Interests
Lifelong Pursuits: Allure
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 »
Doesn't Everyone have a Bird in Their Earring?
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 »
Mechanical Puzzles, Brainteasers & Ingenious Objects Including a POW Escape Aid in a Rolling Ball Puzzle
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 »
One Beat Behind
Adrienne Cannon writes, "9:30 AM. Saturday morning. Jazzercise class. The beat revves up as does the complexity of the moves. Uh-oh ... that old feeling has come back. Was it really three years ago that I began to lament my position of 'last in line?'" more »