Aeolian!

I finally started my first Aeolian lace shawl. I puzzled at the cast on for a week, but it made sense when I finally imposed yarn and needles on the contemplation. Now I see that I need dark color needles and better glasses! The beads from my stash are too large, but they'll be fine until I run out, then I can go to Spring Beads for better ones. And maybe smaller stitch markers. Stay tuned. Two shawls, one on hire, one for me.

March is marching right out of here!

Spent time in the wildflowers Monday. Obligatory bluebonnets photo with the kids. Okay, with Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.

Rain, and I'm chilly at 78 degrees F

Stayed in today to get some work done. It's not every day I have a chance to do that.
Two and a half days a week, I'm off working for someone else.
Of course, when I work for myself, I'm also working for someone or someones else.
But that is a fine distinction.
The air conditioner thinks it's warm out, but it's not. It's only 78.
That and a bowl of gelato makes me throw on a long-sleeved shirt.

B71050015

Every Girl Scout at Roundup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scout_Senior_Roundup) in 1965 had a number that she painted, large, on her duffle bag. This was mine: B71050015. 

Our patrol from Rochester had eight scouts, two to a tent. Two more places were reserved for Girl Guides from another country. Our two were Finnish--Marja-Liisa Leppanen and Tytti (Tikkanen, I think, but I'm probably wrong). Marja-Liisa was from Turku, very close to where the textile company Marimekko was, so she brought with her small items made from those gorgeously-colored silk-screened prints. I think I have just found Marja-Liisa on Facebook!

That large duffle bag has stayed around for years. I'm not sure where it is now, but when we moved here, I packed T-shirts into it. So many T-shirts. For Roundup, it was my complete luggage. There must have also been something smaller to carry, but it's lost to memory. Into the duffle went all clothing and gear, as well as a shelf contraption...designed by a Scout's father...made of dowels and wood and cloth to hold our clothing in the tent. The cloth shelves had channels that slipped over the horizontal dowels; all was made taut when fully assembled. The entire unit, deconstructed, slipped into a single nylon stocking for travel. I do think it went into our duffle, but they could have all been packed together with the patrol's other gear. 

We traveled to Roundup by train, stopping along the way for meals with local Scouts. The menu was consistent: hamburger, mashed potato, and lima beans, everywhere we stopped! That became a family joke forever, as in, do you want lima beans with your hamburger? (though not phrased exactly like that every time) Question asked of a young train employee...brakeman, I think..."What kind of training do you need for that job?" answer: "I'm a law student."

Our very large (12,000 Scout) encampment was coordinated by the US Army, who delivered our duffles to our site, probably put up our tents, managed the distribution of food to patrols, and otherwise kept the Roundup running smoothly. A news item: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19650716&id=rBIsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O8gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2959,2314994

Because the Roundup was in the Northwest of the United States, the small souvenirs we brought along to trade with other Scouts were called Potlatch.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch Technically, I think, we were much inland from the homeland of indigenous peoples who would have practiced Potlatch (before it was summarily banned by Western governments...another harsh attempt to get rid of indigenous customs). But we Scouts from Rochester and Monroe County, New York, lived in an area where formerly dwelt the Senecas, so we brought along miniature "false face masks" that we had made of raffia. Our nametags were stained wedges of wood with dangling purple, white, and blue cylindrical beads that imitated wampum, which would have been made originally of clamshell. At Roundup, patrols were grouped in units of four. One of the other patrols in our unit was from Rhode Island, where I was headed for college in the fall. I still have the "Rhode Island Red" pin I got in trade.

One of our adult leaders devised some kind of small corn cake we cooked on the frying pan, then rolled it in granulated maple sugar (as I recall). I think it was in imitation of Seneca cornbread. Recipes I find now include beans, but we only used cornmeal.

We cooked all our meals over charcoal, quenching each coal carefully in a bucket of water after the meal. It could have been the dishwater, but I don't remember that detail. We reused the partially-burned charcoal at the next meal. One meal that I remember was Trout Amandine. Imagine it having it for the first time at camp!

Robbie Roberts, a Girl Scout Professional in our Council, wrote a song for Roundup, "Tall Pine, Quiet Trail," and I still have the 45 record, and can remember the tune and words!

I don't remember many details of the Roundup itself, but many many Scouts at an amphitheatre, flag ceremonies with many flags, walks along a river with Tytti, who crouched down next to a beaver-carved stump. We sang much of the time, too.

Although I was photographer for our patrol, I had to hand the film in to the Council, so I don't have copies of any of the photos.

One search result mentions that Roundup was a "culmination" of a Scout's career. I was lucky to have been allowed to participate, as I had just graduated from High School. But I do remember the training encampments and activities leading up to Roundup, perhaps even leading up to being chosen to go. I never remember the content of these activities, except at least once being invited to a Council board meeting. The Council headquarters then were on University Avenue, across the yard from the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, another place I spent much time.

Did you have an allowance when you were little?

One of the podcasts I listen to is NPR: Planet Money Podcast.

Because I'm still trying to catch up, having listened from the beginning of the podcast, I listened just now to Friday, July 6, 2012, titled, "Allowance, Taxes and Potty Training," having to to with incentivizing children to adjust their behavior vis à vis buying things, potty training, etc.

Anyway, an Australian economist with, now, three children...oldest eleven...rewarded potty trips by his two-year-old with one, two, three jelly beans (increasing the bounty until it worked), and finally, with a chocolate frog. The young child gamed the system by metering out her potty trips so she was getting a prize an hour. Hmmm.

Their allowance was a dollar a week for every year of age. Gosh; that's a real bounty! The oldest child, at eleven, figured out that she didn't need all those things she was clamoring for her parents to buy. Now that she had her own allowance she would be able to...wait for it...save the money and have a real hoard at the end of the year. No need for that ugly dress after all...

When I was a child, one of four children, we got 10 cents a week for every year of age. According to the http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ , in 1955, when I was 7, getting 70 cents a week allowance would be worth $6.08 in today's money. Possibly because seventy cents does not necessarily multiply in a seven-year-old's mind to dollars, I did not stash it away, and do not have a large hoard today.

That Australian family also had an interesting take on that allowance. If a child wanted to buy candy, there was a 100% tax on it (payable to the parents), to help cover dental fees due to eating candy. As a result, the eleven-year-old decided totally against buying candy at all. An effective tax, if you ask me!

Get Cereus

The night-blooming cereus, an epiphyllum, is very joyously putting out new shoots and buds at the tips of its leaves. Stay tuned for glorious, stinky blooms!

Those lovely shoots, and they are many, are becoming new leaves...no actual flower buds yet! (April 25)

Exchange A for B for a new taste treat

The latest entry in the substitution tradition: frozen baked bean tofu delite.
Silken tofu; can baked beans, drained; 1tsp each of ginger and cinnamon; 11/2 tsp each cloves and nutmeg; 2 tbsp maple syrup. Whirl all in blender til smooth; freeze in ice cream machine.

N.B. Re- substitute 1 can pumpkin puree for the baked beans for a lovely pud.

Original sub- delite: pizza sauce made of tomato juice and instant mashed potatoes.