The medical history podcast Sawbones, which I’ve been listening to for like a decade now, recently had an episode about when tomatoes were the trendy superfood (back in the mid-1800s). Before then, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous. The man who popularized them was a guy named John Cook Bennett, Read more
I gave a talk to my local handweavers’ guild a couple of days ago. Some people couldn’t attend, and some online friends wanted to see it. There’s no video, but I’ll share my notes and slides here. The History of Weaving Technology in Europe: A Ridiculously Brief Overview It took Read more
A friend of mine recommended a book to me by an author I’d never heard of: Florence King. My friend said King’s memoir, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, was one of the funniest things she’d ever read, and every time she loaned out a copy she replaced it so Read more
I used to be like this with planners. Thankfully I’ve gotten much better about how to plan. But this comic remains brilliant.
For years now, my health hasn’t really allowed me to plan ahead. Why set goals when I’d have a health setback for six weeks or so that would stop my progress? Thanks to finally getting on the right medications, I’m able to think about the future. What do I want, Read more
Mom and I took a road trip to New England this month, from Sept. 13th to the 23rd. We had a blast. I took lots of photos. Most of them are of nature, landscapes, or buildings. Click on the thumbnails for larger versions and descriptions (though many pics aren’t described, Read more
Yesterday I went to the first Orlando Pen Show. It was my first pen show, too, and I had a great time. I went with my friend The Artist, who is not into fountain pens but was happy to go with me. She lives in another state but was visiting Read more
A few weeks ago I got the urge to binge recent episodes of The Pen Addict podcast. It had been several years since my last listen. When I got divorced in 2015, I sold off most of my fountain pen collection, and pretty much got out of both the hobby Read more
I’m continuing to enjoy my delve into audiobooks with The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson. This was my first book by him. It was great, if a bit triggering for me. When I was a teenager I dated a man who told me, laughing, Read more
I never had good luck with audiobooks. As someone who mostly reads nonfiction, I find that audiobook readers often have no idea how to handle it. It often sounds like the high school P.E. teacher trying to teach algebra — like they don’t know the material, and don’t really care Read more