RABBIT RECOGNITION  Nature Conservancy’s magazine’s cover story for Winter 2021 won a “highly commended”  award in the London Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.  Nature Conservancy magazine Winter 2022   

Nature Conservancy 2022 Photo Contest 

BRANCHING OUT  On either side of a highway, gullies formed by rainwater erosion span out like a tree in Tibet, an autonomous region in southwest China.  © Li Ping/TNC Photo Contest 2022

MANGROVE TREE  This photo was taken in Lamongan, East Java at sunset. Mangroves were planted to reduce the impact of abrasion around this area.  © Waluya Priya Atmaja/TNC Photo Contest

DRAGON BLOOD TREES  Dragon Blood Trees in a long exposure night photo.  These trees grow only in the high plateaus of Socotra Island.  © Cristiano Xavier/TNC Photo Contest  See images plus those of other winners at https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/photo-contest/2022-win   

Bialy (Yiddish: ביאלי), a Yiddish word short for bialystoker kuchen (Yiddish: ביאליסטאקער קוכען), from the city of Białystok in Poland, is a traditional bread roll in Polish Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.  A chewy yeast roll bearing similarity to the bagel, the bialy has a diameter of up to 15 centimetres (5.9 in).  Unlike a bagel, which is boiled before baking, a bialy is simply baked, and instead of a hole in the middle it has a depression.  Before baking, the depression is filled with diced onion and other ingredients, sometimes including garlic, poppy seeds, or bread crumbs.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bialy_(bread)   

Truman Capote, original name Truman Streckfus Persons, (1924-1984), American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright whose early writing extended the Southern Gothic tradition, though he later developed a more journalistic approach in the novel In Cold Blood (1965; film 1967), which, together with Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958; film 1961), remains his best-known work.  His parents were divorced when he was young, and he spent his childhood with various elderly relatives in small towns in Louisiana and Alabama.  (He owed his surname to his mother’s remarriage, to Joseph Garcia Capote.)  Capote’s later writings never approached the success of his earlier ones.  In the late 1960s he adapted two short stories about his childhood, “A Christmas Memory” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor,” for television.  The Dogs Bark:  Public People and Private Spaces (1973) consists of collected essays and profiles over a 30-year span, while the collection Music for Chameleons:  New Writing (1980) includes both fiction and nonfiction.  In later years Capote’s growing dependence on drugs and alcohol stifled his productivity.  Moreover, selections from a projected work that he considered to be his masterpiece, a social satire entitled Answered Prayers, appeared in Esquire in 1975–76 and raised a storm among friends and foes who were harshly depicted in the work (under the thinnest of disguises).  He was thereafter ostracized by his former celebrity friends.  The book, which had not been completed at the time of his death, was published as Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel in 1986.  Summer Crossing, a short novel that Capote wrote in the 1940s and that was believed lost, was published in 2006.   https://www.britannica.com/biography/Truman-Capote   

moniker  noun  "person's name, especially a nickname or alias," 1849, said to be originally a hobo term (but monekeer is attested in London underclass from 1851), of uncertain origin; perhaps from monk (monks and nuns take new names with their vows, and early 19c. British tramps referred to themselves as "in the monkery").  https://www.etymonline.com/word/moniker   

Gayl Jones, the highly acclaimed author who was first “discovered” and mentored by Toni Morrison, has twice disappeared from our sight.  The first time was after a stellar launch as one of America’s most daring and distinctive literary lights, after two brilliant novels (Corregidora and Eva’s Man) brought out by Morrison at Random House, and one slim but oh-so-astonishing story collection (White Rat), when she went into a self-imposed exile in France, from the late 1970s until the late 1990s.  In the interval, Gayl began sending me other manuscripts, a total of five others, which we have been publishing one by one as we finalize edits, designs, and roll them off the press.  Beacon is about to launch The Birdcatcher, which Publishers Weekly just hailed with these words in a starred review:  “Jones continues her marvelous run after last year’s Pulitzer finalist Palmares with the gloriously demented story of an artist who keeps trying to kill her husband,” and which the great minds at Powell’s have declared a “Pick of the Month.”  Here Gayl shifts from 17th-century Brazil to 20th-century Ibiza (and various US cities) for a very modern account of Black Americans in exile.  Helene Atwan  https://lithub.com/the-best-american-novelist-to-disappear-and-come-back-twice/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2598  November 30, 2022

Eighty-six or 86 is American English slang used to indicate that an item is no longer available, traditionally from a food or drinks establishment; or referring to a person or people who are not welcome in the premises.  Its etymology is unknown but seems to have been coined in the 1920s or 1930s.  The term is now more generally used to mean getting rid of someone or something.  In the 1970s, its meaning expanded to refer to murder.  It is often used in food and drink services to indicate that an item is no longer available or that a customer should be ejected.  Beyond this context, it is generally used with the meaning to 'get rid of' someone or something.  Walter Winchell wrote about this in 1933, in his syndicated On Broadway column.  In this, the code 13 meant that a boss was around, 81 was a glass of water and 86 meant "all out of it".  Professor Harold Bentley of Columbia University studied soda jerk jargon and reported other numeric codes such as 95 for a customer leaving without paying.  Author Jef Klein theorized that the bar Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street in the West Village of Lower Manhattan was the source.  His book The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York claims that the police would call Chumley's bar during prohibition before making a raid and tell the bartender to "86" his customers, meaning that they should exit out the 86 Bedford Street door, while the police would come to the Pamela Court entrance.  The 1947 song "Boogie Woogie Blue Plate", by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five, uses soda-jerk lingo, among which is "86 on the cherry pie".  The 1995 song "86" by Green Day is about them being rejected from their punk rock community when they started achieving commercial success.  The 2015 song "The Remedy" by Puscifer uses the termonology "Trolls get 86s" from the house if you don't respect its rules.  Agent 86 in the 1960s TV show Get Smart gets his code number from the term.  During the song "Feed Me (Git It!)" from Little Shop of Horrors, as "Audrey II", the plant, tempts Seymour Krelborn with offers of fortune and luxuries if he continues to feed it blood, the plant utters, "There must be someone you could 86, real quiet-like, and get me some lunch!"  The 2018 comedy crime film 86'd by Alan Palomo depicts five stories taking place at a 24-hour deli with a theme song composed under his Neon Indian moniker.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/86_(term)   

Benedict Cumberbatch, reading T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” and the recitation was entwined with music:  a score composed in the nineteen-seventies by the novelist Anthony Burgess, to accompany the poem.  Cumberbatch, keyed up by the piano and the other instruments arrayed behind him, took the lines at quite a tilt, slipping between accents like a quick-change artist donning pants and hats, and thus reminded us how funny this bitter poem can be.  Eliot’s sense of humor, whether savage, lugubrious, or droll, never lay far below the surface, and, as we honor the centenary of his most celebrated work, it’s worth bearing in mind his responses to a questionnaire that was sent out to a batch of poets, in July, 1922. “Do you think that poetry is a necessity to modern man?”  Eliot:  “No.”  “What in modern life is the particular function of poetry as distinguished from other kinds of literature?” Eliot:  “Takes up less space.”  Anthony  Lane  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/03/the-shock-and-aftershocks-of-the-waste-land   

The Perfect Beverage—Not Just For Plants  https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/issue-cartoons/cartoons-from-the-october-3-2022-issue   

Burrata originated from the Italian word burro, which implies butter, which hints at the richness of this stracciatella filled cheese.  Burrata is a fresh, soft Italian cheese created from cow and buffalo’s milk.  This white sphere of cheese has a delicate interior of cream and curd and an exterior shell of mozzarella.  Its smooth and flowy texture helps it stand out.  Burrata cheese always comes in a light brine of water and salt and that’s because it’s a fresh cheese.  That also means you need to pay attention to the expiration date as it usually doesn’t last for too long.  Mahy Elamin  Link to recipes using burrata cheese at https://www.twopurplefigs.com/burrata-cheese/   

The Morgan Library & Museum  225 Madison Avenue in Manhattan  Sunday, December 7, 2014   The Magic of Hans Christian Andersen  2–5 p.m.  2:15–2:45 p.m. & 3:30–4:00 2–5 p.m.  Christmas Present!  2–5 p.m.  3–5 p.m.  Calling All Ladies and Knights:  Photo Shoot in the Parlors  3–3:20 p.m.  A Christmas Carol Off the Shelves:  Reading in the Library  https://www.themorgan.org/programs/winter-family-day 

see you in the funny papers  interj  (US, humorous, informal, dated)  Goodbye; see you later.  The American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, who created the comic strip Peanuts, was born November 26, 100 years ago in 1922.  Wikipedia   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2597  November 28, 2022  

 

This is Edward Hopper’s New York, the emphasis is on the possessive, and for all its audience-friendly fare, this is a more challenging show about his rule of the city.  In paintings we know well and many we don’t, as well as some insightful works on paper and writing, the artist long labeled a realist becomes the architect of his own personal fantasy metropolis.  He almost completely dispenses with street life and traffic, ignoring skyscrapers and the Brooklyn Bridge, and inserting imaginary buildings where he pleases; he peeks into private homes from high rises and overlooks his own neighborhood from the rooftops.  He turns offices, restaurants and movie theaters into stages for just one or two actors.  He paints windows and shop fronts without glass, as if he could just reach in and touch the people and things inside.  In a revealing section of the exhibit, Hopper even takes on infamous urban planner Robert Moses over the remodeling of Washington Square Park.  For most of his life and career, Hopper resided at 3 Washington Square North, and judging from his correspondence with Moses and others, he seems to have viewed the park as his own backyard.  He first wrote an offended letter to Moses in 1936, complaining about the condition of the lawns and fencing that blocked the park’s greenery.  He later sent him a second, more urgent letter, fearing eviction from an expanding New York University, and received a condescending reply, suggesting he take his concerns up with the school chancellor.  Displayed near the letters are watercolors and works on paper made of Hopper’s roof with Washington Square in the background.  Air shafts, water towers, and chimneys crowd into these images, merging into a kind of surrogate skyline—a private mini-city.  “Hopper’s identification with this view signals his personal interest in this place, claiming not only the space he rented within the building but everything he could see from that vantage point,” writes exhibition curator Kim Conaty , in her catalog essay.  Organized by Conaty (who heads the museum’s drawings and prints department) with senior curatorial assistant Melinda Lang, the exhibition of around 200 objects interweaves recently acquired archival material with an impressive number of important paintings on loan from museums across the United States.  (One of the exhibition’s many revelations is that some of Hopper’s New York paintings are on view in other cities; “New York Office” is in the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and “Sunlight on Brownstones” is in the Wichita Art Museum.)  Hopper himself came to New York from the suburb of Nyack across the Hudson, commuting by ferry to art school before moving to East 59th Street in 1908 and finally settling in his longtime home on Washington Square in 1913.  His early oil sketches show the city as he saw it from the water, with huge ferry docks and a passing tugboat emitting smoke.  He was fascinated by bridges, particularly the Queensboro (as they were called in Hopper’s day) and Manhattan Bridges, which opened shortly after he moved to the city, as well as the Williamsburg and Macombs Dam Bridges already in use.  He depicted their steel girders and cantilevers and the view from their spans:  the grassy stretch of Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island), the tops of the apartment buildings jutting out over the Delancey Street ramp.  Liana Kramer  See Edward Hopper’s Fantasy Island at the Whitney until March 5, 2023 a t the Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, Manhattan; (212) 570-3600; whitney.org  https://localtoday.news/nj/point-pleasant-beach-boardwalk-named-one-of-njs-great-places-93336.html   

A fisherman from the U.K. caught a massive carp that looked like an irregularly sized goldfish in a lake in France earlier this month.  The bright orange fish weighed in at 67.4 lbs and was appropriately named The Carrot, according to Bluewater Lakes, which manages a lake in the Champagne region.  The angler who caught the fish, Andy Hackett, said it took a 25-minute battle to pull the giant carp out of the water, according to BBC News.  "You're gonna need a bigger bowl," was everyone's first thought, Hackett told BBC News.  The lake is known for its massive carp.  The Carrot is a hybrid of a leather carp and a koi carp and was introduced to the lake 20 years ago, according to BBC News.  Caitlin O’Kane  See video at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-fisherman-andy-hackett-giant-goldfish-the-carrot-67-pounds-bluewater-lakes-france/   

Earth now weighs six ronnagrams:  New metric prefixes voted in by Daniel Lawler  Say hello to ronnagrams and quettameters:  International scientists gathered in France voted on Nov. 18, 2022 for new metric prefixes to express the world's largest and smallest measurements, prompted by an ever-growing amount of data.  It marks the first time in more than three decades that new prefixes have been added to the International System of Units (SI), the agreed global standard for the metric system.  Joining the ranks of well-known prefixes like kilo and milli are ronna and quetta for the largest numbers—and ronto and quecto for the smallest.  The change was voted on by scientists and government representatives from across the world attending the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures, which governs the SI and meets roughly every four years at Versailles Palace, west of Paris.  https://phys.org/news/2022-11-earth-ronnagrams-metric-prefixes-voted.html   

Known to be the oldest consecutively run footrace in the world, the 127^th YMCA Turkey Trot is an 8k Thanksgiving Day tradition that attracts nearly 14,000 people of all ages and running abilities to the City of Buffalo each year.  Whether walking, jogging, or competitively running, the YMCA Turkey Trot offers all a high-spirited, fun-filled way to kick off your Thanksgiving holiday while supporting a great cause.  A variety of pre-race and race day volunteer opportunities are also available.  YMCA Turkey Trotters play a vital role in helping youth, families, and seniors connect with the resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive.  Proceeds raised from the Turkey Trot help fund vital YMCA programs and services that empower youth, improve community health, and provide support to our community’s most vulnerable.  YMCA Buffalo Niagara is a charitable community based organization committed to providing programs designed to build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.  https://stepoutbuffalo.com/event/127th-ymca-turkey-trot/   

The Return of the Wild Turkey by Jill Lepore  In New England, the birds were once hunted nearly to extinction; now they’re swarming the streets like they own the place.  Sometimes turnabout is fowl play.  Published in the print edition of the November 28, 2022 issue of The New Yorker, with the headline “Squawk on the Wild Side.”  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/the-return-of-the-wild-turkey   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2596  November 25, 2022 

Hope Springs Eternal is a phrase from the Alexander Pope poem An Essay on Man.  Link to references for Hope Springs Eternal in books, films and music at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Springs_Eternal#  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_Man   

Alexander Pope (1688 O.S.–1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century.  An exponent of Augustan literature, Pope is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, and for his translation of Homer.  After Shakespeare, Pope is the second-most quoted author in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, some of his verses having entered common parlance (e.g. "damning with faint praise" or "to err is human; to forgive, divine").  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope   

Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu created eight covers for the New Yorker.  See pictures at https://squareoneranch.com/ny/artist/GurbuzDoganEksioglu.php  Surrealist Eksioglu (signs his work as Gürbüz or Gurbuz) is a Turkish cartoonist and graphics designer.  He was born in Mesudiye in Ordu Province, Turkey in 1954.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCrb%C3%BCz_Do%C4%9Fan_Ek%C5%9Fio%C4%9Flu  See also https://www.jigidi.com/jigsaw-puzzle/ljwrwy3f/les-il-lustracions-de-gurbuz-dogan-eksioglu/   

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  retcon (RET-kon) noun  The introduction of new information to give a different interpretation of an established storyline.  From the first three letters of words in the phrase retroactive continuity.  Earliest documented use:  1988.  Arthur Conan Doyle was tired of Sherlock Holmes and killed him off in the story “The Final Problem” (1893).  Sherlock fans were not happy and the author was forced to bring the detective back in the story “The Adventure of the Empty House” (1903).  The retcon was that Sherlock was alive all this time--spoiler alert--he had simply faked his own death.   

humble pie/humble-pie  noun  (dated)  A pie made from the offal of deer or hog.  (idiomatic)  Humility, being humble. quotations ▼ The expression derives from umble pie, the original name of the offal meat pie, considered inferior food.  In medieval times the pie was often served to lower-class people.  Although "umbles" and the modern word "humble" are etymologically unrelated, each word has appeared both with and without the initial "h" after the Middle Ages until the 19th century.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/humble_pie#   

Persian Lamb Stew  The spiced meat is ultra tender, it flakes with a fork and melts in your mouth.  The basmati rice soaks up the yummy sauce, a perfect accompaniment to the stew.  As a bonus, this dish is gluten free.  It also contains a hefty dose of turmeric, a spice that has strong anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties.  What a treat!  https://toriavey.com/persian-lamb-stew-2/   eight servings  cook time 3 hours    

American artist Maurice Sendak had this uncanny ability to draw and paint while having a conversation, listening to the TV or music on the stereo or radio.  It was almost as if he needed to occupy one side of his brain to let the other side create.  While working, the only time he needed complete silence was when writing, which he said didn’t come as easily as drawing.   He didn’t have any formal education in art.  He chose from an early age to educate himself, to study and draw on his own.   While most kids would pin up athletes and movie stars on their bedroom walls, Maurice would pin magazine clippings of Titian and El Greco paintings.  He would spend countless hours sketching his family and the children playing in the streets outside his apartment window.  When Jonathan Weinberg suggested the Maurice Sendak Foundation should mount a retrospective of Maurice’s work it was an enthusiastic “Yes!”  Lynn Caponera is the President and Treasurer of the Maurice Sendak Foundation.   Excerpted from Wild Things Are Happening:  The Art of Maurice Sendak, edited by Jonathan Weinberg.  Copyright © 2022.  See many pictures at https://lithub.com/lynn-caponera-on-the-wild-and-wonderful-legacy-of-maurice-sendak/   

Easy Bread Pudding recipe by Jessica  https://fantabulosity.com/last-minute-bread-pudding/   

I like not only to be loved, but to be told that I am loved; the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. - George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (22 Nov 1819-1880)   

Poetry is a sort of homecoming. - Paul Celan, poet and translator (23 Nov 1920-1970)  See also https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/paul-celan   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2595  November 23, 2022 

truffle  (TRUHF-uhl, TROO-fuhl))  verb:  To stuff or to intersperse with something  noun:  1.  Any of various edible fungi that grow underground  2.  A soft, round candy made with chocolate, often coated with cocoa powder   From French truffe, probably from Latin tuber (swelling).  The verb intr. sense alludes to the search for underground truffles, traditionally with the help of pigs or dogs.  The transitive verb is from the stuffing of truffles in something being cooked. Earliest documented use:  noun 1591, verb 1868.  A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

August 4, 2020  The $140 million redevelopment of the old Cook County Hospital, a once-imperiled 1914 Beaux Arts edifice that once housed a hospital often described as “Chicago’s Ellis Island” due to its open-door policy of treating patients of all nationalities from all walks of life, is partially complete.  The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)-led adaptive reuse project was first announced in 2016 and broke ground two years later.  The 342,000 square foot complex includes two Hyatt-branded hotels with a combined 210 rooms, in addition to a large suite of medical offices, a museum dedicated to the legacy of the building, a daycare center, a 24-hour fitness facility, and what’s perhaps the country’s only food hall named in honor of a long-dead abdominal surgeon.  Although the Paul Gerhardt–designed building, added to the National Register of Historic Place in 2006, sat vacant in an increasingly advanced state of dilapidation for nearly two decades beginning in the early aughts when a new modern facility was built nearby and the teaching hospital was relocated, it remains the district’s cornerstone structure and a fabled part of Chicago history.  It also has some serious popular culture credentials, to boot.  In addition to loosely serving as the inspiration for the television show ER, the building has been featured in numerous films and shows.  And in 1996, Princess Diana visited the hospital’s pioneering AIDS ward while touring Chicago.  Matt Hickman  See graphics at https://www.archpaper.com/2020/08/transformation-of-chicagos-historic-cook-county-hospital-into-mixed-use-hotel-complex-complete/  See also https://www.archpaper.com/author/matt-hickman/   

Created in 1926 by linking a series of roughly east-west pre-existing roads and trails, Route 66 was originally established to provide a direct, year-round connection between the Midwest and the Pacific Coast.  Decommissioned in 1985, Route 66 remains a pop culture icon of titanic proportions.  The lure of the open road draws travelers from around the planet, and road trip adventures have been popularized in film, fiction, television, and song.  And despite a return to its origins as a hodgepodge of secondary highways and local routes, a trip down memory lane is still possible for anyone willing to spend the time mapping out directions. “Although it is no longer an official U.S. highway,” says Webb, “in many of the smaller towns, Route 66 is still the biggest economic generator.”  As such, the National Trust is partnering with Route 66 business owners and enthusiasts, nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies to invigorate this long stretch of Americana.  By commemorating Route 66 and capitalizing on its cultural value, once-prosperous towns along the Mother Road may thrive again.  Today, although it’s true that U.S. Route 66 no longer officially exists, that’s just a technicality.  The people won’t let its spirit die.  Travelers, Route 66 devotees known as “roadies,” business owners, historians, and entire towns maintain and shape the Mother Road’s lore.  The places on Route 66 compose a quirky, complicated, brightly hued slice of Americana.  Dennis Hockman  See pictures at https://savingplaces.org/stories/traveling-route-66-reflections-from-one-of-the-worlds-most-fabled-stretches-of-blacktop#.Y1sK53bMKUk   

Today both -archy and -cracy are centrally associated with the idea of ruling.  Michael Quinion, Ologies and Isms: Word Beginnings and Endings (Oxford, 2002) has this to say about the suffixes:  -cracy Also -crat, -cratic, and -cratical. Government, rule, or influence [Greek kratia, power or rule.]  Many forms ending in -cracy have been coined, though only a small number are at all well known; most can mean either a system of influence or rule or a society so ruled, as with democracy, rule through elected representatives; a few can also refer to the rulers as a group, as with aristocracy (Greek aristos, best), rule by members of the highest social class.  -archy  Also -arch.  Government; rule of a particular type; a chief or ruler. [Greek arkhes, ruler; arkhein, to rule.]  Words in -archy are abstract nouns for types of government, leadership, or social influence or organization.  They correspond to nouns in -arch for a person or people who rule or command in that way.  For example, a monarch (Greek monos, alone or single) is a sovereign head of state, in a type of government called monarchy.  https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/215677/is-there-a-general-rule-for-which-types-of-nouns-end-in-archy-vs-cracy   

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris and the Musée Matisse Nice, is presenting the first major exhibition ever dedicated to the pivotal decade of the 1930s in the art of Henri Matisse (1869–1954), one of the giants of twentieth-century art.  Opening first in Philadelphia, the only United States venue, Matisse in the 1930s contains about 140 works from public and private collections in the United States and Europe, ranging from both renowned and rarely seen paintings and sculptures, to drawings and prints, to illustrated books.  It also features documentary photographs and films.  The exhibition, open through Jan. 29, 2023, will be accompanied by a lavishly illustrated scholarly catalogue.  Find location and hours at https://press.philamuseum.org/three-major-institutions-collaborate-to-present-first-major-exhibition-devoted-to-matisse-in-the-1930s/   

As ever more digital data is created and stored, the world needs more unit measurements to keep up with the ever-expanding numbers.  To do so, the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures on November 18, 2022 introduced four new prefixes to the International System of Units, or metric system:  ronna (27 zeroes after the first digit) and quetta (30 zeroes), which are now at the top of the measurement range, and ronto (27 zeroes after the decimal point) and quecto (30 zeroes), which are now at the bottom.  "Most people are familiar with prefixes like milli- as in milligram," Richard Brown, head of metrology at the U.K.'s National Physical Laboratory who proposed the four new prefixes, told The Associated Press.  "But these [new additions] are prefixes for the biggest and smallest levels ever measured."  Ashley Ahn  https://www.npr.org/2022/11/19/1137985619/metric-system-measurement-prefix   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2594  November 21, 2022 

CHADDS FORD, PA – The North American Land Trust (NALT) June 14, 2022 announced that it has opened Brinton Run Preserve in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, an historic tract of the Battle of Brandywine where American and British forces fought on September 11, 1777.  The American Battlefield Trust previously identified the historic battlefield site as one of the most important unprotected tracts of the Brandywine Battlefield.  Now, the battlefield and its natural resources at Brinton Run Preserve will be open to the public and protected forever.  Brinton Run Preserve is the first public preserve owned and managed by NALT, a national land trust that has protected more than 136,000 acres in its 30-year history.  The preserve offers two loop trails of approximately 1.5 miles for walking or jogging through the formerly agricultural fields of Brinton Run Preserve.  See pictures at https://northamericanlandtrust.org/nalt-opens-historic-brinton-run-preserve-to-the-public/

The Brinton 1704 House is a restored Quaker home located in Delaware County near West Chester, Pennsylvania.  The 1704 House is operated as an historic museum and is open for tours on Saturdays and Sundays from May 1 to October 31.  Please contact us ahead of your planned tour.  The Brinton 1704 House is unique because it is one of the oldest and best restored houses in the United States.  The House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968.  For additional information and documentation please visit the record hierarchy through the Pennsylvania catalog archives at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994175   The interior of the House, which you will see on your tour, is furnished authentically and boasts many special items, including period furniture, leaded-casement windows, and an indoor bake oven.  The stone walls of the House are twenty-two inches thick.  The House resembles medieval English architectural style.  The House was built in 1704 when Pennsylvania was still a colony of Great Britain. The Brintons were Quakers, and William Brinton, Sr. (1635–1700) moved to the colony of Pennsylvania with his wife and son to escape religious persecution in England.  https://www.brintonfamily.org/copy-of-our-mission   

Maafe (West African Peanut Soup)– A spicy peanut stew made with beef, sweet potatoes and carrots–good enough for a one pot meal and is delicious with served with rice.  Maafe –aka groundnut soup, to most West Africans, is a dish that is beginning to earn its way in the upper echelons of the soup universe.  Find recipe by Imma serving 4 at https://www.africanbites.com/maafe-west-african-peanut-soup/

Loren Long is the author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling picture books Otis, Otis and the Tornado, Otis and the Puppy, An Otis Christmas, Otis and the Scarecrow and Otis and the Kittens.  He is the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of President Barack Obama's picture book Of Thee I Sing, Matt de la Pena’s Love, the re-illustrated edition of The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, and Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna.  Loren's new edition of Clement C. Moore’s The Night Before Christmas is a modern, more inclusive take on the classic.  His most recent works are Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler and the picture book, Change Sings written by Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman.   https://lorenlong.com/   

Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879) is best known for creating the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”  However, her work extends far beyond her writing.  Her influence can be seen in historic sites and a famous national holiday still widely celebrated today.  Sarah Josepha Hale was born on October 24^th, 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire. Her parents were strong advocates for education of both sexes.  Therefore, Hale was taught well beyond the normal age for a woman.  Later, she married a lawyer David Hale, who supported her in all scholarly endeavors.  Sadly, her husband died after only nine years of marriage, leaving Hale a widow with five children.  She turned to poetry as a form of income.  Her most famous book, titled Poems for Our Children included a beloved story from her childhood.  “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was instantly a popular nursery rhyme.  In 1837, she became the editor of the Godey’s Lady’s Book.  Hale used her persuasive writings to support the creation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday.  Beginning in 1846, she charged the president and other leading politicians to push for the national celebration of Thanksgiving, which was then only celebrated in the Northeast.  Her requests for recognition were largely ignored by politicians until 1863.  While the nation was in the middle of the Civil War, President Lincoln signed into action “A National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”  Hale’s letter to Lincoln is often cited as the main factor in his decision.  https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sarah-hale    

Thanksgiving Antique Postcard Greeting
likely between 1890 and 1920  https://www.jigidi.com/jigsaw-puzzle/13b5mdxd/thanksgiving-antique-postcard-greeting/   

The National Book Awards returned in person for the first time since 2019 on November 16, 2022 at their usual location of Cipriani Wall Street in New York City’s financial district.  Presiding over the evening’s award ceremony was author, producer, and television host Padma Lakshmi, who donned a button supporting the members of the HarperCollins Union, who were demonstrating outside the venue.   Upon taking the stage, Lakshmi, a force in the culinary world, professed the parallels between gastronomy and literature.  “I believe that food, like books, can tell a story, by creating a sense memory, capturing a feeling, sharing our identities, and transporting us with the right combination of ingredients,” Lakshmi said.  “I’m struck by the way books can also feed us, by sparking new ideas, exposing us to new people and culture, and expanding our understanding of the world.”  Sophia Stewart   See winners at https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/90943-gunty-keene-perry-schweblin-tahir-win-2022-national-book-awards.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2593  November 18, 2022