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Center for Whole Communities

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Photo: http://www.knollfarm.org/
Knoll Farm’s Icelandic sheep.

We stayed in a perfect little ski house — fitted up with everything you could imagine needing on a weekend, including toys for the grandkids. Our son and daughter-in-law rented it through Vacation Rental by Owner.

The drive up the steep road featured gorgeous mountain and farm views.

One farm had a sign out that sent us straight to our laptops once we got settled: “Knoll Farm, Center for Whole Communities.”

According to the Whole Communities site, “The Center for Whole Communities (CWC) fosters inclusive communities that are strongly rooted in place and where all people – regardless of income, race, or background – have access to and a healthy relationship with the natural world. …

“Through our programs and ongoing support we network more than 1,200 leaders working in 500 organizations and communities in 47 states.” More.

One of the center’s videos, below, explains the process community members in Waitsfield, Vermont, went through to reconnect “with the sun and the land” by getting off the grid and using only renewable energy sources.

A separate, related site describes the farm products: “We still have some gorgeous purebred Icelandic 2013 ewe and ram lambs, as well as mature ewes and rams for sale. Check out our Icelandic Breedstock pages for more information.

“Order whole and half shares of lamb for the holidays and winter supply anytime until November 4th. After that we will be selling cuts here at the farm and farmer’s markets.  Read more.

“Our farmstand has our grass-fed lamb and frozen organic blueberries in stock through the winter, or until we sell out. New hours: Open 8 am-6 pm every Saturday and Sunday. We also have our home-made blueberry jam, as well as free-range eggs, blankets and sheepskins.

“New Product: Heirloom quality pure wool blankets woven from our own Icelandic fleeces. Learn how to custom order your own Knoll Farm blanket.”

More here.

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New Hampshire and Vermont

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 26, 2013| 2 Comments »

Two incredibly photogenic states.

We got a special kick out of the sheep and chickens of my husband’s cousin, a dentist. He and his wife really know how to get the most out of the rural life.

waitsfield-vt-Post-office

covered-bridge

vermont-river

nh-sheep

calf-nursing

artisan-and-ornaments

green-mt-coffee-roasters

peace-love-cows

waitsfield-coffee-shop

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Rescuing a River

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2013| 7 Comments »

When a river is full of trash, polluted, and maybe locked in a below-street culvert,  returning it to glory may seem too great a task. But that is what cities around the country are doing, “daylighting” urban rivers, cleaning them up, and ensuring they become the featured assets they were meant to be.

Sometimes this starts with just one person.

John tweeted an article about such a person today. CNN’s Kathleen Toner and Erika Clarke wrote from Memphis, “In the past 15 years, Chad Pregracke has helped pull more than 67,000 tires from the Mississippi River and other waterways across the United States. But that’s just scratching the surface.

“He’s also helped retrieve 218 washing machines, 19 tractors, 12 hot tubs, four pianos and almost 1,000 refrigerators.

” ‘People intentionally dumped [these] in river and also littered,’ Pregracke said. ‘Even 100 miles away, [trash] will find its way into a creek or a storm drain and into, ultimately, the Mississippi River.’

“For Pregracke, removing this debris has become his life’s work. Sometimes called ‘The Rivers’ Garbageman,’ he lives on a barge about nine months out of the year with members of his 12-person crew. Together, they organize community cleanups along rivers across the country.

” ‘The garbage got into the water one piece at a time,’ Pregracke said. ‘And that’s the only way it’s going to come out.’

“It’s a dirty job, but Pregracke, 38, took it on because he realized that no one was doing it. It began as a solo effort, and over the years his energy, enthusiasm and dedication have helped it grow. To date, about 70,000 volunteers have joined his crusade, helping him collect more than 7 million pounds of debris through his nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters.”

More here. You can vote for Pregracke as Hero of the Year if you click there.

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United Nations Day

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on October 24, 2013| 2 Comments »

Today is United Nations Day, and all the flags are out in our town, thanks to Charmaine’s mom. As the leader of a local UN group, she was behind the purchase of the flags, and the town has faithfully put them in the special sidewalk holes year after year on October 24.

WordPress is a little United Nations all its own. I love looking at my stats every day and seeing what countries visitors came from. On Wednesday, just for example, people visited Suzanne’s Mom’s Blog from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Vietnam, Hungary, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Japan, and Israel. How cool is that?

I like to see if any search terms might be associated with the posts that were viewed and which country resident might have been interested in which topic. I have not gotten good at that yet.

One time a reader from Turkey made a comment, and I tried to write a post soon after that I thought would interest him, but I don’t know if he ever saw it. I would like to point more posts to readers, but the day I do one for you may not be the day you happen to be reading.

My dentist, for example, reads the blog but never saw the golfing post I put up for him. I couldn’t find anything interesting about teeth.

Happy United Nations Day, Everyone! May it some day fulfill the dream of creating world peace.

Image of UN Headquarters: wikipedia.org

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French Mysteries, French Food

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 23, 2013| 4 Comments »

I’ve been on one of my periodic murder-mystery splurges, with a couple mysteries this month that take place in France.

Books about France should never be read on an empty stomach — there is always wonderful food.

The author of The Crowded Grave actually went overboard, I thought, stopping urgent action to prepare elaborate meals. I think The Bookseller mystery will maintain a better balance. So far the hero has only had pastries and lovely coffees on route to something actually related to the story.

Thinking about France makes me want to point out a website where my friend Ronnie Hess blogs, My French Life. Ronnie lived in France for years working for CBS and more recently wrote a guidebook called Eat Smart in France that taps her her deep knowledge of French food.

Ronnie was already a fine cook as a teenager, when I recall making a Scripture cake at her house:

  • 3/4 cup Genesis 18:8
  • 1 1/2 cup Jeremiah 6:20
  • 5 Isaiah 10:14 (separated)
  • 3 cups sifted Leviticus 24:5
  • 3 teaspoons 2 Kings 2:20
  • 3 teaspoons Amos 4:5
  • 1 teaspoon Exodus 30:23
  • 1/4 teaspoon each 2 Chronicles 9:9
  • 1/2 cup Judges 4:19
  • 3/4 chopped Genesis 43:11
  • 3/4 cup finely cut Jeremiah 24:5
  • 3/4 cup 2 Samuel 16:1
  • Whole Genesis 43:11

Her mother helped us think through what was meant by leavening and certain more arcane references.

Do check out Ronnie at My French Life, here.

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South Koreans Love Spam in a Can

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 22, 2013| 2 Comments »

I know it’s hard to believe, but in South Korea, Spam is considered a holiday treat, one that inspires happy memories.

The BBC’s Lucy Williamson had a story about it in September.

“South Korea,” she wrote, “is preparing for the annual lunar thanksgiving holiday, which is known as Chuseok.

“Locals celebrate the holiday by visiting relatives, paying respects to family ancestors as well as the giving and receiving of packaged cans of Spam.

“While that might sound odd, the tins of pre-cooked pork have become a staple of South Korean life.”

Brand manager Shin Hyo Eun explains, ” ‘Spam has a premium image in Korea. It’s probably the most desirable gift one could receive, and to help create the high-class image, we use famous actors in our commercials.’ …

“Spam was introduced to Korea by the US army during the Korean War, when food was scarce – and meat even scarcer. Back then, people used whatever they could find to make a meal.

“But the appeal of Spam lasted through the years of plenty and it’s now so much a part of South Korean food culture, that it’s the staple ingredient in one of the country’s favourite dishes: budae jigae or army stew.”

Ho Gi-suk runs a restaurant near a U.S. base.

” ‘Back then,’ she tells me, ‘there wasn’t a lot to eat. But I acquired some ham and sausages… the only way to get meat in those days was to smuggle it from the army base.’ …

“Army Stew is now well-established as part of South Korea’s culinary landscape — as traditional here as Spam gift-sets for thanksgiving.

” ‘It’s salty, and greasy, and goes very well with the spices,’ one customer told me. ‘Korean soup and American ham – it’s the perfect fusion food.’ ”

More.

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Rare Oarfish Appears — Twice

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2013| 2 Comments »

Justin, a family friend, worked for several years at the Catalina Maritime Institute but was no longer there, alas, when a giant mystery fish turned up last week.

Melissa Locker has the story at Time, “It sounds like something out of a horror story: Jasmine Santana was snorkeling off the coast of Southern California’s Catalina Island when she spotted a half-dollar sized eye staring up at her.

“It wasn’t a Halloween prank, though, but the body of a giant oarfish resting on the sandy bottom in about 20 feet of water. Instead of panicking at the sight of the sea creature, Santana called in the troops. After all, she is a marine science instructor at the Catalina Island Marine Institute. Even as such, she had probably never seen anything like this 18-foot oarfish before. The elusive sea creatures live thousands of feet deep in the ocean and are rarely seen alive or dead. …

“The creatures are the longest bony fish in the world, known to reach 56 feet in length.” More.

Justin’s father answered an e-mail I sent: “The photo on the beach with all of the kids holding the oarfish was at one of the two camps that Catalina Island Maritime Institute operates.  That one in the photo was Toyon Bay.  Justin worked at Camp Fox, about 10 minutes away by boat.  … I just read in today’s Providence Journal that a 2nd dead oarfish was found Friday in the water near Oceanside, CA.”

What can it all mean? What will turn up next? A giant squid? The Loch Ness Monster?

If you see the Loch Ness Monster, be sure to let me know and I’ll come running. So disappointed Bigfoot turned out to be a brown polar bear, even an ancient one. I was hoping he would be more human.

Photo: Catalina Island Marine Institute/Reuters
The crew of sailing school vessel Tole Mour and Catalina Island Marine Institute instructors hold an 18-foot-long oarfish that was found in the waters of Toyon Bay on Santa Catalina Island, Calif., Oct. 13, 2013.

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Paying It Forward

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2013| 2 Comments »

Around the country, generous people have been “paying it forward”– doing a good deed for someone else that was done for them.

Only in this case, it’s more backward than forward because it involves paying for whatever the person behind you at the drive-thru has ordered. It’s become surprisingly widespread, according to Kate Murphy, writing at the NY Times today.

“If you place an order at the Chick-fil-A drive-through off Highway 46 in New Braunfels, Tex., it’s not unusual for the driver of the car in front of you to pay for your meal in the time it took you to holler into the intercom and pull around for pickup. …

“You could chalk it up to Southern hospitality or small town charm. But it’s just as likely the preceding car will pick up your tab at a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through in Detroit or a McDonald’s drive-through in Fargo, N.D. Drive-through generosity is happening across America and parts of Canada, sometimes resulting in unbroken chains of hundreds of cars paying in turn for the person behind them.

“Perhaps the largest outbreak of drive-through generosity occurred last December at a Tim Hortons in Winnipeg, Manitoba, when 228 consecutive cars paid it forward. A string of 67 cars paid it forward in April at a Chick-fil-A in Houston. And then a Heav’nly Donuts location in Amesbury, Mass., had a good-will train of 55 cars last July.” More.

I love the idea, but I think I missed something. Do you give the order taker an extra $20 and get the change when you pick up your meal at the next window? Or does the cost of the stranger’s meal have to go on your credit or debit card?

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Drive-thru food outlet

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Dance for Grandma

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

In the UK, retirees are taking up ballet.

Emma Ailes writes for BBC Scotland, “In a locker room at Scottish Ballet, a group of dancers are lacing up their ballet shoes. Only one thing marks them out from the other dancers here. These dancers are all in their 60s and 70s.

“Today, they are rehearsing ‘Swan Lake.’

“Among them is Alicia Steele. She danced when she was young. Now, nearly 80, she’s back.

” ‘I went to keep-fit classes, but I found them a bit boring,’ she says. ‘And I love the music with the piano. I just love it and it makes you feel a bit young again. It doesn’t make you look young, but it makes you feel young inside.’

“There’s been a 70% jump in the number of adult dancers signing up for classes in recent years, according to the Royal Academy of Dance. Some, like Alicia, danced when they were young. Others are complete beginners.

“Their oldest ballerina is 102.” More.

I took ballet both as a child and as an adult. But for now, I am sticking with tai chi chuan. Today the teacher had me learning complicated new moves with the advanced students. “You deserve it,” he said to me.

I’m not sure how to take that.

Photo: BBC Scotland

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Another Harvest of Photos

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 18, 2013| 2 Comments »

No real theme among the collection today.

The first picture is of a rock that gets repainted all summer long — sometimes a few times a day — with pictures and messages of various kinds. This painting features mermaids, starfish, and octopi.

I also wanted to include some more lovely clouds, the old Massachusetts state house (dwarfed by modern buildings like Virginia Lee Burton‘s Little House), a warehouse interior repurposed as an elegant atrium for a Fort Point hotel, another one of those “Play Me, I’m Yours” street pianos, the Barking Crab restaurant sign, and a sleeping bee.  “When a bee lies sleepin’ …” (Do you know the Harold Arlen song from the 1954 musical House of Flowers?)

Perhaps there’s a theme after all: Trying to see what is right in front of me.

mermaid-rock

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Student-Centered Education

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2013| 7 Comments »

Concerned about education? Observe children. They can lead the way.

More and more educators are taking the approach Sugata Mitra tried when he put computers in the slums of India and watched children teach themselves.

Joshua Davis writes at Wired about another success story in an impoverished part of Mexico.

For 12-year-old Paloma Noyola Bueno, who grew up next to a garbage dump where her father scavenged for a living, school was a bright spot, even when it was all rote memorization. …

“As she headed into fifth grade,” writes Davis, “she assumed she was in for more of the same—lectures, memorization, and busy work. Sergio Juárez Correa was used to teaching that kind of class. …

“On August 21, 2011—the start of the school year — he walked into his classroom and pulled the battered wooden desks into small groups. When Paloma and the other students filed in, they looked confused. Juárez Correa invited them to take a seat and then sat down with them. …

” ‘You do have one thing that makes you the equal of any kid in the world,’ Juárez Correa said. ‘Potential. … And from now on,’ he told them, ‘we’re going to use that potential to make you the best students in the world.’ ”

And so began his effort to teach differently, to help children discover they could think for themselves.

It’s a long article but worth reading to understand the approach that led to a transformed class — with exceptional test results as a sort of minor spinoff.

Read it here.

Photo: Peter Yang
These students in Matamoros, Mexico, didn’t have reliable Internet access, steady electricity, or much hope—until a radical new teaching method unlocked their potential.

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An Island of Writers

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 16, 2013| 2 Comments »

Rosie Goldsmith writes at BBC News that in Iceland, one in 10 people will publish a book.

“It is hard to avoid writers in Reykjavik. There is a phrase in Icelandic, ‘ad ganga med bok I maganum,’ everyone gives birth to a book. Literally, everyone ‘has a book in their stomach.’ One in 10 Icelanders will publish one. …

“Special saga tours – saga as in story, that is, not over-50s holidays – show us story-plaques on public buildings. Dating from the 13th Century, Icelandic sagas tell the stories of the country’s Norse settlers, who began to arrive on the island in the late 9th Century.

“Sagas are written on napkins and coffee cups. Each geyser and waterfall we visit has a tale of ancient heroes and heroines attached. Our guide stands up mid-tour to recite his own poetry – our taxi driver’s father and grandfather write biographies.

“Public benches have barcodes so you listen to a story on your smartphone as you sit. …

“Solvi Bjorn Siggurdsson, a tall, Icelandic-sweater-clad novelist, says writers owe a lot to the past. …

“Siggurdsson pays homage to Iceland’s Nobel Literature Laureate, Halldor Laxness, whose books are sold in petrol stations and tourist centres across the island. Locals name their cats after Laxness …

“Everyone receives books as Christmas presents – hardback and shrink-wrapped.

” ‘Even now, when I go the hairdressers,’ Kristin Vidarsdottir, manager of the Unesco City of Literature project, says, ‘they do not want celebrity gossip from me but recommendations for Christmas books.’ ” More.

I like the idea that everyone “has a book in their stomach.” The saying reminds me of the late, great Rev. Dana Greeley who used to say all people have one sermon in them.

Photo: Corbis

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Basketball in Bhutan

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on October 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

In Bhutan, the queen is an enthusiastic basketball player. And she has an unusual advantage: no one is allowed to touch royalty without permission.

Today, says Gardiner Harris of the NY Times, Bhutanese royalty has begun sharing their game with the public.

“After decades of being a largely royal preserve, basketball here is about to have its breakout moment.

“A South Korean coach has been hired to cobble together a national team that many hope will someday be able to challenge its neighbors for bragging rights in South Asia and beyond. Bhutan has tried many times to win an international game but, except for a single victory in a three-on-three tournament, has never succeeded. …

“Bhutanese players say their best hope for a win could be against the Maldives, a country with half of Bhutan’s population that is threatened by global warming. As sea levels rise, Maldivians may have trouble finding places to play, players noted. And facing them in Thimphu’s thin air (the city’s altitude is 7,710 feet) could provide a crucial advantage.”

More.

Photo: Kuni Takahashi for the NY Times
Bhutan’s queen, Jetsun Pema Wangchuck, who is a good player

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Autumn in New England

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2013| 6 Comments »

pumpkin-stack

A time of year to get creative with squashes, visit a farmers market, kayak on a river, roof the barn.

Get it all in before winter. Only the wooly bear knows for sure how long the winter will be.

Photo of farmers market: Sandra M. Kelly
Other photos: Suzanne’s Mom

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roofing-the-barn

autumn-leaves-new-england

deciduous-holly

wooly-bear

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Trash Man Choreography

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2013| 3 Comments »

I took modern dance in high school. The teacher was said to have studied with Isadora Duncan, and she certainly liked that flowing kind of movement.

Miss Hinney once challenged us to choreograph a dance about an abstract topic. Page and I chose Lavoisier’s discovery of oxygen, for which we used music from the Firebird Suite. We were not allowed to act it out as if we were Lavoisier, rather we had to interpret the chemical reaction using dance. It was impossible, so we were naturally very proud when we pulled it off.

Since then I have felt a great respect for the inventiveness of choreographers.

Here is one who sounds pretty cool. Allison Orr has closely observed garbage men in Austin, Texas, and has made their movements into a dance. More recently she worked with employees of the power company.

Robert Faires at the Austin Chronicle describes “The Trash Project, her award-winning, phenomenally popular collaboration with the city’s Solid Waste Services Department (now Resource Recovery) that made dancers of sanitation workers and the machines they operate. … Now, the Forklift Danceworks artistic director is at it again, albeit with a different city department, Austin Energy, whose employees are the focus for PowerUP. …

“For Orr, who’s made a career of making dances from the movements of people who aren’t trained in the art form – firefighters, gondoliers, roller skaters, orchestra conductors, Elvis impersonators, traffic cops, et al. – the personal stories of her subjects have become as important as their moves. She talks at length to the people with whom she collaborates on a dance and weaves recorded excerpts from interviews into the performance as the subjects are moving,” The latest Production, PowerUP was performed in September at the Travis County Exposition Center. More.

Photo: John Anderson
Power company choreography.

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