Long famous as the source of port wine, the Douro is now also renowned for its fine, rich unfortified wines, both red and white.  This is one of the wildest, most mountainous and rugged wine regions of Portugal, cut through in deep twists and turns by the River Douro.  Defying gravity on the steep slopes along the banks of the river and its tributaries, the vines are planted in poor, schistous soils.  In the centre of the region, the historic, narrow, stone-walled vine terraces have been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while elsewhere, modern terraces are wider, buttressed by steep banks of earth.  The wine region follows the course of the river down from the Spanish border to a point near the town of Mesão Frio, about 90km up-river from the city of Porto (Oporto).  Here the Serra do Marão rises up, protecting the region from the influence of the Atlantic Ocean.  http://www.winesofportugal.info/pagina.php?codNode=3893

Douro Valley, Tabuaco & Senhora Do Convento  High in the Douro Valley is a pace few have been and where time stands still.  Pick cherries from the trees, wander cobblestone streets, through terraced vineyards and drink port wine under a blanket of stars.  Explore Senhora Do Convento Winery and 12th Century Monastery.  www.senhoradoconvento.com  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IXEJ4djglg  2:12

A glimpse of Alto Douro Wine Region, Portugal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where wine has been produced for some 2000 years  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUY9Qvx8oVs  3:36

Paratha (Flaky South Asian Flatbread) Recipe by SOHLA EL-WAYLLY   Paratha is a unique South Asian flatbread, often used to scoop up curries and dip into raitha, that's got tons of crispy layers.  The special flaky quality of this bread is achieved through a double-roll procedure that fills it with countless layers of ghee, or Indian-style clarified butter, similar to the way puff pastry is layered with butter.  See recipe and link to 6:49 video at https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2018/07/paratha-flaky-south-asian-flatbread.html

Do you know the difference between hardwoods and softwoods?   There are many differences, and it is a complex issue.  Not all hard woods are hardwoods and not all soft woods are softwoods.  Balsa is an incredibly soft hardwood while yew is a very hard softwood.  The definition is based on reproduction.  Hardwood trees are angiosperms.  They are flowering plants that reproduce with seeds that have a covering (acorns, apples).  Softwoods are gymnosperms which aren't flowering and have seeds that fall to the ground with no covering (pinecones).  Most hardwoods lose their leaves in the winter while most softwoods are evergreens.  It gets more complex.  Hardwoods have pores in the wood which are used to transport water.  Softwoods move water differently so they have no pores.   Examples of hardwood trees include alder, apple, balsa, beech, cherry, eucalyptus, hickory, mahogany, maple, oak, teak, and walnut.  Examples of softwood trees are cedar, Douglas fir, juniper, pine, redwood, spruce, and yew.  For a quick identification, hardwood trees have flowers and softwood trees don't.  The density and strength of the wood don't define it as a hardwood or softwood.  The terms came from an old logging camp rule of thumb about how difficult it was to saw various types of wood.  Then scientists stepped in to add precise definitions which completely clouded the words.  The next time you want to confound someone, tell them that balsa is a hardwood.  See table of hardwoods and softwoods at https://mistralmtn.blogspot.com/2014/09/hardwoods-and-softwoods.html

FREE ITEMS FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, a sample page  The Library believes that this content is either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.  Each set of content is based on a theme and is first featured on the Library's home page.  These sets are just a small sample of the Library's digital collections that are free to use and reuse.  The digital collections comprise millions of items including books, newspapers, manuscripts, prints and photos, maps, musical scores, films, sound recordings and more.  Whenever possible, each collection has its own rights statement which should be consulted for guidance on use. Learn more about copyright and the Library's collections.  https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/

           

October 5, 2018  Crows Can Build Compound Tools Out of Multiple Parts, And Are You Even Surprised by Michelle Starr   Well, we didn't think it was possible, but we should have had more faith in our feathered corvid friends:  crows just got even cooler.  Researchers have discovered that crows don't just use single objects as tools; they can also make them out of multiple parts that are individually useless.  We already knew that corvids--crows and ravens--are capable of reasoning cause and effect, solving multi-step puzzles, planning for the future and even fashioning simple tools out of sticks and paper.  But making compound tools is something that has only ever been observed before in primates--specifically, humans and and great apes.  "This multi-compound tool construction required dexterity and perseverance," the researchers wrote.  "It involved both combining hollow elements with sticks and the other way around, as well as turning the tool to insert the solid end in another hollow element.  Accidental discovery of this recursive process (treating a 2-element compound as a potential part for further combination and construction of a 3-element one, and so forth) seems implausible."  It's also the first time compound tool construction using more than 2 parts has been observed in an animal other than a human.  That doesn't mean crow cognition is similar to that of humans and apes necessarily--but it does provide some insight into the cognitive processes involved in problem solving, the researchers said.  And it adds yet another piece to the growing body of evidence that crows and ravens are the coolest of all the birds.  Their paper has been published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.  Michelle Starr  See pictures at https://www.sciencealert.com/crows-are-so-smart-they-can-make-compound-tools-out-of-multiple-parts

Frankenreads  An international celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for Halloween 2018 organized by the Keats-Shelley Association of America.  Be sure to watch the livestream of the central Frankenreads reading of Frankenstein at the Library of Congress beginning 9 a.m. Wednesday, October 31st, 2018 at http://www.youtube.com/LibraryOfCongress!  And share your own comments, pictures, and videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube with the hashtag #frankenreads!  https://frankenreads.org/  Frankenstein was ranked #43 in the 2018 favorite books contest Great American Read.

The Great Galveston Storm came ashore the night of Sept 8, 1900, with an estimated strength of a Category 4.  It remains the deadliest natural disaster and the worst hurricane in U.S. history.  From 6,000 to 12,000 people died on Galveston Island and the mainland.  Texas' most advanced city was nearly destroyed.  John Burnett  Read more and see pictures at https://www.npr.org/2017/11/30/566950355/the-tempest-at-galveston-we-knew-there-was-a-storm-coming-but-we-had-no-idea  The Muser's maternal grandmother lived through the Galveston hurricane and never got over her fears during driving rainstorms.

Q.  What connects Guster, Wilfer and Quilp?  A. They are characters in the writings of Charles Dickens.  See Who's who in Dickens, a complete  Dickens repertory in Dicken's own words, 2nd edition by Thomas Alexander Fyfe at https://archive.org/details/cu31924009023486/page/n5  

The bestseller list for paperback fiction in the October 28, 2018 issue of our local newspaper includes four books from the past:  Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians (2013), its two sequels--China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017)--and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985). 

The Great American Read--What They Missed  This list is for novels that you think should have been included as a finalist for The Great American Read sponsored by PBS.  Find titles with series information, if applicable, at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/124078.The_Great_American_Read_What_They_Missed  The first ten titles are Fahrenheit 451 , The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1) , Animal Farm , The Kite Runner , Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, #1), Brave New World , Where the Sidewalk Ends , All the Light We Cannot See , and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1977  October 29, 2018  302nd day of the year