inbox

On the twelfth day of Christmas Qantas offered me

Flights to New York from $599 economy one way and

Twelve Big Apples
Eleven junk boats sailing
Ten lions roaring
Nine hibiscuses blooming
Eight roos a jumping
Seven lucky dragons
Six Asian elephants
Five Big Bens chiming
Four koi swimming
Three empanadas
Two merlions
And a koala in a gum tree.

Notes –
1.   The Merlion (Malay: Singa-Laut) is a well-known marketing icon of Singapore depicted as a mythical creature with a lion’s head and the body of a fish
2.   An empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries of The Americas and in Spain

A Koala in a Gum Tree

Have fun whatever you are doing today.  I am and enjoying the sunshine here in this most beautiful city.

Courtesy Simon Woolf

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