The No.
1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a series of novels by Alexander McCall
Smith set in Botswana and featuring the character Mma Precious
Ramotswe. The series is named for the first
novel, published in 1998. Eighteen
novels have been published in the series between 1998 and 2017. Mma Precious Ramotswe is the main character
in this series. The country of Botswana is in a sense a character as
well, as it is a crucial aspect of how the stories flow. Mma Ramotswe starts up her detective agency
when she is 34 years old, using the inheritance from her father to move to the capital
city Gaborone to buy a house for herself and
find an office for her new business. She
feels a detective needs to know about people more than anything, to solve
problems for them. The novels are as
much about the adventures and foibles of different characters as they are
about solving mysteries. Each book in the series follows from the
previous book. In 2004, sales in English
exceeded five million, and the series has been translated to other
languages. The novels have been adapted
for radio by the author and for television.
In 2004, the year of the sixth novel's
publication, Alexander McCall Smith won the Author of the Year award at the British
Book Awards and the Crime
Writers Association Dagger in
the Library award, both for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No._1_Ladies%27_Detective_Agency
R. Alexander
"Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born
24 August 1948), is a British-Zimbabwean writer and Emeritus Professor of
Medical Law at the University of
Edinburgh. In the late 20th
century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and
international committees concerned with these issues. He has since become internationally known as
a writer of fiction, with sales of English-language versions exceeding 40
million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is most widely
known as the creator of The
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agencyseries.
"McCall" is not a middle name: his two-part surname is
"McCall Smith". Alexander
McCall Smith was born in Bulawayo in 1948 in
the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), the youngest of four children.
His father worked as a public prosecutor in Bulawayo. McCall Smith was educated at the Christian
Brothers College in Bulawayo before moving to Scotland at age
17 to study law at the University of
Edinburgh, where he earned his PhD in law.
He soon taught at Queen's
University Belfast, and while teaching there he entered a literary
competition: one a children's book and
the other a novel for adults. He won in
the children's category. He returned to
southern Africa in 1981 to help co-found the law school and teach law at
the University of
Botswana. While
there, he co-wrote The Criminal Law of Botswana (1992). He settled in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1984. He and his wife Elizabeth, a physician,
bought a Victorian mansion that
they renovated and restored, raising their two daughters Lucy and Emily, who
attended the independent St George's
School for Girls in the city.
An amateur bassoonist, he
co-founded The Really
Terrible Orchestra. He has
helped to found Botswana's first centre for opera training, the Number 1
Ladies' Opera House, for
whom he wrote the libretto of their
first production, a version of Macbeth set among a troop of baboons in the Okavango Delta. See extensive bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McCall_Smith
African dance rattle capsules from Cameroon to Madagascar, from Somalia to
Mozambique: Plaiting a symmetric,
nonahedral shape by Paulus Gerdes See
15-page document with many graphics at http://www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/vismath/gerdesnovember2012/nonahedral.pdf
Authentic traditional dance filmed in the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve in Botswana, in 2007. The
particular dance carried on uninterruptedly for more than an hour, with the
dancer entering a deep trance. It was
filmed unplanned and unrehearsed, with only a standard hunting spotlight for
lighting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfRq9cCd33E 2:01
The pomegranate
(Punica garantum), from the Middle French pome garnete, which means, “seeded
apple,” is the fruit of a shrubby tree believed to have originated in Persia
(modern-day Iran). One of the world’s
oldest cultivated fruits (it was domesticated as many as 5,000 years ago and
grew wild long before that), the pomegranate has a long history in the arid and
semi-arid regions from the Mediterranean east through Asia. The pomegranate has been mentioned in
biblical tales, and some debate exists regarding whether it was a pomegranate,
not an apple, that enticed Eve in the Garden of Eden. The fruit received
mention in the writings of Homer, as well as in Greek mythology: It was a pomegranate that tempted Persephone
while in the underworld with Hades. Many cultures consider it to be a
symbol of fertility, health and prosperity. The round fruit, which has a
spiky, flared crown, can be as small as an orange or as large as a grapefruit,
depending on variety. Pomegranates have shiny, leathery skin, which can
be anything from deep brick red to yellow. The beautiful whole fruits are
often used as decorations. Inside, the
fruit consists of around 800 crunchy seeds surrounded by juice sacs (these are
called arils), which are suspended in membranes. Arils may be vivid ruby
red, pale pink or even white, depending on the particular variety of
pomegranate. The many varieties of the fruit differ in terms of sweetness
and juice-to-seed ratio. Some can be
extremely astringent or even sour; seedless and soft-seeded varieties exist as
well. Alissa Dicker Pomegranate
Primer Page 2: A Pomegranate Overview
Link to other pages at http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/beverages/juices/pomegranate-juice2.asp
10 THINGS TO DO WITH POMEGRANATE MOLASSES by Yasmin
Khan
Persian Molasses Crinkles Learn
how to make pomegranate molasses or buy it at a store featuring Middle Eastern
foods. Recipe for the drop cookies is at
http://www.startribune.com/persian-molasses-crinkles/70459947/
Molasses Crinkles b https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/molasses-crinkles
You can substitute pomegranate
molasses.
Language is fluid. Words are often shortened. They can acquire new
meanings. Sometimes words are
dropped--on occasion I say public for public library. I've read uniform
meaning policeman and suit meaning lawyer in novels. Sometimes
words even mean the opposite after a while--aweful mean full of awe and
was a good word--then it became awful, not a good word.
From the medicine cabinet to the bar,
bitters have a long history of curing ailments and flavoring drinks. Though they may seem mysterious, bitters are
simply bitter and aromatic herbs and spices infused or tinctured in
spirits. Read more and see pictures at https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-bitters-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-197883
Bitters are to cocktails as salt and spices are to
foods. They add complexity, highlighting existing
flavors and introducing new ones. But
what else can you do with that bottle of boozy extract sitting on your shelf? Apparently, a whole lot. In Angostura’s home country, Trinidad and Tobago,
bitters are added to all sorts of dishes, including breads, soups, and
marinades. Find seven recipes including a winter squash
version from David Baudek of The Kerryman
Bar & Restaurant in Chicago
at https://vinepair.com/articles/how-to-use-bitters-cooking/
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com December 11, 2018 Issue 2002
345th day of the year
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