Author 89: Miles Harvey helps me be thankful

Sometimes we don't realize all the things that help make America the great melting pot. Here's just a few things from other countries that I didn't know about before reading some selections of the "Look What Came From" series:

• Contact Lenses from Switzerland-created in 1877!
• Sunglasses from China-invented more than 500 years ago.
• "The button-down collar was invented in England in the 1890s. It was designed to keep the shirt collars of polo players from flapping in the wind."

I also want to express gratitude to the many friends and family that make our lives better-specifically I'd like to publicly thank my parents, my cousins over at HomeHinges, my computer savvy cousins, Aunts and Uncles, and other cousins, friends, and co-workers who have and do help me with family info, car info, life info and other things-we've had a lot going on in the last few months and we couldn't have handled it all without your help. Thank You!

Author 88: Play Clarinet Today! with music publisher Hal Leonard

There are so many useful books at the library. We recently checked out Play Clarinet Today! published in 2001 by the Hal Leonard Corporation. This level one book was a bit too easy for Mica but she thumbed through it for my benefit anyway. She rated it as being useful for a beginner with a little bit of direction from a teacher.

And if you're looking for piano books?!? Oh my, there are so many to choose from! Wedding music, classical music, Disney favorites, show tunes and musicals and popular artists from today and yesterday. Just a few of the titles at the Salt Lake County Library System for piano books include:

• Lennon and McCartney Piano Songs for dummies
• Fourteen preludes, opus 3, no. 2 and opus 32, for piano by Sergei Rachmaninoff
• The Best Country Songs Ever
• Liszt masterpieces for solo piano
• The sound of music companion
• Fearless: piano, vocal, guitar by Taylor Swift
  

and many more! For more piano books, visit your local library.

For more music published by Hal Leonard, visit their website at: http://www.halleonard.com/


(On a different note, Daisy just determined that it takes 377 licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.)

Hedgehog on Oboe

Daisy on violin

Mica on clarinet

Author 87: Harry Potter Magic Eye Book

Who remembers when the 3D pictures were all the rage? Every mall had a store or a kiosk displaying and selling them along with the accompanying passersby who stood with furrowed brow and intense concentration that inevitably was followed by two common responses:

1. a knowing ah.... moment followed by a response of "Do you see it? or That's so cool!"
2. or a disgruntled shake of the head and the occasioned comment along the line of "These things give me a headache."

I have to admit, I was often standing with the second crowd. Even with the book and the helpful tips, I just get a pounding headache without being able to see the hidden picture within the pictures.
So congratulations to those of you in the first crowd who can actually see the 3D hidden images. For many more Magic Eye Books, see the official website at: http://www.magiceye.com/


In related artichoke art, we thought these two partially consumed artichokes resembled the sorting hat in different ways. See how many similarities and differences you think these artichokes have with the real sorting hat.

Interestingly, both artichokes were purchased at the same time from the same store yet they were obviously two different varieties. My guess would be a Green Globe on the left and a Big Heart on the right based upon the side cut views from this artichoke site: http://www.artichokes.org/varieties.html They were both delicious. (Is it slightly cannibalistic to eat something that vaguely resembles a fictional talking hat?)

Author 86: Electric Animals and Electric Appliances

Let's start with the book, shall we? Featured on today's book post is Electric Animals by Natalie Lunis. There's the electric eel and the electric ray but there's also the platypus and echidna who use electroreceptors to locate food by electrolocation.


To continue on with electric appliances (which surprisingly applies to both items since the dictionary defines appliance as: a piece of household equipment operated by gas or electricity) (thanks to the good old Merriam-Webster Dictionary) we have a printer and a microwave. Both have died and await disposal at a County collection drive. For more information, visit the following link: http://www.slvhealth.org/programs/waterQualHazWaste/solidHazWaste/householdHazWaste/index.html

They're been good appliances. The printer lasted around 7 years.

Ironically, the new printer (yes, we bought a cheap model) cost less for the whole printer including a black and a color cartridge then the black only cartridge replacement package for the old defunct printer. And the cartridges for the new printer will be a fraction of the price of the old ink cartridges. Sigh. Live and learn, live and learn. (We probably should have replaced the printer about six months ago instead of trying to coax it along by rebooting, jiggling, restarting just the printer and other various attempts to get the temperamental thing to print including but not limited to begging, cajoling and praying.)

The microwave, a Sharp Carousel II, was manufactured back in 1994 and gave us 17 long years of use. Amazing. It was hard to see it go. We had replaced the fuse a number of times but it finally started acting up just a little to much. Either the microwave unit wouldn't turn on unless it was thumped on the side (just the timer and the fan would run) or the microwave unit wouldn't turn off (even if the timer had ended-we could only turn off the microwave unit by leaving the microwave oven door open.) So these two long lasting (relatively speaking) appliances have been replaced.

Let us have 3 1/2 minutes of microwave popcorn popping in tribute to these two electrical household pieces of equipment that served so long and so well.

Author 85: Holly Hobbie still going strong

Fanny is a sweetheart doll of a book about a young girl who envies the "Connie" dolls of her friends. She makes her own doll to play with her friends and their Connie dolls. (At one point the Connie dolls are nurses and Fanny's doll is the doctor-with the author poking a bit of fun at the "looks only" dolls versus those with more, shall I say, traditional? appearances.)

Find out more about Holly Hobbie (who also writes the Toot and Puddle books!) at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly_Hobbie

Bountiful Baskets October

$15 netted us 2 pomegranates, 2-lb. bag carrots, a bag of red grapes, 5 limes, 7 plums, 4 red peppers, a head of green leaf lettuce, 7 bananas, 2 broccoli crowns, 4 asian apples, 3 gala apples, 6 pears and 6 ears of corn. Find out more info at www.bountifulbaskets.org

We also ordered a case of pomegranates. We'll have to post later on how well they store but in the meantime we've already eaten a number of them and shared some with friends.

Everything was pretty good except the pears were brown inside which is a sign of being held at too-low of a temperature for too long. Pears are notoriously susceptible to breakdown of the fruit once they are ripe and they can't handle any rough handling or too much cold once that happens. When they are still hard they can handle more but not once they are ripe.
Also, the plums were a bit stubborn in ripening. Otherwise the rest was rapidly consumed.

Thank you to Dr. Jerry Parsons for confirmation of my suspicions that the pears had suffered from the cold. His article on Pears and Pear Preservation can be found at: http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F1Column/2005%20Articles/AUG28.htm