History

A Tree of Good Wishes

Every year we hang antique holiday postcards all over our Christmas tree.  Real postcards from back in the day when a 1 cent stamp covered postage (early 1900’s).  Real postcards with holiday messages displaying splendid cursive penmanship.  Over the years, we’ve loved how the vintage illustrations dress up the tree, but this year my son and I decided to actually read what was written on the postcards:

The majority of the cards:  Wishing happiness! – Wishing good health! 
Wishing many good Xmas wishes! – Wishing a joyful Xmas! – The kindest of wishes! 

MOST POETIC POSTCARD MESSAGE goes to “Charity” (1908), who squeezed into the small writing space:
“Each year to ancient friendships adds a ring. As to an oak, and precious more and more. Without deservingness or help of ours.  They grow, and silent, wider-spread each year. Their unbought ring of shelter or of shade.”  (Either we are too immature to appreciate this or perhaps this is a secret message written in code, but Charity, wherever you are:  CHEERS!).  

MOST UNIQUE CHRISTMAS CARD MESSAGE was certainly from Mattie to Albert (1909):  “Received the chickens – all O.K.”.  Apparently Miss Mattie was not given to effusiveness.  (Effusiveness:  new vocabulary word for my son).

December Reading –

Mrs. Coverlet’s Magicians:   My dad first read Mary Nash’s clever Christmas themed book to my sister and me when it arrived via “The Weekly Reader Children’s Book Club” back in 1962.  I remember asking my dad to re-read the page that listed the names of the household’s kittens:  Mary Mouse, George Soup, Ernest Waffle, Sally Egg, and the baddest kitten, John Napkin.  This book struck a chord with me, so here I am decades later, reading it every single December to my son.  And we are reading the very same precious 1962 edition (although I do have 3 backups for just in case).

Dogtown:  co-authored by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko.  This book is a charmer, written from the viewpoint of a dog who has found herself in the local dog shelter (“Dogtown”).  It eases the reader into looking beyond diversity and disability and focusing on real issues (forging friendships/finding a “forever home”).  There were tears when we read the final page (from me, not my son), and my son was glad to see the sequel, “Mouse and His Dog” under the Christmas tree.

December Reading Comprehension – My son smiles big when he sees a new Clem and Clyde reading comp worksheet.  I smile big when I am writing a new Clem and Clyde reading comp worksheet:

Story Problem from the Local Diner –

During December, the diner adds their rich, creamy, “town-famous” hot cocoa to the menu.  Each mug of chocolate deliciousness is topped off with 5 mini marshmallows.  If the diner buys 16-ounce bags of mini marshmallows, and each bag contains 700 mini marshmallows, how many bags will the diner need if they predict serving 3,000 mugs of hot chocolate this December?

a)  5 bags     b)  22 bags    c)  300 bags    d)   700 bags (answer at bottom of post)

Our 2025 Christmas Music Obsession –

Somehow, we came across John Rutter’s “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” and became enchanted with the lavish harmonies and unexpected rhythms. We found out what a shepherd’s pipe is (lots of definitions: recorder, wooden flute, pan pipes) and we read that composer/lyricist John Rutter, was inspired by Menotti’s one act opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors (first performed in 1951) (so we read a synopsis of Amahl and the Night Visitors).  Rutter wrote this carol in 1966 when he was an undergraduate at University of Cambridge.  We just love this piece!

Finally, looking toward the new year –

Another story problem from the Local Diner:  The diner has set up a New Year’s Resolution bulletin board next to the cashier’s counter.  The board will be up all year.  Anyone can tack up a card with their New Year’s Resolution.  As soon as a goal has been reached, a giant gold star sticker will be put on the card.  

– For example, Miss Olive has made a resolution to clean up her dining room, 
which has turned into a warehouse of clutter.  As soon as Miss Olive’s dining room looks again like a dining room, she gets to stick a gold star on her resolution card. –  

To further encourage success, the diner will serve up a hot fudge sundae to anyone presenting their gold starred resolution card!
– If 250 customers tack up resolutions and at the end of the year there are gold stars on 40% of the resolution cards, how many people did NOT fulfill their New Year’s Resolution?
a)  40  people  b)  60 people     c)  100 people     d)  150 people
– If a hot fudge sundae costs the diner $3, how much money will they have spent on the customers who fulfilled their New Year’s resolution?
a)  $30     b)  $120     c)  $300     d)  $750 (answer at bottom of post)

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
Story problem answers:  b)  22 bags of marshmallows and d)  150 people and c)  $300 

Indian Summer

Summertime studies for the likes of us – 

India, Incredible India, an A+ book by Jasbinder Bilan, content well matched with Nina Chakrabarti’s A+ graphics.  Clever premise:  a young lady, “Thara”, and Nanijee (nanijee – totally great word – translates to maternal grandmother), sort through grandmother’s treasure box, which is filled with souvenirs from every state and territory in India.  Page by page, we learned facts about each area and souvenir, then located the state/territory on the included map.  Every night, my son and I were drawn in by the exuberant illustrations positioned among splashes of vibrant colors.  We would read anything by this team.

While Mrs. Coverlet was Away, by Mary Nash.  I subject my son to this book every August because it is funny, imaginative, and champions the concept of self reliance.  Spoiler alert:  chapter 15 includes such a poetic passage, transporting us on a lazy summer’s day to the town swamp for turtle hunting.  The story gets us ready for our Mary Nash December read (Mrs. Coverlet’s Magicians). 

Nicolaus Copernicus, by Mariana Swift.  Oh, we do like this man (1473-1543) who had the nerve to propose the heliocentric theory.  Big shocker, Copernicus was not in the good graces of the church, but did he shy away from enthusiastically explaining his observations?  NO!  Role model!  Copernicus published his groundbreaking book, “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”, at age 70.  Role model!

The Travel Book (a Lonely Planet Kids book).  We started this quirky fact book January 1st (with Canada) and finished August 1st (with Kiribati). One page every night, one country every night. (and BTW, I just took an online geography quiz and correctly identified 26 countries out of 30…before this unit I probably could have pinpointed about 9 countries).  Study unit highlights:

Welcome to our “Travel Book” Quirky Awards Ceremony:

Quirky Fashion Accessory Award, Grand Prize Winner:  Lithuania develops a signature perfume “Scent of Lithuania” (2011)
Quirky Global Citizen Award, Grand Prize Winner:  Global Seed Vault – entirely funded by Norway (officially started in 2008)
Quirky Destination Award, Grand Prize Winner:  An underwater post office! (Vanuatu)
Quirky Flag Design Award, tied for Grand Prize Winner :  A completely awesome hat (the symbol of Lesotho’s main ethnic group) is emblazoned on the Lesotho flag


Quirky Flag Design Award, tied for Grand Prize Winner:  Nauru is located just south of the equator and their flag is a model of brilliant simplicity.  See what I mean? 


Quirky Sob Story Category, Grand Prize Winner:  Awww, Nauru.  In the 1980’s, this country experienced a huge economic boom when they were able to sell  phosphate (used in fertilizers) (from scrapings of BIRD POOP).  Alas, they did such a good job of scraping the rocks of the guano, that there was no more phosphate to sell. Economy collapse. Heart breaker.  At least they still have that well designed flag.

A summer school cooking class story problem from the local diner – Chef Hank’s theme this year:  “It is all about the POTATO”.   The agenda:

Monday – twice baked potatoes
Tuesday – the secret of hash browned taters
Wednesday – Vichyssoise, co-hosted by the high school French teacher, Miss Suzette
Thursday – home-made potato chips and dips
Friday – cottage fries and the diner’s famous bar-b-que sauce

Well, who doesn’t want to improve their potato skills?  The diner kitchen has room for 15 students (and there is already a waiting list with 10 names on it).  This is a most popular class.

1)  If the class runs from 10 am until noon, how many hours will the students be in the diner’s school during the week?
2)  If the chef needs an hour of preparation before each class, for how many hours will the chef be paid at the conclusion of the week?  
3)  If the chef earns $20 an hour, how much will the chef earn for his potato week efforts?
4)  If students pay $40 tuition for the week long cooking class, will that be enough to pay the chef?
5)  If the supplies for the week run $100, will that be covered with the tuition income?
6)  If Miss Suzette is to be paid $20 an hour for 3 hours of work on the Wednesday, will that be covered by tuition? (answers at bottom of post)

Music to conclude the evening:  Impression from India

Ravi Shankar’s “Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra”, movement 3 (composed in 1971), performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andre Previn.  The first minute and a half of this piece is calmly exotic, then we are abruptly treated to the energetic, frenetic sound of the sitar.  What a thrill ride!  What a way to introduce my son to the sound of this complicated looking instrument!

The Beatles, “Norwegian Wood” (1965), the first piece of western pop music to use the sitar. George Harrison studied with Ravi Shankar and the unique sound of the instrument was woven into this piece in a decidedly tame (but decidedly lovely) manner.

Léo Delibes, “The Flower Duet” from his opera of 1883, Lakmé, which takes place in 19th century India.  No sitar in this at all, but oh, the harmonies in this simply dazzling duet.  I can find no evidence that Delibes ever traveled to India, so this might be a case of “write what you don’t really know”.  It is still stunning.

Welcome to the best part of my day!
 – Jane BH
(story problem answers:  1)  10 hours     2)  15 hours     3)  $300     4), 5), and 6) yes)

But I digress…

When my sister and I were kidlets, Saturday nights would find us accompanying our parents to a neighboring home, where the adults would play bridge for hours.  Well, this family’s house was a salute to the bland tones of beige (yawn) and sort of a tannish color (double, NAY! TRIPLE YAWN).  And other than a rather large set of ornately carved wooden salad servers – hung on the wall as an art piece – there was NOTHING interesting going on in this house.  Anyway, courtesy of these long nights in Neutralville, here is what beige means for me:  NO CREATIVITY HERE.  NO INDEPENDENT THINKING HERE.  LET’S PLEASE MOVE ON.

But I digress.  Our current book basket is filled with the work of wildly independent, creative thinkers.  Not a beige tone in the lot.

No Beige Here:  “The Adventures of Miss Petitfour” (book 1), written by ridiculously gifted Anne Michaels, charming illustrations by Emma Block.  This is a collection of short stories concerning Miss Petitfour and her 16 cats, but for us, this book is about the glorification of words.  Words we know but forget to use. (Example:  Miss Petitfour and team enter a FESTOONING competition, not a mere “decorating” competition.)  And the cats names!  Our favorite is Purrsia.  PURRSIA.  This might be the first book we have ever read spurred on solely by the author’s mastery of fanciful vocabulary.  I was thinking feline adventures might hold little appeal for my son, but when I asked him if he thought we should order book number 2, he immediately scribbled “YES”.

No Beige Here:  “The Boy Whose Head was Filled with Stars (A Life of Edwin Hubble)”, written by Isabelle Marinov, illustrated by Deborah Marcero.  Lately, my son and I have been comparing photos sent from the Hubble Space Telescope (launched 1990) and the JWST (launched 2021).  So, a BIG YES to a book about Edwin Hubble (1889 – 1953).  INSIDER SCOOP:  Hubble’s father did not want him to study astronomy.  WHOA.  REALLY?  INTERESTING.  Was he concerned that astronomy would not provide a steady income?  Was it for religious reasons?  Hmmm.  Anyway, Hubble acquiesced and taught high school, coaching a basketball team until his father died, then Hubble scrambled back to astronomy. 

And we learned that he “only” managed this: TWO NOTEWORTHY DISCOVERIES:
1) the universe is so much bigger than we thought (even during his studies, the brightest scholars thought the universe was “limited” to the Milky Way).
2) The universe is getting bigger all the time. 

The book concludes with a focused reflection from the author:  
“It is this cosmic perspective that I’ve tried to convey through Edwin’s story, a perspective that is lost on so many of our world’s leaders.  Planet Earth is nothing more than an infinitesimal fraction of a mote of dust in the vast cosmic tapestry.  Maybe one day, this realization will help us overcome our narrowness of perspective, which lies at the root of so many of our earthly problems?”

No Beige Here:  “Old School”, by Gordon Korman.  Oh, we do love Korman’s books (I think we have read “Schooled” 5 times).  In this book, middle schoolers experience becoming united for a cause, find surprising connections with senior citizens, and among other things, they learn about WWII code breakers/shuffleboard/the pleasures of a restorative cup of tea.  This was a thought provoking story that we looked forward to reading every night.   And my son learned the double meaning of the term, “old school”.

No Beige Here:  Reporting in on our around the world tour – 

We are still LOVING this unit, brought to us by the Lonely Planet Kids, “The Travel Book”  .  Since last post, we have journeyed around the Arabian peninsula,  (took a Wikipedia detour to learn where vast supplies of oil actually come from – not dinosaurs as we were thinking, but ancient fossilized mini marine life)(as loads of people know, just not us), have studied the STANS:  Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (we learned that “stan” means “land of”).  We are now heading toward Australia and Oceania.

Favorite new things we’ve learned:

Pakistan:  Jingle Trucks  (definitely NO BEIGE here!)

Jordan:   Royal Desert Forces (police) ride camels

Nepal:  We love this country’s flag (the 2 triangles symbolize the Himalayan mountains, and the 2 major religions – Hinduism and Buddhism)

Qatar:   Best in the good will category:  Qatar created the largest flag in 2013, then had it recycled into 200,000 book bags for school children distributed around 60 countries

Easy story problem from the Local Diner!  There’s a new Saturday night special at the Local Diner!  Date night calls for a bit of sophistication, so the diner is now serving table-side tossed salads!  Oh, the glamour!  What prompted this was that the diner’s chef’s cousin’s brother-in-law,  Mr. Hank, has gotten into whittling and has carved up a dozen pairs of wooden salad servers, which he is selling for $20 per set.  They are just gorgeous.  The diner bought them all,  6 to use for the table-side service and 6 to sell on a trial basis.  If they sell well, the diner will order more.

  • How much did the diner pay for 12 sets of salad servers?
    A)  $120     B)  $144     C)  $200     D)  $240
  • If the diner sells the sets of the remaining salad servers for $30 each, how many more sets of salad servers can they order from the profit?
    A)  3 sets     B)  9 sets     C)  12 sets     D)  1,000 sets
    (answers at bottom of post)

No Beige Here:  Orchestral Offerings – Three rambunctious, bold, imaginative pieces:

Bamboula, composed by New Orleans native, Louis Moreau Gottschalk in 1848.  First of all, the name:  a bamboula is a type of rum barrel drum as well as being a word one would want to say over and over.  This is a longish piano piece, but as we are getting used to it, we love it.  This is the exact recording we listen to – 

Cantina Band, composed by John Williams in 1977 for Star Wars IV.  Inventive, toe tapping, the ultimate quirky background music for the ultimate quirky bar scene –

The Wild Bears, composed in 1907  by Sir Edward Elgar as part of his “The Wand of Youth” suite.  This enchanting short piece transports us into the middle of a children’s raucous hide-and-seek activity.  The chaotic conclusion is perfection.  No beige here –

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  D)  $240 and A)  3 sets)

The Two-for-One Special

TWO QUIZZES!  That’s right, not just ONE, but TWO quizzes to test my son’s comprehension of current study endeavors (significant landmarks/animal investigations/the Netherlands).  Yay!  He scored 100%.  (answers at bottom of post)

The General Knowledge Quiz: 

1.  Who designed and oversaw construction of Mount Rushmore?
a)  Gustav Eiffel     b)  Frank Lloyd Wright     c)  Alexander Calder,  d)  Gutzon Borglum

2.  The arms (wicks) of windmills turn –
a)  clockwise     b)  counterclockwise  c)  either way depending upon wind direction

3.  Regarding the windmill communication system:  the resting placement of the windmill arms (wicks) can signal – 
a)  good news/bad news/windmill is broken/windmill is resting     b)  there is no such thing as a windmill communication system

4.  The number of bicycles recovered from the Amsterdam canals annually –
a)  100     b)  1,000     c)  10,000

5.  The reason San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge is painted orange –
a)   to stand out in the fog     b)  at the time of installation (1937), orange was the California governor’s wife’s favorite color     c)  it was the most affordable paint color that was closest to “gold”

6.  The Great Wall of China was built over the span of –
a)  2,000 years     b)  1,000 years     c)  50 years

7.  Today, the largest ships using the Panama Canal, pay tolls of up to – 
a)   $1 million      b)  $75,000     c)  $1,000
(Here is something fun: In 1928, writer and adventurer Richard Halliburton paid a toll of 36 cents to swim through the canal.)

8.  The largest mammal in South America –
a)  the giant anteater     b)  the capybara     c)  the tapir     d)  the brown throated sloth

9.  Birds have – 
a)  hollow bones     b)  gelatinous semi-soft bones     c)  titanium bones

10.  The only bird that can fly backwards –
a)  the hummingbird     b)  the owl     c)  the bluebird of happiness

The Great Lengths Quiz:  

1.  The length of the Golden Gate Bridge – 
a)  8 miles     b)  4.2 miles      c)   3.5 miles     d)  1.7 miles     

2.  The length of the Panama Canal
a)   50 miles     b)  45 miles     c)  25 miles     d)  10 miles

3.  From furthest point west to furthest point east, which is longer:  mainland United States or the Mediterranean Sea?  (hint:  one is 2,600 miles, the other is 2,400 miles)
a)   Mainland USA     b)  the Mediterranean Sea

4.  All things considered (because this is not one continuous structure), how long is the Great Wall of China?
a)  13,000 miles     b)  9,500 miles     c)  2,100 miles     d)  400 miles

5.  What is the approximate distance between Earth and the moon?
a)  500,000 miles     b)  240,000 miles     c)  10,000 miles     d)  250 miles

After all that test taking:   FUN FICTION READING – 

For a look at history:  Here Lies the Librarian, Richard Peck – a continually amusing peek into rural American life in the 1920’s:  home-made automobiles, romance, dirt roads, bad neighbors, and terrible-to-superb local library management.  

For provoking discussion:  Millicent Min – Girl Genius, Lisa Yee – Brilliant Millicent is 11, and taking a college level poetry class.  Written as a summer journal, short diary entries inform us that Millicent’s mom is forcing her join a volleyball team, Millicent finally has her first friend, Millicent is tutoring somebody who’s lack of academic commitment is driving her crazy.  We are sympathizing with this protagonist who has such a rocky time socializing.  Awwwww.

For relaxing/laughing/smiling:  Tom Gates: Five Star Stories,  Liz Pichon.  This is book number 21 in the series and we’ve read them all – the quality of the hilarious writing, the hilarious predicaments, the hilarious illustrations has not wavered.   At this point, the cast of characters feel like part of our family. Ms. Pichon:  KEEP WRITING!

     

Story Problem:  “2-for-the-price-of-1” at the local diner – Tuesday nights at the local diner are a bit slow, so an enticing “Tuesday Night Only” promotion is offered:  two manager’s specials (chicken pot pie and apple crisp) for the price of one.  If it’s not Tuesday, the price of this dinner is $15 per single order.  Last Tuesday 60 patrons ordered the manager’s special.  How much money did the special bring in?  If the manager’s special costs the diner $5 per order, how much profit did the diner realize? (answers at bottom of post)

Classical Music – How about a THREE-for-ONE special?  We listened to three completely different composition styles of Luigi Boccherini, cello virtuoso and composer (1743 – 1805).  Boccherini’s early years were spent as a  court musician in Vienna.  At age 27, Boccherini relocated, becoming a court musician for the Spanish royal family in Madrid (and remained in Spain for the rest of his life).  We wanted to hear 1) a Viennese-style piece, 2) a work influenced by the music of Madrid and 3) one of his cello-focused compositions.

The Minuet (movement 3) from Boccherini’s String Quintet in E major, composed in 1771 – this fussy, hummable, very “classical music” melody is instantly recognizable as it has been used in loads of films, TV shows, and video games –

The Fandango, from Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D major, composed in 1798, shows the influence of the guitar music he was introduced to in Spain.  I do not think my son and I have listened to this less than 350 times; it was interesting the first time we heard it, it remains interesting.  We love this performance by the L.A. Guitar Quartet –

Cello Showcased – we know we should be extolling Boccherini’s well respected “Cello Concerto in B flat major”, and we did take a listen.  The concerto certainly flaunts a cellist’s skills.  However, what we love is Boccherini’s String Quintet No. 6 (also known as “Night Music of the Streets of Madrid”).  Movement 5, the Passa Calle, in which the cello carries the piece, is warm, full of local flavor, and we really cannot listen without swaying to the tempo –

Welcome to the best part of my day,
– Jane BH

General Knowledge Quiz Answers:

  1. d)  Gutzon Borglum
  2. b)  counterclockwise
  3. a)  good news, etc.
  4. c)  10,000 bikes
  5. a)  to stand out in the fog
  6. a)  2,000 years
  7. a)  $1 million
  8. c)  the tapir
  9. a)  hollow bones
  10. a)  the hummingbird

Great Lengths Quiz Answers:

  1. d)  1.7 miles
  2. a)  50 miles
  3. a)  mainland USA
  4. a)  13,000 miles
  5. b)  240,000 miles

(Story Problem Answers:  $450, $150)

Global Positioning

My son and I have chosen global positioning as a study theme for 2022.  For every topic we tackle this year we are going to to answer this question: where in the world is this or where did it come from?  (We are primarily limiting our focus to countries.)

Our world map and colored pens are at the ready.  Every time we find out where something originated we mark a color coded dot on the map (example:  goat breeds – a black dot, penguin breeds – a silver dot).  Our big map is becoming our big polka dotted map.  The idea is to find ourselves at the end of 2022 knowing where every country on the globe is located.  

To illustrate:  reading from Jack Byard’s “Know Your Goats”, we learned

  • the Girgentana goat (best in class for truly WOW horns) originated in Sicily:  mark a dot on the island of Sicily.  
  • the Boer goat (super sweet Basset Hound ears) is indigenous to South Africa:  mark a dot on South Africa.
  • the Kiko goat (off-the-charts hardy – resistant to disease, parasites, weather) initially from New Zealand:  mark at dot on New Zealand.
  • we have read about 6 breeds of goat from Switzerland.  When you keep going back to Switzerland to mark yet another dot, you finally learn where Switzerland is (this is for my son’s benefit, please don’t think I didn’t know where Switzerland was).

Our topic line-up so far:  goats, penguins (hey! 18 species of penguins and only 2 live their lives in Antarctica: so, 18 sparkling silver dots scattered about our map’s southern hemisphere), owls, bears, and here’s a change of pace:  breads of the world.  This dot marking is more satisfying than one would think.

But all other topics get a dot on the map, too.  Example:  we are reading Lori Alexander’s well researched, well written, “All in a Drop – How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World” (BTW:  illustrations by Vivien Mildenberger are just so right for this book)(and another BTW:  the timeline at the back of the book is worth the price of the book) .  

  • I can finally pronounce his name without pausing to gather my wits:  “LAYVENHOOK” 
  • this man ground down a lentil shaped lens (hey!  we learned “lens” comes from the word “lentil”) and made a separate microscope for every single item he viewed 
  • kind of chilling: van Leeuwenhoek saw things under his microscopes that had NEVER EVER BEEN SEEN before.  My son and I reflected upon this crazy wonderfulness
  • after seven years of heel dragging, the Royal Society in London finally accepted van Leeuwenhoek as a Fellow (1677)

Yes, yes, yes, but where did he come from?  Delft, The Netherlands.  Bring forth the map and mark a gold dot on The Netherlands.

Current Fiction Reads (and global positioning dots) – 

“Room to Dream”, Kelly Yang.  The third in her very readable and very worthy series.  At the point we are in the story, protagonist Mia’s family is about to embark on a trip (from Anaheim, CA) to see family in China (2 dots marked on the map).

“Surviving the Applewhites”, by Stephanie S. Tolan.  I think this is our 4th time through this relentlessly entertaining book.  With each reading we discover new truths about human nature and the creative spirit.  Location?  North Carolina: another dot on the map.

Back to the Goats: Story Problem – 

Farmer Brown has 6 acres of overgrown weeds that need to be cleared out, so he is hiring a team of goats from neighbor, Farmer Fran (yes, THE Farmer Fran of “Farmer Fran’s Grazin’ Goats”), to get the job done.  Farmer Fran has a herd of 30 goats that can clear a half acre in 3 days. The cost runs $400 per acre.  

1)  How long will it take the goats to clear Farmer Brown’s 6 acres?
a-  3 days     b- 18 days     c- 30 days     d-  36 days

2)  How much will it cost to have the land cleared? 
a- $240     b-  $400     c- $2,400     d-  $4,000

3)  If Farmer Brown hires a local construction company to clear the brush, it will cost $4,000 per acre.  How much will he save if he hires the goat team instead?
a- $0 (they both cost the same)     b- $2,400     c-  $4,000     d-  $21,600
(answers at bottom of post)

Classical Music Time with the Goats – 

Farmer Fran says that her goats work more efficiently if they are munching to music, so my son and I looked for music with a happy, rambunctious melody and rhythm – 

  • “Hoe-Down”, from “Rodeo” by Aaron Copland (1942).  An A+ performance by the USA National Youth Orchestra of 2018.  Thanks to the outstanding percussion section we can imagine the goats’ little hoofbeats all over this exuberant composition –

  • “Maple Leaf Rag”, Scott Joplin (1916).  Oooooh, we found an actual pianola roll played by Scott Joplin.  The tempo is much faster than we’ve ever heard this piece played.  Just the right thing to keep those goats moving – 

  • Alexander Glazunov’s “Symphony No. 4”, movement 2 (1893).  This piece transports us smack into the middle of Farmer Brown’s acreage.  We can feel the fresh air, we can see the goats scampering from one clump of weeds to the next.  They are making short work of this 6 acre task!  This is not exactly rambunctious music, but there is a playfulness and joyfulness present –

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  1) d- 36 days     2) c- $2,400     3) d- $21,600 )

Let’s Get This Party Started!

This is post #148, ever so close to our 150th post; definitely cause for a party, so my son and I started the festivities by laughing through two favorite story problems from the vault – 

From the Oct 2, 2018 post (“Did absence make the heart grow fonder?”):  A  Farmer Brown Story Problem –

Poor Farmer Brown, literally, poor Farmer Brown. He is spending so much money replacing items that his cats, Olive and Owl (the hissing sisters), have destroyed. Over the past twelve months, Farmer Brown spent:

– $300: area rug in kitchen (shredded)
– $150: winter coat (clawed to death)
– $100 each: 3 farmhand bed quilts (each mistaken for litter box)
– $200: office blinds (permanently bent from bird watching)
– $100: large ceramic planter (tipped over so many times that it finally cracked)
– $ 78: small ficus tree (casualty of repeatedly tipped over planter)
– $300: neighbor’s yarn stash (don’t ask)

Judging the past year to be typical, how much should Farmer Brown budget per month to replace things Olive and Owl will most likely have their way with in the coming year? 

A). $59      B). $79      C). $99      D). $119  (answer at bottom of post)

From the September 19, 2015 post (“Lights! Camera!  Edison!”):  A Local Diner Story Problem – 

Art at the Local Diner – The diner is gussying up the place with selected pieces of what some might call art. Of course, they are installing the classic “A Friend in Need” (the rest of us know it as “Dogs Playing Poker”) by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, purchased for $45. A portrait of Elvis on black velvet has also been purchased for $90. Posters of Batman, Superman, and Marilyn Monroe round out the collection, the lot acquired at a garage sale for $10. 

How much has the diner spent on “artwork”? (Heh, heh, the answer is not “zero”.)

A).  $10     B).  $145     C).  $175     D).  $900 

 Money to purchase the exciting wall decor came from the diner’s tabletop jukeboxes. At 25 cents per song, how many songs had to be played before the art could be purchased? 

A).  45     B).  580     C).  850     D).  1,000  (answers at bottom of post)

We take a break from story problem frivolity to present a few notes from the current academic focus:  our “Shining Stars of the 1860’s” unit –

– Ely S. Parker – “One Real American – The Life of Ely S. Parker”, by Joseph Bruchac.   A larger-than-life man:  Seneca sachem (which we learned is pronounced “say-chem”, meaning chief), Mason, Civil War General (close aide to General Ulysses S. Grant), competent engineer, skilled writer, diplomat, bi-lingual, you name it.  We love this man and we loved this book.

– Abraham Lincoln – “Abraham Lincoln – A Life from Beginning to End”, an Hourly History book by Henry Freeman.  Of course, there are so many books written about Lincoln, but this one speaks to my son’s level of comprehension.  Here is something that caught our attention:  before marrying Lincoln, one of Mary Todd’s previous suitors was NONE OTHER THAN Stephan A. Douglas, YES that Stephan A. Douglas of the Lincoln-Douglas debates!!!!  

– Matthew Brady –  “Matthew Brady, Historian with a Camera”, by James D. Horan.  This book includes 450 of Matthew Brady branded photographs (many were taken by his trained assistants).  Totally interesting to us:  a Matthew Brady photograph of Lincoln is used for both the $5 bill and the copper penny.

– Harriet Tubman –  “Harriet Tubman – A Life from Beginning to End”, another Hourly History book.  Excellent resource.  This caught our attention:  as Harriet Tubman would guide fugitives along the underground railroad, she would change the tempo of the spiritual “Go Down Moses” to indicate whether it was safe to move forward.  Of course, we had to listen to “Go Down Moses” and consider the parallels between the tasks of Moses and Harriet Tubman:

Back to the party!  What is a festive gathering without a prize drawing? 

I have set up a container for my son to draw three surprise classical music suggestions for Saturday night listening.  I did not know this was going to involve a learning curve – my son does not have the grasp of selecting only three items from the container, but we will get there.  Here are last Saturday’s winners –

– “The Hen Symphony” – from Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 in G minor, “The Hen”, movement 4, (1785).  We LOVE this super merry movement and have probably listened to it 15 times so far.  We sort of think we can hear a few measures from “Three Blind Mice” stuck right in the middle:

– “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” – from Handel’s Old Testament-based (Book of Kings and Book of Chronicles) oratorio, “Solomon” (1748).  The 18th century “Englishness” of this piece almost makes us smirk, but then we hear those oboe harmonies and all is forgiven:

– “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3” in G major, movement 3 –  from Bach’s 1721 assemblage of the 6 concertos.  Hurries along at a fast clip.  Who can’t like this?

As if two story problems and a surprise drawing for music listening were not enough, there is EVEN MORE partying to come in the next two blog posts! 

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  D.  $119, B.  $145,  B.  580 songs)

Smitten with Britain

UK quiz

What’s it all mean? 
(What we learned, and I do mean WE.  How did I not know most of this?)

  • UK, the United Kingdom – refers to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland  
  • Great Britain – is a geographical term, referring to the land mass that includes England, Scotland, and Wales 
  • The British Isles – another geographical term, referring to Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and 6,000 teenier islands in the general area 
  • The British Commonwealth – (correctly referred to as “The Commonwealth”) a political association of 54  countries (including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) for which Queen Elizabeth II serves as leader (finally, she is in charge of something!)

Our favorite takeaways from our “Smitten with Britain” unit:  

manx sheep

1)  The Isle of Man –  Located in the Irish Sea, midway between Ireland and Great Britain.  Home of:

  • Manx cats
  • Manx Loaghtan sheep (SHEEP WITH FOUR HORNS)(GET OUT OF TOWN) (immediate Google image search) (we couldn’t stop staring at the 4 horns)
  • the Bee Gees (Bee Gee tunes are favorites in my son’s trampoline-time music lineup)

2)  Trafalgar Square – London  

  • it is all about Admiral Horatio Nelson and an 1805 sea battle.  Discussion provokers:  1)  the lions at the base of Nelson’s Column (the centerpiece of the square) were cast from cannons (vocab) from battleships,  2)  we talked about the process of “casting”,  3)  we spent time lamenting Lord Nelson’s loss of an eye and an arm for the British cause
  • Trafalgar Square boasts London’s smallest police office (the observation post can only fit one person)
  • the square is the site for a ginormous Christmas tree that is sent every year from Norway

Our resources:  

UK books

  • Wikipedia 
  • “The Usborne Book of London”
  • “The Big Book of the UK” (Williams/Lockhart)

Smitten with these British authors:

dog books

James Herriot:  From the consummate British vet and master story-teller, his “Dog Stories” are calming and kind recollections.  Perfect night-time reading.  Our favorite stories so far:  “The Darrowby Show” and “Granville Bennett”.

Tom Gates:  Liz Pichon’s books activate our grin machines.  We are currently rereading the entire Tom Gates series (just finished “Super Good Skills”, now mid-way through “Dog Zombies Rule”).  We cannot get enough of Tom’s sullen sister Delia,  Tom’s bothersome classroom seat-mate, Marcus Meldrew, Tom’s grandparents (“The Fossils”).  We love Tom’s doodles.

scones

Story Problem from the local diner – The diner is caught up in a British frenzy, so for the next month, the diner will serve afternoon tea with scones and tea sandwiches.  The diner needs 5 quarts of raspberry jam per week.  Farmer Brown sells his jam for $8 a quart, but he is going to give the diner a 10% discount.  How much will the diner spend on raspberry jam during the next four weeks?

A.  $16     B.  $40     C.  $144     D.  $160  (answer at bottom of post)

shakespeare

Shakespeare Comedies – we were so taken with The Usborne “Complete Shakespeare” book that augmented our reading of Gary Schmidt’s “The Wednesday Wars” (see “Perfect Pairings”, the post of February 2, 2021), that we read through all of the Shakespeare comedies (we learned that in terms of Shakespeare, “comedy” means happy ending).  An excellent use of our time: 

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • Twelfth Night
  • Love’s Labour’s Lost
  • Much Ado about Nothing
  • As You Like It
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor (maybe this is our favorite)
  • The Winter’s Tale
  • The Taming of the Shrew (on our fave list)
  • Pericles (on our fave list)
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • The Tempest
  • All’s Well that Ends Well

Classical Music Time:  The Siren Call of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” – this play seems to beckon composers:  we listened to three versions of the overture and discussed the very different points of view – 

From 1674, English baroque composer Matthew Locke:  this introduction is very fussy, very baroque, very short (only a minute long) – 

From 1861, English composer Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert/Sullivan): this was Sullivan’s first published work (he was only 19!). My son and I hear themes of loneliness and disappointment, and as the piece gets underway we hear the storm approach, burst, and move on –

From 1925, Finish composer Jean Sibelius: sort of 7 minutes of heavy winds (enough already), but it does paint a picture of the terrible storm that sets everything in motion –

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  C).  $144)

Too much gushing?

We plow through so many poorly edited books (case in point: the North American Birds book that had a chapter entitled “Finches” in which there was no mention of finches in said chapter), or stupefyingly boring books (case in point: the recent purchase of a most disappointing volume on the history of yodeling), so when we come across books such as we’ve been reading these past weeks, I gush.  Sorry.  Not sorry. 

Paddle-to-the-Sea – this book is so A++++.  Written and illustrated in 1941 by Holling Clancy Holling, and selected as a Caldecott Honor Book in 1942.  This soothing reading is: 

  • a geography lesson in the Great Lakes (which provoked us to order a rather large Great Lakes map poster for my son’s room):

lakes map

  • a lesson in “sticking to the plan”
  • a lesson in “letting go”
  • a lesson in observation
  • a lesson about the kindness of strangers

For us, “Paddle-to-the-Sea” was one almost poetic page per night, accompanied by detailed illustrations, to help us follow the journey of a small hand-carved wooden canoe, complete with hand-carved wooden passenger, as it traveled from a river in Canada through the Great Lakes and eventually on to the Atlantic Ocean.  The 4 year voyage concludes in a most satisfying manner (I was sort of weeping).  Excellent, excellent night-time reading.

Dinosaur Atlas –  a spectacular, though slightly unwieldy effort (it is a large book whose large pages unfold making an even larger book) from Lonely Planet Kids.  This book is FILLED with late-breaking dinosaur findings, photos, and deliciously bold graphics.

News to us:

  • 80% of identified dinosaurs have been named since 1990. Those among us who learned everything they know about dinosaurs from “The Flintstones” should take note
  • dinosaur fossils have been found in abundance in every continent INCLUDING Antarctica
  • there is a strong possibility that all theropods (meat eaters that marched around on the 2 hind legs (think T-Rex)) – HAD FEATHERS! (not for flying, perhaps for warmth)

The Flag Book – another keeper resource from Lonely Planet Kids.  All world flags displayed and analyzed, PLUS flag topics that drew an intrigued look from my son: 

  • Car race flags
  • Why the flag on the right side tail of a national airplane is displayed backwards
  • Jamaican flag – only flag in the world that does not contain red or white or blue
  • Bermuda flag – only flag in the world that showcases a disaster (a shipwreck)
  • Why the state flag of Hawaii features the British “Union Jack” flag in its design
  • Hey!  We couldn’t help but notice – the flag of Chile is so similar to our Texas flag

The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects – this is the type of book that makes us more appreciative citizens.  Each short chapter provides background information on a treasured item from the Smithsonian collection, then explains how the Smithsonian came in possession of the object.  First-rate writing.  Since the last post, the items that provoked extensive side conversations between my son and I:

  • A compass from the Lewis and Clark expedition
  • Harriet Tubman’s shawl from THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND!!!
  • The Brownie camera that shot pictures of the RMS Carpathia rescue of Titanic passengers

pickles

Story Problem:  gushing about Farmer Brown’s newest product – Farmer Brown had such luck with his cucumber crop this year that he has gone into pickle production.  Using his grandmother’s recipe, he has made jars and jars and jars of dill pickles.  He is not only selling them at his road-side stand, but a national food catalog has made a substantial purchase.  

– If Farmer Brown slices 2 cloves of garlic into each jar of his extremely popular dill pickles, and there are approximately 10 cloves in a head of garlic, and he has filled 12 dozen jars, how many heads of garlic were needed?

A).  10     B).  18     C).  25     D).  29  (answer at bottom of post)

Speaking of story problems!  Coming semi-soon! –  A booklet that will include 100 story problems from this blog.  Illustrations are finished!  This will be available from this website  before Christmas.  STAY TUNED. 

Classical Music we gush over –

pick 3

About 4 times a week, I make a list of 10 classical music pieces and have my son select the three we are going to listen to that evening.  If one of the following is on the list, it ALWAYS gets picked. I would estimate that we have listened to each of these no less than 400 times –

  • The Moldau, the second movement from Bedrich Smetana’s symphonic poem, “Ma Vlast”, which premiered in 1882.  The piece follows a river’s path, passing woodlands, meadows, a wedding, mermaids, castles and ruins.  An abrupt and fabulous ending: 

  • The Wild Bears, the sixth movement from Sir Edward Elgar’s “The Wand of Youth” (second suite), premiering in 1908.  A rollicking 3 minutes, full of sophisticated orchestration,  surprises, and a smashing ending.  We also really like Mariss Jansons, the conductor in this video:

  • Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D major, movement III (AKA “Fandango”), composed by Luigi Boccherini in 1798.  Soothing, warm, intriguing.  Not much to look at in this video, but this is the recording we love:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  D).  29 cloves of garlic)

American Collage

Our focus, these past few weeks, has been directed toward several aspects of the American experience –

Part of the American Collage – “The Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects”, by Richard Kurin.  (We began by learning a bit about the Smithsonian Institution’s 19 museums and 9 research centers sites – mostly located in Washington DC).  So far, our favorite objects in the book’s collection:   

Columbus piombo    washington uniform

  • The well known portrait of Christopher Columbus that may not be a representation of the man at all – it was painted in 1519, more than 10 years after his death 
  • George Washington’s ultra elegant uniform (designed by George Washington!) 
  • The Bible that Thomas Jefferson edited for himself (leaving out parts he did not believe in)(discussion provoking)

It is going to take us months to work through this book.  We’re glad.

Part of the American Collage – “The Amish of Lancaster County” by Donald B. Kraybill.  Easy to read, up to date (published in 2019), with lovely, plentiful photographs.  Emphasized:  COMMUNITY and the hard working, self-sufficiency, graceful, modest, and religion-centered values of the Amish.  Of great fascination to us was the Amish education system:

amish school

  • all grades are taught in a one-room school 
  • science is not taught in school (we discussed)
  • there is no school after age 14 (we discussed)
  • teachers are not certified, college educated, or even high school graduates (we discussed)

Part of the American Collage – “The Blue Angels”, by Keillor and Wheeler.  Descriptive writing and heart-stopping photographs showcase the precision daredevil abilities of the Navy pilots demonstration team, thrilling everyone since 1946.  Most exciting chapter:  THE MANEUVERS! “The Delta Breakout”! “Loop Breaks”! “Six Plane Cross”!  “The Fleur-de-Lis”!  I asked my son if he would like to fly in a Blue Angel formation and the answer was a YES.  Count me out.  Also, you can count out any Amish community members from soaring with the  Blue Angels as they are (1) forbidden from joining the military and (2) forbidden from riding in airplanes of any sort.  CHANGE OF TOPIC: the first female Blue Angel joined the team in 2014 (we discussed).

Part of the American Collage – “The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa”, by Paul Edmund Bierley.  We have never come across a book with its subject so thoroughly documented.  This book catalogs every tour, concert, concert program, musical instrument, and musician of the Sousa Band’s 40 year run.  Take aways, so far –

  • In 1889, Sousa sold the publishing rights to “The Washington Post March” for –  OH DEAR IT HURTS TO EVEN TYPE THIS – $35  
  • Sousa composed over 130 marches.  Most famous: “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, composed in 1896 and declared “Official National March of the USA” by an act of the US Congress in 1987
  • Between 1892 through 1931, the band presented just under 16,000 concerts, zigzagging all over the world.  SIXTEEN THOUSAND.
  • Sousa’s Band was a concert band, marching only eight times during the course of 40 years

Part of the American Collage – “Appleseed, The Life and Legacy of John Chapman”, by Joshua Blair.  We’ve learned:

  • Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) was a real person (1774 – 1845), not a made up legend (although he did travel barefoot, wearing the darnedest clothes, just like the legends proclaim)
  • how he procured the apple seeds (from cider factories!)
  • how and where he set up apple nurseries and the importance of these nurseries
  • of his ability to trusted by westward moving pioneer settlers as well as native Americans
  • how he utterly embodied the spirit of the Swedenborgian religion; the apple tree planting being his ministry
  • in case you are still reading – I painted the “Johnny Appleseed Song” on our kitchen wall (pictured above) in 2003 to celebrate my father’s 82nd birthday because he loved this sung as grace before dinner

apple pie

“As American as Apple Pie” story problem – Of course, Le Fictitious Local Diner sponsors an apple pie baking contest each July 4th.  Last year 40 people entered the contest and there was a three-way tie for best pie:

  • Dr. Susan’s “Doctored-up Super Cinnamon Apple Pie”
  • Tennis Pro Tom’s “What’s Not To Love-Love Apple Lemon Tart”
  • Miss Maddy’s “I-Want-More Burnt Sugar Apple Extravaganza Pie”  

1)  If each pie used an average of 6 apples, how many apples were used to make up all the pies entered into the contest?

2)  If each pie maker practiced on 3 pies before baking their entry pie, how many apples were used to make up all pies (practice and entry pies)?

3)  If the pie bakers bought their apples from Farmer Brown’s fruit stand, did the stand sell more or less than 1,000 apples for the event? 

4)  If the three winning pies were placed on the diner menu for the month of July, and 10 of each were served over the course of the month, how many apples were used to make the menu pies?   (answers at bottom of post)

Look what we made:  our American experience collage (my son’s first collage)

Part of the American Collage – Classical Music:

– Amy Beach’s “Fireflies” from “Four Sketches, opus 15”, 1892.  (Amy Beach is noted as being the first female American composer.)  “Fireflies” may just be our favorite summertime classical music selection.  We have probably listened to it 100 times, each time reminding us of firefly magic during sultry summer nights when we lived in Georgia.  The piece sparkles –

– Florence Price’s “Silk Hat and Walking Cane” from her “Dances in the Canebrakes”, 1953.   (Florence Price is noted as being the first female African-American composer.)  This delightful short piece provided an opportunity to chat with my son about this well-structured composition’s thematic set-up:  We listened for themes  A – B – A (developed) – C – and finally back to A –  

– Charles Ives’ “Country Band March”, composed in 1903.  This is a true musical collage in which Ives has jaggedly juxtaposed fragments from more than 12 recognizable American marches and folk melodies.  When we listen to this, my son and I pretend we are making our way through a crowded carnival midway with American music blaring at us from all sides – 

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answers:  1)  240 apples,  2)  960 apples,  3)  less, 4) 180 apples)

A Glimpse and a Glance

What was life like for my son’s grandparents, who were teenagers during the Great Depression and young adults during World War II?  

We got a glimpse of the Great Depression – through Cheryl Mullenbach’s first-rate book “The Great Depression for Kids”:

  • setting the scene for the Great Depression: the roaring twenties
  • Herbert Hoover’s policies and FDR’s “New Deal”
  • and when things could not get any worse: the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s
  • differences between city schools and country schools
  • fun diversions:  roller derbies, the circus, Shirley Temple
  • neighbor helping neighbor, farmer helping farmer  (very heartening)
  • vocabulary and concepts defined:  migrant workers, prohibition, the stock market, banks collapsing, breadlines, striking workers, rationing, silent movies /“talkies”, rural, urban

We got a glimpse of the early days of World War II – through Richard Peck’s YA novel, “On the Wings of Heroes”.  Peck’s short chapters seamlessly combine the realities of a nation at war with a middle school student’s realities:

  • an adored older brother serving in the air force
  • rationing (we did not know that even shoes were rationed)
  • collection drives for the war effort (rubber tires, paper, all types of metal), culminating in the most wonderful town event:  a parade of rusted out jalopies headed for the scrap yard
  • ineffectual teachers vs. dynamite craftier-than-a-fox teachers
  • classroom bullies (who are served their just desserts)
  • the best friend
  • the hilarious next door neighbors

This is a comforting book set during nervous times and a perfect follow up to our study of the Great Depression.

A glimpse at trees and the high seas – 

“Trees, a Rooted History” –  Socha and Grajkowski explore 32 tantalizing tree topics and team them with clever, superbly executed illustrations.  Our favorite two-page spreads: prehistoric trees (lots of fern-like leaves), the tallest trees (FYI, the tallest tree in the world:  “Hyperion”, a coast redwood in California), tree houses (why yes, we would like to stay in the treehouse on the grounds of  Amberley Castle in England), and the art of bonsai (who can’t love the sheer art and patience evident in a bonsai tree?).

We concluded our tree unit with a fill-in-the-blank version of the Joyce Kilmer’s poem of 1913, “Trees”.  (This was easy for my son – we have read this poem many times.)

Speaking of trees:  a Farmer Brown story problem – Farmer Brown’s cat, Olive, loves to scamper to the top of the front yard apple tree, but is jittery about the descent.  Smart thinking Farmer Brown has been successful in coaxing Olive down the tree with a fragrant offering of tuna.  If a can of tuna costs $4 and Farmer Brown needs to lure Olive down around 7 times a month, will $400 be enough to cover the cost of Olive’s “rescue tuna” this year?  (answer at bottom of post)

deep sea voyage

“Professor Astro Cat’s Deep-Sea Voyage” – YAY! We have the new book by Dr. Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman!  My son and I have loved every book by this team (especially “Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space”).  And once again, THIS IS WHAT A LEARNING EXPERIENCE SHOULD LOOK LIKE IN BOOK FORM.  We are only half way through, but here is what has grasped our attention so far:

  • How low can you go?  My son and I both shivered as we read about depth zones in the ocean.  How it gets darker/colder and darker/colder and darker/colder the lower you go (thank heavens for deep sea vents) .  We found the Mariana Trench (the deepest known place on Earth) on our globe and pondered how anybody found this in the first place.
  • Ocean birds:  We are giving “A+ for Effort Awards” to cormorants, sea birds that can dive to 130 feet below sea level, and Arctic terns, who migrate further than any other animal on Earth (from north pole to south pole).
  • Octopuses have NINE brains: each arm has a brain – after getting over the semi-creepiness of this, we mused over the mechanics of an arm having a brain.
  • Most thought provoking:  those who have viewed fish tanks at any aquarium will have seen schools of fish moving together quickly and almost poetically.  Now that we think about it, we have never seen fish bumping into each other.  WHY?  Because fish have something totally confusing called the LATERAL LINE SYSTEM which enables them to detect vibrations, movement, and pressure from their surroundings.  

manderinefish

  • The utterly elegant manderinefish:  our new favorite fish 

A glance at ants –  If you need to know about ants, may we recommend, “The Life and Times of the Ant”, by Charles Micucci.  It is simply jammed with all sorts of stuff we budding ant scholars did not know previously, like:  

  • an ant scholar is properly known as a myrmecologist (what an RTW – really tough word)
  • a queen ant can live for up to 15 years and can produce 1million eggs annually
  • all worker ants are ladies;  the only job for male ants is fathering ant young ’uns
  • ants rely on the senses of touch, smell, sound, and taste (but not sight)

Concluding thought:   ants have been busy on Earth for around 100 million years.  They are smart, strong and supremely organized.  Homo sapiens have been busy on Earth for less than 1 million years.  Some of us are smart, some are strong, few are supremely organized.  No wonder we cannot get a handle on how to deal with ants in the sugar bowl.

Classical Music Time – we created a soundtrack for busy ants:

  • Moto Perpetuo by Niccolo Paganini,  1835.  We’re imagining ants with teeny iPods, working non-stop to the rhythm of Paganini’s composition.  Do they notice how this four and a half minute piece seems to be managed on a single breath by trumpet virtuoso, Wynton Marsalis?

  • Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, composed in 1748 by George Frideric Handel for his oratorio, “Solomon”.  All hail the Queen of the Ant Colony!  After producing all those eggs, this little lady deserves all the royal pomp that Handel can muster – 

  • Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, movement 3 – Oh my, it is as if Tchaikovsky was writing about ants marching toward the ultimate prize:  A PICNIC BASKET.  There they go!  March, march, march, up and down little hills on the trail, no time for funny business.  But wait!  About a minute and a half in, AN OBSTACLE in the middle of the path!  A big leaf perhaps?  But take heart, quick thinking ants maneuver around the leaf and by minute 3, they are back on track.  What a grand ending as the picnic basket is reached (even the orchestra’s conductor is jubilant!).  Treasures (maybe a potato chip and cookie crumbs) are hoisted to bring back to the Queen, and the march back to the colony’s nest commences.  (My son LOVED the commentary and welcomed it again in the next night’s music line-up)(success!) –

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  yes)