You can still vote for the fattest bear, but today’s the last day. Voting is open from noon to 9pm EST. The crown will be awarded after voting closes.
Check explore.org 
I’ve been too busy watching bears catch salmon in Alaska, to write and post this past week.
Too busy listening to birds calling each to other,
too busy crunching into crispy apples,
too busy playing with my cat.
     Sorry, not sorry!
I just started reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins, 2023). More next time.
                                    --Be curious! (and grateful)
See you next week!

People come in many shapes.
What shape are you?
                                                 from People Shapes
                                       written by Heidi E. Y. Stemple
                                         illustrated by Teresa Bellón
        Little Simon/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2021

    I was not the fattest child in my elementary school. Not even the fattest in my room. I was the fattest child in my family, though. My mom’s mom was a large lady. My dad’s mom was round and soft.
    Even though I’d like to be thin, I don’t usually do anything about it. But no matter, now. Like Popeye says, I am what I am.
    Not so, the hibernators. They need their fat. They work all summer growing it. And we love them for it.
    Groundhogs spend their summers fattening themselves on our lawns and gardens so they can spend their winters hibernating in the cozy dens under our homes. We even celebrate the day they wake up to predict the weather for the next six weeks. 
    Bats hibernate, too. 
    Brumation is a lethargic state that many reptiles assume in late autumn. It’s not true hibernation, though. During this state, they often wake up to drink water, then return to their brumating state. They can survive many months without food.
    Similar to hibernation in purpose, that is, to conserve energy, estivation is kind of the opposite of hibernation. This state allows an animal to escape the affects of extreme heat and humidity. Toads, Eastern Box turtles, and some salamanders estivate. The animals are not in a deep sleep, though, and can quickly, if necessary, reverse their situation in as little as ten minutes.
    Even though we don’t see them unless the sun shines or it’s an abnormally warm, winter day, most squirrels don’t hibernate. They live on the acorns they’ve gathered and other tidbits they stash. They stay cozied up in their nests, awake.
    Torpor describes a state of being where an animal’s metabolism slows to accommodate unfavorable living conditions. Different organisms react differently to light and weather, even us humans. Even though our metabolism does not decrease in the winter, many of us are less active, spend more time indoors, and the shorter days mean less vitamin D which may affect fat metabolism and storage.
    In winter, most invertebrates enter a state called diapause, their response to adverse environmental conditions. Instead of the metabolic slowdown experienced by mammals when they hibernate, diapause actually pauses an insect’s physiology. They stop growing and developing until external conditions improve, usually in the spring.
    But how about those bears? Right now the bears in Katmai Brooks Camp in Alaska are feeding on salmon, fattening themselves up in readiness for their big sleep.  
    You can watch them on the webcam here.  
    “Fat bears are successful bears,” notes explore.org in a press release. Fat Bear Week is a way for environmental agencies to help people understand the importance of conservation, explore.org explains.
    Fat Bear Week started in 2014 when Park Ranger Mike Fitz noticed a fan’s comparison of the same bear on explore.org's webcam. The fan’s post showed the same bear in June and September. Fitz wanted to share his amazement at the bear’s transformation with the public. And he wanted to show the public the “vibrant” ecosystem they share with the sockeye salmon.
    He decided to hold a one-day event on September 30 of that year. Pictures were posted on FaceBook, and participants voted with “likes.”
    The next year and ever since then, Fat Bear Week takes place in early Fall. 
    This year, due to an extraordinary salmon run, “surpassing anything seen in recent memory,” according to Matt Johnson, Katmai National Park’s interpretation manager, the bears are well-nourished and ready for the vote. 
    NPR as well as other news outlets announced that the bracket for Fat Bear Week 2025 will be revealed on September 22, and voting begins on the 23. That’s today! (At noon, EST)
    It’s a single-elimination tournament that runs through September 30, when the new champion will be announced.
    Click here to meet the bears, view the rules, and vote. Discover more information about Brook River in Katmai National Park, too.
    Last year (2024) over one million votes were cast from one hundred countries. 
    Some of us live to eat, others eat to live. For some of us finding the balance between the two is hard.
    Not so, though for a bear.


I just finished The Metamorphosis of Bunny Baxter by Barbara Carroll Roberts (Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House, 2025). Bunny, a seventh grade bug-loving girl must start over in a new school without friends. Ms. Roberts shows her readers how Bunny rises to all her challenges and while not entirely dislodging the giant chip on her shoulder, begins to understand her quirky place in a quirky Middle-Grade world.
                                   -—Be curious! (and eat wisely)

Hickory Dickory Dock,
the mouse ran up the clock,
the clock struck one,
it’s time for fun!
Hickory Dickory Dock.
                                   from Hickory Dickory Dock
                         written and illustrated by Keith Baker
                                             Clarion Books, 2007

    Keith Baker took some liberties with the original nursery rhyme to update it for the 21st century. He added more animals and playful rhymes to create a sing-along story I loved to use in story time.
    I wondered if it is as innocuous as it seems. The history and references of lots of nursery rhymes have been lost through time.
    Could the “farmer’s wife” in “Three Blind Mice” really have been Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII? She was also known as “Bloody Mary.” She showed no mercy for her opponents and, unlike her father who broke away from the Catholic Church to start the Protestant Reformation, Mary was a strict Catholic. One theory suggests the mice were really Protestant loyalists who plotted against the murderous Queen. 
    She is probably also the subject of “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.” Those silver bells and cockleshells are both instruments of torture. She may be filling her garden with Protestant martyrs.
    “Jack and Jill” might also refer to political roots. In the 1600’s, King Charles tried to impose tax reform on his subjects. Jack’s broken crown could be a symbol of the king’s powerlessness, and the defeat of Parliament shown by “Jill … tumbling after.”
    A couple of theories describe Old London Bridge, a real structure that spanned the Thames. It might describe the bridge’s disrepair after the Great Fire of London (1666). Or the reference could be to the much earlier Viking’s destruction of the bridge in an attack by Olaf II of Norway in 1014. 
    The misogyny  of “Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater” who “kept his wife in a pumpkin shell” and the child abuse referred to in “There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe,” vie with “Ring Around the Rosie” with its reference to the Great Plague of 1665, which killed almost one quarter of London’s population. All three are gruesome. 
    Even Hickory Dickory Dock has a controversial origin. The Cambric dialect spoken in the Early Middle Ages, 476 CE (Common Era) to 1000 CE, the numbers 8, 9, and 10 are written Hevera, Devera, and Dick. Could the name come from those numbers and refer to the Exeter Cathedral where the famous Exeter Astronomical Clock was housed in the 1400’s? The gilded clock, legend holds, has a round hole carved into it for the cathedral cat so it could do the holy work of keeping the clock free of mice. 
    When the words are sung, they fall into a catchy melody that helps young children learn numbers, rhyme, and the rhythm of language itself.
    Maybe the rest of the rhymes are just that, too, ways of teaching language to our children?
    Brain science has shown that hearing rhymes, music, and lots of rich language is crucial to language acquisition. In a paper written by The National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, studies confirm that “[n]eural and behavioral research show[s] … exposure to language in the first year of life influences the brain’s neural circuitry even before infants speak their first words.
    Exposure to one’s native language is crucial to the development of fluency. While not completely mastered until about age 8, even a 10-month-old baby’s babbling can be identified as one language or another.
    The author explains that language learning is most efficient and effective in social situations. That is, face-to-face rather than learning from a screen. 
    Science is showing us that language learning is complex and multi-modal. Learning takes place best when an infant’s and young child’s attention is focused on items and events in the natural world: the faces, actions, and voices of other people.” And especially during play.
    So, why do these seemingly innocuous rhymes have such dark undertones? The best answer I can think of takes play, social interaction, and language learning into account.
    Here’s what I mean. My older daughter stayed home from school one day when she was not feeling well. She was old enough to watch soap operas, but when I got home from work, she told me about a segment of Sesame Street she watched. It was Burt singing a song about the letter B, put to the tune of John Lennon’s “Let it Be.” It took till she became a teen, to get the grown-up humor. So much of Sesame Street was like that, incorporating a little something for the grown-ups. The best movies do that too. So do the best picture books.
    An engaged adult will magically project her enthusiasm to the child, reinforcing language learning and social bonds.
    Hickory Hickory Dock is fun to say and fun to sing.
    London Bridge isn’t really falling down, but it is fun to fall down and get up again.
    Jack Spratt and his wife worked together to accomplish a goal.
    What about those three blind mice? or Wee Willie Winkie? Well, what child doesn’t love to run around?
    The music, the rhymes, and action keep our children learning language while they play, while the adults can speculate about alternative theories that may or may not explain the origin of the rhymes. 
    What about Old Mother Hubbard and Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater? Well, child abuse and misogyny have no place in our modern society. 

I’m reading Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal (William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers, 2017). It’s the story of Nikki, a young twenty-something who takes a job teaching English as a Second Language and the mostly older widows who have their own ideas about what they want to learn. It’s an intergenerational story, a story of family dynamics, husbands and wives, friendships, and a murder mystery that moves the plot to a surprising conclusion. Recommended.
                            -—Be curious! (and take time play)

    “But there are also autumn smells and autumn tastes,” Jack said.
    .    .    .
    Warm, soothing cinnamon.
    Spicy, sweet nutmeg.
    Peppery, fierce ginger . . .
                                               from Pumpkin Spice
                                                       by Arie Kaplan
                                        illustrated by Monique Dong
                                            Grosset & Dunlap, 2025

    Seems like everywhere and everyone is surrounding us with pumpkin spice. From Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks to Dairy Queen's new Pumpkin Pie Blizzard, we can inundate ourselves from our breakfast jolt of caffeine to a scrumptious dessert after dinner. (Or a midnight snack, anyone?)
    My pumpkin muffin fiasco as a "baked good" entry in our County Fair (see last week's post) is perfect this time of year, especially with its cream cheese frosting. The recipe is old. I adapted it from a friend who gave it to me about 50 years ago, and I’m sure it wasn’t new then. They’re delicious, and the only spice in them is cinnamon! Cinnamon goes especially well in dessert recipes. It blends well with other spices, too. But spicing up our coffee and dessert is cinnamon’s recent cup of tea, so to speak. 
    It is derived from the interior bark of a cinnamon tree, also called the kurundu tree, a native of Sri Lanka, a country with an interesting history of its own. From 1815 to 1948, Sri Lanka fell under British rule and was known as Ceylon, a corruption (or Anglicized form) of its ancient name used in the 6th century BCE, Sihalam.. British rule ended in 1948, but the name Ceylon remained until Queen Elizabeth II was no longer its political head. The newly-independent country became Sri Lanka. 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. The word 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 more valuable than gold. By the 16th century, it was the most profitable spice the Dutch East India Company traded (TimesNowNews). Other spices were traded, too, but none could compare economically with cinnamon.
    Traveling and stopping at ports along the Spice Routes also encouraged the 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 Seasonings’ “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 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's 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.
    
    In One Magic Jar by Corey Ann Haydu (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, 2021), Rose Alice Anders is called “Little Luck” by her father, famous for his exceptional magic-collecting ability. When Rose manages to collect only one jar of magic on Collection Day, she falls out of her father’s favor, but learns to distinguish what is real, what is magic, and the importance of friends and family. An author’s note includes information and resources about Domestic Violence.
                       -—Be curious! (and use common scents--like cinnamon)

I’m the same girl and not the same...Folks keep growing from one person into another all their lives, and life is just a lot of everyday adventures. Well, whatever life is, I like it.
                                          from Caddie Woodlawn 
                                   written by Carol Ryrie Brink
                              illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
                                                  Macmillan, [1973]
                           originally published by Macmillan, 1935
                                   Newbery Award Winner, 1936

    Every year since 1846 (except 2020 when it was closed for COVID-19), our county holds its Fair for a long (6-day) Labor Day weekend, and our little city is host.
    While I acknowledge all the people in our USA (including my husband and me) who work hard to produce, serve, and entertain, and even though I'm working and I've asked others to work, too, my focus is on the labor, not the day off.
     Since we live so close to the Fairgrounds, we use our lawn for private parking. Each year, we hire several kids to help. For most of them, it’s their first job.
    But the Fair is not all work and no play for my husband and me. If our very grown-up kids come in with our growing grandchildren, we can get away for a little while to experience the sights, sounds, and smells for ourselves. (Although the barn smells and cooking smells waft over when the wind blows just right!)
    Like all county fairs, ours shows all kinds of farm animals. I could stand in the rooster building all day (if I didn’t have anything else to do) and just listen. A crowing rooster has such a unique sound and a unique message. Wake up! Literally and figuratively is a command I need to hear daily.
    Farm equipment, large and small, is on display. Tractors whose tires stand taller than I do, perform all kinds of work from tilling a field to harvesting it. 
    And produce. A whole building is filled with apples. Corn, hay, and local honey fill another. Pumpkins and gourds are arranged like art. 
    Flowers, photography, and fine art are yours for the viewing.
    But the Fair is interactive, too. You can dress a cow and milk one. You can judge the rooster crowing contest. 
    You can enter handmade anything from brownies and jam to hand-knit afghans and sweaters and freshly carded wool. From ceramics and pottery to quilts, photographs, and fine art. All are judged for ribbons and recognition.
    Dress a gourd in the year’s theme. You could walk away with a ribbon there, too.
    One year, I entered my pumpkin muffins. It was the cream cheese frosting, I realized years later, that disqualified them. It does not hold up very well in 80+ degree weather in a hot building for six days.
    I have a competitive streak and a desire to prove that I can bake, even though some people say I’m not a very good cook. After the pumpkin muffin fiasco, I was determined to do everything correctly and bring home a beautiful blue ribbon. I decided to enter my challah recipe. It’s an egg-based, braided yeast bread that’s served each Sabbath in traditional Jewish homes.
    My recipe book says it’s a prize-winning challah, and with one more week to go, the braid needed more practice than the recipe. But, ribbon or not, I would end up with a freezer full of delicious challah. I’d call that a win!
    On the first day of the Fair, I went by myself to look for that big, blue ribbon sitting on my golden challah that reminds me of my gram’s silver old-lady-braid and my own chestnut young-girl-braid. I did not find that blue ribbon, but I was pretty ecstatic to find a smallish, shimmery, white honorable mention ribbon adorning my loaf.
    You can play games on the midway, too, and bring home a giant stuffie or a live goldfish (or not). You can eat your way from one end of its 353 acres to the other. Anything that can be fried and/or stuck on a stick will probably be for sale.
    Entertainment has included The Lennon Sisters in 1956, and each year since 1968, the Fair has been host to a diversity of acts including Bob Hope, The Monkees, Weird Al, and the Pentatonics. This year, besides the Tractor Pull and the Demolition Derby, Brad Paisley is coming, and so is Lynyrd Skynyrd. If the loudspeakers are aimed correctly and the wind cooperates and I’m standing (or sitting) in the right place, I’ll hear some of it.
    And that’s not even the best part.
    Each year, my husband and I hire several smart, creative, and high-energy teenagers. This year was no different. They mostly reported for work on time, stayed focused, and worked well together. 
    I hope they also learned responsibility, time management, and self-respect. I know they had fun. I did, too!
    I have every confidence that the world will be in good hands when these kids are in charge.
    I hope your Labor Day is the start of a great and productive week!
    No book this week, too busy with grandkids, cars, and the first phase of cleanup, but my next one is One Jar of Magic by Corey Ann Haydu (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2021).

                                 -—Be curious! (and productive)