Sunday Randomness #190: Obscured by lightsaber cotton candy!

A sweet treat for a sweet Daisy.  These were expensive but this image helped make it worth the price.

Author #170: Develop map reading skills as Dillemuth explains maps in Mapping My Day

Julie Dillemuth wrote Mapping My Day with illustrations by Laura Wood.  Mapping My Day is another good book to start teaching about maps and directions.  In a world obsessed with GPS and online mapping services, there is still a place for knowing how to read a map whether it be online or hard copy.

Author #169: Hughes helps the world in her book What Matters

What Matters is written by Alison Hughes and illustrated by Holly Hatam.  A young boy picks up an abandoned soda pop can and puts it in the recycling bin.  It's a small thing but "what matters" is the impact his action has on the surroundings.  He influences many things from an ant to two baby birds to some flowers to the ocean with many creatures and things in between.  This is one of the best books I've ever read about the impact of cleaning up our garbage on the environment.  I still can hardly believe we only have one copy of this book in our local library system.  I loved Holly Hatam's delicate illustrations.  See more of her work at her website: http://www.hollyhatam.com/

Sunday Randomness #160: Seven Virtues and Portland Central Library

We visited the Portland Central Library this last summer and I took a few pictures.

 One of the many pieces of art around the library.

 A row of music folios.

 More and more rows of music folios with sheet music for practically any instrument in a traditional orchestra (including voice) and some non-traditional instruments.

 The library has three floors.

 The pillars are painted wood, not real stone.

 Iron gates and wood doors at the front entrance.

 The stairs had etched designs including a treble clef sign.

 And a rolling pin!

 Mica and Daisy by the tree sculpture in the children's area.

 Seven Virtues is a coffee shop near one of our stops.

We got hot chocolate (with the cream heart design), whipped milk infused with lavender, and a berry crumble that was both gluten-free and vegan.  It was the best berry crumble I've ever tried.  We bought some extra to take with us.

Author #168 : Fantastic art on fantastic flowers! Stockdale is spectacular!

Susan Stockdale takes photos of real flowers and paints beautiful versions of them with acrylic paint. Fantastic Flowers is a gorgeous example of an artists' interpretation of the real world. You can visit Susan at her website: http://www.susanstockdale.com/ 

Author #167 Mary Holland introduces Otis the Owl

This cute little guy is featured in Mary Holland's book, Otis The Owl.  He's a barred owl which is just one species of owl found in Oregon.  To learn more about Mary and her other animal books you can read this interview done by Deborah Kalb at http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2017/04/q-with-mary-holland.html that she posted in April 2017.

Sunday Randomness #33 : 10 benefits of swimming

These 10 tips were posted at my pool a few months back and I asked if I could take pictures of them.  I justed wanted to be able to remember that regular exercise has hidden benefits which includes swimming and other forms of exercise.

1. Swimming improves muscle definition and strength.

 2. Swimming builds up bone mass.

 3. Swimming helps you stay flexible.


4. Swimming reduces inflammation.



5. Swimming holds its own for calories burned.

 

 6. Swimming can improve exercise-induced asthma.

7. Swimming lowers stress and depression.

8. Salt water swimming can be a beauty treatment for skin.

 9. Swimming can make you smarter.

10. Swimming may just lengthen your life.