Phoebe Anne Moses was a world famous markswoman and entertainer who was better known by her stage name of "Annie Oakley."  Moses was born on August 13, 1860, in Darke County, Ohio to Quaker parents.  Some scholars believe her last name was actually Mozee.  Throughout her life, she and her family spelled the last name in both ways.  Moses received a limited formal education, but she became an expert markswoman at a young age.  She assisted her parents in paying off the mortgage on the family farm by selling wild game that she killed.  By the mid 1870s, Moses had earned a name for herself due to her shooting skills.  In 1875, she won a contest against Frank Butler, a marksman who earned a living by performing in circuses.  Butler convinced Moses to travel with him across the country, demonstrating her skills.  The two performers later were married.  In 1885, the couple joined "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show.  Moses became known as "Miss Annie Oakley, the Peerless Lady Wing-Shot."  Oakley took her stage name from the Oakley neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she had previously lived.  In her act, Oakley routinely split a card in two edge-wise with a single shot from thirty paces.  She shot cigarettes out of her husband's mouth.  On a tour of Europe, she performed this same trick with Crown Prince Wilhelm, who later became Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.  Oakley also shot dimes thrown into the air.  Due to her proficiency with a gun, she emerged as the first female U.S. superstar and was worshiped by young and old people around the world.  She also became a spokesperson for allowing women to serve in the armed forces, including in combat positions.  Moses also starred in one of the first Kinetoscope films in history.  In 1894, she starred in Thomas Alva Edison's "The "Little Sure Shot" of the "Wild West," exhibition of rifle shooting at glass balls, etc."  In honor of her many achievements and her legacy, Mozee's life has been documented in film on several different occasions.  A Broadway play, "Annie Get Your Gun," was also produced about her life.  Oakley remained with the Wild West Show until 1901, when she became partially paralyzed after an automobile accident.  She eventually recovered and returned to show business.  She died on November 3, 1926.  http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Phoebe_A._Moses

The Garst Museum, a historical museum with roots in the American experience, houses over 300,000 artifacts on display in 35,000 square feet of exhibit space within six major and two minor venues.  The Garst House, which earlier served as an inn, has six additional building wings.  The house was donated to the Darke County (Ohio) Historical Society in 1946 by the Garst family.  Established in 1983, the Darke County Historical Society’s Heritage Award was created to recognize outstanding citizens or organizations for their distinguished contributions or actions of unusual excellence that help connect people to Darke County’s past.  Clay Johnson, Ph.D., CEO of the Garst Museum, notes that “for those familiar with the county’s history, the area is rich in its history and traditions and its significance touches so many in the community.  The Darke County Historical Society (DCHS) recognizes this importance, and feels its responsibility is to honor those that join in its mission in celebrating the county’s past.”  The DCHS operates the Garst Museum and its mission is to collect, preserve, exhibit, study, and interpret materials relating to the history and culture of Darke County.  This year’s Heritage Award recipient, Phyllis Crick, has spent decades helping people research their family history and assisting the Garst Museum with the history of Darke County and Greenville.  As head librarian, Phyllis is responsible for the Darke County Research Center, answering questions and doing research, whether by phone, computer, or if a patron stops in. Research and genealogy is her strong suit.  Along with her team in the Research Center, she assists individuals seeking information about family histories and so much more. With an eye to detail and accuracy, Phyllis and the center’s staff maintains the genealogy information for a vast number of current and former Darke County residents, organizations, and schools.  Phyllis’s cousin and fellow head researcher, Nancy Stump, comments that “Phyllis is interested in all schools--the old ones--and she has increased that part of the library.”  The readers of Ohio Magazine have spoken and Garst Museum has repeated as the “Best Historical Museum” in Ohio for 2018.  The Gathering at Garst was also selected as the “Best Summer Festival.”  https://www.garstmuseum.org/

Japanese sweet potatoes are long, slender, and irregularly shaped with tapered ends.  Its outer flesh is brown with a distinct reddish hue and has small, shallow eyes.  The inner flesh is a creamy white to pale yellow that deepens to a golden hue when cooked.  The Japanese sweet potato offers a nutty, slightly floral flavor with hints of chestnut and caramel and a drier, starchier texture than other sweet potato varieties.  Japanese sweet potatoes, botanically classified as Ipomoea batatas, are a member of the Convolvulaceae family.  Japanese sweet potatoes are rich and dense and are often eaten as a snack in Japan, where they are also known as Satsuma-imo.  In Japan and throughout Asia, Japanese sweet potatoes are also used to make noodles, sweets, and confectionaries, and are employed as a thickener in soups.  They are sometimes used to make shochu, a popular alcoholic beverage.  Japanese sweet potatoes contain fiber, thiamin, vitamins A and C, and trace amounts of protein.  Japanese sweet potatoes can be roasted, baked, boiled, stir-fried and steamed, and are often eaten with the skin on.  Japanese sweet potatoes are popularly used in tempura, curries, stews, and soups.  A very common dish is Imo Gohan, where Japanese sweet potatoes are sliced or cubed and steamed along with rice, flavoring it with its sweetness.  Daigaku Imo, another popular dish, cubes, deep-fried, and candies the sweet potato in a syrup of sugar and soy sauce, and is sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.  Complementary flavorings and pairings for Japanese sweet potatoes include vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, miso, scallions, carrots, apples, and chestnuts.  Japanese sweet potatoes will keep for up to a week when stored in a cool, dry, and dark place.  http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Japanese_Sweet_Potatoes_11777.php

Research has now proven that pigs can indeed fly under the right conditions . . .  these words were  accompanied by a picture of a "stuffed" pig sitting in a plane--using a seat belt of course.  Thank you, Muse reader!  Find the image at https://www.adweek.com/creativity/when-pigs-fly-geico-brings-back-maxwell-airplane-ad-146197/

People flocked to Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan to witness the blooming of a rare flower with a smell so horrendous, it's earned the name "Putricia."  The Amorphophallus titanum, commonly known as the “corpse flower," bloomed from July 11-13, 2018.  It was planted in 2000 as a seedling, and this is the first time it has bloomed in 18 years.  Now that the plant is large enough, it is expected to re-bloom in 3 to 5 years,  Blake Alsup  See graphics and video at https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/07/12/corpse-flower-blooms-first-time-meijer-gardens/779787002/  Putricia was 4.5 feet tall. 

The Austrian children's author Christine Nöstlinger died at the age of 81 years.  This was confirmed on July 13, 2018 by Residenz-Verlag in Vienna.  Born in Vienna, she has written over 150 books during her career.  With titles such as "We whistle on the cucumber king", "May bug fly!", "The fire-red Friederike" and the "Gretchen Sackmeier" series and the series "Stories of Franz" Nöstlinger is one of the most famous and important children's book authors in German-speaking countries.  Her work has been translated into 30 languages ​​and partly filmed.  Her numerous awards include the Hans Christian Andersen Prize and the Astrid Lindgren Prize.  Nöstlinger enjoyed great popularity not only with children but also with adults, for example her dialect poetry volumes "Iba de gaunz oaman Kinda" (1974), "Iba de gaunz oaman Fraun" (1982) and "Iba de gaunz oaman Mauna" (1987 ).  The author wrote scripts, plays, and worked as a literary critic for various media.  https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/christine-noestlinger-ist-tot-jugendbuchautorin-a-1218383.html&prev=search

July 12, 2018  Relics of Ireland's ancient past have been uncovered--thanks to the recent heatwave and drought.  Images captured by a drone show a previously undiscovered monument or henge close to the 5,000 year old Newgrange monument in County Meath.  Measuring up to 200m in diameter, it is believed to be a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age enclosure.  "The weather is 95% responsible for this find," said Anthony Murphy who found the site along with Ken Williams.  "The flying of the drone, knowledge of the area, and fluke make up the rest in this discovery," he said.  "There's more moisture in the field where the features of this site are and that's why the grass is greener.  "So it shows up nicely against the more yellow grass around it."  The discovery has been reported to Ireland's National Monument Service which holds details of almost 140,000 monuments.  "This is internationally significant and we now need to figure out what it means," said Steve Davis, an archaeologist at the University College Dublin.  "This one is quite significant--it has some characteristics that we've never seen before.  For example, the very odd double ditch sections that make up its circumference.  "It's one of a series of large monuments near Newgrange.  We don't know what the henges are for but it's thought they were meeting places.  "The confusing thing is why there are so many in one area.  "Nowhere else in the world has so many in one spot."  The monument is on private land and there are no plans to excavate it at the minute.  Barra Best  See pictures at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44801939

Located in north central Washington, two miles northeast of Stratford, Billy Clapp Lake offers visitors year round access to its deep blue waters.  Billy Clapp Lake is a part of the Columbia Basin Project built by the US Bureau of Reclamation to provide flood protection and irrigation capabilities to the thousands of acres in the Columbia River Basin and surrounding areas.  Millions of years ago, Ice Age glaciers carved deep grooves into the land as the glaciers traveled through the area creating a "coulee."  Volcanic eruptions filled some the coulees with volcanic basalt.  Convinced that whatever nature had done with ice and lava in prehistoric times, William "Billy" Clapp thought that man could duplicate nature with concrete and tools and was the first person to suggest damming the Columbia River.  Named for this man of foresight, Billy Clapp Lake is a natural coulee which was dammed on the lower south end by Pinto Dam to create this unique reservoir.  The majority of the shoreline is steep and rocky with high basalt walls. Water spills into Billy Clapp Lake from the Main Canal of the Columbia Basin Project, creating the scenic Summer Falls.  Read more see graphics

at https://www.lakelubbers.com/billy-clapp-lake-871/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1919  July 16, 2018   Thought for Today  Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something.  You count." - Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956)