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| Photo Credit: Melanie Norris Cameron |
Welcome back, we're almost done with our alphabet. Yesterday we reminded ourselves that The early Bird catches the Worm.
I know you've been looking forward to the letter X. We all have, it's probably the most challenging - allowing us to get creative.
My X is for
You have to kiss many Xenopus to find a Prince
Never heard of Xenopus? (Me neigher)
They're African clawed frogs, there you go, learn something new every day. I sure did!
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| Source: Rochester University |
Enough of the science as in biology. On to psychology:
The average woman will kiss 22 frogs before finding their prince, it has emerged. Researchers who carried out a detailed study, found the journey to find true love is anything but a smooth one for the majority of the population.
I wonder what the researchers found out about the guys? Maybe they're still counting...
Finding - and keeping - your perfeft mate is hard. And in the term "perfect" probably lies the first problem:
Our expectations are too high.
He should be tall, dark and handsome. Rich, smart and confident, too. He should make us laugh and hold our hand when we're sad, The list goes on.
Sometimes we forget to take a hard look at ourselves. Do we meet all the criteria guys look for in a girl?
Next: even if we met a fabulous guy in our 20s, how can we know if we will still be compatible and share similar values when it's time to settle down? If he is the active type who likes to go out, spend time at the gym and with his friends, suddenly our biological clock is ticking and he is supposed to turn into a caring homebody? Cooking meals, cleaning up and looking after the kids?
See where this is going?
If he's as smart as we asked for he will know that happy wife equals happy life. He'll do his best to be a supportive husband and great dad, and actually sitting on that couch ain't bad at all. With his career getting more intense, he may actually truly enjoy staying in.
However, once the kids are older, us ladies finally rediscover a little piece of freedom. We want to go out and have fun. Guess what, now we're complaining that the husband won't get out of his sweat pants!
Where does that leave us in terms of finding Prince Charming?
I had a thought.
"Forever" and "till death do us part" is too long of a committment anyway. Maybe we should think in terms of office. You know, every four years, we have to campaign and get re-elected. Or not. Move on, no hard feelings. With kids in the picture that pre-election promise better hold up!
Prince Frog Kermit you see on top of this post, was part of a photo challenge I participated in. It was also an A - Z theme. Melanie, one of my fabulous fellow participants, created the cutest scenes placing Kermit eating ice cream or relaxig in the bathtub.
I found another prince frog - he is sitting in a pond that belongs to a lakeside hotel not far from where I live. Seerose is German for Water Lily.
It is popular for wedding parties and business conventions alike. Who doesn't like to kick back and relax in such nice scenery?
A few summers ago several people believed to have spotted a cayman in this relatively small and shallow lake. One of the observers witnessed the animal devouring a duck!
There was a big discussion about people keeping exotic animals at home and later exposing them to public waters. During the summer slump it also provided excellent fodder for the media. Surrounding restaurants tried to profit from the attention. They didn't skip a beat and put "Croc Burger" on their menus. It was quite fun.
Eventually the answer turned out to possibly be a wels catfish. A fisherman had caught one that had eaten a grebe.
We never spotted anything else than peaceful swans and ducks in that like, and while we didn't get married there, we like to visit to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries.
I love your sense of humour and have enjoyed as many of your posts as I have had time to read this year just as much as I enjoyed your guide to Swissair last year. One of my favourite AtoZers! Sadly, I don't need to use technology to see how I will age, just received my first pension :( (looks a bit like a frog - one that has not been kissed by a woman on quest through 22 frogs)
ReplyDeleteI've lived on the African continent for 20 years and never knew about this frog so thanks for teaching me something.
ReplyDeleteAll the best for the last few letters
Frogs with claws, now that is interesting. Does it count if I kissed my prince, he went away, then I kissed a bunch of toads in between and then he came back? We don't have to count the toads do we? Xtra Xtra Read all about it
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Crackerberries
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me apologize for being a lousy A2Zer. In the coming days...let's face more like weeks, I hope to catch up with everyone who took time to visit me this month. Now to answer your question, I didn't kiss too many frogs before getting involved with DH. You gotta keep in my I was only 15 and he was 17 when we started going steady. Yep, we still called dating 'going steady' in the mid-70s. :) I knew the day after our first date that he was the one for me and that he'd be a very good husband but what I didn't realize at the time that he would be my Prince Charming. Things aren't perfect, nothing is perfect in this life but we're each others best friend and we in this together ready to do what's needed. This June, we'll celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary but we've been a couple for 45 years. :) Xcellent post!
X-ray Looney Tunes A-Z Art Sketch
Count my kissings? Haha. Innumerable. I AM with a prince of a guy, it took a couple of misses before we found each other.
ReplyDeleteThe X Factor: https://www.anne-m-bray.com/blog/167846/atozchallenge-2021-x-is-for-the-x-factor
The X Shoe: https://repeatsamb.blogspot.com/2021/04/atozchallenge-2021-x-is-for-x-anian.html
Cute frog photo. I did wonder what people would do with x but you pick a nice x word.
ReplyDeleteFrogs, princes, they're all the same to me. It's what you think of them that matters, right? Not every frog is a prince and not every prince is a frog, that sort of thing.
Have a lovely day.
My A-Z posts are here.
Fun post. Your sense of humour makes it such a joy to visit you:) And like you said, I learnt something new too...it's a win, win.
ReplyDeleteThat dig about researchers still looking for a number for men--hilarious.
Lovely pictures - both, the techology aided and unaided one.
ReplyDeleteMy experience tells me that if you kiss a frog he may become a prince, on the other hand if you marry a prince he may turn into a frog. At least I feel it worked in my case.
Thanks for the new word, Xenopus is a fun one! I like your idea of a wedding contract renewable every four years ;))
ReplyDeleteI had an arranged marriage .... in India our families have the practise of matching horoscopes to shortlist a suitable partner ... Then we met, spoke for like 10 mins or so. We both believed that marriage is a long term process that needs effort and we were both ok to take it as it went ... we said Yes...the rest as they say is history.... :) two kids and 15 years now since I met my frog :)
ReplyDeleteI was not one of the popular kids in high school and never even had a boyfriend until my first husband in my mid-20's so I've really only kissed about 3 frogs and my last one did turn into a prince :).
ReplyDeleteAt a nearby town, visitors started spotting a python snake around the river that must have been released by someone. They are definitely not native to Maine. The town is called Westbrook and locals began affectionally referring to the snake as "Wessie" instead of "Nessie". Local businesses definitely capitalized on it. It only lasted a short time though as there is no way a snake like that can survive the Maine winters.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love this: "Maybe they're still counting..."
I didn't get married until I was thirty and I've always said it was the perfect age. We'd both done the single thing and were ready for the challenges (and joys) of married life.
Weekends In Maine
I knew it was a frog of some type never had boyfriends tillI met Tim
ReplyDeleteThe title of this post made me laugh! Yes, there is many a xenopus out there -- but among them, many a prince, too.
ReplyDeleteHaha great expression for X, love it:)
ReplyDelete