The Peacock Room was originally the dining room in the London home of Frederick Richards Leyland (1831–1892), a wealthy shipowner from Liverpool, England, who was James McNeill Whistler's leading patron.  The architect Thomas Jeckyll (1827–1881) designed the room, constructing an intricate lattice of shelving to contain Leyland's collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, mostly from the Kangxi era (1662–1722) of the Qing dynasty.  Antique Dutch gilt leather hung on the walls and a painting by Whistler, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, was given the place of honor above the fireplace.  Jeckyll had nearly completed his decorative scheme when an illness compelled him to abandon the project.  Whistler, who was decorating the entrance hall of Leyland's house, volunteered to finish Jeckyll's work in the dining room.  Concerned that the red roses adorning the leather wall hangings clashed with the colors in The Princess, Whistler suggested retouching the leather with yellow paint, and Leyland agreed to that minor alteration.  He also authorized Whistler to embellish the cornice and wainscoting with a "wave pattern" derived from the design in Jeckyll's leaded-glass door, and then went to his home in Liverpool.  During Leyland's absence, Whistler grew bolder with his revisions.  He covered the ceiling with squares of dutch metal (imitation gold leaf) and a lush pattern of peacock feathers, gilded the spindle shelving, and painted an array of magnificent peacocks on the inside panels of the shutters.  As word of his remarkable decoration got out, Whistler began entertaining visitors and amusing the press in Leyland's home—audacious behavior that, coupled with a dispute over payment for the project, provoked a bitter quarrel between the painter and his patron.  Consequently, Whistler coated the costly leather with Prussian-blue paint and on the vacant wall opposite The Princess depicted a pair of fighting peacocks.  The angry bird on the right was given silver throat feathers in reference to the white ruffled shirts that Leyland always wore; the other, docile peacock was crowned with a silver crest feather reminiscent of the single white lock that rose artfully above Whistler's forehead.  Regarding the dining-room decoration as a three-dimensional painting, the artist obtained a blue rug for the floor, signed the composition several times with his butterfly emblem, and gave the room the title Harmony in Blue and Gold:  The Peacock Room.  The Peacock Room remained intact and fully furnished with Chinese porcelain until Leyland's death in 1892.  Twelve years later it was sold to the collector Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919), who had purchased Whistler's Princess only the previous year.  The room was dismantled in 1904 and moved to Freer's house in Detroit, where it was used to display his own collection of ceramics.  After Freer's death in 1919, the Peacock Room was reinstalled at the Freer Gallery of Art, which opened to the public in 1923.  See picture of Massachusetts-born James McNeil Whistler's Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (1876-1877) at http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=F1904.61

Phil Vassar - Words Are Your Wheels  3:58    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-xpXbXSYps&feature=kp

America's Literacy Directory (ALD) is a web site that allows users to find local literacy providers in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.  The ALD includes literacy programs for adults looking for adult basic education, adult secondary education, computer literacy and English as a Second Language.  By entering an address or a ZIP code, you can find detailed information about area literacy programs and the services they offer.  You can also generate a map and driving directions for all programs listed in the ALD.  America's Literacy Directory is a service brought to you by the National Institute for Literacy.  

https://www.literacydirectory.org/?op=doc&doc=faq

White Bean Bruschetta with Grilled Radicchio Salad by Mario Batali  Find picture and recipe at http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/sns-201407161930--tms--foodstylts--v-a20140716-20140716,0,1683782.column

Amazingly, all boat traffic at one point on the mighty Mississippi is stopped for a short time every August for a sporting event: a tug-of-war between Illinois and Iowa.  A 2,700-foot rope is stretched across the river for a hard-fought contest of strength between Port Byron, Ill., and LeClaire, Iowa.  Called the Great River Tug Fest, this rivalry is at the heart of a three-day celebration on both sides of the river.  The river will close from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Aug. 9 for the 28th annual Tug Fest, which typically draws a crowd of more than 30,000.  Each state fields 10 teams of 20 men and one team of 25 women, and all grab the rope for the 3-minute contests. 

The state with the most wins takes home the Alabaster Eagle in Flight trophy and bragging rights for the year.  Viewing areas are set up on both sides of the river.  Tug Fest is more than the tug however.  It also features parades, carnival rides, live entertainment, food options and even mini-tug pulls for kids (not across the river).  Spectators throng the riversides for a fireworks extravaganza set off from a barge in the middle of the Mississippi on Aug. 8.  Listings of all events are at http://tugfest.org/ (Port Byron) and  http://tugfest.com/ (LeClaire).  Score to date for the annual tug:  Illinois leads 16 to 11.  John Handley  http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/ct-trav-0720-mississippi-tug-of-war-20140717,0,2434045.story

American novelists have stormed into the Man Booker longlist for the first time with five writers from the other side of the Atlantic being selected.  More than 40 American titles were submitted after the rules for English literature’s most prestigious prize were changed last year to allow writers from beyond the British Isles and the Commonwealth to enter.  In what chairman of the judges AC Grayling described as “a bit of a vintage year” four American writers and an Irish novelist based in New York were included in the longlist of 13.  They are Joshua Ferris’s “comic theological thriller” To Rise Again at a Decent Hour; Karen Joy Fowler’s story of a bizarre family experiment We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves; Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World, a feminist take on the art scene; Richard Powers’s bioterrorism tale Orfeo; and Irish writer Joseph O’Neill’s moral fable The Dog.  A shortlist of six for the £50,000 prize will be drawn up on September 9, 2014  and the winner will be unveiled at the Guildhall in the City on October 14.  Jonathan Prynn

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/man-booker-longlist-americans-vintage-year-novels-9623545.html

After more than 30 years on the charts, comedian-singer "Weird Al" Yankovic earns his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as "Mandatory Fun" debuts atop the list.  "Mandatory Fun" was released July 15 through Way Moby and RCA Records, and sold 104,000 copies in the week ending July 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan.  It was promoted by a well-received daily viral video campaign that launched Monday, July 14.  Starting with his parody of Pharrell's "Happy," Yankovic released eight music videos for the album through the week on various sites, like The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, Nerdist, College Humor and YouTube.  "Mandatory" is the first comedy album to top the Billboard 200 since Allan Sherman's "My Son, the Nut" spent eight weeks at No. 1 beginning on the chart dated Aug. 31, 1963.   Keith Caulfield  http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/chart-alert/6176723/weird-al-yankovic-gets-first-no-1-album-on-billboard-200

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1175  July 25, 2014  On this date in  1603, James VI of Scotland was crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union.  Political union would occur in 1707.  On this date in 1783, the American Revolutionary War's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, was ended by a preliminary peace agreement.