Saturday, 31 January 2009
Can you see the splits where limbs have separated?
Driving north on I-75, and seeing the amazing destruction wrought by the ice encrusting the vegetation across Kentucky—and we’re far east of the places we saw on the news. This was a big, bad storm!
Friday, 30 January 2009
Am now reading Kurlansky’s The Story of Salt (2006), which I saw recommended somewhere. I thought it strange when I put the hold on it at the library last week that it was in the Juvenile collection, but I plowed ahead, Explorer that I am. Picked it up today and found out what I could have discovered with a quick google—it’s aimed at the Grade 3–6 set. Still, it’s interesting, although Kurlansky too strongly makes the argument that pre-modern history is based on the salt trade. On the other hand, salt is so cheap and plentiful today that maybe I cannot imagine what it was like “in the old days.”
Thursday, 29 January 2009
I can’t really say what I’ve been up to the last few days. Yet.
Somehow this wee image snuck in here though….
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
It’s been a long time since I looked very closely at marbles. They’re kinda cool, even the rough-made modern ones.
I had a bit of fun playing marbles for a while. Then, one kid whose dad worked at a machine shop brought a single large—larger than ping-pong balls!—steelie out of his pocket in the middle of a game, and then the game changed! His steelie would turn our glass marbles to dust and fragments….
As you might imagine, within about two recesses, no one would play with him!
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Unfortunately, there’s no logo or company name stamped into this pan….
This is my favorite iron skillet. I don’t remember for sure, but I think I paid $3 for it at a yardsale. I know I bought it at a yardsale, although I don’t remember exactly what I paid, but it wasn’t much.
I love how many foods cook in iron pots and pans, the qualities that the heavy iron offers, but I am leery of the rough surfaces that modern versions have.
Good thing there are yardsales!
Monday, 26 January 2009
I don’t know if you remember the series of pictures of the jack-in-the-pulpit that grew out of nowhere in my unattended flower bed in the back yard in May through July of last year. I first noted its distinctive look in mid-May. By June, the leaves were yellowing and it was well into its reproductive activities. By early-mid July, the fruiting bodies were beginning to turn bright read, and within a few days most had fallen from the spadix. Now, the cycle continues. Even the cold weather we’ve had lately has only temporarily wilted this vigorous and fun plant from time to time.
Or, at least, this leafy plant is growing in the very same spot, so I assume it’s (the very same) jack-in-the-pulpit….
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Earlier, I looked at this picture and the word that came to my wandering mind was Fibonacci. This isn’t the right proportion to represent a Fibonacci sequence (I think—or at least it’s not a logarithmic spiral), but it is nevertheless quite visually appealing.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
I took a back way north from the Macon area towards Atlanta, and was gratified to see the creeks had been swollen, even though they look both scrubbed and a bit messy in the aftermath. These days, more water is quite good news.
Friday, 23 January 2009
I pretended to be a Girl Scout today, which made sense since I was at a Girl Scout camp that was empty of scouts. We had the traditional campfire after dark, of course, but since we were really a bunch of archaeologists, we also fired pots in the coals, and avoided dropping toasting marshmallows on the ceramics….
Thursday, 22 January 2009
I’m surprised the incoming White House minions haven’t done a better job of keeping the new administration’s website current. I know it’s a bit of a pain, but when design the site with sections that by definition will need frequent attention, it’s rather obvious when they aren’t being updated.
The WH blog is painfully scanty and out of date. They did get the first Proclamation listed fairly soon after Obama signed it. The Executive Orders signed yesterday, however, weren’t posted until, I think, this morning—really sub-par, I’d say. These signal important policy shifts.