Sara sent this lovely postcard that she picked it up at the NCTE conference.
Sara reports that she is done with classes and that it was her day to work from home. Plus a WFH day with no meetings, which means the requirement for putting on work clothes is not in force.
It had been a few years, so Matt and I went to check up on the Bakelite Santas and see how they are doing. The riddle mentioned the old Pepsi factory, and I knew exactly where they were. I didn’t even need the words “sandy shore” to solve this particular riddle. Because the old Pepsi factory building is a thing of beauty:
While it did have some Santas in it, it didn’t have the Bakelite Santas.
These Santas were portraits painted by Terence Healy for the first year. You can see that one is a daytime version, and the other a night-time version.
The Bakelite Santas were across the plaza.
I agree with the write-up of the Santas; that you can see them glow from far aways is one of the coolest things about them.
This was a fun place to have them displayed because there were windows on three sides. This made it easy to spend some time looking at them.
They were standing in rows with packing peanuts serving as the snow.
I neglected to get any shots from the front, alas.
Mom, Aunt Pat, and I enjoyed the final performance of Christmas in Door County where we got to hear many lovely Christmas songs sung by people with lovely voices. The plot was thin, but the plot isn’t the point.
My mom wanted to go to the Dollar Store, so we did, and I found this item while waiting in line at the check stand. It is not sneaker cleaner, as the price tag suggests.
I’m not sure I would trust the results of the VeriQuick pregnancy test sold for about the same cost as a candy bar. But there must be some market.
In elementary school, I purchased 40 Presidents Facts and Fun at a book fair. It was one of those books that had an outsized effect on me.
First of all, I can tell you immediately that Ronald Regan was the 40th president, because that’s where the book ends. Also, it shored up my interest in olden days stuff. And for some reason, the title has always delighted me. Most of the time when someone is referring to a president by number, I will think, “Forty Presidents Facts and Fun!” and feel a squee of glee.
In lieu of reading while I am awake in the middle of the night, I’ve taken to memorizing the presidents in order. And that got me to thinking about 40 Presidents Facts and Fun.
I had given my copy away, but it was time to welcome it back into the fold. I found a copy on Thriftbooks, and paid about five dollars more for it now than I did back at the Scholastic book fair.
My copy has arrived, and I have started reading. Verdict? This was not a book that prioritized good prose for young people. The sentences are short and choppy, and the profiles vary depending on the length of the presidency (which makes sense; there’s not much to say about William Henry Harrison’s short time in office) and how popular the president in question was when the book was written. The Andrew Jackson bio was quite lengthy in a way I don’t think it would be today.
It’s also bizarre what the text focuses on. I know, for instance, that John Adams was very fat, and that John Quincy Adams, was nearly as fat as his father. Not something that adds a lot of knowledge about the president.
When I finish reading, I’m looking forward to finding the modern equivalent of 40 Presidents Facts and Fun and seeing what the similarities and differences are.
Laurie reports that she and Burt spent a nice night in the Gloria Ellexson room, which had a balcony. She wondered if that had been our room when we last stayed there, the time that just happened to coincide with our wedding.
It was not, but I did remember our room. Laurie said that she and Burt had so many fond memories of the wedding.
Since transitioning to a digital-only subscription to the Oregonian in the twenty-teens, I have been reading the newspaper through their app, which gives you the newspaper’s normal print layout. I greatly appreciate this feature, as it allows me to continue to take in the news as I have my entire life. Digital sites have me reading forever, but the printed newspaper ends.
In all those years, I haven’t seen such an egregious error as this right-hand column, where someone forgot to fill the placeholder with a story.
I also got a great score in the Film Reveal game! Top 5% of players.
Alas, we cannot see which actor/category was such a winning combo for me, because I neglected to take a picture.
This is a fun combo of cute and dire. I can’t tell who the manufacturer is because Sara put a sticker over it.
Sara reports that she had both a restful and productive weekend. Always a good thing in December.
Here we get to look at many bucolic landscapes of the Gem State.
Sara sends a hello from Coeur d’Alene, where she has a fire going and her sister and stepmother are making Turkey a la King with leftovers. Sounds like a good trip.
[I wrote two posts for this postcard without realizing it, so I might as well publish both posts.]
This one got a little bent in the mailbox.
Sara reports that her sister and stepmother are making Turky a la King with the leftovers and there is a big fire going.
Sounds delightful!
