American Doll and Toy Museum: American Doll and Toy Museum is Open!!

American Doll and Toy Museum: American Doll and Toy Museum is Open!!:  Yes, it's true!  Our preview was a smash, and our regular hours for a while will be Saturdays 11-3 or by appointment. We welcome groups...

The Museum is open; click the link above.  It is now early fall, and we are looking forward to the cool weather, pumpkins, and holidays.  Each morning, I feel the chill in the air as the days grow shorter.

Mums are out, replacing late summer flowers, but my roses hang on till at least October.  We may get one pumpkin from the volunteer plants that have taken hold, but that's fine with me.  We have birds all over, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, a woodpecker, blue jays, robins, black birds, red wing blackbirds, crows, doves, pigeons.  The occasional duck couple rests in my flower bed, and gees fly over head.  Since the factories moved or cleaned up their act along the river, the water birds are back; gulls, pelicans, herons, cranes, more ducks.  The eagles are here, and many hawks.  We have a back yard owl that hoots for us, and once in a while, visits from wild turkeys and pheasants. 

Our crows caw caw to each other, and I had a friend who used to leave pizza out for them.  

Each day, some memory is stirred for me of my family and lost friends.  I encounter them working at the museum, which is a 24/7 job, or at home, cleaning, or in the yard clipping, planting an pruning.

I see my grandpa puttering in what was his yard before my parents bought their house.  He planted violets, many varieties, peonies, roses, many bushes including lilac, snowball and mock orange.  My mother did coral bells and zinnias, a few miniature roses.  Lilies of the valley, a few tulips, hibiscus, were also there.  When they bloom, it's like a time capsule opening.

We still have woods around us, and the deer visit often.  The day after my Dad died, I saw a beautiful buck.  Maybe it was a message.  Who knows?    

Cool weather will be here soon; we are having an surge of Indian Summer, but the trees are starting to turn.  We will have a Spoon River festival this year, and tombstones of Edgar Lee Masters' characters will be set up along the river.

How quiet the nights are, but for the owl, and few buzzing insects.  When I drive somewhere early in the morning, I see the towns waking up, the lines  for coffee at coffee shops, the doors opening, front steps still being swept.  Dogs are walked, and a few cats are come home exhausted from their night meanderings.

Squirrels are very busy despite the unseasonably warm weather, and chipmunks run all over like made, tails at attention.   We name them all Alvin; they have sanctuary on our deck, sleeping into an old doll buggy.  My husband rescued one from a neighbors glue trap; "hold on Buddy," he crooned.  He got him loose with baby powder.  The little guy ran off like a little white ghost, frantic but safe.

Since them, we are chipmunk haven.  

So the world spins, and the seasons turn.  We plod on day to day, grateful each day no matter what comes.  Have a save, blessed fall, and here's to Autumn and Halloween!!

American Doll and Toy Museum: Preview Opening American Doll and Toy Museum

American Doll and Toy Museum: Preview Opening American Doll and Toy Museum:   Preview Opening American Doll and Toy Museum   3059 30 th Street Rock Island , IL 61201   September 17, 2021 4 pm to 7 pm ...

A Garden of Pot Pourri

 I was thinking of Rumer Godden's An Episode of Sparrows, and the concept of "stolen" earth.   Can earth be stolen?  I suppose we could steal bags of potting soil, theoretically, though stealing anything just is not my thing. I cherish a letter Godden wrote to me when I was doing my dissertation.  Also, a letter from Tasha Tudor with her illustrations is among my most prized possessions.

We can't dig on other's property; this is trespass.  I wish my idiot neighbors knew that.  He keeps trying to claim my ravine is his, and he mows down  my papyrus and castor beans.  She keep trying to plant things I don't want, and to snoop.  Ridonculous.

My lawyer said to ignore it.  So, I do.  They can't claim adverse possession, and all the survey's taken show it's my yard.  

On to happier things.  Not a great year for flowers, but  I'm trying.  The ornamental red pepper seems to do the best.  It was only a dollar on sale.  Next, there are some colias thriving, as well as a red petunia that is doing well.  I did some fairy garden effects, not as many as usual, but here and there you can see them.

I see more bees; that's good.  Tip:  leave a spoon with sugar water near the plants.  It will attract and feed the bees.  Also, plant flowers and plants that bees love to pollinate.  Our local community college extension is offering classes on making your own compost.  I'm sure this is going around the country.

With more mask updates and another possible lock down coming, finding gardening and home projects is a good thing.  So is reading and writing and art work.  Those of us who have hobbies and collect have fared better over the last year; we things to work with at home and too look it.  Minimalist living is not for me; too much like a prison cell or hospital room.

To me, downsizing is bad.  We work all our lives for what?  To have our things taken from us, our individuality sacrificed, and we are locked in a sterile white room in some nursing home with nothing.  It is as if aging is a crime, punished by isolation and loneliness.

Sometimes, it can't be helped, but more and more people turn to private home care.  I did for my family; they stayed home with me, and kept their personality and individuality.  It's all important these days.

Thinking also of projects involving fall foliage and pumpkins.   I hate to think of winter, but October is definitely my month.

Actually May Skyward Photo later

 

Skyward

 

 

By

David H Levy

 

June, 2021

 

A long time ago, while I was writing my biography of Clyde W Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto, I learned from him that he had discovered other objects during his long search at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.  He found many asteroids during  his time at Lowell Observatory, at least one comet, and, surprisingly enough, one nova.  In February 1986, I visited Flagstaff in an effort to locate the nova that he found. It was a painstaking, tedious task but I loved it anyway.  Because Clyde had been so careful recording his observations from each photographic plate onto the envelopes surrounding that plate, I had only to read through all the notes from each envelope.  On one of the envelopes covering the year 1931, I saw the nova on a plate dated March 23 of that year. He remarked that must be "quite an interesting star to brighten from fainter than fifteenth magnitude in less than a day.”      

         I later found nine other observations of this star while going through old plates at the Harvard College Observatory, and then I reported them all to Brian Marsden, then director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.  He said, “I will announce it, but not yet.”

         “Why not?” I asked.

         “Because you are an amateur astronomer.”

         Them’s fighting words.  But before I had a chance to use them, he said, “If you were a professional astronomer, you would never look at the field again, and that would be the end of it.  But as an amateur astronomer, you have a lovely 40 centimeter (16-inch) telescope with which you can observe the field every night.  When the star erupts again, you will catch it, and then I will announce it as a current item!”

         Six months later, on March 23, 1990, I saw the star in outburst with that telescope.  It was 59 years to the day after Clyde’s discovery, and I was thrilled to let the discoverer know of it. The observation and history were announced in a subsequent announcement card.  Since the I have seen the star in outburst over and over again, and one of those sightings was on another March 23, which by this time had assumed more than one new significance: it is also the discovery date of our most famous comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9. It is also our wedding anniversary.

          TV Corvi is now my favourite variable star.  On each clear night I check the field. Onbe time I caught the star so early in its brightening that I was able to create a movie of the event. When there is an always welcome outburst, it is fun to say hello to my old friend, and I really have a feeling that the star answers me, from the depths of space, with a cosmic “hi there!” right back.

I'll be Back

 Soon, I will be blogging again on a regular basis.  I haven't been that well, but am bouncing back.  Was gifted many flower pots; plan to do flowers, and maybe some herbs.  I'm trying to re-seed smashed pumpkins, too.

A giant oak fell at my house; thankfully, no property damage and no one hurt.  It knocked out our electrical pole, and my neighbors', who are also close friends.  We all got through it.  It wasn't expected; tree had been trimmed, and checked by at least 4 tree surgeons, including those who work for our city.  It was huge; I could have stood in its trunk.

Here's hoping for violets.  There are more organic cooking shows out there than ever; our favorites are those by Jacques Pepin.  Iowa Ingredient is great for vegetarian ideas.  Lots of shows on organic gardening and farming.  Lots on using spices.

Recycling and upcycling with our nonprofit museum. American Doll and Toy Museum.  We soldier on.

Hope all of you are well; thank you to my followers.

Healthy alternative, yogurt

 If you're tired of oatmeal, try whole milk yogurt, plain or vanilla, with a teaspoon fruit jam .  Sprinkle with oat bran and your favorite dry cereal or nuts.

Original tip 29: Radios

 29. The radio is still a great option, so are cassette players for those of us who still have them, so are records and turntables. Vinyl records can be valuable collectibles, but they are still affordable in various types of conditions. Or, if you play an instrument, get it out and dust it off. Pay attention to the composers, to how things are composed, see what different types of genres and music the composer has written, for what instrument. These are vocations in themselves, and interest nearly everyone. Take a survey and ask friends family, students, etc., what types of music they like, and you will find we are all amateur experts in certain types of music. Sharing that knowledge is one of they joys of everyday living.

I still love listening to the radio, to all kinds of things.  When I had Sirius, I was in heaven, and even got on via an email the Early Morning Live Show on the Martha Stewart channel.

Listening to the news on the way home from work was a great way to unwind.  I used to listen to old radio shows when I worked on miniatures and crafts at my kitchen table.  I could concentrate, but had something fun to listen to.  The classical station saved me during law school.

When my mentor Dr. Tweet was alive, I was privileged to be on his radio show, Scribble, with Senator Don Wooten, the other host. I d id Art Talks with my friend, the late Bruce Carter, read poems, and was a radio guest on the Sean Moncrieff show.  I would gladly do my own radio show.  I love it because I find TV can be distracting.  It demands that you look, when I'd rather listen.

I have a dear friend in his 90s who loves his VCR and videos, and also loves records and music.  He is a talented artist and singer who even sang with Sinatra and who knew many stars through his father, an actor and lawyer to many stars.

When my cousin died last week, I listened to two of her 45s.  She was a budding star when she was young, and sang with a band. It was a comfort to hear her beautiful voice and remember the times she took our her guitar and sang live for me.  I have my old cassettes, and a cassette player at home, and my records and CDs.  

I still play the piano, take lessons, and do music theory.  It relaxes me and grounds me; it is structure that I can count on, and supports everything I do.