Grab Bag Friday: Creature Comforts

Have you seen the new show Creature Comforts? I'm quickly becoming a huge fan. Created by the same people who made the hilarious Wallace and Gromit shorts & features, Creature Comforts is a 1/2 hour claymation "reality show." The concept is brilliant. Aardman sent people all over the US, interviewing regular people about various topics (zoos, flying, self-image, relationships). Then, they took those "Voices of Your Fellow Americans", and created claymation animals to match them. The results are great fun: pigs who dream of flying, a hippo who complains about always being weighed by skinny girls, a penguin who complains of always being cold.

The idea is based on an original short film that Aardman created in 2003 (which you can watch online...see below). The TV show has been running in the UK for a couple seasons...this is the first time they've done an American version, with all new characters and interviews.

On the US website you can:

• Watch the original short film (this is great!)
  
• Read the animators' blog: Eyeballs and Fishlips (it's fun to see pictures of the *real* people behind the animal characters)

On the UK website you can click on the "Making Of" where you can learn all kinds of interesting tidbits:

• The show is unscripted and unrehearsed
• The interviewees do not know what animal they will be until the actual broadcast
• The characters/animals are created to fit the voices (not the other way around)
• The animators use between 10 and 20 different mouths for different emotions
• The animators film between 3-5 seconds of material per day
• It takes four days to film one 15 second shot!

UPDATE: Can you believe they took this off the air *already*????? This was one of the few really different, really engaging shows that I was enjoying! Sheesh. I should have known that meant it was doomed. :)

If you liked the show as much as I did, click here for a list of people at CBS to email with your comments. Boy, what a typical display of media mogul knuckleheadedness.

Carter Little: Dare to Be Small

My friend Carter arrived last night from Nashville, and we're getting ready to go into the studio to finish up my most recent project, American Songs vol. 2. It's an absolute luxury to have Carter on the project...his effortless skills on guitar and soaring, melancholy-tinged vocals add so much texture to these traditional songs. I can't wait for you to hear it!

In the meantime, if you'd like to check out Carter's impressive solo debut album, Dare to Be Small, it's available on Amazon and iTunes. I'm partial to the hauntingly pretty songs Delicate and Fall.

You can also listen to a streaming version of songs from the album (including Fall, plus some bonus songs and some songs from Saddlesong, Carter's 2002 collaboration with his brother), sign up for his mailing list, view pictures, watch videos, read lyrics, and all that cool jazz on his website: www.carterlittle.net.

In the press, Carter has been compared to Wilco, Elliot Smith, Damien Rice, Michael Stipe, Roy Orbison, and my very favorite: "John Mayer without the icky factor" (that brilliant line is from Better Propaganda).

Alice Munro: The Bear Came Over the Mountain

Away From Her, the film adaption of Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" is coming to our little arthouse theater soon. I love Alice Munro, so naturally I was poking around the internet to read some reviews, and I came across some very interesting things.

Most importantly:
You can read the entire story online for free at The New Yorker. For real. This is really phenomenal (thanks to The Kenyon Review for the link!) The Bear Came Over the Mountain is a story about an older, married couple dealing with Alzheimer's. Print it out and save it for a quiet morning with a cup of tea. As with most Alice Munro stories, multiple layers unfold slowly with extreme attention to detail, and even the smallest moments are both complex and very simple. It's beautiful.

A couple recent movie reviews in:
The Kenyon Review
NPR
The Chutry Experiment
The Virtual World
The Montreal Mirror

Interviews:
Filmmaker Sarah Polley on NPR's Fresh Air (audio)
Sarah Polley at Dark Horizons (blog)
Alice Munro in The Virginia Quarterly Review (on her most recent short story collection, The View from Castle Rock)

Grab Bag Friday: Microcosmos...bugs, bugs, bugs!

My friend Amy was just telling me about the gross, slimy, white grubs she found in her garden bed this week. With summer in full bloom, and insects everywhere, I couldn't help but come to my blog and recommend that you go out and rent Microcosmos for a fresh perspective on all those bugs that are now in your life.

I first saw Microcosmos on the big screen in the theater, and it is totally amazing. Made by the same team that created Winged Migration, this is an entirely wordless documentary about bugs. I know. It sounds about as fun as watching ants march across your driveway. But I loved this movie so much, I have actually watched it multiple times since I saw it in the theater.

Talk about a piece of art that engages your sense of wonder! Using specially adapted cameras, the filmmakers get up close and personal with the daily life of all kinds of different insects. We get to see, for all intents and purposes, what it's like to be the size of a bug...what happens when it rains, when it's windy, when a larger bug (or a bird) comes onto the scene. We get to see how beautiful (or very strange) some of these bugs truly are. Some of the footage is funny, some is actually poignant. As described on Alternative Movies (where you can apparently download the movie in parts for free...which is kind of cool, but frankly, getting it on Netflix seems a whole lot easier):

Microcosmos offers passionate kisses and kinky sex, swashbuckling duels and mass suicide, water bomb attacks and genocide, undercover operations and natural cooling systems. Nonetheless it's suitable for children, complete with an amazing candy factory and a black Sisyphus.

While I liked Winged Migration, I loved Microcosmos a whole lot more. Even though there are no words, there is somehow more to it. More times when I gasped in horror, or sat entranced, completely hushed by the fall of rain or the simple beauty of a moth spreading its wings.

I will say that if you have a severe aversion to insects, this may not be the movie for you. My husband made me fast forward a lot of the "gross" parts, and got very pale when the camera focused in on some wasp larvae. But I think a mild comfort level with bugs is all that is necessary. Besides, squealing and writhing in disgust is half the fun!

How to Compost Interlude: The Napkin Change

Moisture Matters. I think one of the reasons it's taking so long for our compost is that it's been too dry. Remember when I wrote about how it's supposed to be as wet as a wrung out sponge, and I believe my exact words were:

Now, I highly doubt I will be reaching into the tumbler full of rotting garbage and squeezing it to test the water level.

Well, guess what I did yesterday? You bet. And even with all the rain we've had, our rotting garbage was not nearly as wet as a wrung out sponge. Dry dry dry. So I put some water in (hopefully not too much) and I'm hoping that will help.

The napkin change. So for the newest waste-reducing change in our house, we are finally putting some use to all the pretty cloth napkins that people gave us for our wedding, years ago.

We've been using (and throwing away) paper towels as napkins for years & years, and now we're going to switch to cloth. Toss them in the wash with the rest of the laundry and reuse them. Again, seems so simple that I'm a little embarrassed I haven't been doing it all along, but hey. I come around eventually.

Weed out the Weeds. Here's an interesting post over at Green Options about non-chemical ways to get rid of weeds. Warning: she does say that the best way is still to pull them by hand. But there are other helpful tips and suggestions as well.

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

Chet Baker: I Fall in Love Too Easily

It's another dark, rainy June day here in Maine. The kind of day that makes you want to curl up on the couch with a soft blanket and a cup of tea and stay in your pajamas all day. On this kind of day, I always reach for my Chet Baker albums.

I know a lot of people think of the trumpet when they think of Chet Baker, but what I love is when he sings. His voice is somehow both sad, melancholy and reassuring, even soothing. His open, understated tone (almost reminiscent of Betty Carter at times) is just right for rained-in or snowed-in days.

And I think my most-loved Chet Baker tunes is his version of I Fall in Love Too Easily.

This gorgeous song was written in 1945 by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (boy, did those two write a lot of great songs), and a quick Wikipedia search tells me that it was first heard sung by Frank Sinatra in the movie Anchors Aweigh. This kind of surprised me, because what I remember is discovering "I Fall in Love" through Chet Baker's version, years ago. But the reality is that as a child, I must have watched Anchors Aweigh at least 25 times (that's probably a severe underestimate). So I must have been predisposed to the song long before I ever heard Chet Baker sing. Ah, Wikipedia. A modern tool for self-discovery.

I fall in love too easily
I fall in love too fast
I fall in love too terribly hard
For love to ever last

My heart should be well-schooled
'Cause I've been burned in the past
And still I fall in love too easily
I fall in love too fast

I fall in love too easily
I fall in love too fast
I fall in love too terribly hard
For love to ever last

Cynthia Lord: Rules

I know that I'm behind the times. It's been well over a year since Cynthia Lord's book Rules came out, and about six months since it received the American Library Association's prestigious Newbery Honor Award for her "distinguished contribution to American literature for children." My favorite kidlit bloggers published their thoughtful, insightful reviews ages ago. And I just read the book this weekend.

Rules, simply put, is a story of a young girl trying to find her place in family, friendships, and life, while also figuring out how to deal with her younger brother's autism and all the unusual pressure and demand that condition can put on a family. This may not sound like light reading, but Cynthia Lord's humor and honesty and real, three-dimensional characters make the chapters fly by and you hardly want to put the book down. (As evidenced by this Sunday morning when my husband said, "Let's make pancakes!"...which is usually enough to make me drop whatever I'm doing and immediately dash for the kitchen...and instead I mumbled absently, "Mmmm...maybe after I finish this chapter. Or the next.")

I don't want to say much because you really should just read it, but here is one of the details I loved most about this book:

Catherine, the main character, is constantly writing rules for her brother, David, so "at least he'll know how the world works, and I won't have to keep explaining." Some of Catherine's life rules include:

• If someone says "hi," you say "hi" back.
• Not everything worth keeping has to be useful.
• No toys in the fish tank.
• Pantless brothers are not my problem.

While some of these rules are written out of adolescent frustration, there are some rules that are incredibly poignant and show a real, deep love. For instance, David often has trouble finding words to express himself, so Catherine writes him these two rules:

• If you don't have the words you need, borrow someone else's.
• If you need to borrow words, Arnold Lobel wrote some good ones.

So throughout the book, Catherine and David, quote to each other from Andrew Lobel's Frog and Toad books, almost like a secret language between brother and sister.

"Dad's still coming," I say. "Late doesn't mean not coming."

But those words don't help. So I reach over, wipe away his tear with the side of my thumb, and say the only words I know will calm him: "'Frog, you are looking quite green.'"

David sniffles. "'But I always look green,' said Frog. 'I am a frog.'"

This is what makes the book so lovely. The relationships. The very real, honest quality of Catherine's interactions with her brother, her father, the new girl next door, the boy she meets in the waiting room of David's occupational therapy appointments. This is not a drama about how difficult it is to live with autism. This is a book about growing up. About families. And as Cynthia Lord (who lives in Maine!) wrote on her website (totally worth checking out) in answer to a 5th grader's question about why she chose to write about autism:

Life is long and challenges come into every family, even if you don’t start life with them. RULES is about accepting there is value in everything, even in imperfection. Sometimes things can’t be changed, but you can change your feelings about them.

According to Booklist, Rules is geared for grades 4-7, but I think there's something here for all ages. I think a younger child would enjoy having this read out loud, and obviously I enjoyed reading it as an adult. (I did eventually get to those pancakes, too!)

Grab Bag Friday: Chicken Soba Salad

This is a quick, easy, healthy, & delicious recipe I got from Cooking Light Magazine and modified a bit to my liking. It's a great summer meal because it's tasty hot or cold. The chicken only takes about 15 minutes to cook, but you can use rotisserie chicken if you're pressed for time (just don't get the kind with the seasoning). You can find soba noodles at your natural foods store, in the "World" section (or maybe the noodle section) of your grocery store, or at any Asian grocery. Enjoy!

Chicken Soba Salad

2 cups water
2 (6-oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (I've substituted with white wine vinegar, I'm sure others would work well, too)
4 tablespoons peanut oil (I've also used sesame oil, olive oil, and even canola with good results)
4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1-2 garlic cloves (minced)
1-2 teaspoons of chopped jalepeno (Depending on how much zest you like. Use hot sauce if you don't have a pepper)
2 cups cooked soba noodles (about 4 oz. uncooked)
1 cup grated or chopped carrot
1/2-3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4-1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
4 teaspoons chopped unsalted peanuts (optional)

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan, and discard peppercorns, bay leaf, and cooking liquid. Shred chicken; place in a large bowl.

2. Cook soba noodles according to package directions.

3. Combine vinegar and next 5 ingredients (vinegar through jalepeno), stirring with a whisk. Pour over chicken; let stand 5 minutes. Add soba noodles and the next 4 ingredients (noodles through chopped basil) to chicken mixture and toss well. Sprinkle with peanuts. Garnish with lime wedges. Yield: 3-4 servings.

Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Stafford, Benny Goodman, Harry James, and Red Norvo!

Man, do I love YouTube! Check this out. According to some of the comments, this is a short clip from an hour long Texaco-sponsored show called "Swing into Spring" recorded in 1958. Lots of my favorite masters of melody...Benny Goodman on clarinet, Harry James on trumpet, Red Norvo on vibes, Ella Fitzgerald *and* Jo Stafford on vocals...all in one room! I've always wished I could go back in time to the big band/swing era...could you imagine seeing these guys live? Or even in real-time on your television? I'd even take that.

And to top it all off, Ella Fitzgerald starts off with one of my favorite songs, "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues." (I'm partial to the Lena Horne version...you can listen to it on iTunes here.)

Ella & Jo even sing together a little on "St. Louis Blues" for the finale. Very very cool.

Jon Scieszka: Guys Read

I'm teaching a fiction workshop for 4-6th graders this summer, and while trying to choose a balanced mix of books to use as examples, I came across a very cool website: Guys Read. (Thanks to Fuse #8 for pointing me in the right direction!)

Guys Read was created by author John Scieszka, perhaps best known for the Time Warp Trio Series and his wildly clever "fractured fairy tales" such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. According to Mr. Scieszka:

• A lot of boys are having trouble reading.
• The U.S. Department of Education reading tests for the last 30 years show boys scoring worse than girls in every age group, every year.
• Eighth grade boys are 50 percent more likely to be held back than girls.
• Two-thirds of Special Education Students in high school are boys.

Guys Read is a web-based literacy program for boys. At Guys Read, you can:

• See book recommendations for guys of all age groups
• Suggest your own book recommendations
• Learn about how to start a Guys Read group in your home town

You can read an interview with Jon Scieszka about Guys Read on the popular blog, Bookslut. Here's a great clip:

What are some things that parents can do in order to get their kids to enjoy reading?

Two things they can do most readily and easily is to, one, accept a really broad range of reading, and when your kid is reading newspapers and magazines, encourage that as reading. Information books, computer textbooks, reading online -- that's all reading, and that's a good thing. And then the second thing, that I think is hugely important, is [providing] some kind of male role model. Dads and brothers just have to get involved, because I think that it does so much, in so many more positive ways than what we've done before. When I was teaching I found that, too.

I was in second grade, when I started teaching, and some of my boys just took off as readers. And it was nothing particularly special that I did, it was just being there. Because I think they thought, "Oh, you can be a reader if you're a guy; you're not going to turn into a girl." Which I think is some weird kind of subconscious fear of theirs.

I think, through our culture and society, we're giving (kids) this message that reading is more of a feminine activity, because when you look around, it's your mom who is reading to you early on, it's women in the elementary school, it's women librarians, or women in publishing, too. And I think guys just subconsciously sort of absorb that message and go, "Oh yeah, this isn't for me."

I should mention that Jon Scieszka's regular website is fun to explore, too. (Definitely play the "Official Jon Scieszka Pronunciation Guide" clip for a chuckle.)

Grab Bag Friday: Capt'n Eli's Strawberry Pop

I have been known to make my husband drive to 5 different grocery stores and gas stations looking for *deelicious* Maine-made Capt'n Eli's Root Beer, which is about as good as root beer gets. So last weekend when we went over to Bootleggers (a new beverage shop in the area) and they featured the new line of Capt'n Eli's Soda Pops, I simply had to bring some home.

We tried two kinds: lemon-lime, and strawberry. I originally set out to write this post telling you how absolutely tasty the Strawberry Pop is (and it *is* tasty). But in doing so, I went over to the Capt'n Eli's website (where you *can* order soda online) and was taken entirely by surprise. This is not your ordinary soda pop website.

Artist Jay Piscopo has created an entire online comic book universe called The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli. Here's a blurb from the site:

This on-going story revives the spirit of the daily adventure comic strip by updating classic themes for a new audience. The stories bring back the feeling of childhood adventure when comics were a nickel, you could buy root beer floats at the neighborhood drug store, and your imagination could propel you anywhere.

The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli is definitely in the style of old classic comics like Super Friends and Jonny Quest. Personally, these aren't my favorite kinds of comics to read, but the whole thing is pretty cool, and it makes me like Capt'n Eli's even more.

Other unexpected things you can do on the site:

• Learn about how submarines work
• Learn how to tie a bowline knot
• Play Capt'n Eli online games (only most of the games don't work...at least not on my computer)

Back to the soda pop:

BeverageNet has a recent review of Capt'n Eli's Blueberry Soda, which I was unfortunately too skeptical to try. I'll have to go pick some up this weekend since they gave it 4.5 stars!

How to Compost Interlude: The Leftover Change

Here's just another small change we've been making in our house to try to reduce the amount of non-compostable waste we produce.

In the past, our leftovers went in ziploc bags or got covered up with saran wrap, right? Well, of course those bags and wrap would go straight into the trash when the leftovers were gone.

So now I've been saving big yogurt containers and other reusable plastic containers (the feta cheese containers are good ones because you can see through them) and trying to put all our leftovers in those, then wash and reuse them.

It seems almost too simple to even write about, but I was stuck in the ziploc habit because it seemed so convenient. As it turns out, using a small little container isn't really much more difficult. And it's not only reducing the amount of trash we're creating, it's also reusing some of the plastic that already comes into our house. Things my grandmother used to do to save a little cash always turn out to be smart in more ways than one.

In other news, here is a great post on 10 Tips for Organic Gardening with Children (thanks to Sustainable Table blog for the link!)

Here is the complete How to Compost series in case you'd like to catch up or review:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

John Lee Hooker: Boom Boom

Like a lot of Americans, Kevin and I spent Memorial Day weekend outside doing yard work. And when you're digging a bunch of four foot post holes and moving dirt from one end of the yard to the other, there's nothing like some good, tough blues to keep you going. So we blasted John Lee Hooker most of Monday. Check out this video of Boom Boom I found on YouTube. I've never seen footage of his guitar playing, and it's pretty darn cool to watch him break it down.

Grab Bag Friday: Garden Plans

It's Memorial Day weekend, which to me means parades, barbecue, friends, and probably lots of yard work!

Now, I have always loved to garden. I like to be outside quietly mucking around in the dirt. I love worms and soil under my fingernails, and I love watching things grow. But I'm not a great gardener. I tend to overwater and underwater in phases. I'm good at pulling weeds, but I sometimes pull up plants. I've planted shade plants in the sun, and sun plants in the shade. Even still, things turn out ok in the end, generally.

But this week, I came across something that blew my mind. This may be cheating to some of you master gardeners, but for someone who loved Paint-By-Numbers as a child, it's a dream come true.

Better Homes & Gardens has an entire line of free
garden plans on their website. This is truly Paint-By-Numbers for the amateur gardener. For instance, click on Beginner Garden for Full Sun. You will find a detailed planting guide that has:

• A list of plants
• A list of alternate plants that might be better suited to your region
• A chart of exactly where to plant each plant (accounting for plant heights and when each plant will be in flower so you have color all season long)
• Instructions on planting, watering, mulching, aftercare
• Reviews from other readers who have tried this plan

This is brilliant. Now I just have to pick out which plan I'm going to try out first!

As a special, extra long-weekend treat, here's a really cute post from the new blog Confessions of a Trophy Husband. Enjoy!

How to Compost Interlude: The Sponge Change

The sponge example: Ok, this one might just be fun for me, but I thought I'd share it anyway. You know those heavy duty power sponges, the dual kind that have sponge on the bottom and hard scrubby surface on the top that will take an inch of grease & grime off a pan that has been sitting in the sink for a month? As you know, I have a meticulously clean husband, and as soon as that sponge starts to think about harboring germs, it gets tossed (there is actually research to support his habit). And these highly synthetic sponges, of course, are not biodegradable.

So I went down to our local sustainable goods store and got these supercool biodegradable "pop-up" sponges. Here's what's cool about them: they come in the size and shape of a popsicle-stick, and when you put them under water they expand into a sponge--just like those little sponge-pills you used to get as a kid that turned into an animal or a boat when submerged in water. It's awesome. Oh, and they can go right in your composter. (I tried to find a picture online with no luck, so you'll have to use your imagination, or go down to your natural foods store to see if they have some.)

It's not quite as heavy duty on the scrubbing action as the old sponges, but so far, I haven't had anything it couldn't clean.

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

PBS American Masters: Ahmet Ertegun

Earlier this month, PBS did an American Masters special on Ahmet Ertegun, one of the founders of Atlantic Records. I wasn't around to watch it at the time, but (thanks to the magic of Tivo) I watched it last night and it was fascinating.

Ahmet Ertegun was born in Istanbul and came to the US in the 1930s when his father became the Turkish ambassador to the US. Instead of following his father's footsteps into diplomacy, he got a loan from a family dentist and founded Atlantic Records (a foray into a whole other kind of diplomacy).

The most amazing thing about watching the special is to see the impeccable ear for talent that Ahmet Ertegun had. He first and foremost loved music, which is unfortunately not often the case with the CEOs that run today's music business. Among the many Atlantic Records musicians he signed and worked with, you may recognize some of these young upstarts:

• Big Joe Turner
• Ray Charles
• Aretha Franklin
• Bobby Darin
• Cream
• Crosby, Stills, and Nash
• Led Zeppelin
• Phil Collins
• Bette Midler
• Kid Rock
• Gnarls Barkley

On the American Masters website, you can read all about the making of Atlantic, and view all sorts of interesting video clips of Ahmet talking about his philosophy on what makes a hit song, his love of Miles Davis, missing out on signing The Beatles, and more. If you missed the special, and didn't Tivo it, the website is a good substitute.

Ahmet Ertegun died last year, while the American Masters special was in production. He died at the age of 83 from injuries suffered after falling backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in New York City. Now how's that for poetry?

Karen Hesse: Come On, Rain!

I vaguely remember this picture book coming out around 2000, and receiving some acclaim, but I never picked it up until this week. And I'm glad I finally did.

The story is very simple: it's a hot, heavy summer day, and the main character is longing for rain. When it finally comes, she and her friends put on their bathing suits and dance around in the streets. Even the mothers quit their gardening and other work and join in the celebration.

The watercolor illustrations are stunning (you may know Jon Muth as the one who was recently responsible for the gorgeous illustrations in The Three Questions). The pages nearly waver with the hazy, wavy heat, and practically wash away with the rain. The prose is elegant and poetic and fresh. But best of all, it is a quietly beautiful story of celebration, and renewal, and coming together as a community. It calls each and every one of us to take a moment out of our busy, heavy lives to appreciate and enjoy the miracle and beauty in everyday wonders like rain.

"We sure did get a soaking, Mamma," I say,
and we head home,
purely soothed,
fresh as dew,
turning toward the first sweet rays of the sun.

Author Karen Hesse won the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2002 and is probably most well-known for her Newberry Award-winning young adult novel Out Of The Dust (which I have yet to read). Among other young adult fiction, she has also written Stowaway, a diary-style young adult novel based on the true story of a young boy who stows away on Captain John Cook's ship in the 1700's (I did read this one and enjoyed the tale).

Grab Bag Friday's Movie Vault: Hayley Mills in Summer Magic

It's going to be a cold, rainy weekend here in Maine...perfect for curling up with popcorn and a movie in the middle of the day. And thanks to one of my favorite inventions of the internet age, Netflix, I can easily rent all my most favorite, most obscure movies from childhood (as long as someone has gone to the trouble to release them on DVD.)

Case in point: Summer Magic.

It will become quite clear to those of you who continue to read Please Come Flying that I had a bit of a childhood obsession with Hayley Mills. How could you not? Her characters are spunky, clever, a little willful, and always have "scathingly brilliant" ideas. And if that wasn't enough, her charming accent just puts you over the edge!

So, I will try to be brief though I'm already tempted to blather on about a hundred little details. Suffice it to say, this is a charming, well-built movie that some might peg as a fluffy Disney vehicle for Hayley Mills. I do not deny the fluff. All Hayley Mills' childhood movies have fluff...that is what they are. But it's very, very lovable fluff.

The basic story is about a family that moves from Boston to Beulah, Maine (perhaps this was an early trigger of my later desire to move to Maine?) under some interesting circumstances and due to various mistaken identities, well-intentioned lies, and other entanglements, lighthearted comedy ensues. As with all of my favorite Hayley Mills movies, the story is a good one, well-crafted, and surprisingly unpredictable for the genre. What I didn't know until recently is that the movie is based on a book, Mother Carey's Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggins (of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm fame), which I am now going to have to check out.

Burl Ives plays the soft-hearted postmaster, and of course there are some songs. Highlights include:
The Ugly Bug Ball (which accompanies an odd nature-scene interlude that my siblings used to fast forward through)
On the Front Porch (my personal favorite)
Femininity, a hilarious family favorite which my sisters and I still delight in singing to each other in (very bad) Hayley Mills accents:
You must walk feminine, talk feminine
Smile and be girl feminine
Utilize your femininity
That's what every girl should know
If you want to catch a beau!

!!!! I was just searching around to see if there happened to be clips of these songs that I could post for you, and I just found out that you can actually download the entire soundtrack on iTunes! Wow. My husband is going to be thrilled about coming home to "The Ugly Bug Ball" blasting in the living room. :)

Which leads me to my final comment which is this: I recently made Kevin sit through Summer Magic, fully expecting that he would groan through the whole thing. However. Not a single groan. AND he said it was "pretty good." Which proves that either the movie holds up to my hype, or I have a very, very loving husband.

P.S. If you are not related to me and you have ever seen Summer Magic, please post a comment. I have never met a single soul who has seen this movie unless I foisted it upon them, and it would be interesting to know you. (If you are related to me, you're still allowed to put in your two cents, of course.)

P.P.S. For those of you who prefer thoughtful, deep, meaningful movies that can change the world, you can pretend this blog post never happened. But be prepared...I might just cover "That Darn Cat," "Parent Trap," or "In Search of the Castaways" in upcoming months. "Pollyanna," on the other hand, is actually surprisingly thoughtful and meaningful, so you've got that to look forward to, which is good.

How to Compost Interlude: The Yogurt Change

Since my compost project is going a little slower than planned due to the lovely Maine spring "thaw," I'm currently stuck in Step 6: Wait. So while I'm being patient, I'm posting on some small changes that composting has caused in my household...

The yogurt change: Almost every day I bring a yogurt to work for my mid-morning snack. I grab a plastic spoon from the office kitchen, eat my yogurt, and toss the spoon in the garbage can. Now that we've been composting at home, I've been more aware that those spoons are never going to break down. It might seem obviously wasteful to some, but for me, it was just a convenient habit. So now every morning, I throw a regular spoon in my bookbag. Simple. Easy. And that's an average of four or five fewer plastic spoons in the landfill each week. 260 fewer every year!

Jeremy Faludi on WorldChanging.com gives a link to biodegradable plastic silverware (made out of corn, I believe)...just in time for summer picnics! They apparently will decompose within a year.

And here is a fascinating article from National Geographic about the amount of plastic that is found in the ocean. According to the article, more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles die globally each year from either eating or getting tangled in plastics. Richard Thompson, a marine ecology lecturer, says:

"Plastics have a wide range of indispensable uses, from telephones to radio sets, but those aren't the products we're finding on the beaches. What we are finding, increasingly, are plastic bottles, caps, bits of packaging—disposable items which are used once and then thrown away...There's a challenge here for all of us to be more careful in the way we use and dispose of plastic."

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

Here Comes the Sun: The Beatles & Nina Simone

Just a little springtime fun...

I'm planning to use this song in my Songwriting for Kids summer workshops and came across this Nina Simone version on YouTube last night. So the first video is the original that we all know & love. The second is the Nina Simone version. It's really quite beautiful in a completely different way.

Enjoy! I hope the sun is out where you live!

Jessie Cameron Alison: For Him, What Music Sings

In honor of Mother's Day, here is a post for my mother. She and I were just talking about how important it is to take some time to look outside ourselves and notice some of the wonder in this world.

So here is a poem by my mother's grandmother (my great-grandmother), Jessie Cameron Alison ("The Lilac Poet"...see her) that illustrates the point nicely. I'm especially fond of the last line.

I never had the chance to meet my great-grandmother, but doesn't she just look angelic? Like she came straight out of Central Casting!

For Him, What Music Sings

For him whose ear is tuned, what Music sings
About him: hum of bee and bird refrain;
Wind's murmur in the pines, like fluttering wings--
Its whisper through the leaves, or rustling grain;
The rhythm of the waves that lap the shore;
The rushing waterfall; rain's patter-song;
The deep reverberance of Ocean's roar;
The River's melody that flows along...
Rhythm that finds heart-echo, in still hour:
Recurring year and season, night and day;
Rhythm that guides the swaying of a flower,
Or Sun, or Moon, or planets that obey...
And when we pass beyond Earth's outmost bars,
Our ears may catch the singing of the stars!

First published in Northwest Verse, 1959 and in Turquoise Lanterns, 1960.

Grab Bag Friday: Bloggers for a Cure & Offsprung

Between now and June 1, The Lovely Mrs. Davis & some of her fellow bloggers have joined together to raise money for cystic fibrosis research. And they're giving away lots of cool prizes to those who participate.

Read more about it at The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think or at Bloggers for a Cure.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, this chronic disease affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide).

In the 1950s, few children with cystic fibrosis lived to attend elementary school. Today, advances in research and medical treatments have further enhanced and extended life for children and adults with CF. Many people with the disease can now expect to live into their 30s, 40s and beyond.

This is an amazing difference, and shows how important this research can be. To learn more about cystic fibrosis, and new treatments and therapies that are in development, please visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

And speaking of Mrs. Davis and her cohorts, a brand new cool-parent website has been born, featuring Mrs. Davis, and of course one of my favorites, Zooglobble (music for kids that parents won't hate). Offsprung bills itself as "the perfect online antidote to a parenting culture gone barking mad." Have a nice weekend!

How to Compost Interlude: The Lightbulb Change

So now that I've been composting for a few weeks, I've become a little bit more aware of the things that I throw away. Every time I throw something out in the regular garbage can, I start to wonder if there's an alternative that could have been composted, or at least thrown out less often. So while I'm waiting for nature to work its magic and create compost, I thought I'd spend the next few weeks posting about some of the little changes that are going on in our household.

#1: The Lightbulb Change

Over the last couple months, as bulbs go out in the house, we have been replacing them with compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFLs). According to the EnergyStar Website CFLs:

• Use at least 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs
• Provide the same amount of light
• Last up to 10 times longer
  
• Save $30 or more in energy costs over each bulb’s lifetime
• Generate 70 percent less heat, so they’re safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling

One of the misconceptions I had was that CFLs are prohibitively expensive. True, we paid around $4-5 per bulb (Maine has an instant rebate program for CFLs...I think the regular price was around $7-8). But when you keep in mind that you won't need to buy another for 7-10 years, and you'll be saving $30 or more in energy costs over that same time period, it's actually more cost-conscious to buy the CFLs.

Check out Josh Spear's Talk Shop Friday pitch for CFLs. He thinks consumers have a negative association with the word "flourescent," which may be true.

I should also note that while I never paid much attention to CFLs in the past, apparently the more recent versions are far more appealing in both light, style, and cost.

18Seconds.org is an interesting site where you can type in your zip code and see all kinds of information about CFL use in your town. For instance, in Brunswick, Maine: 20,403 CFLs have been purchased since Jan 1, 2007. According to the site, this amount of reduced energy use also reduces greenhouse gases by the equivalent of taking 78 cars off the road. The site also has some good information on what CFL bulbs are, how to choose a bulb, and why you should switch (click on the "Why You Should Switch" link in the top right-hand corner). You need an updated flash player to view the site, but it only takes a minute to download.

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

João Gilberto: Bim Bom

Since we're on a "songs by Gilbertos" roll here (see previous posts on Astrud and Bebel) I thought it would be remiss not to post something by one of the fathers of bossa nova: João Gilberto.

João Gilberto is often credited with defining and popularizing the bossa nova style (which is something like a samba with more complex harmonies, and more emphasis on the melody). Some even say he invented it. (Fans of Antonio Carlos Jobim may choose to argue.)

The story is that he was sitting by the Sao Francisco river, watching women carrying laundry baskets, and he wrote Bim Bom to match the rhythms of their walking. Some say (see Daniella Thompson's interesting biography) this was the first bossa nova song ever written.

At any rate, Bim Bom is a very cool, hip, laid back song, and has definitely become a part of the musical heritage of the world. Here are some interesting links to prove it:

Bim Bom on iTunes (The definitive João Gilberto version)

Caetano Veloso performing "Bim Bom" and "Ho Ba La La"

Paul Sonnenberg has edited an episode of the Three Stooges to create the short & funny: Bim Bom Bimbos: Moe & Shemp Deconstruct the Bossa Nova Beat

The Japanese indie band Pizzicato Five (one of my college faves) even recorded a version of Bim Bom for a lounge compilation album...you can listen to their version here.

João Gilberto on Wikipedia
Daniella Thompson's biography of João Gilberto

William Maxwell: So Long See You Tomorrow

So Long See You Tomorrow is one of those books that sticks with you. It's short, and the writing is so restrained, and the story so simple, that it wasn't until I had finished the last page that I was struck by how full and rich and stunning the book is.

This perfectly crafted, very brief novel is about an old man looking back and piecing together an event that happened in his youth. It's about those small, simple moments (like choosing to ignore a boy at school who you once played with) that haunt us all our lives. Those moments that we replay and try to imagine what would have happened if we had done things differently...or would it have made any difference at all?

It's a story about childhood, and about growing up. It's about memory, and how untrustworthy memory can be. It's about home and family, and what happens when those foundations are shaken.

There are some absolutely beautiful moments. Washington Post Book World sums up the story like this:

On an Illinois farm in the 1920s, a man is murdered, and in the same moment the tenuous friendship between two lonely boys comes to an end. In telling their interconnected stories, American Book Award winner William Maxwell delivers a masterfully restrained and magically evocative meditation on the past. "A small, perfect novel."

I love a book that sticks with you. I gave it to my father almost 10 years ago, simply because he likes a good story, and he called me recently and said something like "Why did you give me that book? I didn't think there was much to it when I read it, but I still think about it." Obviously, I still think about it, too.

William Maxwell is best known for being the fiction editor at the New Yorker and wrote So Long See You Tomorrow when he was in his 70s.

William Maxwell on Wikipedia
Washington Post Book Club Review

Grab Bag Friday: Alert the Bear & the LA Riots

This week was the fifteen year anniversary of the 1992 LA Riots. Kevin, an LA native, wrote a thoughtful piece at his new blog Alert the Bear about the riots and what has (and hasn't) changed. I especially found the end of his post interesting, about the way people talk about the riots, and violence in general. One writer had described it as a "cathartic rage." Kevin responds with this:

Cathartic? Since when is arson (more than 1,100 buildings), murder (53 lives taken), racially-targeted violence (2,300 people injured), and widespread mayhem considered cathartic?

and

If writers and politicians continue to frame riot in terms of "uprising" or exacting satisfaction, then it will be construed to be a justifiable event, which it is not and never can be.

Alert the Bear is a blog about all things California. Books, news, culture, music, films, nature, travel, and all that good stuff. Enjoy!

How to Compost #6: Wait

"Patience is the companion of wisdom." ~St. Augustine

Now that Spring has honestly arrived in Maine, I'm guessing that if I can achieve a good balance of Greens & Browns and introduce enough (but not too much) oxygen and water into my composter, I should have compost for my garden sometime in June. Then, theoretically, since we went with the continuous composter system, I should be able to continue to add waste to the composter and collect compost all summer long. Theoretically.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on progress, tips, tricks or foibles.

Also, you'll notice that I've added Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review to my table of contents list. Since I wasn't able to find any significant consumer reviews about this continuous composter when we were looking at systems, I feel it is my civic duty to post a review of my own after I've had a chance to see whether it works or not, and how well.

In the meantime, here are a couple interesting articles:

• The Daily Californian on the benefits and obstacles of city-wide compost programs

• Cool interview with Tony Vecchio of the Oregon Zoo about Sustainability Practices at the Zoo (really!) And you've got to love an interview with a guy who is a member of the Pig Advisory Group of the Zoo Association (really!)

Missed anything in this series? It's easy to catch up:

Step 1: Make it a Priority
Step 2: Choose a System
Interlude: Nature Tried to Kill My Composter
Step 3: Collect Organic Material
Step 4: Mix the Materials
Step 5: Moisten the Mixture
Step 6: Wait
Interlude: The Lightbulb Change
Interlude: The Yogurt Change
Interlude: The Sponge Change
Interlude: The Leftover Change
Interlude: The Napkin Change
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part One
The Sort-of Sun-Mar 200 Review Part Two
Sun-Mar 200 Compost Update
Sun-Mar 200: Starting All Over Again
Step 7: Use Your Compost
Step 8: Sun Mar 200 Garden Composter Review

Bebel Gilberto: So Nice

Since I posted last week about Astrud Gilberto, one of my favorite voices of all time, I thought it might be interesting to show you a little bit of what her step-daughter Bebel Gilberto is up to. Bebel is the daughter of amazing guitarist Joao Gilberto (who was married to Astrud in the early 1960's). It's probably not fair to compare, but Bebel's singing is lacking the sheer natural simplicity and purity of Astrud's, but when she's in a groove, she can definitely capture that breezy Brazilian samba sound.

Here are two videos of her work. You will soon find out that both have their cheesy and/or strange moments, but I'm posting the first "So Nice," because I love the song and thought you might like to hear her version of it. The second is an original song written by Bebel on her brand new album Momento, released last month. The reason I'm posting this one is because there is some neat footage with her and her father when she was a little girl. I don't know what the windy city street footage is all about, or the models in the hotel...they must have been trying to reach some target demographic that likes to see a hot Brazillian woman with wind in her hair, hanging out with models in a swanky hotel. Like maybe every man on the planet?