Melon mania: Carving pumpkins at Halloween might be a normal thing to do, but carving watermelons to use as bandit masks is quite another. That’s what two thieves in Louisa, Virginia (U.S.), did to cover up their identities when they robbed a convenience store. They arrived at the business in a stolen vehicle, then strolled in, looking through carved-out “eyes” in the melons they wore on their heads. Police managed to find one of the culprits, and they are still searching for the other one. See the melon heads at...

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Colour change: Blaze, a Labrador retriever from Finland, suddenly changed from black to white, and his owner couldn’t figure out why. She wondered why a small patch of fur on her pet’s ear suddenly turned white. Then, over the course of a year, much of Blaze’s fur changed from black to white. It turns out that Blaze has vitiligo, a condition that causes the pigment in fur to lose its colour. Blaze doesn’t seem to care. He is a loving, healthy dog that likes to play and go for walks. Thanks to his owner’s posts, he has become a social media sensation.

Unusual success: A young teen from a poor family in Lucban, a town in Quezon Province, Philippines, had an unusual opportunity for success on the modeling scene. Rita “Badjao Girl” Goviola’s large family received very little income from her father’s job, so she had to beg for alms on the street. One day, photographer Topher Quinto Burgos took photos of her and posted them online. That was the beginning of Goviola’s rise to success. Her natural beauty was noticed by several celebrities, who took her under their wing. Eventually, Goviola started modeling and acting, and she was able to afford to build a new home for her family.

Roadside bonfire: Toilet paper has been in high demand and short supply during the pandemic. So when a transport truck carrying a large load of the stuff crashed on a highway in the state of Texas (U.S.), it would have been understandable if bystanders had helped themselves to a few of the rolls. Unfortunately, the toilet paper – reported to be the type used in businesses – caught fire. Instead of cleaning up the spilled load, onlookers ended up watching a bonfire of the important commodity. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident. See the fiery mess here: www.myCoffeeNews.ca/extra

Food art: The Japanese art called kyaraben involves arranging food into interesting and fun designs. One creative kyaraben-maker, known as Etoni Mama, lives in Tokyo and has three children. She became famous on social media for her version of the art. While any kind of food can be used in kyaraben, Etoni’s choice is fried eggs. She makes cartoon characters with runny egg yolks as the head and body, and then she adds harder, cooked pieces of yolk to serve as arms, legs, and feet. She dresses up characters with other food items, snipped and shaped to make clothing. Her children love it!

Fixing fences: Art Gladu has fixed a few fences during his time living in a house at a busy intersection in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada). The reason? Vehicles somehow miss the corner and end up in his front yard. It happened in the mid-2000s when a truck backed onto the property before driving off. In 2015, another car careened into the yard, hitting his pine tree. More recently, in the wee hours, Gladu woke to a loud noise, only to find that yet another vehicle had punched through his chain link fence before coming a stop on his tree. He’s hoping the city will have a guardrail installed.

Cool cake: When Zahirah Macwilson and Aiman Hakim Redza got married, they wowed their guests by presenting a unique wedding cake. The Malaysian actors hired bakers to create a wedding cake that hung upside down from the ceiling to resemble a chandelier. The newlyweds stepped up onto a small stage to make the first cut. The cake was made by Lily & Lola Cakes in Kuala Lumpur. Owner Lily Osman got the idea to make such a cake a few years ago, but this was her first opportunity to actually do it. It took a week to make, and she needed help to install it from the ceiling of the wedding venue.

Fast food diet: Dieticians don’t recommend the food choices of a Belgian man named Rudy Gybels. He realized that he had a love for fried potatoes when he was 13 years old. His mother allowed him to eat the fried food for dinner if he would agree to eat a healthy lunch. Over three decades later, Gybels is still eating fries for dinner, along with a Dutch hot dog called a fricadelle. The fast food lover is not overweight, and he feels healthy, but admits that he hasn’t had a check-up for a while. He realizes that his diet isn’t great, but he likes fries too much to give them up.

Moose rescue: Travis Burke and Greg Miller went fishing, a favourite activity among folks who live near the Canadian city of Sudbury, Ontario. On this outing, however, the pair did more than catch fish. They came across a very young baby moose that was shivering and alone. It was in the water and couldn’t seem to get up onto the rocky shore. So Burke and Miller came to the rescue, guiding their boat to the baby and helping it onto land. Upon hearing the story, a wildlife expert believed the men did the right thing by leaving it there, saying that it was likely the mother would come back to find it.

Weather dog: A Tampa, Florida (U.S.) weatherman recently got some help with his broadcast from a furry friend. Paul Dellegatto was on camera in his home office, with the cameraman aiming the lens at him from outside his window. Suddenly, Dellegatto’s golden retriever, Brody, entered the frame. In doing so, he nudged the computer, and the weather map blinked off. Dellegatto soldiered on, reading the material instead. Brody then decided to go to the window to greet the cameraman, blocking the camera’s view. No matter – viewers loved the interruption!

See the broadcast here... www.myCoffeeNews.ca/extra

Car museum: Many famous automobiles have appeared in movies over the years. Anyone with a hankering to see their favourite movie vehicle can visit the Celebrity Car Museum in Branson, Missouri (U.S.). More than 100 such cars are collected there, from the Ford Explorer in Jurassic Park to the Flintstone’s granite car to the Batmobile from the 1966 TV series. The museum is the brainchild of the Velvet family, who have been car collectors for years. Displays change because the family regularly buys and sells cars. Visitors are welcome to pretend to be a movie star behind the wheel. See them here... www.myCoffeeNews.ca/extra

Cat handbags: A woman in Japan, known as Pico, designs handbags that look like real cats. Using faux fur, a handbag might appear to be a pure white kitten, a black and white cat about to pounce, or a green-eyed grey feline that wants to cuddle. One of Pico’s creations is a knapsack which, on the wearer’s back, looks like a house cat on its haunches clawing at a screen door. Pico’s work became known on social media, but she makes them in limited numbers because she is busy raising her young children.

Chalk replica: “Along the River during the Qingming Festival” is a centuries old Chinese work of art on an approximately five-metre (16-ft.) long scroll. It is a favourite of art teacher Zhao Wenrui of Shanxi Province, China. Wanting to surprise his students after the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, he made a replica of the famous work using chalkboards and chalk. The finished product took him three months and covers eight chalkboards and, like the original, reveals the lives of the people of the time, from farmers to vendors to boatmen, along with an amazing array of landscapes.

Weird name: A young Mexican man who grew up in the United States had always been called “Bambino” by his parents and friends. However, when his family of four went back to Mexico, the parents decided to let their son know his real name. It is “Zero Zero Three,” or “Cero Cero Tres” in Spanish. The parents gave him the name because he is the third of four children. His complete name is “Cero Cero Tres Miller Santos Chablé.” Zero Zero Three was able to use his name to his advantage. He won a prize offered by a pizzeria in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, for having the weirdest name. He received two large pizzas as the prize.

Picturesque burglary: If you are going to rob someone, try not to take a picture of yourself on the victim’s phone. That’s what Ashley Keast did after breaking into a home with the intent of stealing. Keast, of Rotherham, South Yorks (England), stole a SIM card and put it into a different phone before posting a selfie. He didn’t realize that the photo was seen by the victim’s co-workers, who called the cops. It didn’t take long to find the thief, who was caught with the victim’s £4,000 Rolex watch. Keast ended up in jail for his bad deed.

Unusual art: Artist Reijo Kela of Finland must have been a bit bored when he decided to make some friends – literally. He came up with an art installation consisting of over 1,000 “people” made of wooden frames and dressed in colourful clothing. All the figures, which have heads of peat and hair of straw, face the same direction. Called “The Silent People,” the installation is situated in a field near a highway, in the Finnish municipality of Suomussalmi. Drivers who are accustomed to the sight may not look twice, but those who don’t know about it experience quite a shock when they first view the army of scarecrows. See these creepy creations here:

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Plant lover: Joe Bagley lives in his own personalized jungle. His home is a one-bedroom coach house in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, and it is filled to the rafters with all kinds of potted plants, from cacti to ivy and from tropicals to succulents. All told, he estimates that 1,400 plants live in his abode. His love of plants started when, as a boy of 13, his grandmother gave him a spider plant cutting. Since then, collecting and caring for plants has become his passion. Even his work involves plants: he works in a garden centre.

Close proximity: Those who live near busy highways may not be thrilled with traffic noise, but that’s nothing compared to a situation in Cairo, Egypt. Designed to carry fast-moving vehicles, Teraet Al-Zomor Bridge is under construction just 50 centimetres (20 in.) from four high-rise apartment buildings. Apparently, the bridge is an important addition to the infrastructure, and the construction has a permit. The apartment dwellers will have to relocate, as the buildings will be torn down. For now, though, the view from some of the suites is definitely blocked, but hopefully the compensation to the renters will be worth it!

Twice lucky: His last name has not been released, but “Joe B.” is one lucky fellow. From Pueblo, Colorado (U.S.), Joe bought two lottery tickets on the same day at different stores located a few blocks apart. He purchased one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both tickets turned out to be $1 million winners! Joe used the same numbers (his lucky ones) each time. It took him a month to claim his prizes, and when he did, it was via a drive-thru window set up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Animal hospital: The Nairobi National Park in Kenya has a special centre for injured animals. Called the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, this centre takes in and treats animals and birds of many different species. On any one day, there may be lions, hyenas, cheetahs, parrots, ostriches, and more. While the animals are ill or injured, they are nursed back to health by the orphanage’s staff. The centre’s goal is for the animals to be rehabilitated and returned to their natural habitats. Often, park rangers are the ones who find and bring in animals and birds that need medical treatment. The public can visit the orphanage for educational tours.

Lost in the maze: Those who don’t mind getting lost might want to visit the rare Elizabethan hedge maze in the VanDusen Garden in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast. Planted in the fall of 1981, the maze is made of over 3,000 pyramidal cedars, which have been growing ever since. Some people come to test their sense of direction as they walk through its cool passageways, while others enjoy finding a quiet spot to contemplate life. Those who are afraid of getting lost can view the maze from an observation terrace and watch others try to find their way out! Check out the maze & gardens here: www.myCoffeeNews.ca/extra

Sandy art: Visitors to a beach in Basque Country in Spain could be forgiven if they ran away in fear because they saw a big bull sitting in the sand. However, what they saw wasn’t a real bull. It was a sculpture created by sand artist Andoni Bastarrika. For a decade, the artist has been making sand sculptures mainly to entertain people, but images of this life-size bull went viral on social media and made him famous. Bastarrika uses his hands to get the shape of his subject, and then moves to brushes, sticks, and toothpicks to sculpt the fine details. In addition to creating his own art, he also teaches sand sculpting workshops.

Stay home! The originator of Batman probably never envisioned the caped crusader as a virus fighter. However, that was the case in the Mexican city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. A man dressed up in a real Batman suit drove around the city in a Batmobile, taking it upon himself to tell people to stay at home. He blasted a recorded message from the vehicle asking people to keep their distance from each other. The vigilante apparently was Candelario Maldonado, a Batman impersonator known in the city. See Maldonado in action here:

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Cat sense: Dogs tend to get all the recognition for being heroes in times of trouble, but a cat in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, Newfoundland (Canada), deserves some credit for being a “watch cat.” The black and white feline, called Joey, is owned by Scott White. Just after midnight, White had put some food in the slow cooker, expecting it to be ready in the morning. However, he woke up a few hours later to find Joey pacing around the bed and whacking him with a paw. Turns out the slow cooker had caught fire. Without Joey, the house might have burned down.