I stumbled upon http://www.archive.org, repository of classic cartoons and educational films. The Coronet series of films is hilarious. Try this one out: Are You Popular? They’ve got old movies, old newsreels, government films, music, books … it’s a goldmine for history junkies, and it’s all free. Edit: If you’re unable to watch the movie by clicking on the image, try one of the links that appear below it. They’re different […]
In White Mountains National Forest of New Hampshire, the trees begin their change. Dusk falls over the hills. In the Green Mountains of Vermont, leaves fall like a gentle snow, softly striking the ground in an orange blur. At the Morse Sugar Farm in Vermont, the pumpkins await carving. Rain-filtered afternoon light flows through the jars of maple syrup standing guard in the sugar shack. They are the litmus papers […]
Saw this outside the house a few minutes ago. Random rainbow trivia: the ancient Greeks believed that the goddess Iris acted as a messenger to the gods and would travel along a rainbow to deliver her messages. I assume that tradition got passed on to the Romans because even today the Spanish word for rainbow is arco iris — Iris’ arch. Not often that I get to bust that little […]
I like carbonated fruit sodas. I like them in glass bottles. Hardly any sodas come in glass bottles anymore, and it’s a shame. Glass is a wonderful insulator. The soda comes out of the fridge so cold it has extra bite. These particular glass bottles have the added attraction of a very cool flip top. You pull the wire forward, and *pop* goes the ceramic stopper. (It has a rubber […]
I’ve been thinking more about the Joshua Bell story and why it’s so uncomfortable to be the one person standing and listening to a street performer. During the summer there was an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where young country music star Miranda Lambert sang her #1 hit “The House That Built Me” to the people who had just received their dream house, mortgage-free. It’s a sentimental song, but […]
Today I stumbled across this fascinating old article from the Washington Post about virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html A reporter challenged him to play in a Metro station as a street musician to see what would happen. Would commuters on their way to work recognize the transcendent beauty of his playing, or would they hurry on by? Bell had sold out Boston’s Symphony Hall three days earlier. Tickets for okay […]
Mom sent a corrected copy of my Texas map drawn from memory in the Story Time post. Classic!
It’s raining and the kids are watching The Sound of Music, so I’m going to amuse myself by telling you a story about my plane trip from Seattle to Austin. I found a journal that I was intending to use for story writing. Instead I will illustrate this story with the journal. *ahem* “Why I Hate Flying” by Lynn The Big M and I told the kids during our 3,245-mile […]
The Big M and I had a lovely anniversary trip to Seattle. He may be the gambler on a hot streak lately, but most of the time I feel like the lucky one. Feel free to roll your eyes. Sunday, what was supposed to have been U2 day, we drove down to Mount St. Helens. This May marked the 30th anniversary of the explosion. I was in kindergarten when it […]
I apologize for being so erratic in posting this month. I haven’t felt like I have much to say. Mostly because I haven’t been doing my brain exercises. I’m reading a lot of novels. School is wrapping up, and I’ve been finalizing summer plans. I like to have plans. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t. Take for example, our anniversary plan. The Big M knows I love U2, […]
Flabby Brain 