Parker is an ancient occupational name.  It probably first came to this country with the Norman Conquest, though it possibly existed here prior to 1066.  The surname Parker derives from the Old French word ‘parquer’ (‘parchier’), which means ‘park keeper’ or ‘ranger’.  The Old French word derives in turn from a Germanic original meaning ‘a park, enclosure, or thinly wooded land kept for beasts of the chase’.  There are several related surnames, such as Parkman, and Parkhouse (place name for a dweller in a house in a park), and Duparc (Norman, meaning ‘of the park’).  Variations on the name Parker include Park, Parke, Parks and Parkes.  Park and Parkes are, strictly speaking, place names (i.e. a dweller in a park).  However, as often as not they probably indicated someone who worked in a park, and were thus occupational names.  The first reference to the surname Parker is in the Domesday Book records for Somerset where, in 1086, one Anschetel Parcher is listed.  When someone can’t mind his own business, he’s colloquially labelled a ‘nosey parker’.  The original was sixteenth-century English clergyman Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth I, whose critics dubbed him ‘Nosey Parker’ because he kept poking his nose into church matters that weren’t his concern.  One man stood between Abraham Lincoln and assassin John Wilkes Booth-an alcoholic policeman named John Parker, the only guard posted outside the President’s box at Ford’s Theater.  Half-way through the evening’s performance he wandered off to get a drink, with consequences that changed the course of American history.  https://forebears.io/surnames/parker#meaning

EASY DESSERTS  cheese, fruit, nuts; good bread with good butter (if desired, add seeds or syrup or jam or jelly)

Banana War Over  November 9, 2012  The European Union and 11 Latin American countries signed an agreement that puts to rest a trade dispute dating to 1991 over tariffs on bananas, which are a vital export for several Latin American economies.  The agreement signed in the presence of World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy formally ended eight separate WTO cases.  Since then a number of legal steps were required, including each country ratifying the 2009 agreement and the EU introducing legislation and regulations to implement it.  The EU import tariffs had favoured imports from former European colonies, with no duty imposed on bananas from former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.  However, the EU charged duties on bananas from other countries.  The banana issue is one of the longest running disputes in the post-World War Two multilateral trading system.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/globalbusiness/9666147/Banana-war-ends-after-20-years.html

NewsGuard is a web browser extension available on Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari, that provides a trustworthiness rating next to websites that it’s reviewed.  Each website is reviewed by professional journalists and editors and rated using nine journalistic standards--such as whether a site regularly publishes false content, reveals conflicts of interest, discloses financing or publicly corrects reporting errors.  At the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, begin a session on a public computer and open any available web browser.  While searching online or browsing websites or social media, NewsGuard’s icons will appear next to those which it has reviewed.  Hover over the badge to reveal a short description of the website and a link to access NewsGuard’s full review.

Giant sequoias and California redwoods (also called coast redwoods) are nature's skyscrapers.  These enormous trees exist primarily in Northern California, Oregon and Washington and though they have a number of common characteristics, including distinctive cinnamon-red bark, they are different species.  Giant sequoias can grow to be about 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter and more than 250 feet (76 m) tall.  The biggest of these behemoths is General Sherman, a giant sequoia in Sequoia National Park.  General Sherman stands 275 feet (84 m) tall, has a 102-foot (31 m) circumference, and weighs an incredible 2.7 million lbs. (1.2 million kilograms).  Giant sequoias can live to 3,000 years, with the oldest on record living more than 3,500 years.  When they die, it is often indirectly because of root rot or another weakening of the base.  Fire, root rot and dry spells do not typically affect the whole tree but if they destabilize the base, gravity can eventually take the tree down, according to Scientific American. This process takes a long time, as evidenced by the fact that sequoias are some of the longest living organisms on the planet.  Sequoias grow naturally along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, between 5,000 and 7,000 feet (1,524 and 2,134 m) above sea level and far inland.  That elevation provides the trees with dry mountain air necessary for their cones to open and release seeds.  The snowpack from the Sierra Nevada provides sequoias with the thousands of gallons of water every day.  Sequoias have shallow roots and require well-drained soil.  Because of its brittle texture, the sequoia is not a valuable lumber species.  It was, nevertheless, logged extensively around the turn of the 20th century.  Originally, sequoias could be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere.  Today, they are found only in 77 scattered groves in Northern California.  Among the places that preserve giant sequoias are Sequoia National Forest, Sequoia National Park, and Giant Sequoia National Monument.  https://www.livescience.com/39461-sequoias-redwood-trees.html

This slab pie can be made with any berry or stone fruit.  Source:  The Martha Stewart Show, May 2006  makes one 15-by-10-inch pie  See recipe at  https://www.marthastewart.com/318878/slab-pie

 “Slab pie” is a pastry baked in a sheet pan and cut in slabs like a bar cookie.  Slab pies can have either sweet or savory filling.  See also https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/slab-pie-recipes/view-all/

From:  Dorothy Smith  Subject:  Pensive  The Harry Potter series features JK Rowling’s marvelous creation of the pensieve, a bowl belonging to Dumbledore that contains other people’s memories, which he shares with Harry.  Possibly it can be used to clear one’s mind by getting rid of troublesome thoughts.
From:  Andrew Pressburger   Subject:  Pensive  The adjective brings to mind John Milton’s great poem Il Penseroso (which could be rendered as the melancholy thinker), as well as Rodin’s famous statue Le Penseur, a human figure leaning on the palm of his hand, in foreboding contemplation of an uncertain future.

Campari is a variety of tomato, member of the Solanum family, and its botanical name is Solanum lycopersicum 'Campari.'  The Campari tomato is a hybrid tomato that was developed for the late 20th Century market.  Campari tomatoes were branded as the "tomato lover’s tomato."  Their tagline was so convincing that within the first few years of their debut, Campari tomatoes became a supermarket favorite.  Campari tomatoes contain a multitude of vitamins and minerals, including lycopene, an antioxidant that may help reduce the risk of cancer.  Tomatoes have been linked to bone health and heart health, and have been shown to help lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.  In addition, tomatoes may help prevent unwanted clumping together, or aggregation, of platelet cells in the blood, which is especially important in lowering the risk of heart problems like atherosclerosis.  The Campari tomato had a taste of fame in 2002 when it made an appearance on the popular television series, "The Sopranos."  The cameo actually boosted the Campari tomato’s relevancy, and perhaps its level of respect, within the Italian-American community.  The following year, the Campari tomato recorded more than a fifty-percent increase in sales.  With competition from thousands of other tomato varieties, the strategic product placement certainly gave the Campari tomato an edge in the market.  The Campari tomato was originally developed by a Dutch seed company in Europe, and is now trademarked and owned by the Mastronardi Produce Company of Ontario, Canada.  Although Campari tomatoes account for just two-percent of total U.S. tomato sales, their popularity is considered to be relatively high for a single variety, considering there are 6,000 known tomato varieties in the market today.  https://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Campari_Tomatoes_4520.php

Word of the Day  gigot (cooking) A leg of lamb or mutton. quotations ▼

(fashion) Short for gigot sleeve (“a type of sleeve shaped like a leg of mutton”). quotations ▼  Borrowed from French gigot (“leg (of lamb)”), from gigue (“(colloquial) a long leg; haunch of some animals, especially venison”) + -ot (“diminutive suffix”).  Gigue is derived from giguer (“to dance; to jump”), further etymology unknown.   See pictures at https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gigot#English

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  January 23, 2019  Issue 2027