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Paul C. Nagel, Biographer

May 25, 2011 by suzannesmom

We are sad here because Paul Nagel, our friend, has died. He fell ill suddenly in February. We had seen him last September when he came to receive a lifetime achievement award from the John Adams family and stayed a night with us. Paul wrote many biographies and was a mentor to David McCullough. He was especially noted for his work on John Quincy Adams and the Adams women. His favorite among the women was Louisa, JQA’s wife. Read about him here and here.

When Paul was in Concord, we paid a visit to the North Bridge, where the “shot heard ’round the world” was fired on April 19, 1775, igniting the revolution.


									


				

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Jazz at the Apollo

				
May 25, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
We went with Suzanne and Erik to the Apollo in Harlem for an awesome jazz concert.




When I tell you about the talent that performed, you will never believe that the tickets were only $10. But sponsors put the show in the reach of pretty much everyone. Savion Glover (of Tap Dance Kid fame) may have been the best-known name, but the Temple University band and others were also great, not to mention two young women in their teens who blew the audience away. One was saxophonist Grace Kelly from Brookline, Mass.,  who already has a big reputation both here and abroad.


The other was Nikki Yanofsky, “a 17-year-old musical prodigy from Montreal. At the age of 13, Nikki became the youngest artist ever signed to Verve Records, when she recorded Airmail Special for the compilation We All Love Ella: Celebrating The First Lady Of Song. In 2008, Nikki’s debut release, Ella…Of Thee I Swing, a live tribute to Nikki’s hero, Ella Fitzgerald, earned two Juno nominations. Nikki’s musical education was further enhanced by collaborations with such jazz luminaries as The Count Basie Orchestra, Oliver Jones, and The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.” Her scat singing was amazing, and her ballads showed control and maturity beyond her age.

									


				

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Owls Lead the Way

				
May 24, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
The New York Times calls the owl “a charismatic sentry in climate change” because owls can show when we are all in trouble.


“As [owl researcher Denver Holt] prepares for his 20th field season in the Arctic, he says that the snowy owl has a role to play in understanding ecological changes in one of the fastest changing places in the world. ‘When lemmings are doing well, everything is doing well — eider ducks, sandhill cranes, arctic fox and weasels,’ Mr. Holt said. ‘If climate change results in habitat changes and it affects the lemmings, it will show up in the snowy owls because 90 percent of their diet is lemmings. The owls are the key to everything else.’ ” Read more here.


This owl spent a day in the ivy at my house. It’s hard to see him, but I guess that is the idea. I was so sorry that he didn’t come back. Suzanne’s sister-in-law said he was a screech owl.

									


				

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Urban Roof Gardens

				
May 24, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
Here are two interesting stories on urban roof gardens and adapting local vegetation for increasingly warm temperatures.


This one is from the New York Times: “Lufa Farms, founded by Mohamed Hage and Kurt Lynn, turned an unassuming office rooftop into a 31,000-square-foot greenhouse that grows tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other produce year-round and is a working example of a developing trend known as urban rooftop farming.” Read how they founders have turned this into a successful small business — in Montreal, of all places!


Meanwhile, in Chicago, the powers that be are preparing for warmer seasons: “Chicago is getting ready for a wetter, steamier future. Public alleyways are being repaved with materials that are permeable to water. The white oak, the state tree of Illinois, has been banned from city planting lists, and swamp oaks and sweet gum trees from the South have been given new priority. Thermal radar is being used to map the city’s hottest spots, which are then targets for pavement removal and the addition of vegetation to roofs. And air-conditioners are being considered for all 750 public schools, which until now have been heated but rarely cooled.” Read more here.


Feel free to send comments to suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com. I will include as many comments as possible in future entries.

									


				

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How the Big Dig Created a Lovely Urban Garden

				
May 24, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
Sometimes I take my morning walk in the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a lovely urban garden created on top of the Big Dig. I know the American Taxpayer paid too much for the Big Dig, but I just want to say I am really grateful for the Greenway. The mayor, among others, is concerned that not that many people use it yet, that it seems to be there just for Suzanne’s Mom and a few office workers. But now there is a carousel in summer and the Boston Harbor Islands visitor center and various food vendors — all of which are expected to attract more visitors. One vendor is Equal Exchange, the fair-trade coffee company. (You can follow Equal Exchange’s carts on Twitter at EEFreeRange.)

									


				

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Mister Smarty Plants

				
May 23, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
Suzanne’s brother started a plant-identification website called Mister Smarty Plants. The idea is that you upload that mystery flower you’ve been wondering about, the one that pops up every spring along your driveway, let’s say. Then other people who come to the site try to identify it. It’s crowd-sourcing. When Mister Smarty Plants has a definitive answer, he sends you an e-mail.




The concept works amazingly well, although some submissions can be tough. Someone posted a picture of a plant grown from seeds picked up on the ground in France, and no one has identified it confidently yet. Maybe you can.


Comments to this blog may be sent to suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com. I will post as many as I can.

									


				

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An Online Magazine for Families

				
May 23, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
My first grandchild was born a year ago.




On Sunday my husband and Suzanne and Erik and l went to his one-year-old birthday cookout, which was attended by a lively group of neighborhood toddlers and parents. A mom I talked to edits an online magazine. It’s called Family Education, and it offers “parenting advice, activities for children, family games, and recipes.” I went online to check it out today and thought it looked appealing. You can click on articles listed under headings like “moms,” “your kids 0-6,” “your kids 7-11,” and “your kids 12-18.” Current features include one on Memorial Day activities and one on recipes for the grill.


And while we’re talking about online resources for families, Suzanne’s high school pal Mike has a flourishing blog for fathers called Playground Dad. Read it here.

									


				

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Freed Slave’s House Saved

				
May 22, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
Concord (MA), once a stop on the underground railroad, realized a few years ago that it was going to lose a piece of history. The first Concord house to be owned by a former slave was going to be demolished as part of the sale of a valuable piece of land.


Concerned citizens banded together to raise money. They bought the house, and yesterday moved it to a spot near to the National Park, where it will become a learning center about the abolitionist movement and the town’s early African American community. Much work remains, but here is how it looks today.

									


				

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Big Art

				
May 22, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
Today on my morning walk, I stopped by an exhibition of Big Art on the lawn in front of the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts, where Suzanne used to take pottery classes and brother John performed in children’s musicals. I really liked the sculptures on view, and I took a picture of this one by Andy Moerlein.


I liked the sense of a nest and a boat — the suggestion of nesting and simultaneously going on a journey.


More about the artist here.

									


				

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Nice Blues Story on NPR

				
May 21, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
In case you missed NPR's Weekend Edition today, you might like to check out this 
nice blues story.

"In a residential neighborhood in Bessemer, Ala.,about 20 miles from Birmingham, 
sits a blues lover's dream: an honest-to-goodness juke joint. Gip's Place is one 
of a precious few musical roadhouses still hanging on in this country. . . .

"Gipson has celebrated his 86th birthday about five or six times, we're told. In 
those years, he says, he's been struck by lightning and run over in a stampede. 
A singer who retired from the railroad, he's a gravedigger who owns a cemetery.


"Gipson has always been famous for his hospitality, whether it be with the locals 
he's known for decades or the wide-eyed college kids just discovering some gut-
bucket blues. When he opened his place back in 1952, it was little more than a 
glorified tent. Now, still several degrees removed from spiffy, the roadhouse 
has been fixed up — but not so much that it's lost its down-home appeal, says 
guitar player Lenny Madden, who functions as the house emcee."

Apparently people from all walks of life hang out there to enjoy the music and 
dance. And top-name performers are happy to just pass the hat and take whatever 
because it's such an awesome venue.

									


				

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Welcome

				
May 20, 2011 by suzannesmom  

				


				

					
Suzanne knew that I blogged at work and asked me to do a blog for Luna & Stella, her birthstone jewelry company. She said I could write about anything that interested me, which is a good thing because as much as I love birthstone jewelry, it would be hard to say something new about it every day.




The things that interest me include the arts, the environment, my family, and people who try to make the world a better place. So I think I’ll start out by telling you about an organization that I learned of from Suzanne, The Homeless Prenatal Program, which is based in San Francisco. “HPP has three major goals: Healthy babies … safe and nurturing families where children thrive … and economically stable families.” I love that this organization is really preventing problems before they start. Check it out.


Blog comments should be sent to suzannesmom@lunaandstella.com. I will post as many as possible.

									


				

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