I say, There’s got to be some kind of clue in the words.
                                         from The Nightmare House
                                               written by Sarah Allen
                                         illustrations by Angie Hewitt
                                        Farrar Straus Giroux, 2023
   
    My older daughter’s first word was book, a book full of words, no doubt. And from about age 6 months, she knew how important words could be. They always elicited smiles and conversation. Sometimes they helped her get what she wanted or needed. Cookies, music, cuddles. She talked pretty much non-stop, but it was the opposite of debilitating. I loved the sound of her little voice trying hard to pronounce names of food, friends, lists of facts. Pronouns were a small problem for a while, but we sorted that out.
    My younger daughter is a librarian, surrounding herself daily with words. My mom was a kind of a word-nerd. I think she liked grammar more, but I grew up surrounded with words. (No four-letter ones, though. Mom had her limits.)
    At the end of every year, lots of dictionaries try to sum up the main events in one word or a simple phrase. This year is no different.
    Collins Dictionary (thesaurus and reference materials) has been publishing for over 200 years and is well-known in the education field. It’s now online and free. They even put out a blog where you can find lots of word-related discussions in English and other languages, too. 
    The Guardian reported Collins named AI as the most notable word of 2023. “It was chosen,” the publisher continued, “because the word ‘has accelerated at such a fast pace and [has] become the dominant conversation of 2023.’”
    The Cambridge Dictionary named hallucinate as its Word. In a year of ChatGPT, Bard, and other platforms that use large language models (LLMs), hallucinate has come to mean false information (not really similar to “fake news”). Cambridge has defined false information as what happens when an artificial intelligence hallucinates. In that sense, it’s like when people see, hear, feel, or smell something that does not exist. I guess a machine can jump to a false conclusion, too. 
    Merriam-Webster’s word for 2023 is authenticity. Ahead of yesterday’s announcement Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large, noted , “[w]e see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity.” “What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”
    The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) will announce its winner after a public vote of its  eight ballot choices. You can participate here. Just click on the one(s) most meaningful and await the results. Click on as many as you like, but be sure to click by the end of Thursday, November 30, 2023. The announcement will be made Monday, December 4, 2023.
    Lots of dictionaries choose their Words of the Year by calculating the number of times a word has been looked up. Usually they notice a spike around news events. Remember unprecedented? Dictionary.com  named it Word of the Year, 2020.
    The words in the first English dictionary were collected and defined by Samuel Johnson. According to Cambridge.org.., Johnson’s was not the chronological first. Dozens of dictionaries appeared in the century and a half before 1775, when Johnson published his. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary was the most useful, though, because of his innovations. He chose words used in works by English authors. He added numbered definitions that sorted words by their subtle meanings. He used extensive quotes as usage examples. It’s considered the standard work, but language is a living entity. It changes. 
    Words are added and dropped by dictionary editors, lexicographers all, when a new word is noticed in the common vernacular, when a words changes or add meanings, or when a word falls out of use. Nowadays, computers generate lists from huge databases that calculate and collate continuously. The OED online is updated quarterly. 
    I remember back in the olden days, a supplement was added to the dictionary to keep it current. Published between 1972 and 1986, and under the direction of Robert Burchfield, a new editor, “a fresh cohort of staff … once again solicited the help of readers.” (OED.com)  The four-volume Supplement contained 5,750 pages.
    A CD-ROM of the First Edition was produced in 1987, and in 1992 the Second Edition was also published on a single compact disc. Instead of 20 volumes taking up several shelves and weighing in at over 150 lbs, people could use the dictionary differently. 
    In 2000, OEDonline was launched and was completely remodeled this year, 2023. Its updates can be accessed with a mouse-click.
    I keep a list of unusual and fun-to-say words. Here are some (in alphabetical order).
aplomb
banal
cetaceans
claustrophobic
lug nuts
misanthrope    
verisimilitude
    You might have a list, too. 
    According to the OED, our English language has one of the largest vocabularies on the planet. Their estimate clocks us in at over 170,000. 

I just started reading The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Life in Native America by David Treuer (Viking, 2019). The author calls his book a “counternarrative” to Dee Brown's classic Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970). Treuer, a native Ojibwa, tells where the people who survived the massacre came from (spoiler, they were right here for tens of thousands of years) and what has happened to them since. I’m looking forward to an interesting read.
                     --Be curious! (and choose interesting words)

    One bright, fall day, Sophie found a squash at the farmer’s market.
Her parents planned to serve it for supper, but Sophie had other ideas.
                                     .    .    .
    When it was time to make supper, Sophie's mother looked at the squash.
    She looked at Sophie.
    "I call her Bernice," Sophie said.
    "I'll call for a pizza," said her mother.
                                                from Sophie’s Squash
                                         written by Pat Zietler Miller
                                          illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
                                      Schwartz & Wade Books, 2013
    Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I’m thinking about being with family, but also about the pumpkin pies my grandson will make.
    Pumpkins, gourds, and squash all belong to a large family of fruit that also includes melons, cucumbers, zucchini, and winter squashes like butternut, acorn, and spaghetti. Their botanical name is cucurbitaceae. And here’s how to say it:  kew ker bi TAY see i.
    Squashes are divided into the soft-skinned summer squash and hard-skinned winter squash. Gourds are also divided into hard-skinned and soft-skinned. According to Southern Living, “[n]ot all gourds are squash, but many squashes are gourds and a pumpkin is both a squash and a gourd. So pumpkins fall into both categories.
    Yeah, I didn’t quite get that, either. So I kept looking. “The main difference between squash (includes pumpkins) and gourds is that squash is grown and harvested to eat while gourds are grown and cultivated for decoration purposes,” says the website of Abma's Farm, a family farm in Wyckoff, NJ. This definition is a little controversial, (and pumpkins still fall into both categories) but it’s widely accepted, so I’m going with it.
    About six to eight days after pollination, a zucchini and other summer squash are ready to eat. The seeds are set, but not mature. A winter squash needs a couple of months until it is ready to harvest. The seeds and the fruit are both mature. 
    Since it is not a botanical term, a pumpkin can be any type of round, large, orange-yellow fruit with a thick rind, edible flesh, and many seeds. Now that makes sense.
    We have a pumpkin barn at our county fair. Gourds and squash, including pumpkins, are shown in elaborate displays. And you can enter a contest for the most originally decorated gourds or squashes, all on a predetermined theme. “Favorite Movies” was a category one year. The Wizard of Oz display featured pumpkins dressed as Dorothy, the Lion, Tinman, and Scarecrow. Even Toto and the Wicked Witch were there! I don’t remember if it won, but it should have.
    Farmers from all over the country grow giant pumpkins. Some bring them right here to our Fair. They compete for a prize of over $5,000.00 for the heaviest one. In 2023, a grower from Anoka, MN brought the World Record Setter to Canfield, Ohio. It weighed an astonishing  2,749 lbs! 
   If you want to grow your own giant, here’s the basics from The Ohio State University fact sheet from their College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Click on the link for more details.

• You’ll need a lot of space. Each plant needs about 1,000 square feet to allow the vine to grow along with the pumpkin. You’ll need an area with lots of sun, too. And good drainage. And a convenient water source.
• Start with good quality seed. The giant prizewinners trace their roots back to Howard Dill’s Atlantic Giant developed by Howard Dill, himself, in the 1970s.
• Start your seeds indoors at the end of April. Each seed needs a 12-inch peat pot. They’ll be ready to transplant when the first true leaf is fully expanded. Make sure to keep your transplants safe from a late frost.
• Your plant will need at least 1 inch of water per week. Supplement if rain is insufficient.
• Hand weed as needed.
• Protect your plant from strong southwest winds until your vine’s sideurnners are 3-4 feet long. (Late June)
• For pest control, use your site only once in 3 years.
• Hand pollination is preferred. Bees and other pollinators could cross-breed your giant inadvertently.
• Prune off all but 4-6 pumpkins per vine.
• Prevent stems from breaking by moving the vine to reduce stress at vulnerable points.
• By the time your pumpkin is about the size of a basketball, it’ll need some protection from direct sun. You can rig up a shade with a bedsheet.
• Smaller giants, say 400 lbs and under, will fit in the back of a pick-up. Gather up a few friends to roll the baby onto a tarp and carefully lift. 
• Larger giants will need a lifting frame and straps. You might even need a trailer to transport it.
• Celebrate your accomplishment. Even if yours is not a winner, you’ll have had fun, I hope!

    The only ingredient listed on the label of my can of “100% pure Pumpkin: all natural/no preservatives” says “Pumpkin.” In answering a question on the Science Friday podcast on NPR, Chris Hernandez, assistant professor of Plant Breeding at the University of New Hampshire, assured a caller that most canned pumpkin is either Hubbard or butternut squash. “We don’t want to eat a Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin,” he said. "They are a whole different species.”
    Like Sophie in the quote above, our Thanksgiving dinner will be an inside affair, with cloth napkins and not-plastic dishes or flatware. Unlike Harold in Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon (HarperCollins, 1955), we will not have nine kinds of pie, just two or three. We’re not planning on having anything go to waste, but inevitably, I’m sure it will happen.
    I heard a story on NPR recently about how much food we throw away. If I remember, it’s about one fourth of what we buy. Then I thought about the grocery stores and all the restaurants. I know some of that food is donated to shelters and soup kitchens, but really? So I just looked up the story. I was wrong. One fourth? No, one THIRD!           
So, what to do? According to filmmakers Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin who were interviewed for an older article (from 2012):

1. Buy less. Be creative with what your have on hand. Or look here for substitutions.
2. Be less choosy about the perfect apple.
3. Don’t worry about expiration dates. [They] don't really tell you anything about whether food is safe. Here are some practical suggestions
4. Eat leftovers.

    Crockett Johnson’s Harold drew a hungry moose and a deserving porcupine to help him clean up his leftover pies. 
    My husband, our daughter and son-in-law, and our three grandsons will make sure that three deserving, but not hungry, cats and a gerbil will have some leftover turkey. The rabbit is excluded by his own choice. He’s vegan.
                            Happy Thanksgiving!
No book review this week. I’m catching up with some middle-grade fiction titles that I’ve been neglecting. More next week.
                        -—Be curious! (and as generous as you can)

When I look in the mirror,
What do I see?
Big and Bold and Beautiful Me!
                                        from Big Bold Beautiful Me
               written by Jane Yolen and Maddison Stemple-Piatt
                                        illustrated by Chloe Burgett
                                             Magination Press, 2022

    From 1967 to 1987, Bob Barker sang every girl’s dream song, “Here She Comes, Miss America!” But the winner wasn’t even the best of the best. That was Miss Universe. Crowns and gowns and one girl more poised and more beautiful and more talented than the next were on display for the better part of a couple of hours. My mom insisted a girl’s or woman’s best quality is not necessarily beauty. I don’t think she had a problem with the talent section, the interview, or even the evening gown. It was mostly the swimsuit competition she disliked. She described the show as a meat market or something just as derogatory. But she watched with us all the same. Scowling, if my memory serves.
    For weeks after the new queen was crowned, I practiced balancing a book on my head as I walked around the living room, even though I never got more than a few steps before it fell off. During my obligatory 30 minutes of daily piano practice, I imagined myself on a stage. I didn’t care too much for dress-up, but my wish for the end to the swimsuit competition was fervent. My short, round body would never win any points. 
    And I always mentioned my wish for world peace in the made up interview in my mind. And I meant that with my whole heart. I hoped it would cancel out everything else, especially my short, round body exposed in a swimsuit in front of the whole world.
    Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was all silly. Remember I also wanted to be a ballerina!
    It takes a lot of practice, dedication, and money to become a contestant. Most girls are well-versed in the competition atmosphere from a very early age. A website called We Have Kids addresses the topic with thirteen useful tips. 
    It advises even before your little girl knows whether or not she wants to compete, or likes to compete, or is driven to compete, she can be part of a baby contest. Less stressful? Maybe. If your daughter expresses the desire to take part in a pageant, the advise is to accentuate the “fun aspect.” Less stressful? again, maybe. Personality can count more than natural beauty. A natural smile is priceless. 
    Toddler contests can be expensive, very expensive. The advise is to rent a dress instead of spending $1,000 for one. (Kids really grow fast!) Socks with a single layer of lace are appropriate, but a few small Swarovski stones added to the socks will make them stand out more (and cost more!) And the hair. An updo is not a must, but a bow is. Add a few Swarovski stones to the bow, too, for added sparkle.
    Fluffing up her dress the moment she goes on stage is important, but so is planting someone familiar in the audience, preferably sitting behind the judges. That will keep your girl focused in the right direction.
    If all this sounds facetious, it is, except it’s all written out, just like the rules and the entrance fee. 
    Pageants can be good for kids, though. A well-run organization will allow the kids to be themselves. Some kids like getting dressed up. If parents’ attitudes are focused on the well-being of their child, lasting friendships can form among contestants (and their parents).
    For older girls, too, Google can help find many tips to win a pageant.     
    An article on NPR in 2012, put the cost of competing in the Miss America pageant between $800-$2,900. It includes the evening gown, swimsuit, make-up and coaching, but not travel expense. Or a fitness coach. Or nails… all in 2012 dollars.
    The article continues. Some girls work to pay their own expenses. Competitor and graduate student Jessica Bermudez worked part-time at as a technical project manager at the National Institutes of Health. She also received sponsorships from local businesses in exchange for promoting their products. She spent a lot of time fundraising. If she wins the Miss D. C. crown, Jessica will win a cash price of about $1,000 and the right to compete in Miss USA. She did not win. I Googled around a little, but could not find out what she’s doing now. She’s probably fine.
    Here's what Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has to say about itself. “The Miss Universe Organization exists to advocate for a future forged by women - women with the courage to push the limits of what’s possible, who are curious enough to make world-shaking discoveries, and audacious enough to do this over and over. We believe that the future of humanity rests on reaching gender equity around the world.” That sounds a lot like the Barbie movie to me. Mom used to say “The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Hmmm.
    I wonder how important being judged “the best” is for a child’s self-esteem. How much more important, it seems to me, to be able to internalize the feeling.
    While I recognize physical beauty and admire a beautiful person, cat, flower, or sunset, my mom’s disdain for the beauty culture was not lost on me. Do I wish I was taller/thinner/had better hair? Sometimes. But I really wish that I’ve been able to instill in my girls the importance of kindness, empathy, and compassion. 
    And I really, really wish for world peace. Really.
    The 72nd Miss Universe Competition will take place in El Salvador this Saturday, November 18, 2023.

Last week I read The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Julie Morstad (Candlewick, 2023). This quick read, at first glance, is about five puppets and the story they tell. Looking closer, it’s really about two sisters and their housekeeper who think up the story. While we readers are privy to the interior thoughts of the puppets, it’s about the sisters’ dreams and their housekeeper’s dreams and how they all make their dream come true. 
                   -—Be curious! (and look for interior beauty)

When the big brown bear
leads there little bear band,
they all play together
and the music is grand.
                                               from Bears in a Band
                                        written by Shirley Parenteau
                                           illustrated by David Walker
                                                      Candlewick, 2018
                                        accessed on YouTube 11/6/23


    The day before “Now and Then,” was released, (the last song to be released by The Beatles), my grandson sent me a link to a short documentary about its origins, the history of writing it, and how they were able to use AI technology to record it.  
    Paul narrated most of the story, but Ringo had lots to say, too. John’s son, Sean, spoke of his father and how lucky he feels to have had those four men in his life.     
    I sent back a text to my grandson thanking him for sending me the short film. As I watched it, I told him, I felt like my brain was time-traveling. I saw the four Beatles as they appeared in 1964, a little shaggier than “clean-cut.” Clips of their psychedelic phase were plugged in, too. Each as an individual, and each as an important member of the group. And the music. And the late 60s, and what came next. As I watched and listened to the clip from 1964, I imagined myself as I was then, and my grandson as he is now, about the same age as The Beatles were then. Those images were superimposed on each other. We were all together.
    I felt a mix of excitement for this “new” music and nostalgia for those “golden oldies.”
    Why does music have such a powerful emotional effect on us?
    “[Music] provides an auditory and emotional setting that allows us to retrieve [our] memories,” says Andrew Budson. He’s chief of cognitive and behavioral neurology, associate chief of staff for education, and director of the Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience at Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. His website is worth the click.
    Experts look at different kinds of memory to understand the effects music has on our brains. Two types of long-term memory are involved when we listen to music. Procedural memory is implicit. Routines we do without thinking like tying our shoes, brushing our teeth, cooking a familiar dish without a recipe, reciting a poem or speech we have memorized, and singing and performing our favorite songs feel automatic. We do them without needing a plan. Have you seen Lady Gaga’s performance with Tony Bennett? Even in the throws of Alzheimer’s Disease, he sings one of his hits after another flawlessly.
    It’s what’s at work when Jiminy Cricket sings E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A. Or the Animaniacs sing their State Capitols song to the tune of “Turkey in the Straw.” Watch it on YouTube.
    Episodic memory is explicit and comes into play when we consciously remember things like a recent trip, a major life event like our graduation or wedding, the first day of a new job. It’s particular. Another person sharing that experience will probably remember it differently. 
    Music triggers our episodic memory. It’s what allows us to time travel when we hear the song that was playing on the radio when we or our prom date rang the doorbell. We can picture our outfit, how the corsage smelled, what kind of weather we experienced and what kind of car we drove.
    It all depends on a healthy hippocampus. That’s the structure in our brain that sits in a direct line between our ears. It’s always “on” recording thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and sensations. It’s the job of the hippocampus to gather all those pieces of our memory into a whole recollected experience. 
    And lots of time it’s a familiar song or piece of music that allows the whole memory to engulf us.
    I was eleven and a half years old when the Beatles visited the United States and performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their sound rocked my world. They were all we could talk about at school. We all picked our favorites. Mine was John, even then. Most of the girls in my class liked Paul the best. He was the cutest, they said. Some argued for George. Ringo usually came in last.
    My sister and I lay stomach down on the living room carpet to watch, riveted, as they sang “All My Loving,” “Till There was You,” and “She Loves You.” They returned to sing “I Saw Her Standing There” and finished up with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” I had to look all that up, of course, but when I did, I was back on the floor, next to my sister. Their sound, filling the living room, felt new. Their look was new. We baby boomers felt we were on the edge of something earth-shaking and new. We were right.
    “Now and Then.” Thanks for the memories!
I’m reading Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson. (Penguin Publishing Group/Viking, 2023). I’m not very far in, but so far it’s well-researched, interesting, and readable. More next week.
                                   -—Be curious! (and keep a song in your heart)

In October I'll be host
To witches, goblins and a ghost
I'll serve them chicken soup on toast
Whoopy once, whoopy twice
Whoopy chicken soup with rice
              from Chicken Soup With Rice: a Book of Months
                        written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak 
                                                 Harper & Row, 1962 
    Halloween has never been my favorite holiday, even when I was a kid. I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up, but even at the tender age of six, I knew that was pretty impossible. First, I was the wrong shape, too round. Next, I didn’t have enough poise or grace. It took a long time and a lot of effort to even figure out how to balance on a two-wheeler. And, the truth is, yes, you can forget how. Finally, I don’t have a high aptitude for knowing exactly where I am in space. So, it’s just as well, now.
    But if I pretended, especially with a little bit of dress up, I COULD be anything, even a round, clumsy ballerina. 
    So, back to Halloween. We’re always telling our kids they can do and be anything they can dream of. So maybe the point of Halloween is to help kids identify their dreams and walk around as someone else for a time, just to try it out.
    Astronaut? (a jump into the future)
    Archeologist? (a blast back to explore the past) 
    Mad Scientist? (even the "Mad" ones discover stuff!)
    Ghoul? Witch? Vampire? (feel powerful for a little while, especially when you’re very small)
    So, even the scary stuff can be useful. I understand, but I still don’t have to like it.
    A while ago on our way to Florida, my husband and I passed a billboard that informed us Halloween is a 6,000 year old holiday. I made a note to look it up later, when we stopped for the night.
    Everything I found confirmed Halloween had probably evolved from the Celtic harvest holiday, Samhain. The Gaelic word is usually translated as Summer’s End. The holiday, celebrated about 2,000 years ago, was a period of mystical intensity, described in myths as a time when the boundary between the physical and the spiritual world became fluid. Spirits, faeries, and elves walked among mortals. People hollowed out gourds, and carried them, lit, throughout the streets and left gifts along the way to appease the spirits.
    The word “hallow” (not hollow) means to set apart as holy, or to consecrate. For the English, trying to reconcile their beliefs with those of the Celts, November 1, became “Feasts of All Saints and Souls,” and the day before became “All Hallow’s Eve.” Similarities between the old Celtic celebration and the “modern” included honoring the dead with food and using candle-lit gourds, carved to allow the light to escape.
    The foods of choice for these early Brits were “soul cakes,” small, pastries baked with expensive ingredients and precious spices. Soul cakes were distributed to beggars who promised to pray for the departed souls of loved ones in exchange for food.
    During the height of their civilization, the Aztecs (c. 1345-1521) celebrated Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. Delicious food was part of what amounted to a wonderful family reunion with relatives who had passed into the spirit world, a joyful time for people to celebrate the memories of their ancestors. Candle-lit displays honored the ancestors and allowed them to find their families. 
    When the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 1500s, they combined elements of Day of the Dead with their own All Souls Day. Dia de los Muertos is still celebrated in many Hispanic communities in Central America and the United States with elaborate displays and delicious food.
    It’s not such a great leap from then to now. We still celebrate with food. We still light pumpkins. We still give sweets to the folks (usually small children) who beg at our door. 
    In 1950s America, when the Great Depression was becoming a foggy memory and WWII was finally over, a new prosperity spilled into growing suburbs. People were looking for ways to meet their neighbors and entertain their children. Popcorn balls, caramel apples, and seasonal nuts were distributed to kids who joined their neighbors in an evening of fun.
    When I was growing up, we made our own costumes. Store-bought characters like Superheroes and Disney princesses were not even a twinkle in the eyes of entrepreneurs and merchandizers. Ghosts and skeletons were about as scary as anyone dared to be. Blood and gore were not part of the repertoire, yet. Cats, babies, and storybook characters were popular.
    Candy companies already had Easter and Christmas. Valentine’s Day was also a big money-making holiday. But how about something in the Fall? Of course, Halloween. Candy is big business. “Brach’s churns out roughly 30 million pounds of candy corn for the fall season each year, enough to circle Planet Earth five times.” (Youngstown Vindicator, 10/29/23, C1)        
    Halloween has become the nation’s second-largest commercial holiday. A report in usa.com projects Americans will spend an average of over $108. per person this year, a lot less than the $826. per person spent on Christmas gifts, food, and decorations in 2022, but still.    
    Tonight, even some of the littlest kids will dress up in really scary and sometimes bloody-looking costumes. Yuck! And I still don’t get the whole idea of asking for candy from strangers. Because who even knows their neighbors anymore? 
    But I’m not Scrooge. I give the kids who come to my house quarters instead of candy. No one has complained yet, and I like the leftovers!

In one of my book clubs we decided to each choose a banned book to read. I chose John Green’s Looking for Alaska (Penguin Young Readers Group, 2005). It’s Green’s (The Fault in Our Stars) debut novel and an ALA Michael L. Printz Award winner. From the publisher, “Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another.” It’s a coming-of-age story with all the teenage angst one would expect. The friendship story is laced with lust, alcohol, and possible suicide, all reasons for censors to be up in arms, but the characters are well imagined and their situations, problems, and antics feel real. If you like YA, put this one on your list.
                                        -—Be curious! (and celebrate)

    “You really want me to eat my peas, don’t you?” said Daisy.
    “Yes, said Mum.
    “I’ll eat my peas if you eat your Brussels,” said Daisy.
   Mum looked down at her own plate and her bottom lip began to wobble.
    “But I don’t like Brussels,” said Mum.
                                               from Eat Your Peas
                                               written by Ken Gray
                                       illustrated by Nick Sharratt
                                            Henry N. Abrams, 2006
    Even though my grandson’s favorite color in the whole wide world is green, when he was young he did not like green food. One day when he was five or six, he stared at the small broccoli crown sitting, perfectly cooked, at the center of his dinner plate. No amount of cajoling could convince him to eat that fabulous floret. 
    Then I caught the twinkle in his bright eyes. 
    “I’ll eat a bite of broccoli if you eat a bite of banana.” He was not teasing. He knew how much I dislike those smelly, squashy, sickening, things, even though my favorite color is yellow. It’s a contradiction we shared. 
    I looked at him, a little incredulous. “OK.” I was sure I could pull this off. After all, he was just a little kid. 
    He ate his microscopic bite of broccoli and smiled. He waited. He walked over to the fruit bowl and peeled a banana. He handed it to me. 
    I brought it up to my lips, the stubby nub teasing me. 
    Yuck! I couldn’t do it. I got it as close as I could, but just couldn’t go all the way. 
    “That’s okay, Baugie.” He used his name for me. “I’ll finish it.” 
    “Great! I’ll finish your broccoli!” 
    These days we are encouraged to eat a wide variety of food. Grocery shelves, refrigerated cases, and the frozen food aisles are filled with more choices than could be imagined even a few years ago. 
    When I was a young mom, the cost of a strawberry in February was prohibitive. Who even heard of Brussels sprouts in summer? or melons in March. Produce was seasonal. I depended on packaged frozen veggies when fresh wasn’t available. Same with fruit. 
    Ever since my second grade teacher told me what conservation meant, I was intrigued. “It’s not saving,” she told our 8-year-old selves. “It’s using what we have wisely.” 
    So maybe I’ve always been a little more aware of my immediate environment than some. Using something, but not using it up made sense. It still does. Now I know that idea is called “coming from a place of abundance.” But that’s something to explore another time. 
    The other day, I heard a story about Blue Zones, geographic areas where people live longer than anywhere else and have low rates of chronic disease. The name was coined by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow and journalist. In 2004, he discovered many people in Okinawa, Japan, lived very long and happy lives. He explored the world looking for other areas with great longevity, vitality, and happiness. He circled those places he found on a map in blue ink. According to their website: Blue Zones(R) is now dedicated to creating healthy communities across the United States.”
    Even though people who live in Blue Zones live in very different parts of the world, they share nine life-style priorities. 
    Move naturally
    Have a sense of purpose
    Incorporate a routine to shed stress
    Stop eating when they’re 80% full
    Eat a plant-based diet
    Drink moderately (no more than 2 drinks/day, preferably wine)
    Belong to a faith-based community
    Family comes first
    Choose to be around happy people
You can find this list, each item with an explanatory paragraph, here. 
    Seventh-day Adventists living in Loma Linda, California, make up the only Blue Zone community in the United States. Their Blue Zone Secrets  of longevity include 
    Find a sanctuary in time.
    Maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI)
    Get regular, moderate exercise
    Spend time with like-minded friends.
    Snack on nuts.
    Give something back, volunteer.
    Eat in moderation.
    Eat an early, light dinner.
    Put more plants in your diet.
    Drink plenty of water (5-6 glasses).
which, when you think about it is just a simpler version of the same list. 
    I was vacationing in Naples, Florida, when I first noticed Blue Zones. The city is proud of its distinction of being on top of the list for people who eat well. That’s all I knew about Blue Zones, the eating, until I started looking deeper. 
    Maybe eating well, if you are lucky enough not to live in a food desert and have enough resources to buy nutritious food and have the ability to prepare it in healthy ways, is easy to talk about. Moving, (exercise) too. 
    But having a sense of purpose, surrounding yourself with upbeat, encouraging, loving people, finding your spiritual path, not so easy.
    Blue Zones(R) is ready to help. They offer a certification course for organizations on their website. It includes a cooking course, a speaker’s bureau, and a meal planner. 
    Individuals can shop for healthy products right on their site (and buy some merch), too. Find lots (and lots) of recipes that follow their guidelines for healthy eating. Read articles by experts and thought leaders who share their insights about longevity, well-being, and better health by design.
    So it’s about more than broccoli (or Brussels sprouts, or bananas). 
    Blue Zones are kinda like living a well-balanced life. 
    Everything old is new again!
No book this week. I’m reading a manuscript for a friend. More about that when it’s published!
                           -—Be curious! (and take good care of
                                        yourself, and each other.)

    Stink put on his bike helmet, water wings, and his knee pads. He made himself an aluminum foil cape. Asteroid Boy!
                                 .    .    .
    Stink peered up at the sky with his asteroid-proof X-ray vision goggles. 
                         from Stink Moody in Master of Disaster  
                                         written by Megan McDonald 
                                          illustrated by Erwin Madrid 
                                              Candlewick Press, 2015

    As I discovered when I wrote about the Perseid shower on August 15, 2023, most asteroids are chunks of rock that orbit the sun in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally one of these chunks is thrown out of its orbit and heads toward Earth, but most burn up as they reach our atmosphere.
    In 1999, scientists used electro-optical telescopes operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program to discover the asteroid originally known as 1999 RQ36.
    Staff scientists at MIT sorted through photos. They wanted to explore an asteroid not too close, not too far away, with a slow enough rotation, and carbonaceous. They deduced 1999 RQ36 was made of carbon and probably water. Just what they were looking for!
    By 2013, the OSIRIS-REx, (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) team deemed the little, rocky chunk worthy of owning its own name. Michael Puzio, a 3rd grader from North Carolina won their naming contest. Bennu is the name of an Egyptian god associated with Osiris, the Egyptian god of immortality.  
    Aimed toward Bennu, NASA launched OSIRIS-REx on September 8, 2016, for its 200-million mile journey. It is the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid. Besides the qualities the MIT team was looking for, NASA chose Bennu for several reasons. 
    Its rocks offer insight into our own history during the time when Earth was forming, about 4.5 billion years ago.
    There is evidence that asteroids like Bennu delivered their rich, organic compounds (that make up all known life) to Earth when they smashed into our planet billions of years ago, just as the conditions for life were starting to emerge.
    Using the material from Bennu, scientists can study how planets formed and how life began. 
    Bennu’s material can help scientists understand the consequences of asteroids that impact Earth.
    Unlike most asteroids found in the asteroid belt, Bennu crosses Earth’s orbit, about every six years, making a spacecraft’s round trip from Earth easier and quicker, if you’re a NASA scientist.  
    When OSIRIS-REx arrived and lightly touched Bennu to collect its material, scientists discovered that the surface was held together not by cohesion, but by micro-gravity. If the thrusters were not on, the craft would have sunk into the surface of dust, pebbles, rocks and boulders. The NASA team wonders what other surprises Bennu will reveal.
    On Sept. 24, 2023, OSIRIS-REx's round-trip to Bennu was complete, seven years after its launch. It traveled back to Earth at 27,650 mph and, with the aid of two parachutes, made a soft landing at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City.             
    Because scientists will look for organic material, every care had to be taken to protect the sample from possible earthly contaminates like water vapor, microscopic organic particles, and dust. The sample from Bennu cannot contaminate Earth with living organisms. The harsh radiation environment in space took care of that.
    OSIRIS-REx’s ground team was dispatched quickly, and in just outside of an hour the module was transported to a clean room where it was wrapped up for safe transport, still unopened, to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
    When the module is opened, OSIRIS-REx is expected to have delivered about 1/2 a pound of material. It will fit into a 1-cup measure. One fourth of Bennu’s material will be studied by 233 scientists from 38 global institutions who make up the OSIRIS-REx team. About 70% of the material will be preserved at the Johnson Space Center for study by scientists not affiliated with NASA and for educational displays for the public. The little bit that’s left will be given to scientists in Canada and Japan for their own studies.
    About 20 minutes after the module was unloaded, the spacecraft was renamed OSIRIS-APEX, (OSIRIS-Apophis Explorer). Its engines were fired up, and it left Earth for its new destination, asteroid Apophis. It will begin exploring this new asteroid when it arrives in 2029.
    Bennu is small, only about 1/3 of a mile (500 meters) wide through its equator. If Bennu struck Earth, it could do some damage, but the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was 6 miles in diameter.
    Bennu is old, four and a half billion years old. When its tiny gifts of dust, pebbles, rocks, and boulders are uncovered, it may be able to tell scientists how the solar system formed. It might give some evidence of the origin of life. 
    It might even be able to show us how the planets learned to dance around the sun. 


I finished reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Viking, 2020). The author explores what could happen if we are allowed to erase our regrets, one at a time, and see what each life would look like if we made different choices. SPOILER: The ending reminded me of The Wizard of Oz without Dorothy needing to click her ruby slippers.
    
                                 -—Be curious! (and keep looking up)

    It took a while because there was no fast forward option, but eventually the sun sank below the horizon. 
                                                  from Couch Potato
                                                written by Jory John
                                           illustrated by Pete Oswald
                                       HarperCollinsPublishers, 2020
                                         (viewed on YouTube 10/9/23)

    Popular culture is not my best thing. I’m not up on the latest slang, or hip-hop. Football? nope! Movie stars are usually not on my radar. Saturday Night Live is on too late for me. I can’t identify any Kardashian in a line-up. I don’t know the names of most current TV shows. And although I’ve heard of the Simpsons, until last weekend, I never saw a complete episode.
    In 1989, the first full-length show aired on Fox. A provision in its contract with the network prevented Fox from interfering with the show’s content.  
    Among its many honors and awards, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000. The show has won 35 Primetime Emmy Awards presented to recognize excellence in primetime television programming, 34 Annie Awards to recognize its excellence in animation, and 2 Peabody Awards named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody to honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and online media.
    When it began 34 years ago, the Simpsons were a typical middle-class American family living in a typical American suburb. Homer, the, father is a safety inspector for a local nuclear plant. Stereotypical Marge is, well, stereotypical. Their three kids do what kids do everywhere. They get into and out of trouble, make very dumb and very wise comments about life, go to school, play with their friends, and get on each others’ nerves. Baby Maggie is, cute. 
    Six voice actors are responsible for the show’s main characters and most of the occasional cast.
    Homer's exclamatory catchphrase “D’oh!” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001. I’ve even said it a few times myself (appropriately, too)!
    A TV show that has been continuously running for 34 seasons, and the announcement of the 35th and 36th seasons on 10/1/23, ensure the show will air through the 2024–25 television season made me ask myself why. 
    The Simpson Family is iconic and the show has become part of American Culture. But is it still an accurate portrayal of the American middle-class?
    Homer is living the American Dream. He’s the sole breadwinner supporting an intact family of five living in a nice house in the suburbs of Anytown, USA, represented by Springfield, Anystate. Even though the characters don’t age, the magic of animation and, as an audience, we can suspend our disbelief, the timeframe for the show is Now. 
    Bart wants to grow up just like his dad with a good job and a nice house in the suburbs and a few kids and a dog. His bubble is burst in the finale of season 33 (May, 2022). A singing janitor, played by Hugh Jackman, explained modern economics. Someone in Homer’s job today would need a college education and would sport the huge debt that an education costs. And Lisa puts in her two cents, so to speak, and tells Bart what he’d be missing. Pretty much everything Homer has. 
    In typical Simpson fashion, the show’s executive producer Al Jean stated in a June 3, 2022 Planet Money interview on NPR, “…I remember growing up and…thought… we're in the luckiest country in the world and things will always get better. And I don't believe the majority of the public thinks the second thing anymore.” 
    But even though the real reality is that the Simpsons, by 2023 standards, are no longer living a middle-class life, Al Jean says the 35th season will not acknowledge that. People want to believe in the American Dream. We don’t want our comedies to take a tragic turn. 
    Homer’s answer to his friend Fred Grimes’s question, “how in the world can you afford to live in a house like this, Simpson?” is typical Homer. “I don't know. Don't ask me how the economy works.”
    And so, even with the many ideas Homer and the rest of his family don’t know about or don’t acknowledge aside, The Simpsons are a middle-class “us.”
This is true in our 2023 world of now:
    The job market is strong.
    Entrepreneurial spirit is alive. 
    American Dreamers are still dreaming. 
    And while Jory John’s Couch Potato (see quote above) admires the beautiful sunset in the real world, it is still possible to suspend our disbelief for a little while and move in next-door to Homer and Marge.

I just read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (Bantam/Turner Books, 1992). It’s a spiritual adventure exploring an out-of-the-box interpretation of Western thought. Re-imagining the beginning of humankind and re-examining the ancient stories of both Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, I’ll be chewing on this one for a long time. It’s a book that needs discussion. Highly recommend!
                                 Be curious! (and live your dreams)   

    Get to Sri Lanka any way you can. You can’t miss it. Sri Lanka is a pear-shaped island in the Indian Ocean. The best cinnamon in the world is make there from the bark of the native kurundu tree so go directly to the rain forest. Find a kurundu tree and peel off some bark. If a leopard is napping beneath the tree, be very quiet.
           from How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
                    written and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
                                                          Knopf, 1994

    Seems like everywhere and everyone is surrounding us with pumpkin spice. From Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks to Wendy’s new Pumpkin Spice Frosty, we can move from our breakfast jolt of caffeine to a scrumptious dessert after dinner. (Or a midnight snack, anyone?)
    I have a wonderful recipe for pumpkin muffins that I adapted from a friend’s pumpkin cake recipe. I like to pull it out this time of year, especially for the cream cheese frosting. I bet my muffins would have won a blue ribbon at our county Fair, but I didn’t read the entry guidelines carefully. The judges don’t accept anything that needs refrigeration. Well, d'oh! BTW, The Simpsons is entering its 35 season. More on that next week.
    So, pumpkin muffins. The recipe, like most of what I own, is old. I got it from my friend 50-ish!! years ago, and I’m sure it wasn’t new then. Delicious, and the only spice is cinnamon! Cinnamon goes especially well in dessert recipes. It blends well with other spices, too. But spicing up our coffee and dessert is only cinnamon’s recent cup of tea, so to speak. 
    Cinnamon has an interesting history. It is derived from the interior bark of a cinnamon tree also called kurundu tree, a native of Sri Lanka. Until 1972, Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon. British rule ended in 1948, but the name Ceylon remained until Queen Elizabeth II was no longer  its political head. The prefix Sri translates to the English word resplendent. The word Lanka is as old as the ancient story of a kidnapped princess, Sita and her rescue. Lanka simply means Island. 
    As early as 2000 BCE, merchants traveled the Spice Routes to acquire and exchange cinnamon from Sri Lanka. The primary reason for embarking on these treacherous journeys was the economic advantages of trade. Cinnamon was once more valuable than gold. By the sixteenth century, it was the most profitable spice the Dutch East India Company traded (TimesNowNews). 
    Other spices were traded, but none could compare economically with cinnamon. Other goods, and knowledge of the world were traded, too. Traveling and stopping at ports along the Spice Routes, also known as the Silk Road, encouraged trade of ideas, languages, and artistic and scientific skills.
    Besides its interesting history and economic value, cinnamon has many medical uses, both ancient and modern. Ancient Egyptians used cinnamon oil in their mummification process. Cinnamic acid is an antibacterial. 
    It is important to do your own research and consult with your medical professionals, but according to the National Institutes of Health, (NIH), “[c]innamon is one of the most important spices used daily by people all over the world.” The NIH continues, “[i]n addition to being an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer, lipid-lowering, and cardiovascular-disease-lowering compound, cinnamon has also been reported to have activities against neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.”
    Cinnamon can interact with prescription medicine, so be cautious. More than one teaspoon can be harmful, but a dash on a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of Celestial Seasoning’s “Bengal Spice Tea,” or a pumpkin muffin (or two) might be just the thing on a brisk Fall day.
    Pumpkin Spice is also called Pumpkin Pie Spice. You might already have a jar in your cupboard, but here’s an easy recipe from allrecipes.com that only takes 5 minutes.
    
    HOME MADE PUMPKIN SPICE
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
    1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
    Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl.
    Store in a small, airtight container in a cool, dark place. Properly stored, pumpkin spice will last up to three years.
    
    In case you want to try those delicious pumpkin muffins, here’s that recipe, too.
SHARI’S PUMPKIN MUFFINS (adapted from Kathy’s family Pumpkin Cake Recipe)
4 eggs
1/2 Cup salad oil 
1/2 Cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 Cups sugar
2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 16-ounce can solid pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix or filling)
1 Cup chopped pecans
    Mix all ingredients then beat with mixer until well blended. Ladle evenly into 24 muffin cups. Bake at 350º F for 40-45 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean)
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING 
1 stick butter
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup chopped pecans
1 lb confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
    Mix well.
    NOTE: 1/2 recipe frosts 2 dozen muffins.
    NOTE: Muffins and frosting freeze well.
I just finished a slim volume: Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles (Simon and Schuster/TED, 2014). Zak Ebrahim was only seven years old when his father, El-Sayyid Nosair, shot and killed Meyer Kahane, leader of the Jewish Defense League. Then while Nossair was still in prison, he helped plan the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. This important memoir tells how a young child raised with hate learned to turn away from that hate and took those he loved with him. Here's a link to the author’s TED talk. 
           -—Be curious! (and use common scents-like cinnamon)​

One morning Ella Sarah got up and said,
“I want to wear my pink polka-dot pants,
my dress with orange-and-green flowers,
my purple-and-blue striped socks,
my yellow shoes
and my red hat.”
                                    from Ella Sarah Gets Dressed
               written and illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine
                                                 Harcourt, Inc. 2003

    When I was about seven, I longed for a pair of saddle shoes. Mom said “no” in a hurry. She said they were labor-intensive. Too much of a chance of scuffing. Too much polishing. Too much lace-tying. Mom was neat and tidy. I was not. 
    She bought me loafers and even gave me a penny to stick in each one.
    I don’t remember a line about shoes in our school’s strict dress code, but lots of girls wore saddle shoes. We had to wear dresses or skirts that reached at least mid-knee. No pants, Blouses were tucked in. No t-shirts. Yes to belts or suspenders, though. My brother wore suspenders, but, I suspect he might have preferred a belt. No jeans. The back of a boy’s hair was not permitted past the top of his collar. No shorts for boys or girls. Men teachers wore ties. Women wore dresses or skirts. 
    Authorities such as principals, guidance counsellors, and school boards promoted school dress codes to add decorum to the classrooms, encourage politeness, and promote concentration, they claimed. If scientific studies backed these claims, they weren’t cited. When the late 1960s turned into the early 1970s, school dress codes fell by the wayside (pretty universally) in favor of allowing students their freedom of expression. There were limits, of course, but they were few and far between. 
    Societies have dress codes, too. Although our parents didn’t say so outright, we all understood that dressing up was expected when we went shopping or to our yearly doctors’ appointments or for the occasional restaurant meal. 
    Whole books have been written about the history of clothing and fashion. Seems like everything from a fig leaf to a formal frock can make a fashion statement. 
    According to the on-line site Brainfodder, our clothing choices say a great deal about us. They touch on how we perceive ourselves and how others see us. For example, do your t-shirts have slogans, pictures, advertising? Do you avoid synthetic fabrics in favor of natural fibers? Do your clothes conform to society’s expectations helping you “blend in?” or do you favor bright colors and flamboyant accessories help you stand out? Do you express your cultural identity with your clothing choices? 
    “Science even has a name for this phenomenon. The term coined about 10 years ago, “enclothed cognition” describes how the clothes we wear affect our behavior, attitudes, personality, mood, confidence, and even the way we interact with others.” (Brainfodder, emphasis included) 
    A recent study split men into two groups: suits and sweatpants. The result was the suited participants won over $2 million in a simulated business deal experiment. The sweatpants group ended up losing $1.2million! Studies continually show that wearing a suit, formal and structured, puts us in the right frame of mind to conduct business. And encourages others to see us that way. Hillary Clinton comes to mind.
    Donning a white lab coat resulted in better intelligence scores when a subject was told the coat was a doctor’s lab coat than when they were told it was a painter’s smock.
    Based on many social experiments, scientists report that we tend to match our actions to our clothing more-so than the other way round. Wearing gym clothes results in more visits to the gym, for example.
    But people tend to be less open to socializing when dressed in business attire. Dress-down Friday encourages friendliness and creativity. 
    Recently the US Congress has weighed in on both sides of the argument. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa) usually ignores the unwritten Congressional dress code. This week when he showed up in his typical sweat shirt, shorts, and sneakers, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer directed the Senate's sergeant-at-arms to stop enforcing its unwritten code. But Mr. Schumer said he would continue wearing a suit.
    Republican criticism was quick. Two days later, 46 Republicans told Schumer, “The world watches us on that floor and we must protect the sanctity of that place at all costs,” and “Allowing casual clothing on the Senate floor disrespects the institution we serve and the American families we represent.”
    Russia is continuing its assault on Ukraine. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and wildfires rage. Gerrymandering continues to proliferate. Politics is mixed in with our justice system, blurring the line between Religion and State. Book banning. Politicizing immigration. Exhibiting unfocused fear and anger. Gun violence. Anti-Semitism. Racial hatred.
    The looming shut-down of the US Government used to be unthinkable.
    Dress-down Friday would be a step in the right direction for Congress. A little creativity will go a long way toward finding compromise on so many difficult choices. A little friendliness could encourage acceptance of colleagues’ different ideas. 
    Fetterman and Schumer have the right idea.     
     
Many years ago I read The Soul of an Octopus (Atria Books, 2015) by Sy Montgomery. It’s a fascinating look at octopuses through the eyes of a journalist and marine biologist. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (HarperCollins, 2022) is fiction. But similar themes of loss, finding unexpected love, starting over, and how it feels to be an octopus all ring True. Highly recommended.
                                           -—Be curious! (and friendly)