Oklahoma

Salient?

state-map

Salients and Peninsulas – We are a fifth of the way through our “Where is That?” states-in-the-USA activity, and my son is learning more than just the location of the states.  Two nights ago we learned about salients – and SURPRISE, we have lived in three of nine salient states:  Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, West Virginia, Connecticut, Idaho, Nebraska, Maryland, and Alaska.  We learned that SALIENT is the correct geographical term for a PANHANDLE (side learning excursion – I had to show my son a real pan handle).  We learned that a panhandle is surrounded by land, and a peninsula (where Big Peaches – star grandmother – lives) is surrounded by water.  We also considered the customary definition of salient (meaning “most important”, “most noticeable”) (vocab).  And my son also learned that panhandling (vocab) has nothing to do with pans or geography.

pans

Story Problem from Le Fictitious Local Diner – speaking of panhandles, the diner management team decided it is time to replace all frying pans.  The chefs are delighted!  8 small-sized skillets are to be ordered at a cost of $25 each, and 8 larger fry pans are to be ordered at a cost of $75 each.  How much will the diner spend for shipping (if shipping is 15% of the total order)?
A. $25      B. $80      C. $120      D. $200 (answer at bottom of post)

History is coming alive – Yay! Candace Fleming’s “Presenting Buffalo Bill – The Man who Invented the Wild West” has us on the edge of our seats.  We are currently reading about Will Cody’s pre-teen years in the Kansas territory, where his family was caught in the territory’s “slavery/no slavery” struggle (a shameful blot on the pages of American history – teams of pro-slavery thugs from Missouri terrorized homesteaders who did not want Kansas to be a slavery state).  As Will’s father was an object of death threats from the pro-slavery faction, and was often out of state, in hiding, a very young Will Cody had to provide the primary financial support for his large family.   Working for a shipping company that delivered goods to military posts in Colorado and Utah, Will had his full share of wild west adventures (stampedes, shoot-outs, starvation).  What’s going to happen next???

better-tokyo-sculpture           better-blue-brushtstroke

Roy Lichtenstein – two take-aways from Susan Goldman Rubin’s excellent book, “Whaam! The Art and Life of Roy Lichtenstein”:

1)  What is a win-win situation?  How about when a corporation commissions (vocab) artwork that will be accessible to the general public?  We love Lichtenstein’s sculpture, “Tokyo Brushstroke II” commissioned by an architectural firm in Japan, and the crazy-gigantic-five-stories high mural, “Blue Brushstroke” commissioned by The Equitable Life Assurance Society in Manhattan.  The win-win?
– thousands and thousands and thousands of people get to enjoy the artwork
– excellent PR (vocab) for the corporation
– the artist gets paid!
2)  We are never too old to try something new:  Roy Lichtenstein learned to play the saxophone in his mid 60’s! OF COURSE, we were enthusiastic about devoting an evening to a sampling of saxophone sounds:

  • Harlem Nocturne, composed by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers in 1939, played to perfection by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The saxophone brings the sultry:

  • The Pink Panther Theme, composed by Henri Mancini in 1963.  This is OLD footage, with Henry Mancini conducting.  The saxophone brings the relentlessly sneaky:

  • The Prologue to West Side Story, composed by Leonard Bernstein for the 1957 Broadway production. The saxophone doesn’t take center stage in this piece, but does set the tone for a collage of NYC sounds and rhythms:

Welcome to the best part of my day!
– Jane BH
(story problem answer:  C. $120)

Sap Happy

First,  a bit of “Old Business” – Yay!  I paid a visit to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store and my “blocked plug-ins” are now unblocked.  I have added two YouTube links to the previous post (“Wordery”).

new root cellar     new maple tap

From our farm unit: we have finished the terrific “Farm Anatomy” book (authored by Julia Rothman). From the final pages, we learned about root cellars and the making of maple syrup.

  • Root Cellars – I told my son about the root cellar at his great-grandparents’ Montana cabin. It was a chilly underground pantry with dirt floors and dirt walls that efficiently stored corn, green apples, and cabbage that my grandfather grew on his small farm. Then I reminded my son of the modified root cellar we had in our Idaho house (many years ago). This amounted to a narrow basement closet that had a dirt floor.  Whoopie.
  • Maple Syrup – We read about the process of making maple syrup.  After we discussed the deliciousness of maple syrup, here is what we thought about: (1) what kind of person, way back when, decided to taste sap coming out of a tree and then (2)  envisioned that with a bit of doctoring up, the sap would be just the thing to enhance pancakes?  We want to know this type of person.

 new syrup jarnew syrup jarnew syrup jarnew syrup jar

Our Farmer Brown story problem: who knew, that on top of everything else, Farmer Brown makes his own maple syrup?  We learned from “Farm Anatomy” that it takes nine gallons of sap to make one pint of syrup.  So, we looked at a gallon-sized container and a pint-sized container.  Question of the evening:  if Farmer Brown’s tapping buckets accumulate 450 gallons of sap, how many pints of maple syrup will he end up with?  If he saves 10 pints to give as gifts, and 10 pints for his own pancake consumption, how much money will he earn if he sells the remaining pints for $8.00 each?

 new pancake stack

Our “Le Fictitious Local Diner” story problem: On an average, the diner sells 300 pancake breakfasts each week (the photo above is, of course, the “teen-age boy in-your-dreams pancake plate”).  Each REGULAR order (3 pancakes) comes with a small pitcher containing ¼ pint of maple syrup.  How many pints of maple syrup does the diner go through each week?  If the purchase price for a pint is $5, how much will this cost the diner?  If syrup is purchased by the gallon ($25), how much will this cost the diner?

Our music theme last night:  DUETS!  (and the following 3 are so A+++!)

  • “The Flower Duet” from Lakme (1882), by Leo Delibes. This utterly beautiful and soothing duet deservedly ends up on every single “famous opera duet” list (raise your hand if you knew there existed such lists).  This enchanting melody has been used as background music for British Airways commercials.

  • “Si Fino All’ore Estreme” from the opera, “Norma” (1831) by Vincenzo Bellini.  The recorded version we enjoy, by Marilyn Horne and Joan Sutherland, is high-energy perfection.  (I couldn’t find a good Horne/Sutherland link, but the music in this video is superb.)

  • Finally, who cannot LOVE, “People Will Say We’re In Love”, from “Oklahoma” (1943), by Rogers and Hammerstein?

Welcome to the best part of my day!

– Jane BH