Dinner Plate

In 1793 Thomas Minton established a pottery factory in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. He produced primarily domestic tableware. His most popular pattern was the blue and white transferware called Blue Willow. There is a fable that goes with the pattern. It tells of a wealthy Mandarin with a beautiful young daughter. He had betrothed his daughter to a powerful duke, but she had fallen in love with her father’s clerk. The day she was to marry the duke, the daughter and the clerk eloped with the duke’s dowry. The angry duke pursued them and burned the house where they were hiding. The gods felt sorry for the doomed couple and turned them into a pair of doves. There’s plenty of evidence that Thomas Minton fabricated this tale to sell more pottery. So what’s the moral? Never let the facts get in the way of a really good story.

Crow's Feet

Aesop told a tale of a crow who’d flown far on a hot summer day and was looking for a drink. There wasn’t a lake or stream in sight but he happened upon a tall water pitcher. He could see the clear, fresh water in the bottom of the pitcher, but when he stuck his head inside to drink he couldn’t reach it. The crow tried to tip the pitcher over, but it was too heavy. He thought for a moment or two, then he picked up a pebble and dropped it into the pitcher. The crow dropped in another pebble and another and another until the water was finally high enough for him to drink. I’ve never seen a crow do anything this clever. But there is a crow who regularly eats take-out chicken in the cedar tree in my garden. About once a week he carries his lunch here from the K.F.C. in Starbeck.

Birds and Kites

Disney’s Mary Poppins was released on this day in 1964. I don’t believe I saw this in the theater. If I did, I don’t remember it. I do remember owning a vinyl copy of the soundtrack which I played over and over, singing along with the songs. The record sleeve was white with Julie Andrews’ and Dick Van Dyke’s disembodied heads under the title. I don’t know why I have such clear memories of things like that. I must have spent the first eight years of my life just staring at stuff. One of my favorite songs was I Love to Laugh. I was convinced if I laughed loud and hard enough, I’d float right up to the ceiling just like Uncle Albert. I was never able to prove the theory, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Today’s block is a traditional pattern, chosen for two other Mary Poppins songs: Feed the Birds and Let’s Go Fly a Kite.

Volcanoes of Bandung

When I was in my early teens my class read William Pene du Bois’ book, The Twenty-One Balloons. I was hooked by the very first chapter, which described balloon flight: “A wonderful way to travel, particularly if you want to travel from your home to school. You get up early in the morning with your school books, climb into the basket, look in the direction of the schoolhouse, untie the ropes and fly off. On your way many delightful things can happen, such as a) the wind will be calm and you’ll never get to school; b) the wind will blow in the wrong direction and take you 50 miles away from the school, and c) you might decide to play hookey, just once, and nobody can bother you in a balloon.” The end of the book involves the island of Krakatoa in Java, which disappeared in a volcanic explosion on this day in 1883. You knew I'd get around to volcanoes eventually, right?

Women's Suffrage

Every American who was alive and spending money in the 1980's knows Susan B. Anthony as the stern face on dollar coins that looked like quarters. I hope most of you also know she was a strong supporter of equal rights for women. When she was born, married women in the United States had no legal rights. They couldn’t own property. Anything they might earn was turned over to their husbands. Their children could be taken from them and even willed to a third party. If their husbands cheated, drank, beat or abandoned them, they had no protection. Worse, they couldn’t vote for representatives who would write laws in their favor, and they couldn’t run for office themselves. On this day in 1920, because of the efforts of Susan B. Anthony and others like her, all that changed. What most people don’t know is she was also an accomplished quilter. At least three of her surviving quilts are museum pieces.

Swamp Angel

Swamp Angel was a 1994 Caldecott Honor book by Anne Isaacs and Paul O. Zelinsky. It’s a delightful tall tale about a giantess from the Great Smoky Mountains. As a newborn, she was “scarcely taller than her mother and couldn’t climb a tree without help.” Swamp Angel is also a poem by Herman Melville. I stumbled upon it in my high school library and thought it described some evil spirit. “He dwells (like the hunted and harried) in a swamp where the green frogs dip. But his face is against a city which is over a bay of the sea. And he breathes with a breath that is blastment, and dooms by a far decree.” It was years before I discovered the poem was about a cannon that shelled Charleston at the end of the Civil War. This block pattern is also from the Civil War era, so it’s more likely to be named for the cannon than the heroine. What a pity.

Old Italian

On this day in the year 79 A.D., Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried Herculaneum and Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice. In the late 1800's, when Pompeii was excavated, pockets were found in the ash containing bones. One of the archeologists realized the pockets would retain the forms of the people who had been buried there, and devised a way to inject plaster into them to see the shapes of Vesuvius’ victims. No human remains were found in Herculaneum, so for a long time it was thought that the city had been evacuated. But in 1982, when the excavations reached the stone boathouses facing the sea, roughly 300 remains were found. They were huddled in what must have seemed like relative safety, waiting to escape by boat. It sounds ghoulish, but stories like this have always fascinated me. I think I might have liked to be an archeologist, or perhaps a forensic pathologist.

Summer Wind

August 23 is Ride the Wind Day. If hang gliding or parachuting isn’t your idea of fun, you might try a sailboat. You could even build and fly a kite or paper plane. In honor of the day, here is a sonnet called High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Century of Progress

Today is the 234th day of 2011, and this is the 200th block I’ve posted. Keeping my New Year’s resolution to piece and post a different block six days each week hasn’t been much of a burden. I’ve sort of worked it into my daily routine. At some point during the day - usually mornings - I set up my sewing machine on the dining room table and spend an hour or so making tomorrow’s block. I use scraps most of the time, but somehow my scrap bag isn’t diminishing. Then I tape the block to my kitchen wall, take a picture and transfer it to my laptop. Early next morning I write about 150 words about whatever is on my mind, and I post it between doing the breakfast dishes and loading the washing machine. There are only 131 days left in the year, so I’ve got about a hundred more blocks to go.

Battlefield

On this day in 1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declared an end to the American Civil War. I decided a week ago to post a Battlefield block today and write a few words about the war. I’m finding it harder than I’d expected. When my siblings and I were young our parents took us to visit several places where Civil War battles were fought. I studied the war in school. For years I helped fifth graders struggle with names, dates and the difficult concepts surrounding this period in history. My problem isn’t that I have too few words to write about it; I have too many. I want this to be primarily a spot for positive, uplifting thoughts. But it’s hard to be upbeat about one of America’s bloodiest conflicts. I’ll say this: I’m glad the war ended and the Union was preserved. And I hope and pray that someday we all “ain’t gonna study war no more.”

Airplane

National Aviation Day was established in 1939 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It’s a day to celebrate the development of aviation and space flight, though I seriously doubt they had space on their minds in the late 30's. Roosevelt could have chosen December 17 for National Aviation Day; the day the first practical manned fixed-wing aircraft made a sustained flight near Kitty Hawk North Carolina. He might have picked May 21, the day Charles Lindbergh became the first to complete a transatlantic flight in a heavier-than-air craft. But he settled on August 19, the day that Orville Wright was born. Orville was 68 in 1939. His brother Wilbur might have been miffed at being overlooked, had he not died nearly thirty years before. Replicas of two gliders and a kite the Wright brothers built hang in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, alongside their actual 1903 flying machine.

August

August is National Picnic Month, a great time for dining al fresco. Pack up a few sandwiches, your favorite salad, some lemonade and a chocolate cake. Pick a shady spot and spread a big old quilt on the grass.

Salade Nicoise

1 head iceberg lettuce, torn
1 head Romaine, torn
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
6 small Roma tomatoes, quartered
6 hard boiled eggs, quartered
1 can sliced black olives
1 bunch scallions, chopped
12 fingerling potatoes, boiled, cooled and quartered
1 large can solid white albacore, drained
Thin green beans, blanched and cooled
1 can anchovies (optional)

Fill a wide bowl with all ingredients in the order shown. (If you place the anchovies on top, your guests can decide whether to take them or not.) Serve with a fresh vinaigrette or classic French dressing. Makes 8 to 12 side salad servings.

Road to Berlin

Construction on the Berlin Wall was started fifty years ago this week. Its purpose was to discourage defection from East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc. I wonder what life must have been like for the people of Berlin. I can’t picture any city I’ve lived in with a guarded concrete barrier running through it. As you might imagine, people who used to visit the market or the cinema on the other side were suddenly unable to do so. Families were separated. I watched on television in 1987 when President Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” I watched again two years later as people dismantled the wall with hammers and chisels. I’ve never actually visited Berlin. I’ve been to Frankfurt, Cologne, Heidelberg and Warnemunde, and found them thoroughly enchanting. If I ever do get the chance to visit, I think I’d like to see the place where the wall once stood.

Gemini

Castor and Pollux were twin brothers with different fathers - a pretty good trick, even for the Greek Pantheon. Castor’s dad was king of Sparta. Pollux was a son of Zeus. So Castor was mortal and Pollux was not. Zeus had seduced their mother, Leda, in the form of a swan. So it makes a bit of sense that the boys hatched from an egg. According to myth, the twin brothers got along well with each other, but not with their cousins. At one point, they were so busy feuding with their cousins that they left their sister, Helen of Troy, alone with Paris and inadvertently started the Trojan War. Castor was fatally wounded in battle. Unwilling to live forever without his brother, Pollux gave half his immortality to his twin. Thereafter the brothers spent half their time in Hades and half on Olympus. There are worse things, I suppose, than splitting your time between heaven and hell.

Engagement Party

I think most girls fantasize about meeting the man of their dreams, falling in love and getting married. I know I did. I used to try to imagine how my handsome prince would propose to me. We’d have dinner at a nice restaurant, and a tiny velvet package would come with the dessert. We’d be hiking in the canyon, stop to admire the view, and suddenly he’d be on one knee. Real life very seldom resembles fantasy. We were both in Salt Lake for October general conference. The afternoon session was over, and we decided to visit Liberty Park. We were driving there when he asked me to reach into the glove compartment. In a small box on top of the owner’s manual and car registration was a ring with a heart-shaped diamond. It may not have been the proposal I’d always dreamed of, but I did get the handsome prince right.

Left and Right

The world is designed for right-handed people. You probably know lefties need special scissors, but did you know knives are right-handed? So are pencil sharpeners, wristwatches, fishing reels, can openers, cameras and sewing machines. Even the computer mouse you’re using right now was probably designed to fit your right hand. Roughly ten percent of the human population is left handed. My sister is one of them. When she was a toddler it was obvious that she preferred using her left hand. Daddy thought he could at least teach her to use a spoon with her right. Eventually all his hard work paid off. She would pick up food with her left hand, deposit it in the spoon in her right hand, move the spoon to her mouth and use her left hand to shovel the food in. August 13 is Left-handers Day, a day to celebrate great lefties like da Vinci, Tolstoy, Reagan, Beethoven and my sister.

Hawaiian Star

Hawaii became a state August 21, 1959, but it was annexed to the US on August 12, 1898. Only four states were independent before they became part of the United States. Vermont, California and Texas were each republics. But Hawaii was a sovereign kingdom until the monarchy was overthrown by American and European sugar and pineapple barons in 1893. Queen Liliuokalani abdicated her throne and was imprisoned in an upstairs bedroom in Iolani Palace, the only royal palace on American soil. During her imprisonment, she wrote the simple and poignant song, Aloha Oe. She and her only companion, Mrs. Evelyn Wilson, constructed an amazing crazy quilt before being released in 1896. The quilt is currently on display in the palace. I’ve always wanted to travel to Hawaii. If I ever make it there, I meant to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and the Iolani Palace to see that quilt.

Washington Star

Today is Presidential Joke Day. I don’t have a good joke about President Obama at my fingertips (though I’d love to hear yours if you have one). So I’ll just share a golden oldie: Four former United States Presidents are picked up by a tornado and whisked off to the land of Oz. They follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to see the wizard, who asks them what they want.
Carter says timidly: “I need some courage.”
“No Problem,” says the wizard. “Who’s next?”
Nixon steps forward, “I'm told I need a heart.”
“Done,” says the wizard. “Anything else?”
Bush replies: “I guess I need a brain.”
“Granted,” says the wizard.
Then there is silence in the great hall. Clinton is standing there, looking around,
but doesn’t say a word. Finally the wizard asks, “Well, what do you want?”
“Um, is Dorothy Here?”

Going to Chicago

The City of Chicago was incorporated August 10, 1833. At the time it was home to only 350 people. But already the village was noisy and overcrowded. They were hemmed in on all sides by three Native American tribes: the Chippewa, the Ottawa and the Potawatomi. The Indians had been granted the land by a previous treaty, but a new treaty was drawn up moving them farther west and allowing Chicago to expand. The only parts of Chicago I’ve ever seen are O’Hare International Airport and the Greyhound bus terminal. I wasn’t very fond of either place. But I’d be willing to make another trip, if the circumstances were right. I’ve always wanted to tour what’s left of Route 66. I’d like to fly to Chicago, rent a car there, and spend a few weeks following the “Mother Road” to Los Angeles. Now, doesn’t that sound like fun?

Lover's Knot

Today is Book Lover’s Day. It’s a terrific day to curl up with a good book. Every day is a terrific day to curl up with a good book. In honor of the day, here are a baker’s dozen of my favorite children’s picture books:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? - Bill Martin and Eric Carle
Caps for Sale - Esphyr Slobodkina
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
Harold and the Purple Crayon - Crockett Johnson
Jumanji - Chris Van Allsburg
No, David! - David Shannon
Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
Strega Nona - Tomie dePaola
Tuesday - David Weisner
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael and Helen Oxenbury
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

Find a child and read one of these books (or one of your own favorites) together. Who knows? You might help to create another book lover!

Framed Friendship Star

Today is Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. No, I’m not kidding, and I didn’t make it up. If you’re a victim of the festivities, you can make zucchini bread, or you can try this recipe:

Linda’s Famous Ratatouille

1 small eggplant (Japanese or regular)
1 thin zucchini
2 cups mushrooms
1 bell pepper
1 onion (Scallions or shallots are okay, too)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bottle Paul Newman’s Sockarooni sauce (or Ragu and medium salsa)
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Cut the vegetables into large bite-size pieces. Heat oil in frying pan or wok. Add garlic and stir a moment before adding vegetables. Over medium-high heat, stir vegetables until colors brighten and they become tender-crisp. Turn off heat. Pour in Sockarooni sauce and toss. Transfer to casserole dish and top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Serve immediately with a fresh baguette.

Farmer's Daughter

Today is Chinese Valentine’s Day. It’s also called the Festival of the Seven Daughters. Once upon a time, the queen of heaven had seven beautiful daughters. One hot summer day they were visiting the earth and came across a crystal clear river. The water looked so refreshing, they decided to bathe. A handsome young cow herder discovered their clothes lying beside the water. He hid the robes and waited to see what would happen next. The youngest sister was elected to find their clothes. She stepped out of the water and met the cow herder. It was love at first sight, and they were quickly married. Unwilling to part with her youngest daughter, the queen of heaven allows her to visit her husband only once a year; on the seventh day of the seventh month. Next year their visit will fall on August 23, in case you want to buy a card or something.

Crazy Ann

On this day in 1924 Little Orphan Annie made her debut in the New York Daily News. Yes, long before she was an annoying redhead on Broadway belting out, “The sun will come out tomorrow,” Annie was an inoffensive little cartoon in the Sunday funnies. She hung out with her rich pal Daddy Warbucks, the mysterious Punjab, and her dog Sandy who only said, “Arf.” They all had creepy, empty eyes, which somehow didn’t hurt their popularity. For years Little Orphan Annie was America’s most beloved comic strip. Tastes change, I suppose. Annie’s readers steadily declined until she was finally cancelled in June last year. The name of the strip came from a much older poem, “Little Orphant Annie,” by James Whitcomb Riley. For some bizarre reason I memorized this when I was very small. The last stanza still makes me shiver: “and the goblins will get you if you don’t...watch...out.”

Crossed Canoes

On August 4, 1790, Congress created the Revenue Cutter Service. Ten cutters were built to enforce the growing nation’s tariff laws. Eventually those ten ships and their crews grew to become the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard’s mission is part law enforcement, part coastal defense, and part search and rescue. They report to the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime matters and to the U.S. Navy during war. The Coast Guard is a massive fleet of coastal and sea-going ships. They’re still called cutters, though they bear little resemblance to the 1790 fleet. They also maintain helicopters and fixed-wing craft. All of the lighthouses in the United States are run by the U.S. Coast Guard. How cool is that? Anyway, today is United States Coast Guard Day, a day you probably don’t celebrate unless you’re actually a member of the Coast Guard. But maybe you should. August could definitely use more holidays.

Watermelon Sorbet

Watermelon Sorbet

11/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water
6-7 cups fresh watermelon chunks
3 tbsp. fresh lime juice

In a saucepan bring sugar and water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is completely dissolved. Place in a bowl and cool completely. Put watermelon chunks and lime juice into a blender. Process until fruit is completely pureed. Press watermelon through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds and any extra stringy pulp. Combine with the cooled sugar syrup. Chill in refrigerator for at least an hour. Pour the watermelon/sugar syrup mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and freeze, following manufacturer’s directions. Sorbet should take roughly half an hour to set to a soft texture. Serve immediately, or store it in an airtight container in the freezer for an hour or two until it’s completely firm.

Dakota Gold

Today is the 135th anniversary of the death of Wild Bill Hickok. A stagecoach driver, sheriff,  sharp shooter, scout, professional gambler and even a stage actor, Hickok was the epitome of the Old West. He disliked sitting with his back to the door. August 2nd 1876,  when he walked into a saloon in Deadwood South Dakota, the only available seat at the poker table was facing away from the entrance. He asked other players to trade seats with him but was refused. At some point during the game, a buffalo hunter named John McCall entered the room and shot Hickok in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Wild Bill was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, known as a “dead man’s hand.” I’m familiar with the story because I hear it every time my husband takes me out to dinner and I leave him the seat facing away from the door.

Scirocco

Today is the first day of Ramadan. As I understand it, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a month of fasting; a time to develop patience, humility and understanding. I ran across this tidbit many years ago, when I was a teenager haunting the library shelves. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could fast for an entire month and still live. To me, fasting meant going without food or drink. It was an enormous struggle once a month to go from lunch on Saturday to lunch on Sunday without eating or drinking something. I was fairly certain I’d shrivel up and blow away if I tried it for much longer than that. But the Muslims don’t fast in exactly the same way Mormons do. They go without eating or drinking from sunup to sundown. After the sun sets, I suppose, anything goes.