Music Recently | The Magnificent Calliope

 I have been enjoying this Calliope music recently. Calliope's are such a festive, jolly musical instrument. This music really puts a pep in my step. The gentleman who plays in this video is so talented. He has made several videos of his music. If you could use a little pep in your step, a little sizzle in your stride, a little gaiety in your gait have a listen to this music!

Book Review | The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict

 

Eleventh book for the year.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart. Copyright 2012. 470 pages.

Summary: Nine year old Nicholas Benedict, an orphan afflicted with an unfortunate nose and with narcolepsy, is sent to a new orphanage where he encounters vicious bullies, selfish adults, strange circumstances, and a mystery that could change his life forever.

 This was a lighthearted children's novel. I had been introduced to The Benedict Society books as a teen. Back then there were only two books in the series. I recently saw these books at our library and realized that there are more books now. I decided to start with the prequel as indicated by the 0.5 sticker that the library added.

I liked it. It is quite fanciful. Nicolas is a child genius and orphan. The story is upbeat. There is suspense and intrigue but it is overall a jovial feel good story.

Music Recently | Hurdy Gurdy

I have been obsessing over Hurdy Gurdy music lately. I recently was reading a book where the Hurdy Gurdy was mentioned. I had always thought that the Hurdy Gurdy was a Grinder Organ. You know, the kind worn on a strap by a street performer with a monkey companion. But, no, while a Grinder Organ and a Hurdy Gurdy both have a crank handle to turn, that is where the similarities end. 

I feel as though I have been living under a rock to just be learning accurately about a Hurdy Gurdy at 32 years old. They are fascinating! They sound like several instruments playing together all at once. Here you can hear for yourself:

Lymington Fair 

Swipping Maisie

Sussex Cotillion

Kesteven Processional 

Homage to Hearth

Angels We Have Heard On High

It sounds like a blend of Bag Pipes, Violin, and Reeds, with some kind of percussion. 

The way they work is by several strings riding up against the wheel that turns by the crank. The wheel is like a round violin bow. There is a box with keys that press against some strings to shorten them and make the different notes. There is also a string that can rattle when the crank is jolted quickly. And there are drone strings that constantly hum.

The Hurdy Gurdy was invented over a thousand years ago and was first used to help people sing in Church before the Organ was a thing.

 I am probably out numbered here. I assume you know more about it than I did. 

 It has been difficult for me to find much Hurdy Gurdy music that I really like. A lot of the Hurdy Gurdy music that I found on YouTube was too heavy for my taste or too middle eastern. That is not the way I want to say that, but I don't know the right words to describe what I talking about. I think by calling what I mean "middle eastern" you will imagine the right tones. It's a high wailing kind of sound that is not exactly minor but has dissonance of some kind. 

 The videos I have shared here are some of my favorite Hurdy Gurdy songs that I found by hours of combing through videos on YouTube. If you don't like these, try looking up other styles of Hurdy Gurdy music. They are pretty neat instruments!

July Sewing Report

Good news, I finished the pioneer doll!

I sewed and stuffed her arms and legs. Then I sewed the arms and body together, stuffed the body, and then attached the legs.

Before I made the arms I embroidered my newborn niece's  name on the back of the arm piece.

I sewed the yarn hair on her head and finished the look with braids. (I have a tutorial HERE.)

I had a dress ready and waiting for her that I had made back in December.

She turned out just right!

Nature This Month 06/28--07/27

My favorite picture is the pinecones with glistening sap drops. Which one is your favorite?

Cicada on Lilac.

Lightning Bugs mating.

Cicada Shell on Tomato plant.

Red Ear fish.

Spider on the tent floor.

Pinecone and glistening sap drops.

Spider.

Oyster Mushroom Gills.

Tree Frog.

Bald Faced Hornet nest.

Pearl Crescent butterfly.

Blue Swallowtail Butterfly.

Mullein Flower.

Zinnia and Crab Spider hiding under petal.

Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody | Book Review

 Tenth book for the year.

Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody is the true story of an American woman who escaped Iran with her daughter in 1986. She had married an Iranian man. They went to Iran for "vacation" and at the end of the "vacation" she was told she would never be allowed to go home again. The account was riveting. I finished this 415 page book in 5 days. Looking back a lot of the details are a blur. 

I am glad that I read Not Without My Daughter.

I learned things about the Persian culture. I love to learn about different people and customs around the world. I was surprised at the beginning of the book to see in what a harsh light she painted the Iranian family. I wondered if she was being prejudice. As the story unfolds she meets kind and hygienic Iranians so I could see that Betty did not see all Iranian people as a homogeneous group of bad people. 

 Throughout this book I was provoked to do lots of thinking. Had Betty not been so determined and strong willed the outcome would have been very different. Stories like this make me wonder what I would do in that situation. Would I be strong enough, smart enough, stubborn enough, or would I give up and make excuses? I am just a woman. I have no rights. It's too hard. Betty never gave up. I want to be the kind of woman who never gives up. 

Bisquets (Mexican Biscuit) Recipe

This unique biscuit is a sweet treat. The sweetness is more like an American scone than a American biscuit. The bisquet is made with a duality of leaveners; baking powder and yeast, from which it derives its unique texture; a little crumbley and a little tacky. These are very rich; lots of butter and eggs!

Bisquets 

2/3 c. Warm Milk

4 t. Yeast

4 c. Flour

1 c. Sugar

1 t. Salt

6 t. Baking Powder

1 1/2 c. Soft Butter

3 Eggs +1 for egg wash

1 t. Vanilla 

First mix the warm milk and yeast together to have it start activating.

Mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add the soft butter and mix until a course sandy texture is achieved.

Beat the eggs together with the milk mixture.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Turn out on to floured surface. Knead just enough to bring it out of the rough dough stage.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle and give it a couple envelope folds. (I explain envelope folds in my croissant recipe HERE.)

Roll the dough a final time to about 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Use a bottle cap to cut the inner circle. (I am not sure why this is done, but it is traditionally the design.)

Place on a sheet pan. Make egg wash with 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Brush wash over bisquets. Rise for 1 hour. Before the bisquets go in the oven give them a final wash with the egg wash.

Bake at 400° F. 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sea Cows, Shamans, and Scurvy | Book Review

 

Ninth book for this year.

Sea Cows, Shamans, and Scurvy Alaska's First Naturalist: Georg Wilhem Steller by Ann Arnold (227 pages copyright 2008) 

 I finished this biography of Georg Steller at the beginning of June. I had never heard of him before reading this book. The further I got into this book the more it aligned with my interests. There were a lot of maps and drawings and descriptions of plants. 

 Georg Steller joined the second Kamchatka expedition led by Vitus Bering across Russia and over the ocean to Alaska. The expedition lasted from 1733-1742. The mission of the expedition was to map Siberia, set up a postal route, explore Kamchatka, build light houses, sail to America, claim land for Russia and cultivate friendly relations with the natives. That is one wild to-do list!

 Georg Steller was a naturalist and doctor. He studied the flora and fauna and the natives' customs. He collected samples and catalogued everything he saw. Several animals and plants bare his name either in their common name or scientific name because he was the first to discover and describe them in a scientific context. One of the coolest animals that he found was a northern sea cow, Steller's Sea Cow. They were huge 25-30 feet long, lived in herds, omnivorous, ate constantly of the sea weeds, had two boney grinding plates as teeth, gathered around where rivers and streams emptied into the ocean, and bellowed loudly. I was excited to look up some pictures and see a Steller's Sea Cow. I was very disappointed to find out that they were hunted into extinction 30 years after their discovery. The flesh tasted like veal and the fat was like butter. I see why they were hunted relentlessly, although, I wish the hunters had been more conservative. Some sea cow skeletons have been preserved and are at museums.

 Anyway, the explorers were shipwrecked for 8 months on an island over winter in the far north. It was pretty rough. Of the 78 people that set out on the voyage 46 survived. Many of the deaths were caused by scurvy. Georg Steller survived but his life was not long. He died from a fever in 1746 at 35 years old.

 The most difficult part of reading this book was pronouncing all the Russian names. They were quite a challenge to my tongue. I'm talking about names like: Kamchatka, Okhotsk, Krasheninnikov, and Yakutsk.

 I found the maps to be very helpful and referenced them frequently. Ann Arnold was going to make a picture book and it shows. She has a lot of illustrations throughout the book. I think that she should go head and make a picture book as well. I don't think many people have heard about Georg Steller and it would be nice to introduce children to the explorations that took place in that part of the world. 

 I learned a lot of geography by reading this book. I had never even heard of Lake Baikal. I was fascinated to read that Lake Baikal contains one fifth of the fresh water on Earth. I found that hard to believe. The surface area of Lake Baikal is similar to that of Lake Michigan. Do you realize how deep that must mean Lake Baikal is? It is hard to fathom!

 There are a lot of notes and extra reading material in this book. The main part of the book concludes at page 161. Then there is an afterword, a concordance of animals and plants, a time line, extensive notes for each chapter of the book (where I learned about Lake Baikal,) source notes, bibliography, and a very nice index.