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First seen on the Solstice.  From us at all our blogs, especially Dr. E's Greening Tips . . Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Peace and Health in 2021.

                   ...

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Top Gifts that are Reasonable and Fun for 2020; No Fuss, No Muss, Just Warm Christmas Spirit

 

Top Gifts that are Reasonable and Fun for 2020; No Fuss, No Muss, Just Warm

Christmas Spirit

 

 

We are only at the first of the month, no need to panic, but many of us have a lot of Santa work to do.  Covid 19 notwithstanding, we still have friends to mail things to, coworkers, others we just want to remember.  Here are some top ideas.

 

1. Hand sanitizer; many come in fancy little bottles done up for the holidays.  Nordstrom Rack had some cute ones, but Dollar Tree also has neat ones’ for your purse or pocket.  Put them in a cup with some candy, or a tiny stocking.  They are a thoughtful, healthful gift and a good stocking stuffer.  I used to get one from my coworkers fairly often, usually gingerbread scented from Walgreens.  I really appreciated it.
2. A box of Christmas cards for those too busy and stressed to by their own.  This happened to me one year, and my dear friend Kathy Borowski, now in Heaven, brought me a lovely box of cards as my gift.  She knew I wanted to send cards to everyone at work especially, but with my mom sick, repeated ice storms, and tons of work to take home, she knew I couldn’t get out.
3. Christmas ornaments, vintage, homemade, quirky, Hallmark, or elaborate, make nice gifts for those who celebrate.  There are also small menorahs and Hanukkah gelt [chocolate coins in gold foil], Hanukkah gnomes, trolls, and dreidls.  For Kwanzaa, there are angels and Kwanzaa gift giver figures, and also art shaped like gourds for the harvest.  Marilyn Scott-Watters, The Toy Maker, has great printable ideas, free to print and make, easy to do, for all these Holidays at the toymaker.com.
4. The obvious; Face Masks!  Get a packet of disposable ones as stocking stuffers, or fancier versions you can get anywhere in Hobby Lobby, or department stores.  I picked up a cutie with kitten Santas yesterday at Home Goods.
5. Hand warmers; you can get them at drug stores or grocery store, two to a pack, or around $10.00 for a pack of maybe 8.  I saw them at Bass Pro Shops, too.  Add a pair of dollar store gloves, or texting gloves from your favorite department store.
6. If you have artists and crafters on your list, pick up some skeins of gloss, yarn, extra paint, brushes, sketch books, you get it.  If you know your loved one is working on a particular project, ask what s/he needs to finish and contribute.  Ditto gardeners; you can always find rakes, baskets, gloves, garden clogs, hats, and even seeds and cuttings online at places like Logee’s.
7. Ear Buds; for those plugged in , you can never have enough.  They even sell them at the dollar section at Target.
8. Collectibles; see who on your list is a collector.  Museum shops have tiny rocks and minerals, or kits for them.  Hobby Lobby has supplies for stamp and coin collectors, as well as model builders.  There are great places for buying dolls on Etsy and eBay, as well as Ruby Lane.com.  Check out local toy stores, and stores like Farm and Fleet for their toy sections.  Lots of collectors love Star Wars and Hot Wheels, not to mention Playmobil and Lego, and there’s a lot out there for them.
9. Hats and scarves; you can never have too many.  There are great Burberry inspired designs that are reasonable, as well as cashmere, wool, blends, printed, silk, and velvet.  Import stores have gorgeous examples from India and Pakistan.  If you knit and crochet, now’s your chance to make someone you love feel warm and fuzzy!
10. Books; yes, we still read them and love them.  Ditto, magazine subscriptions.  Library sales are still around, you can buy online, of course.  Check local thrift stores, antiquarian book sellers, antique shops, gift stores, and brick and mortar book stores for favorite authors on friends’ lists.  Tie a pretty ribbon around a stack of favorite books, and watch them smile.  

 

Remember that it is the thought that counts; people love to be remembered.  If you can’t mail gifts, try sending an elaborate popup card like those Hallmark offers, or a card that sings.  You can also send candy, good gifts, and fruit baskets from local sellers, or larger companies like Hickory Farms, Fiji, and Harry and David.  Be safe, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Peace and Health to all of us in 2021.  I have to quote it, “God Bless us Everyone!”

 

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Of Plastic Bags, Paternity, and Pym: RIP Daddy, d. November 15, 2017.

 

This cold, blustery November day is the third anniversary of my Dad’s death.  I remember everything about him, including how neat and precise he was in organizing his things.  His desk was perfection, and we called it Miss Pym’s desk, since he was the one who edited my book and dissertation about Pym, The Subversion of Romance in the Novels of Barbara Pym.

 

He folded papers and plastic bags neatly, and even sorted and arranged our garbage.  He was way ahead of the recycling movement.  He could have been Marcia’s sibling from Pym’s Quartet in Autumn.  As Susan Pearce noted in The Collector’s Voice, Modern Voices,  Marcia was a discerning and organized collector.  She sorted milk bottles, leaving behind those that did not “fit”, and carefully folded and recycled her plastic bags. I have a friend who does this, too, particularly with the plastic bags that encase rolls of paper towels.  Both Marcia and my friend creased them perfectly, and kept them in special places.  I have tried to be that neat, and tried to crease carefully the bags I repurpose and recycle, but I just can’t do it.

 

Here’s to Dad, and to Pym and Marcia.  We could take a lesson from them about recycling, organization, and life.

 

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July Skyward by Guest Blogger David Levy

Skyward for July 2020.

Join Your Local Astronomy Club.

          By a long shot, the best way to get into and enjoy astronomy is to become affiliated with your local astronomy club.  Not only do you get access to a ton of knowledge about how to find constellations, and to choose and use your first telescope, but also you get a firsthand look at what is happening at the sky from the people who love it the most.

          When I was a young teenager, one had to be sixteen years of age to join the society in Montreal.  (Thank goodness, that rule no longer applies.)  But younger people could indeed attend most of the meetings, and on October 8, 1960, I attended my first meeting. Isabel K. Williamson was in charge, and she gave me my first assignment, to create a map of the Moon based on my own observations. Even though I couldn’t be a member yet, I embarked on a project that took me 3 years to complete.  (The map is pictured in figure 1.) In Canada, most of the astronomy clubs are under the single banner of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.  There are “centers” within most major Canadian cities.  In the United States, the local clubs are independent, and I have a member of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) since 1979, and served as its President from 1980 to 1983.

The observatory that Wendee and I operate from our home is called Jarnac Observatory.  Unlike almost everything NASA does, Jarnac is not an acronym.  But if it were, Jarnac could be short for Join A Really Neat Astronomy Club.

In recent months, astronomy clubs have stopped having in-person meetings because of the Coronavirus pandemic.  But that hasn’t stopped them from indulging in online events.  Using platforms like Zoom cloud, Cisco Webex, or Facebook, online meetings have had an explosion in popularity.  I’ve been attending one meeting or another almost every night this week.  They have been so successful that when the pandemic is over, they may continue in some manner.      

The most important thing you can get out of an astronomy club is friends.  Almost all of my friends are members of one astronomy club or another.  They enrich my life and increase my own enjoyment of the night sky a millionfold.    I cherish their always welcome insights.  In fact, Tim Hunter, one of my closest friends, recently made an independent discovery of a supernova, or exploding star, in the faraway galaxy labelled UGC 10509 and which is hundreds of millions of light years away from us.  He may not have been the first to spot it, but his observation has added important new information about the Universe.  That star blew up a very long time ago. Its light travelled across space and time until it landed as a speck on one of his pictures, and it is now called Supernova 2020 LQL. This is one of the best things about astronomy.  It is an area of study where amateur astronomers can add to our understanding of how the Universe works. Nice work, my friend.

When you next go outside to look at the night sky, enjoy your eyeful of stars.  The time after that, try it with your local astronomy club.  You couldn’t give yourself a better gift.

Figure 2.  The Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada used to meet in this observatory.  I took this photo of  my
friend Carl Jorgensen, and his daughter Christine, standing in front
of it.

Figure 1)   This is a drawing of the Moon that I did between 1960 and
the ASummer of 1964.  Ituis based on my own observations of the Moon
using my first telescope, Echo, at that time.

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Though it's happened before, especially in 1973, I never thought I'd be worried about toilet paper and paper products in general.  Same is true of things like cleaners and hand sanitizers.  The stores seem to be restocking, slowly, and on Amazon, many things were still available, they many cost more and required shipping.

It wasn't so bad at our house because when I shop, I'm used to buying supplies a week or two ahead.  I do it with cat food, TP, paper towels, Kleenex, etc.  With two men in the family, I have fears of running out of these things anyway, and with everyone having allergies in a four person household, Kleenex is a routine necessity.

Over the years, I've known folks who were almost revivalists.  One had turned her basement into her little store, as she called it.  She had bulk paper products on metal shelves that reached the ceiling, and unreal caches of canned food and boxed dinners.  It was her hobby.  Her husband had an outdoor metal building full of plane and car memorabilia beautifully arranged. I bought a lovely doll house she had made, fully furnished and electrified.   She had a few other childhood dolls and toys not for sale, but her living room was completely empty but for two large recliners and a very big flat screened TV. Minimizes cleaning, that's for sure.

To each his own.  In the immortal words of Sly Stone, "different strokes for different folks."

WWI Navy Poster, public domain

My family suffered through WWII in Europe.  They tended to store lots of canned goods, and to buy everything in multiple quantities.  They were ready for three or four successive Christmases.  They were also a large family, with lots of nephews, god children, and other relatives. They didn't hoard and were organized with a place for everything. 

Toilet Paper Roll Dolls, public domain

Scouts' motto was "be prepared", and I've tried to do that.  My dad took me to the grocery store from the time I was very small.  I always won the class version of "Price is Right" because I was aware.

We don't have a humongous freezer, but I do buy a few things for dinner ahead of time and freeze them.  I tend to prefer fish and vegetarian pasta, but my family needs and eats meat and protein.  We all eat eggs.  So, because I also dread going to stores these days, I try to buy dinners for a week or so ahead.

It's great if we can grow our own fruits or vegetables, or know how to forage.  My grandma and her friends could boil dandelion leaves and make rose hip jelly.  It does't hurt.  Canning, if you have time and know how, is also a great option and fun hobby. We used to make our own strawberry jam in manageable quantities, and I watched my babysitter make tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes.  I've tried it and it works well.

We don't need to panic, but the Apocalypse is not coming.  The Hong Kong flu was worse, and we got through it. 

If you have a surplus, share with someone.  Be nice.  When I make a big meal, I freeze the leftovers and share them with friends.  They do the same for me.

My one missed luxury is Clorox wipes.  I love them; I'm finding a canister here or there, but I also learn to use paper towels and cleaning vinegar.  Also, my family used cleaning rags from worn out clothes.  We even washed them.  Not a bad idea, either.

1973 TP crisis.  Public Domain image.

From a collector's point of view, I have to say my novelty dolls made from paper towel/TP cardboard rolls and my Kleenex dolls, are going to increase in value.  Meet me on eBay!!

The Illustrated Garden

What do I do when I can't get out to go anywhere?  I fiddle in the garden.  Master gardener, I'm not, but it's fun to plant flowers, seeds, plants.  I'm wild about container gardens and fairy gardens.  Here are some of my favorite gardening things.

My back yard patio, and one of my mighty oaks.  Great place to read or write.

One of our welcome wreathes, vintage papier mache fruit and silk flowers.

A tiny fairy garden inot

A fox track in our yard.  We have a family of three.

Newly planted butterfly plants.

Calendula, purple

Another view of our in ground fairy garden

One of our antique German bisque dolls. 

Fragrant hydrangea related bush

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Fossils

Fossils by Daguerre

Fossils

I have always loved old things, preferring them to the new and the shiny. I take it to heart that more and more of our old buildings are being imploded for the sake of progress, The Armory, Lincoln School, Audubon School, The Huber Home, have all been victims.   Eyesores, some have called them, dangerous buildings, accidents waiting to happen.  History, I say, that will never be repeated or enjoyed again, like the cafeteria on the mezzanine of McCabe’s Department store or the ice cream counter at Pitcher’s on 30^th in Rock Island.

There are some landmarks, though, that can’t be bulldozed.  They will find their way into our consciousness, even in a disaster.  Cases in point; the fossils found along the shores of our own Mississippi.  Paleontologists will tell you that these fossils, by definition, evidence of prehistoric life, become exposed when the River’s water levels drop, or after the waters of a great flood have receded.  See, they will find us, come “hell or high-water.”

They also show up where you least expect them; trilobites and fossil ferns showed up in the limestone rock borders of my parent’s garden in Rock Island.  Huge rocks encrusted with fossils with exotic names like Cladopora, Cephalpods, Anthozoa, Platyrachella, Productella-they made a home for a water snake that slithered out when I lifted up his rock roof to see the fossils close up. Twenty five years ago or so, they showed up at the gift shop of the Putnam, pre-IMAX, and in the sands near the Cordoba Nuclear plant, where we fieldtripped for Summer Biology in 1975.

Our fossil landmarks are far older than the demolished school buildings amid whose walls our teachers first introduced them to us.  They hail from the Devonian Period of prehistory, between 410 and 360 million years ago.  Appropriately, many of these were marine animals, and fish

Later ,the  new kids on the block appeared during the Ice Age, the wooly mammoth, giant ground sloth, the land animals, ancient at 10,000 to 2 million  years old, but familiar.  They coincided with us, with the humans, who learned later to destroy so well.  Fossils humble us, these often tiny pieces of prehistory.  They have already outlasted us; they lived in some form or another for hundreds of millions years.  We have only lived in this Valley for some 10-fifteen thousand years.   If by chance my fossilized remains should survive a million years, and some archaeologist in the far distant future finds me, I hope I have that little fossil fern and the trilobite clutched in my bony hand.  And I hope I’m part of prehistory lesson that’s taught in a school that isn’t in danger of being demolished.

The Birds, the Bees, and Dolls

In his classic Dolls and Puppets, Max von Boehn includes human shaped bee hives that are life-sized among this explorations of the word "doll."  Of course, there are other links, but some may surprise  you.  Sylvia Plath was interested in beekeeping and she wrote poems about bees.  Plath also collected paper dolls; her collection is part of her papers, housed in The Lilly Library.  Her body of work includes a poem or two about other dolls and manikins, too.

Of course, there are plush bees, and Anne Geddes inspired dolls of babies dressed as bee, Bee Keeping Barbie, and a bee keeping Our Generation doll.

One brand of honey is sold in a little bear shaped bottle, which I love to save.

Then there is artist Rob Keller of the Napa Valley Bee Company, www.napavalleybeecompany.com. 

Keller takes care over one hundred sustainable bee colonies.  In one, he created a "mummified" queen bee inside a plush toy bee.  He often uses plastic toys in beehives; the bees surround them and build tiny "rooms" or mini hives.  They didn't like one statue of a plastic cow and fence and kept knocking down the toy.  In one really relevant work, Keller built  hive inside a Victorian doll house to show the necessary interconnection between humans and bees.   According to author Sarah Trigg, "he was simply looking for a way to seal three dimensional objects when he started placing them in beehives" (Studio Life 245).

For more, see Trigg's Studio Life; Rituals, Collections, Tools, and Observations on the Artistic Process.  You'd be surprised how many of the artists surveyed also collected toys and doll objects as part of their process.  Most were male artists, but there are women, too.  All are collectors of something, some objects will surprise you.  All will inspire you.  Like Rembrandt and Joseph Cornell, these artists used their collections as inspiration for their art.

For an enjoyable  read, try The Secret Life of Bees, and for research, look up the work Otto Plath did on bees and other subjects; he was Sylvia's father.  Of course, Plath's work is awesome, too.

If you think about it, it makes sense.  Dolls and bees both inhabit miniature worlds, albeit in different scales.

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Brief tips; don' prune Forsythia, Mock Orange or Lilacs.  Wait, if needed do it later.  Roses can be pruned, but plants like Rose of Sharon don't need much.

More later, but I read this in our local paper and got excited.  It may be time to take off those rose cones and wood ships form your roses, too .  Start looking for Pussy Willow as well.

As for me, I can't wait to start on my container gardens and fairy gardens.  I love roses; they are my birth flower.

What is your favorite flower?  Try reading Kate Greenaway's The Language of Flowers.

Public Domain

Public Domain

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Early Spring Bargains at Kohls

I had an errand at Kohl's today, buying my auntie slippers.  Kohl's carries an UGG brand, and the slippers are fur lined and come in a variety of styles, for around $56.00.

Skirts are back in, I'm happy to say.  Especially florals paired with denim shirts and jackets.  Other floral dresses are in, too, in all sizes and lengths.

My steal was a pair of Dear Foam slippers $3.40  decorated like a Christmas Tree with bells and tinsel. $3.40, or 90% off!

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Skyward for February 2020.

Something old, something new…Eureka instead of Echo.

This is the story of my first telescope, of the comet it did not discover and which later collided with Jupiter, and the telescope that replaced it.  Although this story has been building for almost sixty years, it came to a head last fall.   First, in late October, I got myself a brand-new reflector telescope.  It is a 12-inch diameter reflector, with a fast f/5 focal ratio, which means that at low power I can get well over a degree field of sky when I gaze through it.  That means more than two Moon-diameters.  I had some difficulty setting up the new telescope, and needed some help, but when it finally was ready, the views were a wonder to behold and a true joy.

I named the new telescope Eureka, after an asteroid I discovered, at Palomar with Henry Holt, in June of 1990.  The asteroid turned out to be orbiting at the L5 point (LaGrangian 5) in Mars’s orbit, as has been that way for much of the life of the solar system.  The asteroid is the first known Martian trojan, and our proposed name, Eureka, was accepted as an expression of joy in making a discovery.  It was named for Archimedes’ expression of delight after discovering how objects displace water, and how he leapt out of his bathtub and ran down the street yelling Eureka! (There is nothing in the story that suggested that Archimedes bothered to dry off and dress before he darted outside.) For my new telescope Eureka’s first light, (see last month’s column) I chose Jupiter, which is my choice for first light objects ever since September 1, 1960.

That brings me to the second telescope, named Echo after a large passive communications satellite launched on August 12, 1960. Echo was my very first telescope, and it was the telescope through which I looked at Jupiter for the first time on that far-off night. On that distant night, Mom and Dad were with me and they were excited as well.  An entirely new world was opening up for me, a world that has remained open and inviting ever since.  For a few years it was my only telescope, replaced only when I upgraded to a 5-inch telescope while I was a patient at the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children in Denver, and an 8-inch a year later. Over the years Echo has provided a wealth of happy nights under the stars.

On Thursday evening, November 7, 2019, I formally donated Echo, my first telescope, to the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology in Kansas City, along with more of my observing records.  Echo began its new life that very evening.  Under a clear sky, some people got the chance to look at the Moon through Echo,  which still functions well after 59 years.  May Echo get a lot of use at this wonderful library, one of the largest science libraries in the world.

All this brings me to the point of this article, that Eureka is instead of Echo.  After all these years I wanted a powerful telescope to replace my first telescope.  With Eureka, I now have that telescope.  Every time I look through it, my mind is filled with the magic and delight of that long-gone evening[DL1]  when I first set up a telescope and looked at Jupiter.  On that night I saw Jupiter, its belts, and its four big moons.  One thing I did not see, and neither did anybody else, was a small comet moving close to the planet.  That comet would remain undetected until March 23, 1993, when Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker and I set up a night’s observing at Palomar that would include the field that revealed this comet.  It was reported on the 25^th.     Sixteen months later, this comet, now known as Shoemaker-Levy 9, collided with Jupiter in the most dramatic explosions ever witnessed by humanity.  May Eureka, instead of Echo, also reach for the stars.

2:  Eureka, my latest telescope.  If you look carefully you might
catch Venus at the top center.

Picture: 1:  Wendee and Echo, from White Sands National Monument.
Photo by David Levy.

 

---

 [DL1]

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Living Green, Copy Cats and More

So many posts I want to share with you fly right through my head, like the proverbial sieve, not the former sponge it was.

In a posh local store, I saw a book called 49 ways to live green, or something.  Remember my original 49 tips which, about ten years ago, were mentioned on Morning Living, a Martha Stewart Sirius radio show.  I need to look more closely.  Perhaps I've been plagiarized.  It wouldn't be the first time.

On more positive notes, it is clear, sunny, and warm.  The snow is melting.  Valentine's decorations are slowly going up. For the first time in years, I'm looking forward to the holiday.  No trips out west to deal with family issues are looming over my head.

It is also the tenth anniversary of this blog and of my Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog.  The first person to comment will receive three seed packet of her choice.  Email me at ellentsagaris@gmail.com with your address and preferences.  As soon s the seeds come out for sale, I will send them.

We will have a ribbon cutting on our current Doll and Toy Museum location on Feb. 12, 11 am.  The mayor will be in attendance, and we have some of his late mother's miniatures in our collection.  We are very grateful to our city for all the help.

Currently, I'm writing grants to help fund us, especially about new location at the 30/31 former library building.  Father M also blessed our current 30th street location this past week.

I have a poinsettia and two small evergreens holding on; I hope they will survive and that I can plant a  couple.

We're very eager to plant our fairy gardens.  I like to work on them on sunny days, out side. 

My tips for today re green living, recycle and repurpose all you can.  Donate to charity your unwanted items and take a tax credit.  Don't just throw good items into the trash, where they complicate the landfill.

Conserve water, try to buy and to eat local.  You will be helping small business and the environment.

Review good public TV shows like Iowa Ingredient, shows on food and cooking vegan, sustainability of crops, and more.  You get a lot of good ideas on how to adopt good habits at home.

Be safe, continue to have a great 2020.  I'm seeing birds flying back, as well as our majestic eagles over the river.  There are great recipes for bird feeders out there; besides the seed bells already made, there are many involving peanut butter and suet.  You can also look up ideas for plants that attract humming birds and butterflies.

P. Phil didn't see his shadow on this Ground Hog Day!  Spring may be closer than we think!

American Doll and Toy Museum

Can  you spot the cardinal?

Orchid in Naperville

Sweet Holidays

My cousin was a singer in a band when she was young, and "Candyland Town" was one of the band's big hits.  The game Candyland was  huge with us when we were little; it still is, even in electronic form.  Of course, let's not forget Candy Crush.  Candy and sweets are a huge part of our lives; Willy Wonka is everyone's godfather.  I also remember the Raggedy Ann stories with cookies growing on trees, chocolate milk puddles, and cotton candy clouds; perhaps the architect of the their doll house was the one who built the witch's home in Hansel and Gretl, or he was Dr. Cookiestein who created the gingerbread many and who put visions of sugar plums in children's heads at Xmas.



Xmas is a time when candy defines the holiday.  Think; candy canes, cookies, Yule logs and Christmas cakes, Christmas pudding, fruit cake, marzipan,  fudge, ribbon candy, aforesaid sugar plums, it's mind boggling!   Yet, it's not the only holiday.





Soon after comes Valentine's day with its heart shaped boxes and conversation hearts, then Easter, all jelly beans, Peeps, and chocolate eggs and bunnies.  Candy is an acceptable gift for mother's day and Fathers day.  Pop rocks and Tootsie Rolls in red, white, and blue containers define July 4th.  Candy is thrown to kids during labor day parades, and Halloween, well, need I say more?!!







How healthy is all this?  Many would say if it's covered in carob, it's fine.  Too bad we can't channel Mr. Mooney, the late Gale Gordon, was a well known carob farmer.   Hard candies have 15 to 30 calories, chocolates and truffles, 50 to 100 calories.  A share inch of fudge, about 75 calories.  Dark chocolate is now proven to be good for us, and people have drunk cocoa according to various recipes

longer than perhaps, coffee.



All things in moderation.  Licorice has its medicinal values, I have a an old doll made of licorice, jointed, from our local Y and S Licorice company.  I've preserved gingerbread dolls and candy dolls, bread dolls, and other dolls of edible materials for years.  I keep many in an extra fridge so as not to attract mousie friends.  It works.



My dream is to have  glass fronted subzero to display them in some day.







I have to say, that candy is dandy, no matter what.  It has a long historical and culinary tradition, and well, it just tastes good.