Ancient Mysteries

Drowning Peeps

La Brea Tar Pits

The tar pits in Los Angeles were created when tar or asphalt (la brea in Spanish) seeped up through the ground over thousands of years. Water often covered the tar, attracting wildlife. Over the years, the bones of thousands of animals have sunk into the tar and have been preserved. Rancho La Brea is the museum currently located at the tar pits:

"Rancho La Brea is recognized as having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age animals and plants in the world. Visitors can learn how Los Angeles was between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, when sabertoothed cats and woolly mammoths roamed the Los Angeles Basin. Through windows at the Page Museum Laboratory, visitors can watch bones being cleaned and repaired. Outside the museum, in Hancock Park, several life-sized replicas of extinct mammals are featured."

At the museum: "Discover how mammoths grew their teeth."

"View the only known sabertoothed cat to be discovered with its mouth closed."

"Get a glimpse of a natural dire wolf 'brain cast' made of asphalt." (see http://www.tarpits.org/)

St. Patrick's

Squirmles

Squirmles: Google "Squirmles" and watch the hilarious videos. He's the "magic pet" and the "educational toy that will revolutionize your child's play time". Maybe, maybe not. But he is VERY cute, and good for a smile. And he cheered me, part of a care package from my sister. Look into his eyes...

Spiraling upwards and bending no more

Sticky

Ordinarily, a word which means tacky, adhering--a word which conjures images of children with popsicle juice on their faces. However, when applied to the character in the Mysterious Benedict Society (George "Sticky" Washington), the word means "extremely intelligent" (i.e., facts stick to Sticky). Incidentally, Sticky's co-society members include Constance Contraire (the contrary one), Kate Wetherall (the cheery one), and Reynard Muldoon (the average one).

Making Cornbread

Xebec

A small three-masted Mediterranean vessel with both square and lateen sails.

More Hornblower terminology.

Further Gonzaga Wanderings

SAD

Seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter.

I'm feeling sad about the snow that won't stop coming. The hopes of a new month dashed, I must grit my teeth and endure the coats, boots, and cold a little while longer.

March 1: No hope for spring yet