All the best things come in threes.
                          From The Importance of Being Three
                         written and illustrated by Lindsay Ward
                             Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016

    Mom’s favorite number was 3. She and my dad were married on March 30 (3/30). My brother, my sister, and I (three kids, each of us 3 years apart) made our family whole. Even Mom’s birthday was 11/22 (double 3 when you add each one to each two). The number 3 was a little magical for her.
    As it is for most of us. 
    There is a symmetry, a balance, a satisfying feeling of closure to the number 3. Notice the parallel construction in the previous sentence. In rhetoric it’s called an isocolon. When 3 ideas, objects, or forms are being compared, it’s called a tricolon. Julius Caesar used it when he said, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” In his Gettysburg Abraham Lincoln, reminded us we are a  “[g]overnment of the people, by the people, for the people.” Our Declaration of Independence declares each person is entitled to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
    It seems like the whole world is divided into 3s. 
    Time is divided into past, present, and future.
    Science has Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (ok, protists and others) and Solid, Liquid, Gas (and plasma, I know). 
    We all know “The 3 Billy Goats Gruff” and The 3 Musketeers from Literature. And how about the “Charlie’s Angels TV show? And the Hunger Games trilogy.
    Psychology’s Id. Ego. Superego.
    And we learn the Concept, Content, an Context principle in the visual Arts to explain beauty and creativity (aesthetics) in a particular work. 
    Gravity, Mass, and Force work together in physics to define particular objects.
    Religion has 3s, also. The Holy Trinity. The three patriarchs. Three Fates. Three Furies. Three Stygian Witches.
    Part of the reason that 3 is so comforting comes from philosophy. The Third Way is the position that rejects the extremes found at either end of a continuum. Those ends denote discord and opposition. The Third Way introduces compromise, a mediator, and helps us discover harmony.    
    Geometry gives us 3 lines to define a triangle and 3 dimensions to name reality. 
    3 legs sturdy a stool.
    In As You Like It (Act II, Scene vii), William Shakespeare famously claimed, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Just as a play has 3 acts, we tend to divide our experiences into first, next, and last or beginning, middle and end. From writers.com “[t]rios present the smallest amount of information in which both a pattern and a rhythm emerges.”
    Advertisers make pattern and rhythm memorable with 3-word phrases. “I’m lovin’ it,” or “Keep It Simple,” or “Just Do It.”
    When children learn to recognize patterns, they learn to anticipate cause and effect. When they let go of a spoon, for instance, it will always fall down. Removing uncertainty by beginning to understand the way the world works is comforting. Those cause and effect relationships we count on, ground us and keep us stable.
    Centered on a triangular beam, we find our balance when we play close to the center of our own life’s continuum. With one foot on either side of the fulcrum (note its triangular shape) we are constantly shifting our weight. We stay in balance through our subtle but ever-present movement. 
No book review this week. Lots of extracurriculars demanding my time and attention!
                                    Be curious! (and keep moving)





    
    

Then Goldilocks tasted the porridge in the little bowl and it was just right, neither too hot nor too cold. In fact she liked it so much that she ate it all up.
                         from Goldilocks and the Three Bears
                       retold and illustrated by James Marshall
                                            1989 Caldecott Honor
                               Audiobook Weston Woods, 2004
                                            read by Joyce Ebert
                                 accessed on Libby 8/23/2026

    On her walk in the woods, Goldilocks sees the home of a bear family and decides to enter uninvited. The bears were out on their own walk in the woods.
    In response to her need for rest and food, Goldilocks finds Papa’s stuff at one extreme of the furniture, mattress, and porridge continuums, and Mama’s stuff at the other. Only in the middle did Goldilocks find things to be just right, especially the porridge. An essential concept in education, science, and psychology, it serves as an accessible visual for finding balance or aptness when considering options in our own lives.
    A lot has been written about the Goldilocks Effect, the concept named for the main character in the familiar story. So much, in fact, that I feel a blog coming on.
    But today’s post is about the porridge itself. Not the peas kind of porridge, traditionally made of cooked split peas, mashed with spices, and served hot. I'm talking about the kind made from oats or other grains.
    World Porridge Day is October 10 each year.
    In recognition of that special day, this year the annual Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship will be held on Saturday, October 3, 2026. 
    The event is hosted by an all-volunteer crew and supported by many valued sponsors. Begun as a way to call attention to the small town of Carrbridge, Scotland, and to the delicious versatility of the humble oat, creator of the competition, Roger Reed was quoted as saying, “it’s a very healthy food and we should make more people aware of this.”  
    The contest has grown since its beginning, Sunday, September 11, 1994. According to their official website, the event is now also held to “benefit local businesses by attracting visitors to Carrbridge at a time that falls outside the main tourism seasons.”
    Amateurs and professionals cook side by side vying for the coveted Golden Spurtle. This year contestants will represent Scotland, of course, but also the USA, Australia, Turkey, Estonia and Canada.
    Although the competition is limited to 30 contestants each year, the last year’s champion is invited to defend the title, and a place is guaranteed to any national champion from another county.
    Each selected entrant must be ready to cook Traditional Porridge made from pinhead oatmeal, course, medium, or fine grained as well as a Speciality Porridge made from a pre-approved recipe and prepared at the same time as the Traditional Porridge. 
    The dishes are judged “on the consistency, taste and colour of the porridge and on the competitor’s hygiene in the cooking process.”
    Also from the Competition Rules page, “Competitors are required to provide their own favorite porridge pan & spurtle etc. No cooking equipment is provided by the organisers.”
    “What,” you might ask, “is a spurtle?” That’s a good question. And a rare word. (My spellcheck gave it a red squiggly underline.)
    A spurtle is a wooden stirring utensil that was first created in Scotland in the 1400s. It’s about 11 inches long, round, and flat on the business end. A thistle, the national flower of Scotland, is often carved into the handle end. 
    A spurtle stirs without splashing and great for folding ingredients into a delicate batter. Although not the original purpose, a spurtle can reach to the bottom of a peanut butter jar and spread what comes out. And it’s stylish, to boot.
    World Porridge Day occurs on October 10 each year. In recognition of that celebration, the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship makes it a point to bring attention to child hunger. The 26th edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World was released by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month.
    The report noted that although it is possible to reduce world hunger, the task is great. From the report cited above, the cost of a healthy diet continues to rise and that in five years “nearly 2.7 billion people may still be unable to afford a healthy diet.” 
    Even though the submission window for entries to compete for the Golden Spurtle is officially closed, it’s not too early or too late to gather your ingredients, pull out your pans, and dust off your spurtle. The time is just right to bring our own awareness to child hunger.
    You might even want to help alleviate it by holding a contest of your own. Invite friends and neighbors to cook together and send a group donation to your local food bank or food pantry, or use Charity Navigator to find a worthwhile organization.
    Or celebrate quietly with a lovely bowl of home cooked oats and your favorite toppings.
    The 2026 Championship will be live streamed on October 3. You can catch the action by watching on Facebook or on YouTube.
I’m reading The Lost City of Z by David Grann (Vintage, 2009). Repeating the pattern of thousands of Europeans who searched and died in vain looking for El Dorado in the Amazon rain forest, Grann’s narrative nonfiction follows the explorer Percy Fawcett who, in 1925, also ventured out, convinced he’d find that the Amazon jungle could indeed support a flourishing civilization, he code-named "Z." Told with the tension of a modern thriller, Fawcett and his small group thrash their way farther and farther into the depth, until he closes in on the Brazilian-Bolivian border. (A movie based on the book was released in 2017.)
                      Be curious! (and eat a healthy breakfast)

    First, I took off my loud shoes…
    Then I tippy-toed into baby Ollie’s room in just my sock feet…
    And I spied on him through the bars in his crib.
        from: junie b. jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying
                                      written by Barbara Park
                                  illustrated by Denise Brunkus
                                             Random House, 1994
                                                  (read on Libby)
    
    My dad used to say proudly that his personal privacy didn’t matter. He had nothing to hide. That was after the Nazis were squashed in the aftermath of WWII. It was after McCarthyism. Dad felt safe. He was not afraid. 
    Then came Watergate. When Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974 and left office on August 9, he wanted to take his presidential documents with him. After all, all the presidents before him were allowed to. But Nixon wanted the so, so, so damaging tape recordings. Then, in December, 1974, an act of Congress made his materials public, not private, property. As such, they were moved to the National Archives. In 1978, Congress passed the Presidential Records Act. Now Presidents are required to turn over everything when they leave office. 
    We’ll skip the part about finding Presidential Papers marked classified, some even labeled top secret, in a bathroom (and elsewhere) at Mar-a-Lago, a president’s personal residence. Much of it is still missing.  
    Some things should not be private. 
    Clearly, the public’s right to know must always be balanced with national security, public welfare, and maybe even common sense.
    Clearly, too, the public’s right to know is vital to ensuring an informed citizenry. Since 1967 when the Freedom of Information Act took effect, and more so, through a presidential memorandum issued in 2009 by President Obama, transparency is (was) the key objective. The FOIA allows people to request records from any any federal agency. Unless a request falls within the parameters of nine exemptions (scroll down past the YouTube video to the 16th question in the list), you will receive the information you’re seeking. If it is denied, an appeal process is in place.    
    I didn’t use to think so, but the Dark Web is real.
    According to AT&T's blog, “[t]he dark web is the area of the internet that is hidden from search engines…Since people can’t be traced on the dark web, bad guys use it as a marketplace for illegal items or services.”  
    Nefarious acts and actions can (and do) take place when allowed to be cloaked or hidden. Hacking can lead to the hellish occurrence of identity theft. Cyber-criminals can use the dark web to create viruses that infect our computers and devices to collect our personal information including medical and financial data. Even driver’s license information and voting records.
    Businesses, organizations, and individuals can lose the trust needed to maintain their feelings of normalcy. This can result in depression, and fear, as well as financial loss.
    The same blog lists a few ways we can protect ourselves:

• Stay away from the dark web. Browsing it can put your device at risk. You could even accidentally connect with criminal activities.
• Create strong passwords. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends using a long password. Even better, a passphrase. It doesn’t need to make sense; you only need to be able to remember it. Something like Il0vesunnyfl0wers!andRain. 
• Use a unique password or phrase for each site and account. I know, but it really is safer.
• Use a password manager app. My MacBook has one built in. You might have one too.

    In light of all this, knowing that my phone is listening to my conversations feels creepy, but it’s a “sign of the times.” Those ads for exercise apps that pop up after I look online for a flattering dress or haircut? Creepy, but I’m living with them. 
    Those days when you hung up the phone after a long (or not so long) conversation and the connection was truly broken, or when you put a lock on your door and thought no one would know what you were watching on TV? Those day are gone, too. For good. Too bad.
    If he were still alive, I imagine my dad being more careful with his personal information And as for me? Yes. I take precautions, but I’m pretty terrified of AI. 

Ann Patchett, in her new book Whistler, (Harper/HarperCollins Publishers, 2026), explores the profound affect people have on each other. After 45 years, a chance but emotional meeting recreates the past for a step-father and young step-daughter. It’s the story of how memories work as the two reconnect and build a present to share with their complicated family. Recommend!

                    Be curious! (and change your passwords)

Water is water--
it’s puddle, pond, sea.
When springtime comes splashing,
the water flows free.
                                                from Water Can Be…
                                      written by Laura Purdie Salas
                                         illustrations by Violeta Dabija
                                                 Millbrook Press, 2014

    When news stories on similar topics are reported within days of each other, I tend to pay attention. 
    Last Tuesday (8/11/26), I heard an interview with Katie Spotz about her plan to single-handedly row her boat across the Pacific Ocean to raise awareness of water scarcity. 
    Two days later, my newspaper ran a short article about Matt Rutherford. He had to postpone the completion of his potential record-setting solo attempt to circumnavigate the Arctic Ocean when Russia’s Northern Sea Route Administration (NSRA) advised him that a large ice-field blocked him from sailing through a portion of his journey.
    The next day, an article in PBS news told of an ancient structure called Nero’s Bridge that has begun to emerge from what used to be the depths of Rome’s Tiber River. Scholars believe the bridge was built by Nero’s uncle Caligula, possibly as early as 39 CE (Common Era). 
    While archeologists can more easily study sites that had been until recently, unreachable, the world is “facing a major water crisis,” says Giovanni Giganti, coordinator of the Rome civil protection service’s center for water management.
    A link from that article led me to one from August 6, telling of the water level drop in the Danube River. It is so low now that German warships, sunk on purpose to avoid Soviet forces who were advancing deep into Europe toward the end of WWII, are re-appearing. 
    The problem on the Danube is two-fold. Most of what is left of the sunken fleet is too dangerous to easily remove. The explosives they carried are still on board. And the dropping water levels have made it dangerous for the usual ship traffic. The Danube flows through 10 countries. The big ships can’t sail through.
    It’s also a little remarkable that both Katie Spotz and Matt Rutherford are, like me, from Northeastern Ohio. That’s where the similarity ends, though.
    Katie’s goal is to help bring clean water access to 100,000 people. She’ll do it by collecting donations to support her 10,000 mile transPacific trek from Peru to Australia in a 23 foot rowboat. Through “Give Clean Water,” part of Save the Children  and the Sawyer Foundation, affiliated with charity: water, Katie chose to make Fiji, a nation made of 300 islands, the beneficiary of her project. Only the main island has clean water. Some of the 100 inhabited islands are difficult to reach, so Islanders must travel by boat to get there, costing time and money the islanders don’t have. 
    According to Katie, “$10.00 can give one person clean water for a decade.” 
    Katie will be leaving Mentor, Ohio this week. She’ll wait in Lima, Peru for a good travel window, January or February 2027, when she’ll begin her sail to Cairns, Australia. You can learn more about her mission and more about “Her Long Row for Water” at her website You can watch her when her webcam is set up.
    Matt Rutherford’s voyage was to be a fundraiser for his climate science nonprofit, the Ocean Research Project. His purpose for starting the organization is to “Help scientists better understand the problems facing the oceans.” His projects have included calling attention to the “alarming amount of plastic debris in the Ocean” that he discovered on his solo journey around the world. In 2013, Matt successfully mapped the eastern half of the Atlantic Garbage patch and a year later studied microplastics in the Pacific Ocean. He’s worked in Greenland with scientists investigating the profound impacts of warming oceans on Greenland’s ice sheet, including the effects of melting glaciers on sea level rise.
    This year, Matt’s voyage to the Northwest Passage is only possible because of the melting ice in the Arctic Ocean. So maybe the ice sheet making him postpone completing the trek is good news.
    Meanwhile, here in the US, Lake Mead has lost an inch of water since the beginning of August, 2026 (not a typo). As the water levels in Lake Meade and Lake Powell continue to drop and as drought conditions, especially in the western half of the US stubbornly persist, threats loom over the power supply. 
    Lake Mead is only 27% full. Lake Powell, 23/%. The Colorado River flows through both lakes, and seven states depend on its water. Water for agriculture, economic growth, and the growing controversy over the amount of water and energy demanded by data centers. CBS News in Arizona reports that the seven states are working out policies to share the water and hope to have a plan by October 1, 2026. 
    Almost one-half of the United States is experiencing drought conditions.
    Increasing the development and use of solar power is an obvious part of the solution, but comes with its own cost of both dollars and time. 
    It’s up to the willingness of each of us, our communities, and especially our governments the world over, to recognize real problems and work together to solve them.

It took a long time (due to interruptions, not lack of interest) to finish The Calamity Club by Katheryn Stockett (Spiegel & Grau, 2026), but so well worth my persistence. One of the best books I’ve read this year, it’s a story told through relatable characters, a setting that comes alive, and details that tell the truth. I laughed and cried with Meg, Birdie and Frances, Charlie, Mrs. Tartt, and even Garnett and the Heidelbergs as they lived their intertwining lives with guts, gall, and horrifying humor. 
                                       Be curious! (and take care
                             of your little corner of our Earth)

I’m taking a day off between two hectic weeks.
See you next time!
                                       Be curious! (and kind)

…over the fence, in a patch
Of dirt and concrete, grew
Short green weeds and leaves.

A place of Lala’s own.

“Hello, hello, friends.”
Lala whispered.
                                                From Lala’s Words
                        written and illustrated by Gracey Zhang
                                 Orchard Books/Scholastic, 2021

    My son-in-law is a science teacher whose first love (besides my daughter and my granddaughters) is botany. So I asked him for his recommendation on an app that does plant identification and uses non-toxic solutions for plants in trouble. I love the app he recommended and use it almost every day! 
    I took a picture of the little wild flower hugging the ground next to the sweet woodruff I planted several years ago. I asked for its ID, and it answered common yellow woodsorrel. Along with that dispassionate answer, I also discovered that it’s “mildly toxic to humans and pets if ingested.” It’s native to my area. It’s a pollinator magnet. And “considered a weed by gardeners.” Really?
    Now I wondered, what IS the difference between a flower and a weed?
    I searched many different sources that gave a variety of definitions for “weed,” “plant,”  “flower” and “garden.” I agreed with some and disagreed with others. 
    The question Who gets to decide, anyway? led me to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach webpage. Their bottom line summed it up for me. “No one species of plant is always considered a weed in all settings, and no species of plant is never considered a weed, although some species are more often growing where we don't want them than others!”
    A large variety of plants have thrived and died in the raised bed that my husband built for me several years ago behind our house. I’ve come to some conclusions from all that trial and error. Cucumbers won’t grow any bigger than my pinky finger no matter what. Oregano is only allowed in the garden if it lives in a pot. Black-eyed Susans like the side yard, not the raised bed. 
    Milkweed. Even though I know milkweed’s aggressive nature, I’ve tried several times to grow it. My local extension center gave away seeds a few years ago. They did not germinate for me. I bought a plant from a local nursery, but it was not really milkweed. True fact. My son-in-law gave me some starts one year. They did not thrive or attract monarchs. Monarchs love milkweed. It’s the only food source for the caterpillars. 
    I want to help them, but alas! Milkweed is not a plant for me. Then, the other day, I saw a monarch on my purple Liatris (Dense Blazing Star). They bloom right in time to provide adult monarchs the nectar they need to fuel their upcoming migration south. I forgave myself for my milkweed failure.
    Morning glories. They can overrun a garden. They’d engulf my whole yard if I let them. Then climb up my house and garage and probably my neighbors’ with their beautiful and bountiful royal purple blooms and their lush mass of leaves. They need to learn their boundaries. 
    Each year when the first twin-lobed leaves appear, I remind them to stay in their space. It’s a generous space with a built-in trellis at one end and plenty of room on the ground. I remind them to leave room for their neighbors, parsley and thyme. Even though they agree, sprouts appear as far away as the liatris. They try to hug the thorny rose bush, too.
    I apologize as I gently tug each stem. They apologize by readily releasing their tenuous hold on the earth. They know better; they just can’t help themselves. Even though they sprout up wherever they want to and constantly over-run their boundary, I would never call them weeds. 
    Now invasive species are a whole other issue. The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) maintains two lists. One is a list of invasives banned from commercial sale and distribution. The other is a list of Ohio’s Prohibited Noxious Weeds. Both of the lists are long. 
    According to the ODA, invasive plants “are not native to Ohio and whose introduction may cause harm.” My multiflora rose is on that list! Although I only discovered it (with my new app) this summer, it hasn’t bloomed. I thought I’d let it stay until I found out that birds eat the hips. That sounded good until I learned that they disperse the seeds as far as 20 miles away. The plants are aggressive. Very. Guess it needs to go. 
    We all know about kudzu. It’s what envelopes the shrubs, trees, and countryside along the highway and suffocates them. And water hyacinths (see “Water Hyacinths: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful, 2/11/25).
    Although Queen Anne’s Lace started out as in invasive a couple of centuries ago and is the forerunner of modern carrots, according to some in the plant world, it’s been naturalized. You can even find them in floral arrangements. Queen Anne’s Lace is not poisonous, but some say it tastes yucky. (I did not taste it!) It’s easily confused with poison hemlock, according to Farmers' Almanac, the most poisonous plant in the eastern US., so my advise is not to taste it if you have some and decide to let them grow. The FA link (above) shows you how to tell the difference.
    So many more plants are on those (and other) lists. 
    I won’t call a flower or a plant a weed, no matter where it decides to grow or how aggressive it is, but some really are dangerous and are not allowed to live in my garden.
I’m almost half-way through The Calamity Club, (Kathryn Stockett. Spiegal & Grau, 2026). My take on that next week.
           Be curious! (and take time to smell all the flowers)

    “One thing makes us special,” [the bagels] all agreed. ONE THING is who we are.”
    “Be happy with the ONE THING you are,” scolded Great-Plain-Grandbagel.
    But the plain bagel was NOT happy. 
    “It’s boring being just ONE THING,” the plain bagel groaned. “I want to be EVERYTHING!”
                      from The Bagel Who Wanted Everything 
                     written and illustrated by Alan Silberberg
                                                       Viking, 2025
                                        (read on Libby, 7/26/26)

    When it comes to favorite food groups, mine is bread. Oh, that’s not a food group? But there are so many kinds besides white, wheat, and rye. Pumpernickel, sour dough, and cheesy dinner rolls. We have sticky buns dripping with honey, buttery bread sticks, crunchy bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, dal, focaccia, tortillas. Even challah, hard tack, and roti. To name a few. The bread article on Wikipedia lists close to 200, all in alphabetical order. All delicious, I’m sure.
    And bread is the staff of life. Since biblical times, bread has been foundational in both cultivation and gastronomy. Growing grains has been a pivotal act in biblical stories from Joesph’s position of keeper of grains in Pharaoh’s Egypt during the time of intense drought and its resulting famine to the story of Ruth and Naomi who gleaned grain in Boaz’s fields.
    The traditional Jewish blessing before meals thanks God for bringing forth bread from the land. Of course, the human (and animal) labor involved in planting, harvesting, milling, and baking is all assumed, recalling the verse from Genesis, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread.”
    Archeologists have found grinding stones and ovens in ancient dwelling places throughout the world from China to Europe and from Australia to Indonesia and all across the Americas. 
    For all its roundness and for all its twisted history with the pretzel, the story of the bagel is pretty straightforward.
    Medieval monks, especially in Germany, so the legend goes, twisted the ends of dough-ropes to resemble a person at prayer, leaving three resulting “holes” to symbolize the Holy Trinity. Monks made and served these pretzels since the 600s. The word pretzel probably comes from Latin for upper arm, maybe the length of the dough rope.  
    In the 1300s, when antisemitism was at a feverish peak, Poland saw a mass Jewish migration, primarily from Germany.
    In many countries in Europe, especially eastern Europe, but not in Poland, it was against the law for a Jewish person to own or operate a commercial establishment that baked bread. It was a short jump for Jewish bakers to untwist the pretzel, leaving a plain dough ring.
    The modern bagel’s history began in Krakow, Poland. Polish bakers made obwarzanek (Polish for “boil”), a strip of dough rolled into a rope with fastened ends. Boiled first, then baked, the resulting roll was round with a hole in the middle. 
    Because of their roundness, bagels were a symbol of eternity. They melded into a symbol of luck, a protection against evil and so, were provided to guests at weddings, given to women in labor, and to guests at a circumcision. 
    Another legend moves us forward in time. A baker in Austria in the late 1600s paid homage to King Jan Sobieski of Poland who had recently returned from defeating the Turks. The baker called his creation a “beugel,” the German word for stirrup, paying heed to the King’s conquest and love of riding.
    At the turn of the 20th Century, immigrants from Eastern Europe to the US brought their recipes with them. In the 1920s in the Lower East Side of New York where many Jewish people landed, it was easy to buy a bagel from a street vendor with a pushcart. Bakeries flourished next. Bagels were common, but still Jewish.
    If you ask any bagel maker for their secret ingredient, their answer will be “tradition.” Recipes were passed from bubbe to bubbe through many generations, always looking for better techniques, better ingredients, better equipment, and better serving styles. But the basics stayed the same. The key difference between a bagel and a bread roll is the process. Bagels are boiled before they are baked. That’s what gives them their outer crunch and inside denseness. Their “chew.”
    The bagel shop we went to when I was growing up, Bialy's Bagels, has been in the same location in University Heights since 1966. Terry Skolnick, brought his New York bakery experience with him when he moved to Cleveland and opened his shop. He passed it to his daughter and her husband, Ellen and Mark Osolin who, in turn, sold the shop in 1984 to the Gross twins, Rachel and Sarah. The girls grew up on Bialy’s Bagels, but never dreamed that they would come to own the place.
    How Terry Skolnik named his store is a mystery. A bialy is not a bagel. According to allrecipes, bialys are named for Bialystock, Poland, the place where they were first created. 
    A bialy is round like a bagel, but that’s where the similarity stops. Bialys are not boiled before they are baked, so have a fluffy, roll-like texture. They’re made from a ball of dough, not a rope. A depression in the center is filled usually with sautéed onion, but fillings like sesame seeds or poppy seeds are common, too.
    Just like people, bagels have assimilated into mainstream culture. My grandfather would hardly know what to do with a blueberry bagel. Or a cinnamon crunch or honey whole wheat. And who would bake raisins right into the dough? 
    These days, you don’t have to be Jewish to love a bagel!

I’m reading Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller (Philomel/Penguin Random House, 2024). When Magnolia becomes fast friends with the daughter of her mother’s friend, the girls gain confidence as they look for owners of lost socks found at Magnolia’s parents’ laundry. Miller blends the sights, sounds, smells and people of NYC, with a touch of serendipity, to encourage curiosity and wonder in her young readers. Recommended for kids in grades 3-5 and anyone who wants a quick, fun, and thoughtful read.
    Be curious! (and break bread with friends)

    “And this is the brain stem,” continued Skylar, pointing to a long skinny part sticking out of the back. It was painted yellow. “Our brain stems make sure that we are always breathing and our hearts are always beating,” Claire explained. “Imagine if you had to remember to do those things.”
                    from Magnificent Makers: Brain Trouble
                                      written by Thane Griffith
                                    illustrated by Reggie Brown
                        Random House Children’s Books, 2020
                       (audiobook accessed on Libby 7/18/26)

    Sometimes when I was still working every day in my “real job” as a librarian, if I was overly busy, extra tired, or living through a period of overwhelm, sometimes it seemed I might have forgotten to load my brain into my head before I left the house. I’d be forgetful and felt disjointed, scattered. 
    Like most people my age, I think about thinking. I wonder how well my memory is working What was this morning’s Wordle? It’s Tuesday?! Again?! Did I forgot something at the grocery store yesterday? Important things like those.
    Remember the TV ad for a brain-enhancing supplement for people? It’s supposed to help us think more clearly and stay focused on the task at hand. “It’s made from jellyfish,” says the voice-over in the ad. 
    But guess what? Jellyfish don’t have brains. 
    Research showed that apoaequorin, the jellyfish protein used in Prevagen, does not benefit the human brain. WebMD reported in a 2025 article that Quincy Bioscience, the company that marketed Prevagen, lost a false-advertising lawsuit in 2024, and had to stop claiming its benefits. 
    What got me curious was not the results of the lawsuit (though it’s too bad about all the people who were hoodwinked by truth-stretching or down-right lies). It was that impossible-sounding sentence “jellyfish don’t have brains.”
    How does that even work?
    In October 2023, the University of Sydney published an article called “Brainless organisms can learn—so what does it mean to think?” exploring that very question. 
    The main function and purpose of a brain is to synthesize new information, to learn. That some animals don’t have a brain led Tom White, Senior Lecturer and Fellow at U of Sydney, to re-think what it means to learn. 
    Learning can be functional or structural and measured by noting changes in behavior. My first degree was in education. I studied three different modes of learning.
    visual: new information learned best when it is seen or read
    auditory: new information is learned best when it is heard
    kinesthetic: new information is learned best through physical activities 
That was then, this is now and learning styles are divided differently, any where from those three to up to 15. Yikes.
    Besides learning styles, learning theories abound from cause/effect or reward/punishment models like Pavlov’s dogs to the digital-age “theory of connectives” where people access new information by tapping into vast knowledge sources across databases, platforms, and human networks. 
    Learning is measured by assessing written tests, observing changes in behavior, noting progress toward proficiency in an area like reading or gymnastics. 
    We use our brains to learn, to wonder, to become proficient in a new skill, but our brains also take care of everything we don’t have to think about like heartbeats, breaths, eye-blinks. Also healing a stubbed toe or a black eye or a head cold. 
    And how about the jellyfish and all the other animals who don’t have a brain? How do they learn? and think? and adapt to new environmental conditions? And how do scientists know that learning has taken place?
    Jellies don’t have a brain, but they do have nerves spread throughout their body. Scientists experimented on a box jellyfish by putting a picture of moving gray bars in front of its nerve clusters and pairing that with a mild shock. After several sessions, the jellyfish began to signal that it wanted to move away from the gray bars as soon as it detected them. In this way, scientists found out that jellyfish can learn to avoid something unpleasant. But they are still studying the how.
    Other animals are also brainless, but not clueless.
    Sand dollars have a nerve ring that functions as their central nervous system. It controls movement and bodily functions including digestion. Sand dollars use a vascular system that circulates seawater through various tubes inside their bodies. They don’t need a heart. They also don’t have a respiratory system. Or eyes.
    Johnsons sea cucumbers don’t have a brain either. Their central nerve ring extends radial nerves and a nerve net within its skin to detect chemicals and touch. You can see a picture here. They are about 12 inches long.
    Nerve nets of corals extend from their mouth to their tentacles and serve the same functions as other brainless creatures.
    Sea stars can’t swim. They spend their time either on the bottom of the ocean or floating or washed up on the beach. Light-sensitive eyespots on the tips of their arms help sea stars find food. The nerve ring in its center (it doesn’t have a head) coordinates essential functions and relays impulses to its arms. Like sand dollars, they absorb nutrients from their water-based circulatory system. They don’t need brains or hearts.
    Here’s something else to ponder. Octopuses have mini brains in each limb in addition to the main brain in their mantle (head). Are nine brains better than one? That’s a question for another day!
I’m reading The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Speigel & Grau, 2026). I’m not very far along so here’s the publisher’s statement: “—an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. Libby will automatically return my copy before I finish, so my take will come soon. Stay tuned.
                              Be curious! (and use your brain and your heart)

I’m still looking for an agent for my new picture book.
And I signed up for an ekphrastic poetry reading (this time, a new poem inspired by an original and local piece of art.) My three new poems will be judged, and if accepted, I will read for an audience at the YWCA on July 23. I’ll let you know!
See you here next week. Same time, same place!

[Babette] pulled the wool from her eyes.
and with tears streaming down her face,
let out the happiest, silliest, truest giggle.
                                                      from Baa Haa
                                       written by Audrey Perrott
                                       illustrated by Rods Burach
                                              Scholastic, Inc,. 2025

    Who would be brave enough to tickle a gorilla? That was my first thought when I finished reading an article in my local newspaper that described a new study on laughter. Then I heard a news short about the different kinds of laughter and why we laugh. And last Thursday morning a friend of mine mentioned that International Joke Day is July 1 every year. (And I missed it by only one day!)
    The Universe must be telling me something, I thought. So I decided to learn a little about laughter.
    Results from a study of great apes were published at the end of last month in nature.com and show “great apes have been laughing in a recognizable way to modern humans for at least 15 million years.”
    Dr. Chiara De Gregorio, a Research Associate in the Department of Psychology, University of Warwick in England, wondered how human speech developed and studied a prominent common denominator between humans and the other four extant species of great apes, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans: laughter. 
    The great apes don’t all speak, but we all laugh. Laughter is produced as rhythmic intervals evenly spaced between successive sounds. In all the great ape species, even us. And according to Dr. De Gregorio, the “basic rhythm structure has remained unchanged since our last common ancestor [15-million years ago]. That’s extraordinary.”
    De Gregorio’s colleague, Dr. Adriano Lameria agreed. “…laughter evolution tells us that humans lay on a continuum of vocal control capacities…being honed for 15 million years.” 
    They joined with Marina Davila-Ross to write an article for Nature. By comparing different types of laughter across species and social contexts, they speculate how laughter’s rhythm led to an ability to control vocalizations. In humans, laugh rhythms have become faster through time, and more controlled so, more purposefully variable. 
    They continue by noting that “[l]aughter … is not merely a social signal but an accessible model for understanding the deep evolutionary roots of human vocal communication.” (Speech) The complexity of moving from the spontaneous rhythms of laughter to the controlled, purposeful grunts, words, and phrases that carry meaning, is nothing short of remarkable.
    The best laughter is spontaneous. It often erupts when humans encounter something unexpected. It’s often contagious and uncontrollable. It’s a form of social bonding. People tend to laugh more when we’re in a group than when we are alone. And laughter can work as a signal to let a person know we want to connect with them. We even pretend to laugh with someone to gain their trust, but fake laughter, even when well done, even when we’re unaware we’re doing it, is easy to detect.
    But why do we laugh? It’s been said that laughter is the best medicine, and the Mayo Clinic documents long and short term benefits of laughter including stress relief, pain relief, immune system improvement, increased oxygen to improve organ functions including the brain, and heart. And a good laugh releases endorphins to improve our mood. Here's a great article on laughter’s health benefits.
    Once, when I explained a joke to my brother after he told me didn’t get it, he said “if you have to explain a joke, you probably shouldn’t have told it.” He said it in the nicest way. 
    So what is funny? Real people study humor. Jonathan Beber, the lead researcher in a study on humor, named nine different types. Probably with a straight face, too. Which one(s) tickle your funny bone?
Physical humor (slapstick) involves physicality. Slipping on a banana peel or Mister Magoo, the Three Stooges. Clowns.
Self-deprecating humor is used by stand-up comedians. They make fun of themselves to earn a laugh (or guffaw). Also internet memes.
Surreal humor is weird, silly, absurd. Monty Python.
Improvisational humor is spontaneous. Made up on the spot like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” 
Wit-Wordplay is twisted language, including puns and Dad jokes.
Topical humor is based on current events. A spin pop-culture, politics, powerful people.  Think “Saturday Night Live.”
Observational humor makes fun of everyday life. “Funniest Home Videos” can overlap with Physical Humor.
Bodily humor is always funny. It’s gross-out jokes at their worst. (best?) Does anyone outgrow these?
Dark humor usually involves finding the funny in a serious situation. Like the character in Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses who says (as he plunges to Earth in a malfunctioning parachute, “We must find the levity in the gravity of the situation.” (Some overlap with Wit-Wordplay)
    So who would be brave enough to tickle a gorilla? My best guess is a smart scientist who knows how to find joy in work that combines important discoveries with serious fun. If that still feels a little too scary, maybe it’s someone whose job is defining types of humor. Try to do that with a straight face!
I’m still reading The Secret War Against Hate by Steven J. Ross (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2026). It’s seriously scary. Knowing our government has been opaque on so many issues dealing with hatred, violence, and organized crime for so long is anything but reassuring. Not sure I’ll finish this one, even though I know how important it is to be as aware as possible.
                               Be curious! (and tell a good joke)