Singing Larynxes

This view down four singing throats is incredible from both anatomical and musical perspectives. They look like friendly little alien faces, don't they? Cute tune, too.

Paoli Illumination

Want another chance to see me in a ridiculously unflattering costume?

Saturday, Oct 17th, from 7-9pm, is the annual Paoli Battlefield Illumination. There will be continuous guided candlelight tours, going from scene to scene. You'll learn about the Paoli Massacre from first-person interpreters telling the stories of the nighttime battle. 300 luminaries will represent the casualties of this American Revolutionary War battle. $5 per person or $20 for a family of 4 or more.

The Paoli Battlefield is located at First & Wayne Aves, next to the Paoli Memorial Grounds in Malvern.

Reading Roundup

Here are a few more great books I've read lately:

The Thirteenth Tale: Lyrical and involving. I didn't care for the twist at the end but I'm sure others loved it. Not my usual sort of book but really lovely writing.

Under and Alone: True story of an ATF agent who went undercover with the Mongols. In case you're unfamiliar, they are a motorcycle gang that makes the Hell's Angels look like yuppies. A very honest account of how living as a patched-in biker changed him.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: I nearly didn't get this one, due to a review that said it was exactly like the movie (which was good, but not earthshaking). While it's true that the events are the same, the read is a completely different experience. It seems clear that years of research went into the project, but his knowledge leaks out in a hundred tiny ring-of-truth period details. The history illuminates rather than glares. Hansen's writing has a cadence that really brings you into his moment. This book is a freaking time machine. I'm halfway done and already dreading the end - I don't want it to be over. Sample paragraph:

Jesse, on the other hand, was the soul of friendliness and commerce, acknowledging each of Bob's remarks, letting the boy ingratiate himself, rewarding him with trivial tasks that Bob executed with zeal. Then he asked Bob to strike a match as he read the dial of a pocket watch in a gold hunting case, stolen from a judge near Mammoth Cave. The clock instructed him and he retreated into the dark and after some minutes returned with a kerosene lantern and with a burlap grain sack over his arm like a waiter's towel. "You can stick with me, but don't heel. I don't want to bust into you every time I have the notion to change direction."

Bob muttered, "I'm not a moron, for Heaven's sake," but kept his head down - one might have thought his boots had ears.

1491

I just finished reading 1491. Holy cow. If you are at all interested in history, or the interaction of cultures, or human effects on the natural world, you should read this book. It starts off pretty dry, but stick with it. About a third through it hits pure gold (pun intended).

In short, the true story is a world apart from the image we were taught in school. In both North and South America, the populations were denser than previously thought, and built extravagant architectural systems. They had a much more comprehensive agricultural impact than I would have imagined, too. I don't want to give too much away, but the lasting effects of those Amazon farmers are pretty impressive.

And tucked back in Appendix B, I found something that made my Fiber Artist soul sing: The Inkas (Incas) left behind knotted strings called khipu. For a long time they were considered a sort of abacus, but second look has revealed them to be a form of written record! They used fiber (cotton or alpaca), color coding, and different types of S and Z plying to transmit data. William Conklin says "90 percent of the information was put into the string before the knot was made." Then there's the knot itself, tied going either up or down the string, and the type of knot... wow. They are still working on the translations. I think it's going to take a while. :)

What have I been up to?

Well... Working, a LOT. I get home about 7:30 most nights and my newsletters seem to be a huge hit. Which is awesome. And reading. About elephants, and more elephants*, and various British monarchs of yore, and fairy tales, and ...

We've been hitting art museums, and I'm finding myself discovering new favorites and swooning in front of masterpieces I've seen a hundred times in books and on TV. I know it's been said ad nauseum but they are so different in person.

I've been antiquing with Matt, where we found a great bunny print that's an old Purina Rabbit Chow ad. He found an old glass bottle. I discovered a silver artist I like.

The cats and kids are doing well. Mom has had a rough time. She's dealing with missing Dad, getting laid off, and her dog's cancer. Send her some love, please.

Oh! Matt ordered me a WooLee Winder! Here's my rave on Ravelry. So yes, I've been spinning, too. The "misty forest" colorway I did with Rachel last month came out a lovely soft grey.

* Elephants are incredibly smart, social, and playful. There are two sanctuaries for them in the US where they simply get to be elephants. I've talked about this issue before here. Poor depressed & anxious Bamboo is still at the Woodland Park Zoo, despite the Tennessee sanctuary's offer to take her on their dime.

Aw, crap.

Our January isn't over. Gromit required new sparkplugs, ignition wires, and ignition coil. Total cost: $1100-some. Sigh.

Here's a little video to keep you from being too blue.

Bush-Whacked

Here's an article that everyone should read in light of the inauguration. And yet more reasons why elephants are ultra-cool. As if you needed more! Someday I'll have one of those in my office. Um, a painting, not a pachyderm.

Knitters are mathy, too! Three pages of sciencey goodness.

Amazing stuff!

I've been too busy to blog, but I promise some catch-up posts soon. In the meantime, here are some wonderful things to see and do and be scared of.

My new favorite blog to read: Woolgathering.

A Night at the Theatre

I've been remiss on not blogging about Poe Evermore at the Mount Hope Winery. You go from room to room and see a different Poe story enacted or poem read at each stage. It was our second year and we loved it!

Last night Andy took me out to Iron Age's production of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. They had an interesting approach with the characters - Most of the actors played multiple parts to emphasize the multiplicity of the mind. The acting was great, the staging spectacular... all and all very impressive for a tiny community theatre. Andy's friend Steve McLean did the majority of the Hyde heavy lifting.

When you need a good laugh...

Try the Cake Wrecks (professionally made errors and artistic disasters, and also some spectacular gorgeous edible sculptures) or Fail blogs. Nothing cheers you up like laughing at someone else's colossal mistake, no? This video made me cry from laughing.

Rockin' Tunes

Matt and I were hanging out tonight, doing our usual movie while surfing / knitting thing. He stopped the Scrubs DVD to play some iTunes music for me: Halloween Classics (Naxos Rights International) is a collection of terrific classical tunes by all the big Philharmonics. When "Hall of the Mountain King" played, I was reminded of a recent "Mad Men" episode and asked Matt to find me an all-piano version. We stumbled across The Brian Setzer's Orchestra album, Wolfgang's Big Night Out. This entire set just blew my socks off... it's like hearing the Glenn Miller Band, reincarnated and shakin' up the joint. Sheer beauty.

Note: I can't find the Halloween CD online but obviously it's on iTunes... go digging!

Walking Amongst the Dead

Then Nae's tour continued on to Laurel Hill cemetery. You know those photos of old gravesites with ornate sculptures of angels and animals? A lot of them come from here. I'm not happy with most of the pics I took, but here are a few, including a shot of our lovely hostess.

An interesting headstone caught my attention as we drove around one corner... the name on it was "Adrianne Balboa." I wonder if that's where her name came from?

Bartram's Garden

Our friend Nae, a great source for local historical sites, took us to see America's oldest botanical garden. John Bartram collected plants from all over the world and built a fantastic horticultural experience. The flora here was so different from that of Europe that he and friend Linnaeus had to build a new cataloging system (remember him from Bio class?). Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin all hung out here and took tea.

Much of it is overgrown, but the parts still intact are beautiful. The architecture is pretty cool, too.

Summer Reading

With all my patients "down the shore" as they say here, I've had plenty of time to catch up on my reading. I seem to be focusing between 1750 and 1900, but it's not intentional. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

1776: Historical documentary of this critical year. Also mentioned here.

Slammerkin: A slammerkin was a loose dress: It was also slang for a loose woman. An 18th century London girl turns to prostitution. Not for the naive, unless they're willing to be educated. An appreciation for fashion "threads" through the story.

Widow of the South: I picked this up from the Trade-A-Book pile at work when I had two minutes to kill. I was immediately sucked into the story and had to borrow it. Beautifully written!

Must See Videos

We interrupt this blog to bring you two videos by Basement Jaxx, a London band with some seriously genius visual taste (or access to them).

A Delaware discovery

Today Matt & I went cruising around randomly and stumbled upon the Hagley in Wilmington, DE. This is where the DuPont family first built their gunpowder factory in 1802. Inside is a collection of highly detailed dioramas, with real gears and water pushing stuff around. The second floor is a beautiful display of wartime factory posters. The top story discusses DuPont's evolution into a chemical firm.I'm sure when active it was a noisy, filthy, hellish place, but now it's a lush green park with a fascinating history. Right along the Brandywine River (their power source) are the ruins of the old buildings and demonstrations of the simple machines used there. The workshop is still active, complete with drive line across the ceiling. They make gunpowder daily and test it (we happened to catch the test - it was a good batch!).

Overall: Highly recommended!

Unfortunately we both forgot our cameras, so these are from Matt's iPhone. I guess we'll just have to go back! Lots more pics here.

10,000 Reasons Not to See a Movie

I have some advice for everyone: DO NOT SEE 10,000 BC.

Um… it was bad enough that the bad guys had metal technology and domesticated horses… there was a sabertooth cat with about a 4’ long skull… then they walked from Siberia across China to the Middle East and Egypt in a few days. Pyramids being built 5,000 years too early - by MAMMOTHS?? Oh, and a telescope, which was invented in the 17th century. Nice.

The plot and characters failed to interest me, too. Don’t bother. Really. Not even worth a rental.

Tyrannosaurus sex

A discussion on Ravelry about knitting anatomically correct animals led to a post offering these two fascinating articles on dino-sex. I must say, though, that the comments are just as amusing. People are so stupid! :)

Mercer Museum

Today we went to the Mercer Museum, a huge concrete castle filled with 40,000 tools and artifacts from American life early last century. Room after room after room, each with a theme. Some of my favorites: The collection of spinning wheels, swifts, looms, and other fiber acutrements. The medical stuff. The accessories exhibit, including those little overshoes for bad weather. See the space for the heels of her shoe? So cute. Girlie was entranced by the navigational equipment. Matt liked the cast iron fence posts. Somehow we wound up on the roof.

Our next hobby

Today we visited Scranton's Trolley and Steamtown railroad museums. We've always really liked model trains, but today we found out about "live steam" engines. These aren't electric - they have actual scaled-down steam engines. How amazing is that? You can literally look into the firebox in that pic. The detail on these trains was staggering. Weathered and painted with excruciating care, the more powerful ones pulled long strings of boxcars with ease, puffing and clattering along just like the big guys. As I explained to the guys there, we've been doing "full scale" hobbies with the cars, but I know our future holds mini-railroading. It was so cute to see them shoveling coal into the fireboxes with tiny scoops. It's a great combination of aesthetic crafting and engineering science. Check out the speed in this video I took: Notice the wood- and coal-laden engines in the foreground.

It won't be this year... we're gonna hafta be rich. Ridiculously rich. These things get complex!

Oh yeah... the big trains were cool too. :)