wacky wednesday - summer public service announcement #1 - can you swim?

I have lived in the Valley of the Sun essentially my whole life and do not remember a time I could not swim like a fish. My parents were, perhaps, a tad neurotic about water safety and taught my sisters and me to swim about the time we could run. When my husband and I had children, we taught them to swim... like fish... when they were toddlers. Living in an area where approximately 75% of homes have an in-ground pool and where lake communities are prevalent, it seemed like the prudent thing to do. And besides, swimming is fun! In my naiveté, I thought almost everybody knew how to swim at least enough to paddle around a pool.

So it was with interest that I read a recent article in the newspaper (USA Today, 5/20/14) about how many adults can swim well enough to save themselves should they fall in a pool. We are not talking Michael Phelps-type swimming but more like dog paddle-type swimming. I wasn't surprised to read that 80% of adults claim they can swim.

But what made my jaw drop and my eyes as wide as saucers was what came next - "but only 56% (of those 80%) can perform five critical water-safety skills that could save their lives, according to a new American Red Cross survey." And what are those five critical skills?

1. Floating or treading water for one minute without a flotation device
2. Stepping or jumping into water over your head and returning to the surface
3. Treading water or floating in a full circle and then finding a way out of the water
4. Exiting a pool without using a ladder
5. Swimming (as in using any "stroke") 25 yards (the length of a standard pool) without stopping

So how could someone claim to be able to swim and not be able to do these five basic skills? I don't know. And how could an adult who can't save himself rescue his child from a pool? He could not. 

According to a recent Centers for Disease Control report 21,000 children and young adults drowned between 1999 and 2010. Drowning is one of the top three causes of unintentional injury death for people ages 29 and younger. And it is very preventable.

Temperatures are heating up and pools are warming up. If you cannot perform the five critical skills listed above, make this the summer you learn to swim. And while you're at it, take a CPR class (contact your local Red Cross for class information). The life you save may be your own or someone you love.

diners, drive-ins and dives #18 - anthony's seafood market & restaurant

One of the things we try to do when we travel is eat at local places - no national chain restaurants. We also strive for local cuisine. So when we found ourselves in New England recently, we tried another Diners, Drive-ins and Dives place - after all, if it's good enough for Guy Fieri, it's good enough for us!

Anthony's Seafood Market and Restaurant is located in the quiet hamlet of Middletown, Rhode Island and is not much to look at from the outside. In appearance, it's definitely more "dive" than "diner."

Anthony's Seafood Market and Restaurant has been family-owned and operated since beginning as a wholesale lobster company in 1956. They moved into the restaurant business in the 1980's as well as being a fresh seafood market.

But walk past the plastic-enclosed patio, through the double doors and you are standing in a state-of-the-art fresh seafood market. We waited in line for about 20 minutes to order before being seated in the patio area (their roomy inside dining room was filled). While the plastic may look a bit tacky, it helps the stand heaters keep the patio warm - something we were grateful for!

We tried two appetizers that Guy had tried - Kung Pao Calamari and a Stuffed Quahog (hard-shell clam) known affectionately as a "Stuffie." We have had fried calamari as an appetizer in lots of restaurants, always prepared and served the same way - battered and deep-fried served with either marinara or cocktail sauce. Anthony's Kung Pao Calamari is unlike any we've ever had and hands-down, our favorite. The calamari is breaded and deep fried, then tossed with peppers, Kung Pau sauce, peanuts and green onion to create a zingy bite with perfect texture, not rubbery or squishy. Our Stuffie was just as delightful - stuffing with clams, chourico (Portuguese sausage similar to Spanish chorizo), onions, peppers and spices. They come mild or hot - we opted for hot. The stuffing was stuffed onto a clam shell - very pretty presentation! And tasty, too!

A Stuffie, Kung Pao Calamari (paired nicely with a local brew!) and empty plates!

Not realizing how generous the appetizer portions were, we also each ordered an entree - grilled swordfish and Seafood Nantucket - cod, sea scallops, Old Bay-seasoned shrimp layered in Anthony's lobster sauce then topped with bacon and Ritz cracker crumbs. Yeah - comfort food from the sea! It was too good to let any go to waste.

This is one "dive" we will be sure to frequent when we are in the area. Two thumbs up!

wacky wednesday - how casual is too casual?

It is no secret that the farther west one travels across our country, the more casual the dress becomes. Going out to dinner at a non-national chain, sit-down restaurant in any major city on the eastern seaboard requires, at a minimum, nice shorts, collared shirt and shoes and more often, business casual is in order. However, in California at a similar restaurant, just about anything would go, including a t-shirt and shorts with flip flops.

Attire at shopping venues varies depending on how upscale, or not, the store is. While casual shorts and flip flops would be acceptable at Target, for example, they would not be at Bloomingdales. And, of course, shoes of some sort are required in all public restaurants and stores.

Or so I thought.

While we were in Hawaii (on the island of Hawaii) earlier this year, a young mom and her children caught my eye while we were shopping at Target. She had on pajama pants and a t-shirt; her children were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. And ALL of them were barefoot.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I think common sense dictates that going barefoot in retail establishments is just too casual. Apparently common sense is not all that common.

wacky wednesday - what's that mean?

I like to ponder things while I am cleaning. Often this pondering leads to some research. And yes, that does slow down my cleaning but it also makes it much more enjoyable!

This week I was ruminating on how word meanings change or new meanings are added over time. Sometimes these new meanings are short-lived, especially if they are slang. For example, the word "boss" has been in use as a noun meaning "overseer" since the 1640's. It was popular in the American colonies where the word "master" was avoided (since the colonists were all about "freedom") but  there was a need to distinguish between slave and free labor. Ironic, huh? The teeny-bopppers of the 1950's may believe that they came up with the slang usage as an adjective meaning "excellent" but there are documented examples of its popularity in the 1880's. In both eras, its acclaim as a slang expression was short-lived.

Other times, new meanings for words are permanent - or are in use for a very long time. The verb "tape" has been around since the 1600's and was derived from the Old English noun meaning "a narrow strip of cloth used for tying, measuring, etc." In 1932, the meaning "to attach with adhesive tape" was added and in the 1950's it also meant, "to make a tape recording."

As I continued with my cleaning, I thought about words I commonly used as a child and the different meanings they have today.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX	THEN:	NOW:
Web	A home for spiders, intricately woven using spun silk they exude from their body, is often “sticky” and traps other insects for the spider’s dinner	Short for the “World Wide Web”, it refers to the pages on the Internet (a network of networks) that can be accessed using a Web browser (like Safari, or Internet Explorer for example).  To the user, it appears as though any page is reachable from any place – a web
Cloud	A collection of water vapor suspended in the air - the white puffy things we laid on the grass and stared at	Often used synonymously with “Internet” but more frequently used to describe specific online services (like data storage) that exist “somewhere on the Internet”
Memory	Remembering something that happened in the past or a part of your brain that stores information so you remember that 2x2=4	Storage location for information in a computer, disk drive, removable media (e.g., memory stick), etc.
Login	In 2nd grade we learned how to add the suffix “ing” to common 3-letter words with a short vowel sound (like “sun”). On the spelling test, I misspelled “logging” as “login” – and never forgot the two “words” - one was correct and one was not	A combination of information (usually a username and password) that authenticates your identity before a computer or website allows you access. It is should be used as a noun, never a verb – i.e., you don’t login to a computer, you log in with your login
Thong	A type of sandal with a thin strap between the big toe and the next toe - now called flip flops	a type of skimpy underwear that exposes the buttocks, consisting of a strip of fabric that passes between the thighs and attaches to a band around the waist
Nuke	Short for a nuclear missile - not something to be joked about (I grew up during the Cuban Missile Crisis)	Slang for cooking something in a microwave oven

I decided it is a good thing to keep abreast of current word usage and meanings - to keep growing our vocabularies. I guarantee that asking the sales associate at Target where the thongs are will not get you to the shoe department.

wacky wednesday - who would use this?

It is no secret that I like to peruse the Skymall Magazine when I am restrained on a plane for hours at a time. I recently came across an item, like so many others, that left me wondering who would buy it. And then I began to research it a bit.

This is the item:

Can you tell what they are? They are fully functional 2GB USB flash drive cufflinks (silver-plated) and they retail in the Skymall Magazine for $100. Seriously. Their ad says that the flash drive cufflinks "make it possible for you to keep your must have presentations and documents with you wherever you go." 

Who wears cufflinks today? According to several articles I read discussing dress codes in the financial industry, only vice presidents and above wear French cuff dress shirts and cufflinks. Apparently it is a right of passage kind of thing. Cufflinks are also appropriate for "black tie" functions - think "Bond... James Bond." 

According to the limited research I did, most men do not wear cufflinks. And those who do probably don't want gimmicky ones. Presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have staff to keep track of their "must have presentations and documents." I just cannot see a senior executive telling underlings or clients, "Wait just a sec while I get my cufflink off so I can plug it in my laptop and proceed with the presentation." And if he does it prior to the start of the meeting, is his sleeve cuff just flapping open without a cufflink to hold it closed? That would be classy.

So that leaves James Bond and his fellow spies to wear these cufflinks. And I doubt they are buying them through Skymall Magazine.

wacky wednesday - lego mania

From the time our kids were about five, they loved playing with Legos. We often had every Lego set we owned (and we had a lot!) dumped out in the middle of our living room, which at the time had no furniture, with the neighborhood kids working on some massive Lego project. It seems kids of all ages enjoy building things (not "playing!") with Legos.

It was no surprise to me when The Lego Movie opened in theaters in February, 2014 and became an instant success. We saw it shortly after it came out and I must admit, it is in my top three favorite animated movies. The main character, Emmett, is an ordinary guy who is thought to be "the Special" and must save the Lego universe from Lord Business. Several superheroes, Barbie, C3PO, Gandolf, Abraham Lincoln, William Shakespeare, the Statue of Liberty and a host of other characters - all Lego mini-figures - make appearances. I won't give away the movie but I strongly encourage everyone to see it.

I must admit, however, that I was a more than a little surprised to discover photographing Lego mini-figures is a genre of its own and has quite a following of very talented photographers. Earlier this year I decided to try a 365 photo project (basically you take a photo every day for a year) and was flabbergasted to find photographing a Lego mini-figure as one of the genres (along with phoneography and several others) used every month. Capture Your 365 has some great tips and examples of Lego photography as does the blog A Lego A Day (Dan no longer posts on that blog but scroll down to the bottom for some fabulous and often amusing Lego photos).

Not one to be left out of the fun, I decided to give it a whirl. And promptly discovered it is a lot harder than it looks! And to do it well requires equipment I don't have... yet. But I also discovered it is a lot of fun!

Can you guess what the specific photo prompt was?

In 2002 Lego changed their slogan from "Just imagine..." to "Play On!" I think both are accurate.

desert botanical garden - a gem in the desert

Every time I step foot in the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix I am simultaneously amazed and shocked that I would not just choose to go there but want to go there. While that may not sound like much of an endorsement, I assure you it is exactly that. Having grown up in the Valley of the Sun and spending a LOT of time as a child at DBG as well as the desert at large (my parents were enthralled…), I could think of nothing worse or more boring than an afternoon spent looking at yucky cactus and being hunted by bees.

And then I became an adult and learned to appreciate the desert and how plants and animals adapt to live in such a harsh environment, to see its contrasts and beauty. We have a membership to the Garden and I now enjoy going as often as I can. (SIDE NOTE: I often see young children at the Garden complaining to their parents about how boooooorrrring it is and I smile to myself as I wonder how many will grow up to love the desert as I did. If my parents had not exposed me to it as a child,  would I still love it as much as I do today? I think probably not. Kudos to the parents who "make" their children experience new things even though they are "bored!")

We recently went with friends (Doug & Anne and Richard) to take advantage of the gorgeous spring weather and the beauty of the desert interspersed with the fragile-looking Chihuly Exhibit.

We arrived at the Garden in the late afternoon on an overcast day. Although all of us had been to the Garden several times before, the focus of this visit was different. We wanted to see the Chihuly Exhibit both in daylight and at twilight.

The Sapphire Star (part of the Chihuly Exhibit) greeted us as we went through the admission gate. I have seen the Chihuly Exhibit five or six times during two different tours at the Garden and this one remains my favorite.

Dale Chihuly was first introduced to glass as an art form while studying interior design in the 1960's. After completing his degree, he studied glass in the U.S. and abroad learning from the best in the world before finding and developing his own style. His work is included in over 200 museum collections world-wide as well as numerous showcase pieces in hotel and office building lobbies.

The curving shape of the fragile glass contrasts with the straight sturdy cactus. I read that the workers who install the Chihuly exhibits in the garden wear protective clothing including kevlar shirts and gloves. I can certainly see why! It takes several days to put the entire exhibit together. Each "installation" is transported in pieces in boxes carefully marked so assembly goes smoothly.

There are 21 Chihuly "installations" (it's what they call them - but the word bothers me) on display in the Garden. They are of varying colors, shapes and sizes. Some are suspended above your head, others are on the ground. Some are interspersed in the cactus, others are not. And one is in water - well, technically, ON the water.

The brightly colored one on the top left is one that is suspended above you and is called "Polyvitro Chandelier and Tower." The one on the bottom right is in a row boat on the water. The "rock" in front of it is also glass - and looks like a giant blue ice cube. It reminded me of a chunk of ice that broke off  an iceberg - perhaps contrasting the heat of the desert during the day with the cold nights. Or maybe I read too much into it?!?!

Gazing at these magnificent glass installations brings two questions to mind: how often do they break and how do they clean them. The simple answer to the first question is "less than 1% of the time." They are hand-inspected five times before they leave the studio and then are carefully hand-packed using custom-made packing materials and lots of bubble wrap and packing peanuts. Breakage usually occurs during installation or from weather-related incidents after installation. For those times, back-up pieces are sent with every exhibit. As for cleaning them, I assumed they hosed them off. What I learned was that they use microfiber towels to polish and clean them. That is one job I would NOT want! I know how filthy my glass-top table on our patio gets after a rain/dust storm - I can only imagine what these look like after a storm! But every time I have visited, they have been sparkling clean.

If the Chihuly Garden Exhibit is the frosting on the cake, then the sublime beauty of the desert is the delicious cake itself. The cactus, shrubs and wildflowers are interspersed with rock formations, desert washes (some with water!) and desert animals (we saw a jackrabbit, an owl, several lizards and some quail this trip). The views are different every time I go!

This Chihuly installation is the same red and yellow one in the collage above (top center). Silhouetted against the sky, it looks like it could be another saguaro- one with really long spines!

As the sun sets and the sky gets darker, the Chihuly installations look like they light up from the inside. In reality, spot lights on the ground aimed up at them provide their illumination. Most seem to glow! And all of them look different at night. They are even more fragile-looking and have an almost ethereal feel to them. 

The one on the bottom left is called "Summer Sun" and is the largest of the 21 installations at the Garden.

Aristotle said, "Art takes nature as its model." The Chihuly in the Garden exhibit certainly  illustrates that thought as the 21 installations convey through color, form and size the desert flora they imitate. Chihuly in the Garden will be around for a few more weeks - it's worth seeing if you can. (And I promise, no more DBG posts for awhile!)

The Sapphire Star at night makes me want to run up and touch it!