This Thursday….Alphabe Lesson, Favorite Things, & Two Questions blog hops

What do you call a small three-masted Mediterranean sailing ship with lateen and sometimes square sails? Definition from New Oxford American Dictionary

Any answers?

Yep, I thought not. Don’t worry, if you had asked me the same question I would have been left scratching my head for days and days.

The answer…

As you may have guessed, Xebec (ˈzēˌbek). I’m not a boat person, but I thought the word was interesting enough to see what these types of ships look like, especially those with square sails…

When I first saw this I thought pirates or more precisely pirate ships.

What makes the Xebec style ships appealing is their fast speed and maneuverability, which made great get-away vessels for pirates clearly. But, I learned that these types of ships were good to carry merchant across the ocean, too. I think, if I were a nautical kinda of gal then a Xebec ship would be the way to sail the high seas!

This week, I’m linking up for the first time with Katherine’s Corner for Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop.

My favorite things THIS Thursday is the taste and thrill of cake and a special someone’s birthday! Today is my baby boy’s birthday. Mind you, he is 6’3″ and 196 pounds but still he’s my baby. This is his 19th birthday. That being said, I will bake per his request a lemon cake frosted with lemon icing. I even do a wee bit of decorating, nothing fancy. These days I simply write “Happy Birthday” and place a single candle on top of a sheet cake. We (DH & I) still light the candle and sing Happy Birthday to him. Somethings never change despite how old our kids get, except going the extra distance to make extraordinary cake designs. Here is one of DS’s favorites from his 7th birthday….

You can find many examples of castle cakes for boys and girls at Google. If only I was clever enough to seek out my Internet research buddy back then! sigh Oh well…DS has the best memories from this and that’s all that really matters.

T2Q:

1. What’s your favorite birthday memory?

2. Do you still make a birthday wish? If so, do you tell what you wish for or wait to see if it comes true?

Visit Miss Jenny and the rest of the Alphabe-Thursday classroom for more homework assignments of the letter ‘X’ and while you’re hopping around, be sure to play along with Miss Amanda in her latest edition of Thursday Two Questions.