The Ohio buckeye is a neatly rounded tree with low, sweeping branches and dense foliage that provides deep shade.  It is one of the first trees to leaf out in the spring. Its name comes from the ‘buckeyes,’ a small, dark brown nut with a light patch resembling the eye of a deer, which grows inside a rounded prickly fruit capsule.  See pictures at https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/ohio-buckeye/   

Buckeyes are peanut butter fudge balls dipped in chocolate.  Unlike classic peanut butter balls, a circle of peanut butter is left visible.  The finished product resembles the nut that grows on the Ohio buckeye tree.  See simple recipe at https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9909/buckeyes-i/   

Dec 15, 2023   Luna Luna, heralded as “the world’s first art amusement park” and believed lost since 1987, has been revived in Los Angeles.  The park’s artist-designed rides and installations, long forgotten in 44 shipping containers in Texas, are brought together in a grand, interactive exhibition titled “Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy,” located in a 60,000-square-foot warehouse on the Eastside of Los Angeles.  It offers a rare opportunity for visitors to experience amusement park rides envisioned by 15 internationally celebrated artists, including Sonia Delaunay, Salvador Dalí, and Keith Haring.  See also https://www.designboom.com/art/luna-luna-world-first-amusement-park-haring-basquiat-la-12-04-2023/   

Latest reading lists by notable people:  https://radicalreads.com/  Thank you, Muse reader!   

Kumquats or cumquats in Australian English, are a group of small, angiosperm, fruit-bearing trees in the family Rutaceae.  Their taxonomy is disputed.  They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus Fortunella or placed within Citrus, sensu lato.  Different classifications have alternatively assigned them to anywhere from a single species, Citrus japonica, to numerous species representing each cultivar.  Recent genomic analysis defines three pure species, Citrus hindsii, C. margarita and C. crassifolia, with C. × japonica being a hybrid of the last two.  The edible fruit closely resembles the orange (Citrus sinensis) in color, texture, and anatomy, but is much smaller, being approximately the size of a large olive.  The kumquat is a fairly cold-hardy citrus.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumquat   

April will feature one of the most hotly anticipated events of 2024—April 8's total solar eclipse.  The month also includes the Lyrid meteor shower, which will peak between April 21 and 22.  Right after that, April's full moon, known as the Pink Moon, will reach peak illumination on April 23.  May's full moon, the Flower Moon, reaches peak illumination on May 23.   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-to-see-penumbral-lunar-eclipse-march-full-worm-moon/   

American artist Richard Serra, whose monumental abstract sculptures transformed museums, public spaces and even entire landscapes, died aged 85 at his home in New York on March 26, 2024.  Across his six-decade career, Serra established himself as one of the most celebrated artists in postwar America.  Serra started attracting high-profile public commissions.  Among the best known was the 120-foot-long “Tilted Arc,” installed at New York’s Federal Plaza in 1981 before being dismantled eight years later following complaints (and a public hearing) over its impact on public space.  Critics disliked the fact that pedestrians had to circumvent the sculpture in order to cross the plaza.  But this epitomized Serra’s approach to art:  His work was intended to engage, not be admired from afar.  Working primarily with steel—often twisted into evocative shapes and oxidized to achieve a distinctive deep orange palette—Serra was known for large-scale sculptures designed not only to be observed but to be explored, experienced and felt. His site-specific creations, whether carved into a grassy field or permanently installed in the Guggenheim Museum’s outpost in Bilbao, also invited viewers to engage with their surroundings in new ways.  See pictures at  https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/26/style/richard-serra-sculptor-death/index.html    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2794  March 27, 2024