Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Top Three Lists

Today's post is inspired by Tammy Evans (https://writertammye.wordpress.com/2024/03/26/top-three-lists-solc24-day26/) who wrote about creating Top Three lists.

Museums

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Louvre

MOMA

Desserts

carrot cake

chocolate mousse

pecan pie

Beaches

Todd's Point (also known as Greenwich Point), Connecticut

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Santa Monica, California

Places to read

Living room sofa

Train

Coffee Shop

Animals

Cats

Penguins

Lions

Cookbooks (current favorites)

Moosewood Cooks at Home

Isa Does It

The Minimalist Baker's Everyday Cooking

Children's Books

The Return of the Twelves

From the Mixed Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

A Wrinkle in Time

Television Shows

Star Trek, the Original Series

Start Trek, The Next Generation

The West Wing

What do my lists say about me? One thing pops out - I seem to be a vegetarian. (I do eat fish though.) And I really like Star Trek. I was not able to list my top three adult books -- there are just too many that I love.





 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

The Coming Cicada Apocalypse

You've probably heard the news that this summer two different batches of cicadas will be hatching. One is the the every 13 year brood and the other is every 17 years. The 13-year bunch is called Brood XIX and the 17-year cicadas are Brood XIII. Not every part of the United States will be visited by these critters, but Illinois, where I live, is getting both. 

I remember the last big cicada summer. My neighborhood was not much affected because the subdivision had been built between hatching and construction had destroyed many of the hibernating (?) insects. But other areas were really affected. We like to visit Ravinia, a summer music venue north of Chicago, near Lake Michigan. (Chicagoans just call it the Lake.) Ravinia is a lovely wooded venue. That summer cicadas were falling out of the trees. Very creepy. I'm not sure which brood that was.

We do have lesser amounts cicadas every summer. I recall my cat (no longer with us) bringing live cicadas to the back door. She wanted to bring his new pet inside to play with. (FYI, she was not an outdoor cat, but she was extremely smart and clever and often snuck out the back door when someone was going in or out.)

I don't think my neighborhood will escape the cicada influx this summer. I'm hoping our local wildlife will find them tasty. Though we are in a suburb about 30 miles from Chicago, we have raccoons, coyotes, possums, and of course squirrels and birds living alongside us. 

I'm not much of a hat wearer, but I think I will be wearing hats a lot more this summer.

Monday, March 25, 2024

Music, Noise, and Hearing

 I have been playing in bands and orchestras since junior high school. Along the way I have often sat behind the trumpet section, or next to the percussion section. I have been exposed to a lot of high volume sound. So no surprise, I now have hearing aids, though my ENT calls it a minor hearing loss.

Nowadays there is greater awareness of the importance of protecting one's hearing. There are plugs to put in your ears that take the volume down. Some music groups use plexiglass shields placed between the percussion and the musicians in front of them, or between the trumpets and the players in front of them.

I have never been to a rock concert, so I can't make comparisons, but I would guess that those musicians also have hearing issues if they perform for long enough. And probably the audience members as well.

The problem with using the noise protection ear plugs is that then you can't hear people speaking. This is a problem in rehearsals where the conductor expects that you will hear what he says and then do that, whatever it is. 

If I could go back in time, would I do anything differently? I would probably use ear protection in at least some concerts, but not rehearsals. Would it save my hearing? Probably not. I am fortunate that modern hearing aids are really good. My hearing aids are connected to my iPhone, so I can adjust the volume and setting using the phone. They have different settings for normal environments (whatever that means!) and loud environments, not only to help protect your ears but to help you hear better in, say, a noisy restaurant. Many hearing aids now are rechargeable, so no tiny batteries!

I remember my father-in-law's much larger, clumsy hearing aids, and feel grateful for modern technology. 

I'm also grateful for all the music I've gotten to play and hear over many years. No regrets.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Summertime Thoughts

 Once again today I turned to 642 Things to Write About since I couldn't even think of one. I randomly turned to this prompt: "What are your favorite things to  do during summer?"

Living in Chicago, it seems like winter lasts for years and summer lasts a couple of weeks. That's not the case in actuality, but it always does seem like summer goes too fast. What do I like to do in the summer?

  • Sit in my backyard enjoying the sun.
  • Take walks outside, wearing shorts!
  • Go to concerts at Ravinia. Ravinia is the summer home of the Chicago Symphony and also hosts many other concerts of lots of music genres. It's a beautiful place, peaceful, with lots of trees, and good musick, of course.
  • Cook on our Weber grill using real charcoal.
  • Go to the beach. This is something I haven't done in years. I used to take our kids to a beach on Lake Michigan at least once a summer. I love just sitting in the sun (with a lot of sunblock), watching the waves, and walking in the water.
  • Clean out the garage. Okay, that one's not so much fun, but it will feel good to accomplish that and we can't really do that in the winter. 
  • Read a lot of books. Yes, I do that all year, but there's something special about reading novels in the summer. It reminds of the summer reading programs my mother signed us up for every summer at our library.

What are your favorite summer things?

Saturday, March 23, 2024

First words. Where do they lead?

 I am again turning to by helpful book, 642 Things to Write About. Today I picked "Go to a bookshelf and pick out a book that has a red spine. Flip to page 42. What's the first word? That's your first words, too. Go!"

First I have to digress and note that 42 was the mysterious number in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Coincidence?

Following the directions the first thing I realized was the first word on page 42 in many books is a boring word like "but," "what," or "their." I kept looking and assembled a list of first words from 14 books with red spines. So I'm going to make a sentence or two with those words. With a some extra words to create complete sentences that make some sense.

"Sunday, Dottie required a kerch. What had their books done to the younger royal daughter? Had books begun to affect her? But, this is a case for the inquisitive librarian." 

I think this is the beginning of a light-hearted story for children. Perhaps Princess Dottie wants to sneak out of the castle in disguise (the kerch) after reading an adventure novel, perhaps The Prince and the Pauper? What adventures might she have? 

Adventures would be determined by what time period we're in, as well as where the story takes place. If this is a children's story we don't want the adventure to be too scary. If the castle is in the country, she could go in the woods and maybe find a magical adventure to another place. If the castle is in the city, she could run away to a museum or a park. Hmm, The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. 

She also needs to find a friend or partner along the way. Maybe a young boy who has a very different life. Maybe a talking fox. 

At some point she needs to have a purpose more than, "I want to see the world outside the castle." A magical quest? A rescue mission? 

The possibilities are fun to think about! Maybe I should actually give it a try.

Friday, March 22, 2024

Graphic novels and me

I have a LOT of books. I have favorites that I reread, books on music and history I keep for reference,  children's books from my own and my children's past, and more. I also have some books that I have not read though they've been on my shelves for quite a while. So I set a goal of reading some of them, maybe eventually all of  them. 

I started with "Kill Shakespeare," a graphic novel. The intriguing premise is a truly fictional world inhabited by characters from Shakespeare's plays. Hamlet is the main character, who has to determine which of two warring sides is the "good side," while dealing with his father's ghost who wants to come back to life. 

I struggle with graphic novels. I think they are a wonderful idea. I had students who hated to read, but would devour graphic novels. And I have people in my life with reading struggles who happily read graphic novels. But I have several personal issues with this genre. They go so slow because you have to look at the illustration to figure out what's going on besides reading the words. I find it hard to tell the characters apart from the illustrations. I like having "said Hamlet," and "King Richard glared at Iago," etc. I also like the written explanations of the action. 

I did get to the end of the book where I discovered "to be continued." Grrr.

My next TBR is a normal novel. Though, come to think of it, it is part of a series. Oh well.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

The Art of Coffee Making

 My son is a manager at Starbucks. I don't take advantage of that, however. He does sometimes gift us with something from his store, recently it was a new, large coffee mug. 

I make coffee in a press pot, also known as a French press. I first had coffee made in this kind of pot years ago in a Minnesota restaurant. It was the best coffee I had ever had - so smooth, no bitterness. And such a low-tech method. Grind the beans, boil the water, let it brew for 4 minutes or so and you've tasty, full-bodied coffee. 

I have a coffee grinder and so I grind beans every morning. You use a coarse grind for the press. A finer grind might seep into the coffee through the mesh in the press pot.

While my coffee is brewing for 4 minutes, I heat up some oat milk in the microwave and use my little battery-operated frother to create some foam. Press and pour the coffee into a mug, add the frothed milk, and a tiny amount of caramel syrup, and it's ready to drink.

And I'm ready to start the day.

This post was inspired by Leah Koch's post about making coffee!