Interests

Sewing is an avocation that gives a surprising amount of sensate pleasure. The aroma of a fabric store or department, a combination of sizing and fibers, is like the scent of spring — it makes a stitcher happy, gives her energy, and opens her wallet. more »

Joan L. Cannon writes: My father's desk would be glittering with snippets of gold foil, spools of brilliantly colored silk, as resplendent as a jeweler's tray with iridescent peacock and pheasant feathers, tiny bits of deer and badger and elk hair, and puffs of down. more »

A faint, brief cheeping broke through the layers of human noise and caught my attention. My head turned quickly to the side of the house, waiting during the pause to pinpoint the source. More cheeping … and my ears reported to my brain that it wasn’t coming from a nest up in the branches, but from the ground. I was reluctant to step off the porch without knowing where it was safe to set my foot down.The baby bird called out with urgency as I inched my way toward his voice. I discovered him half buried in leaves that had blown up against the house during a storm. Perhaps the same storm had tossed him out of his parents’ nest of twigs and warm downy feathers. more »

A more intriguing and event-oriented 1914 puzzle from England was the Niagara Puzzle with File and Compass. The player was directed to "Roll all the balls from the bank into the whirlpool (hole). The hack saw blade and the compass, along with a map, were hidden inside Journet puzzles that were sent to British soldiers in German prison camps during WWI to help them escape." more »