Round Up

Sad goodbyes to two tireless advocates for civil rights-Benjamin Hooks and Dr. Dorothy Height.

The iconic Hollywood sign is in jeopardy.

Have you ever wondered how to clean your box grater, you know without ripping your fingerprints off of your fingers?

Very cool bent objects.

The National Postal Museum has an online exhibit about postal inspectors. The museum also has a very nice blog.

Did you know that along with having a birthstone, an astrological sign and a Native American sign, you also have a birth tree? Mine is cedar.

Become a Project Gutenberg proofreader.

Sail Rock, Maine is the easternmost point in the United States. I think when I was growing up we learned that some other place was the easternmost point in the United States. Any thoughts?

April Davila and her Month without Monsanto project. This is fascinating. Here is her blog.

Woo Hoo!!! Cupcakes are getting their own television program. Maybe now I can go back to watching programs on TLC. I have been boycotting TLC because of all of their programs devoted to irresponsible procreators.

I so want to read Cartographies of Time by Daniel Rosenberg.

I think most people have heard of the Nobel Peace Prize, but what about the Right Livelihood Award. Read the list of winners or laureates of this award and become awed!!!

Love these passive aggressive signs in libraries.

Dog in Car blog-it's you know, photographs of pooches in vehicles.

The new archivist of the United States, David Ferrerio, has a blog.

Mark Twain's marginalia.

I'm diggin (way too much), Ben & Jerry's Cinnabon Ice Cream. I have also been making homemade fudge sauce to go with it. It's really just ganache that I sometimes add things to like Bailey's Irish Cream to add even more of a zing. After this pint is gone-that's it. I MEAN IT. NO MORE.

Bumper stickers for your shoes-why not?

Have a good week and a good weekend folks.

"We are, because they were." African Proverb

Round Up

R.I.P. Wilma Mankiller and Robert Culp.

R.I.P. Dixie Carter-you wowed us as Julia Sugarbaker, and even though I didn't agree with your politics, I thought you were a fine performer.

An entire site dedicated to faux bois (fake wood).

This absinthe spoon is gorgeous.

All of these home libraries at book lovers never go to bed alone, makes my book-loving heart go thumpity-thump-thump.

Let me introduce you to the world's toughest bacterium-Deinococcus Radiodurans.

Here we go again with the 10 worst and best foods. It's such a gyp that the worst foods are all so yummy and the best are oh so bland, boring, pedestrian, etc., etc.

I look at places like these Cottages at Cabot Cove and think how wonderful it would be to go to someplace like that or to even be able to live someplace like that. That's my first thought. My second is-they probably don't let minorities visit much less live there.

DLL Rainwear-meets all of your rainy day needs. They have primo wellies.

A nifty little organizer to store all of your medical information-Pocket Doc.

Wonder how these taste-Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats. Love Smitten Kitten.

I just finished two nonfiction books. The first one is Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously by Adrienne Martini. I go through periods where I read quite a bit of nonfiction narrative and I really enjoyed this book. I think the majority of knitters have heard of Alice Starmore and the Mary Tudor sweater. Ms. Martini's book describes how she took on the challenge of knitting the Mary Tudor. This funny, informative ( I learned so much more about the Tudors from the author and she presented the history in a fun informative way) book is not just about knitting. It's about life. How life gets in the way of our goals. It's about perseverance and yarn, and knitting blogs and on and on. Great read.

The second book was also good. Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew Algeo. After Harry and Bess Truman left the White House, they retired to Independence, Missouri and lived the lives of ordinary citizens. They only had President Truman's small military pension to live on. This was long before the days of large Presidential pensions, Secret Service protection for life and $250,000 payment for 1 speaking engagement.

When I was reading this delightful, well-researched book I was not shocked, but a bit surprised to realize how much has changed in over 50 years. In 1953 Harry and Bess took a road trip-no Secret Service, just Harry and Bess. They stayed in small motels, as well as some very ritzy places, ate in diners and explored America. The author retraces their 2,500 mile trip. When I was reading this book I became very fond of these two. In so many ways they were just plain folk. And President Truman was really a stand up guy who never wanted special treatment from anyone (even though people just naturally gave it to him). Read this wonderful book about a time long since gone and I think you will become as fond of Harry and Bess as I did. Here is a book review from the Washington Post newspaper.

There are oysters in my beer.

Submit an idea to Idea a Day. Read some of the ideas in the archive. There are some good ones.

Going somewhere, check out AIRBNB.



Whenever I see things like this poster I do have to stop and take stock and realize how very fortunate I am. Do I have the ideal life I dreamed about? No. Do I have every material thing I want? No. Do I have the job that I have always wanted? No, but I have a job, I have a home, I have so much more than so many.



I am not a coffee drinker, but whenever I walk past a Starbucks and see the long lines and I know how expensive all of those fancy coffee drinks are, I think how so many people live on $1.00 a day. A dollar a day. I also think how those same people in line wouldn't give a dime to the homeless man they just passed on the way to their corporate watering hole.



I guess that's my rant for the day.








That's all for this week. Have a nice weekend. It's going to be in the 60's here so I am very happy about that.




"At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political ideas. " Aldous Huxley

Round Up

Just a few items this week. I got struck down by tonsillitis and acute pharyngitis. I asked the doctor what am I 6 years old. Plus, there is something wonky going on with my back -my left leg is bothering me, but it might be another disc problem. I AM NOT HAVING ANOTHER BACK SURGERY!!

Okay enough complaining.

April is National Poetry month. Read a poem you haven't read before, read it aloud, read it to someone, just do it!!!!

I would love to obtain in Master of Arts in Children's Literature. How wonderful.

I love the idea of an underground supper club like the Whisk & Ladle.

A New Jersey family has their own book review blog-The Lateiner Gang Book Review Spot.

Oh, good grief. Alec Baldwin purchased a bookmobile.

I was never a big fan of Curious George. Probably because I'm not a huge monkey lover. However, I think this book The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden. The story tells of how the authors, both German-born Jews fled Paris on bicycles to escape the Nazis.

Every year I keep saying I am going to purchase a bicycle, and I still haven't. This idea always gets overtaken by events. I've become even more inspired to purchase one since I started visiting the Let's Go Ride a Bike blog.

I love absolutely everything in My Sparrow. When my ship comes in I will have a shopping frenzy.

This Chicago Manual of Style purse is the cutest darn thing.

Just in case you didn't get to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll you can purchase one or some of the Easter Eggs.

Another interesting museum-the Computer History Museum.

Top 10 books written by librarians.

Look at this kitchen island made from Legos.

The next time I am in Richmond, Virginia I must stop and get a boxed lunch from Sally Bell's Kitchen. Since I'm a vegetarian I'll have to give my sandwich to A., but the rest of the goodies, especially the very cool cupcakes sound great. I don't know how I didn't know about this place.
Make sure you read the history of this place.

No matter how many times I see the cherry blossoms it still blows me away.





"I am amazed at this spring. This conflagration of green fires lit on the soul of the earth, this blaze of growing, these sparks that puff in wild gyration. Faces of people, streaming across my gaze." D.H. Lawrence excerpt from The Enkindled Spring