Gunsmoke and Knitting

What am I celebrating today?

April 22, 2015

Today is National Jelly Bean Day.

Here are some facts about jelly beans from Jelly Belly:

1. It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jelly bean.

2. Very Cherry flavored jelly beans have been the most popular flavor since 2003. Before that Buttered Popcorn was the top spot since 1998.

3. Enough jelly beans were eaten in the last year to circle the earth more than five times.

4. The first jelly bean was created by an unknown American candy maker in the 1800s.

5. The original eight flavors of Jelly Belly beans were Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape.

6. Blueberry flavored beans were made for Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration. Over three tons of jelly beans were eaten during the celebration.

7. During the Civil War, advertisements were made recommending people send soldiers jelly beans.

8. Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in space when they were sent on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.

9. 288,000 Jelly Belly beans of 47 different flavors were donated to make “In Your Arms” by Kina Grannis, the first jelly bean stop-motion animation music video. The video was released in November 2011.

What are your favorite types of jelly beans?

There are 50 official Jelly Belly flavors – and they are

A&W Cream Soda
A&W Root Beer
Berry Blue
Blueberry
Bubble Gum
Buttered Popcorn
Cantaloupe
Cappuccino
Caramel Corn
Chili Mango
Chocolate Pudding
Cinnamon
Coconut
Cotton Candy
Crushed Pineapple
Dr Pepper
French Vanilla
Green Apple
Island Punch
Juicy Pear
Kiwi
Lemon Drop
Lemon Lime
Licorice
Mango
Margarita
Mixed Berry Smoothie
Orange Sherbet
Peach
Piña Colada
Plum
Pomegranate
Raspberry
Red Apple
Sizzling Cinnamon
Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Daiquiri
Strawberry Jam
Sour Cherry
Sunkist Lemon
Sunkist Lime
Sunkist Orange
Sunkist Pink Grapefruit
Sunkist Tangerine
Toasted Marshmallow
Top Banana
Tutti-Fruitti
Very Cherry
Watermelon
Wild Blackberry

Here’s a little video on how they are made . . .

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cooking, entertainment, food, jelly beans, jelly belly, National Jelly Bean Day, whimsey | 2 Comments »

Sunday was Daffodil Sunday at Lakeview Cemetery. This historic cemetery, founded in 1869, encompasses over 285 acres and is the final resting place of people such as John D. Rockefeller and President James Garfield.

Every spring over 100,000 bulbs on Daffodil Hill bloom in great profusion. Last Sunday was probably the peak of the blooming season.

People and cameras also were blooming on the hillside and it was difficult to take a photo without also capturing people enjoying the view.

Did you know there is a Daffodil Society?

Do you know the difference between daffodils and narcissus? There isn’t any according to the Flower Expert. Both are members of the genus Narcissus.

Did you know daffodils have their own poem, written by William Wordsworth?

They also lend themselves to lovely tattoos:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, daffodil, design, history, Lakeview Cemetery, narcissus, style, tattoo Tuesday, tattoos, whimsey | 4 Comments »

Why am I saying, “road trip!”?

April 20, 2015

London to New York City by car?

It could happen if the head of Russian Railways has his way.

According to a March 23 report in The Siberian Times, Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin has proposed a plan for a massive trans-Siberian highway that would link his country’s eastern border with the U.S. state of Alaska, crossing a narrow stretch of the Bering Sea that separates Asia and North America.

The scheme was unveiled at a meeting of the Moscow-based Russian Academy of Science.

Dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR), the project calls for a major roadway to be constructed alongside the existing Trans-Siberian Railway, along with a new train network and oil and gas pipelines.

“This is an inter-state, inter-civilization, project,” the Siberian Times quoted Yakunin. “The project should be turned into a world ‘future zone,’ and it must be based on leading, not catching, technologies.”

“Are we there yet?”

The road would run across the entirety of Russia, linking with existing road systems in Western Europe and Asia.

The distance between Russia’s western and eastern borders is roughly 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles).

Yakunin said the road would connect Russia with North America via Russia’s far eastern Chukotka region, across the Bering Strait and into Alaska’s Seward Peninsula.

The road would likely enter Alaska some distance north of the town of Nome, where the famed Iditarod sled dog race ends.

How would drivers span the ocean gap between Siberia and Alaska? Ferry? Tunnel? Bridges?

The report didn’t offer specifics on the route across the sea.

The shortest distance between mainland Russia and mainland Alaska is approximately 88 kilometers (55 miles), according to the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers.

The main route of the Trans-Siberian railway runs from Moscow to Vladivostok and covers 9,258 kilometers.

A theoretical drive (as fancifully calculated by CNN) from London to Alaska via Moscow might cover about 12,978 kilometers (8,064 miles).

Relatively isolated even by Alaska standards, no road connects Nome with the rest of the state’s road system.

About 836 road-less kilometers (520 miles) across desolate terrain separates Nome from the closest major city and road network in Fairbanks, the unofficial northern terminus of the Alaska Highway.

From Fairbanks, Canada and the 48 contiguous U.S. states can be reached by road.

Assuming a road to Nome were ever built (the idea has been studied by the state of Alaska), a fantasy road trip from London to New York might cover a grueling but presumably photo-op-laden 20,777 kilometers (12,910 miles).

Facebook posts from forlorn Siberian rest stops might alone make the trip worthwhile, though the journey would also easily establish irritating new records for “Are we there yet?” gripes from the kids.

Who’s gonna pay for this thing?

Yakunin has been described as a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Some sources have speculated that he could be Putin’s likely successor as president.

TEPR would reportedly cost “trillions of dollars.”

According to Yakunin, however, massive economic returns would more than make up for the massive cash outlay — about which the report also included no details.

Story, map and photos from CNN

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alaska, Russia, Trans-Siberian Railway, transportation, travel | 2 Comments »

How do I celebrate the opening of the baseball season?

April 17, 2015

With Genki Sudo and World Order on Spoon and Tamago.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged baseball, entertainment, Genki Sudo, whimsey | 4 Comments »

What am I sappy porcupine blogging?

April 10, 2015

Lancelot , a North American Porcupine, is a recent addition to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s live animal program. He is round and cute, but hardly cuddly. And he drives a car!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Friday, nature, porcupine, sappy cat blogging | Leave a Comment »

Where was I last weekend?

April 7, 2015

The wonderful Loganberry Book Store held their annual Edible Books Festival on Saturday, April 4, where edible portrayals of real books were displayed, voted on, and consumed.

Here are some of the entries:

Call of the Wild – or perhaps Cauliflower of the Wild

Harry Butter and the Sorcerer’s Scone

Annika’s Secret Wish portrayed with a delicious rice pudding as told in the story.

The Tell-Tale Heart

(That is a matzoh Haggadah in the background – how appropriate for the season)

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

With strawberry owls sitting on chocolate rice krispie nests.

Entry consumption began at 2 pm and was completed by about 2:15!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, baking, books, cooking, Edible Book Festival, Loganberry Books, whimsey | Leave a Comment »

What am I sappy cat blogging?

April 4, 2015

This is Hobbes, backlit by early morning light.

It looks as if he has grabbed the brass ring.

Hobbes is one of the three super models I am privileged to live with.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, cats, Friday, Hobbes, nature, sappy cat blogging, whimsey | 2 Comments »

What am I noting on tattoo Tuesday?

March 31, 2015

The Eiffel Tower opened 126 years ago today.

Have I mentioned that the Tower is one of my Favorite buildings?

This photo is from my recent trip to Las Vegas. We stayed at Paris Las Vegas. The tower in this photo is half the size of the original.

Here is a nice story about Eiffel Tower history in the Christian Science Monitor.

It was also featured today on the Google search banner.

It is not a surprise that this beautiful, iconic image is also popular as a tattoo design:

Paris is always a good idea.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, Eiffel Tower, history, style, tattoo Tuesday, tattoos, transportation, whimsey | Leave a Comment »

What am I chewing on today?

March 30, 2015

Today is National Pencil Day.

I love colored pencils. They are my favorite drawing tool. Jennifer Maestre takes the medium in an entirely different direction, however, with her amazing and fanciful sculptures created from colored pencils.

From nationalcalendarday.com:

Each year, March 30th is National Pencil Day. Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil on this day in 1858.

The majority of pencils made in the United States are painted yellow. It is believed that this tradition began in 1890 when the L & C Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary introduced their Koh-I-Noor brand, named after the famous diamond. This pencil was intended to be the world’s best and most expensive pencil. Other companies then began to copy the yellow color so that their pencils would be associated with the high quality brand.

Notable pencil users (Wikipedia)

Thomas Edison had his pencils specially made by Eagle Pencil. Each pencil was three inches long, was thicker than standard pencils and had softer graphite than was normally available.
Vladimir Nabokov rewrote everything he had ever published, usually several times, by pencil.
John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and is said to have used as many as 60 a day. His novel East of Eden took more than 300 pencils to write.
Vincent van Gogh used only Faber pencils as they were “superior to Carpenters pencils, a capital black and most agreeable”.
Johnny Carson regularly played with pencils at his Tonight Show desk. These pencils were specially made with erasers at both ends to avoid on-set accidents.
Roald Dahl used only pencils with yellow casing to write his books. He had 6 sharpened pencils ready at the beginning of each day and only when all 6 pencils became unusable did he resharpen them.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, colored pencils, history, Jennifer Maestre, national pencil day | 2 Comments »