There’s a lovely set of 16 U.S. stamps out featuring the work of Charles and Ray Eames. Their iconic chairs get the most solo spots, but there is also one of a house of cards. That “house” wasn’t built by the Eameses, but by stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce, a resident of Connecticut (yay!). The cards were designed by the couple with all sorts of backs, and Andersen-Bruce put them together for a stamp-suitable photo. Andersen-Bruce has also worked with the stamps’ designer Derry Noyes on other projects such as holiday stamps (cookies and Santa ornaments).
16 eighth graders just graduated from Lake Washington Girls Middle School and their thoughts on why this school meant so much to them illustrate why, for some girls, not having boys around can be such a benefit. “At my old school I was quiet most of the time, and I felt like I was holding all of my real self in. I was waiting to let my true self out at Lake Washington Girls Middle School.” “It’s a gift that I got to go to this school. I’m much better at sharing my thoughts. I’m always totally myself. I’m not scared of what other people are going to think of me.” “Girls at ‘L-Dub’ are not afraid to express their feelings. No one is there to suppress them.” “At Lake Washington Girls Middle School they teach you that it’s OK to show who you really are to your friends.”
“Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano” is the subtitle of the book “A Romance on Three Legs”, reviewed on Sunday in the N.Y. Times. Gould’s perfect piano acquired a perfect tuner, Verne Edquist, who was somewhat forced into his career by the limited choice of vocations for someone with congenital cataracts. Edquist earned Gould’s respect by refusing to work on a piano that Edquist recommended instead be taken in for a full service. The piano tuner soon became responsible for keeping Steinway grand No. CD 318 in perfect shape.
Languages evolve over time, but the 80-100 “sleeping” (endangered) California Indian languages have little hope of surviving the dominance of English. A recent “Breath of Life” conference at UC Berkeley brought together speakers and students who want to preserve Native American languages. Parents want to pass this vanishing culture down to their children, the languages lost starting with the Spanish missionaries. Their tools to keep the words alive are old and new: songs, board games, cartoons, and YouTube.
You’ve likely seen it many times elsewhere, but I just can’t let anyone miss out on the carefully constructed Fifth Avenue apartment featured in the New York Times. 18 clues cleverly built into the furniture and decorative elements of the home created a trail of puzzles for the inhabitants. The finale led to the poem that had triggered the entire project. The owners had requested it be hidden in a wall somewhere. If you don’t have time to read the article, take a look through the photo gallery.
The annual Copper River Salmon run is heralded in Seattle with the airplane arrival of the first salmon, carried down a red carpet at Sea-Tac by an Alaska Airlines pilot. This year the plane wasn’t as full of salmon as expected. Fishing has been hampered by bad weather and lower salmon counts. Tack on the higher transportation costs and the prices are sitting at $25 to $35 per pound. The buying public is dealing with higher food prices and fuel costs in their own day-to-day lives so this coveted Copper River Salmon isn’t getting as many takers.
The San Francisco Chronicle checks back for an update on Starr King Elementary’s Mandarin Immersion program. Only one student has left out of the 25 kindergartners who began two years ago. 13 students were added to the first-grade glass, filling the two first-grade classes to capacity. And there are two full kindergarten classes coming up, with the next year’s spots completely full. I think that’s a pretty good metric of success even if the kids weren’t speaking, reading, and writing amazingly great Mandarin already, which they of course are.
There’s an “artisan, small-batch, homemade ice cream rush” going on in the Seattle area. Ice creameries with shops and often farmer’s market stalls include Half-Pint Ice Cream, Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, Whidbey Island Ice Cream Co., Empire Ice Cream, and the very new Poco Carretto gelato cart from Holly Smith (of Cafe Juanita, fresh winner of a James Beard award). Yet to come, Full Tilt Ice Cream and Peaks Frozen Custard. Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream has been around since 1997 and supplies dairy mixes to some of the newcomers. You’ll find variations on vanilla everywhere, but most carry their own specialty exotic flavors such as balsamic strawberry, lemon verbena, fennel seed, honeycomb.
The Subaru R1e electric car has been under development for a few years now, under partnership with the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Subaru found another power company partner here in the U.S. with the New York Power Authority agreeing to pilot two of the cars on the streets of Manhattan. It’s probably too tiny for the U.S. mass market (though our SUV consumption here is likely to go down!), but the two-seater is a micro-car based on the R1 gas version that is sold in Japan. The battery can be quick-charged to 80% capacity in 15 minutes with a special charger, or it can be plugged into the wall and fully charged in 8 hours.
A couple of guys I know like to harass their (amazing) bartender about not having egg whites on hand to make proper flips. Not being much of a drinker, I didn’t know about egg whites and their contribution to the enjoyment of certain cocktails. After the salmonella scare about a decade ago, the traditional raw egg white addition to certain drinks waned in public bars. But the egg has returned, with San Francisco bars reporting that emulsified drinks are back on their menus and no one is asking them to hold the whites.