Monthly Archives: February 2015

magical mystery tour

Posted on February 7, 2015 by maryjane

Let’s take a little mystery tour.

Bet you can’t guess …

Photo by Benh LIEU SONG via Wikimedia Commons

Where in the world?

Photo by Dennis Jarvis via Wikimedia Commons

The landscape looks a little sci-fi, doesn’t it?

Like a movie set from Star Wars or, maybe, The Hobbit.

Photo by Beetjedwars via Wikimedia Commons

In this far-off place, we find fairy chimneys, like these:

Photo by Turken via Wikimedia Commons

Photo by Casalmaggiore Provincia via Wikimedia Commons

We might also happen upon mighty mushroom-like towers

Photo by Nazzarenoagostinelli via Wikimedia Commons

and intricately carved entrances in walls of stone …

Photo by Turken via Wikimedia Commons

Photo by Dennis Jarvis via Wikimedia Commons

… that lead to cave cubbies

Photo by Peretz Partensky via Wikimedia Commons

and rather creepy clandestine quarters.

Photo by Nevit Dilmen via Wikimedia Commons

Can it be real?

Well, just ask this guy. He lives there.

Photo by Dennis Jarvis via Wikimedia Commons

Want another hint to help you pinpoint this peculiar place? Sample the locally grown dried fruit (I think I see dates) and nuts:

Photo by Ji-Elle via Wikimedia Commons

So, where in the world are we?

Answer: This strange land is called Cappadocia, a naturally wondrous and historically rich region in the Central Anatolian provinces of Turkey.

As it turns out, the seemingly fantastic formations that characterize Cappadocia can be explained in geologic terms. The “fairy chimneys” that poke up from the ground, suggesting a subterranean society of bizarre beings, are actually the remnants of ancient volcanoes. And the inhabitants of the region are as human as you and me. According to Wikipedia, “People of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia Region carved out houses, churches, and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits.”

Photo by Zeynel Cebeci via Wikimedia Commons

At the end of our journey, Cappadoccia may be a place as real as Pittsburgh, but I can’t shake notions of magic and mysticism, can you?

photo-of-the-day

Posted on February 6, 2015 by maryjane

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Today’s Recipe: Toasted Almond & Coconut Baked Oatmeal

Posted on February 6, 2015 by maryjane

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Continue reading →

Hear Ye!

Posted on February 6, 2015 by maryjane

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Starletta Schipp!!!

Starletta Schipp (#1927) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a Beginner Level Going Green Merit Badge!

“I started by collecting all the non-green cleaning products in my home and ended up with a whole laundry basket full – yikes! I spent a lot of money on cleaners.

castile

Next, I created my mission statement: Continue reading →

photo-of-the-day

Posted on February 5, 2015 by maryjane

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Humans of New York

Posted on February 5, 2015 by megan

Be it destiny or serendipity or simple coincidence, wonderful things can happen when strangers collide.

Are you familiar with Brandon Stanton, a photographer who walks the streets of New York with his camera in hand, asking complete strangers if he can take their pictures? Stanton posts the photos on his blog, Humans of New York, often with an accompanying story or quote from his subjects. He began what he refers to as his “photo census” back in 2010 as a way to capture and chronicle the neighborhoods of the city through the faces of the people who live there.

vidal

Along Brandon’s journey, he met Vidal Chastanet, an eighth-grade student at Mott Bridges Middle School in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, whose image and accompanying story recently went viral on Stanton’s blog. The day they met, Brandon asked Vidal to share a story of a person who had influenced his life. He chose the principal of his middle school, Ms. Lopez, because of the great lengths she goes to ensure each child knows how much they matter.

principal

Although Stanton usually tries to avoid becoming involved in the lives of his subjects, the response to the blog post was so great, he felt compelled to meet Ms. Lopez. And it just so happens that when he met her, Ms. Lopez was in the middle of a fundraising effort to send her sixth grade students to a summer program at Harvard. Because Brownsville has the highest crime rate in the city, and because the limited horizons of disadvantaged youth are always on her mind, Ms. Lopez chose Harvard to show her students (she refers to them as scholars) what it feels like to stand on the campus of one of the world’s greatest schools and know that they belong there. Brandon was so inspired by Ms. Lopez and her passionate ideas that he personally joined in the effort and launched a fundraiser on Indiegogo.

What transpired next is beyond inspiring!! People started sending in little bits of money. Lots of people. $1 million dollars was raised in five days, ensuring that for the next 25 years, Ms. Lopez’ sixth grade scholars will travel to Harvard.

All because two strangers happened to strike up a conversation on the street.

photo-of-the-day

Posted on February 4, 2015 by maryjane

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Candlemaking Merit Badge, Beginner Level

Posted on February 4, 2015 by mbajane

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,188 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—8,837 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Make It Easy/Candlemaking Beginning Level Merit Badge, I burned my collection of store-bought candles down to the nubbins. Nubs? Stubs? Well, no matter; the point is, waste not, want not, so although I don’t intend to purchase a lot of chemical-laden candles anymore, I still wanted to use up the old stuff (and recycle the containers, of course … wink, wink, nudge, nudge). With the rather confusing and somewhat headache-inducing aroma of Peach-Gardenia-Pine-Maple-Cotton lingering throughout my living room, I settled down for a long winter’s nap some serious researching into the lost art of candlemaking. Three pieces of knowledge were needed for Yours Truly to earn this Beginning Level Badge and I was hot to trot. I was also hot because of all the smoke, but that’s probably a coincidence.

What kind of wax should I use (or maybe even more importantly, not use)? It turns out, in my digging for the truth, that there are several options. Among the most popular: soy-based, paraffin blend, beeswax, vegetable, and coconut. Now it doesn’t take an Expert Level badge earner to be a little wary of the paraffin wax. (Can I get an amen, sisters?) Paraffin emits all sorts of chemical-laced odors, and that’s not surprising, given that it’s basically a compound of mineral (crude) oil. And if I’m gonna burn my house down while attempting to mask the smell of my jogging shoes, I want it to be organic smoke, right? Ha ha, just a little candle humor there.
What kind of smelly good stuff should I use? Behind Door #1 we have: essential oils. These come in just about every scent your proboscis can imagine, and if you can’t find the one you’re looking for, you can mix and match. They are a little on the spendy side though, so unless you are, say, making two dozen tea lights and you don’t care that they’re all French Vanilla, you can go for Door #2: open up your pantry/backdoor/garden gate. Lavender … pine needles … coffee beans … cinnamon. But take it from me, not all together in one candle. Lilac Pancakes are just weird. Voice of experience here.
What kind of coloring should I use? Those leftover tabs of dye from last Easter’s egg debacle? Food coloring? Organic food coloring? Those just might be the bee’s knees (minus the Easter-egg dye), but you know what they’ve been using to dye candles for centuries? Things like paprika, comfrey, beets, tea, rosehip powder, lavender, and spirulina powder. Well, unless you’re looking for a neon green, glow-in-the-dark, totally unnatural color, of course. But if you are, you probably wouldn’t be reading this, would you, my little all-natural beauties?

Armed to the teeth (or rather nose) with my education, I was all set (and uber-excited) to put my information into motion. And my motion into a potion. And my potion into … lotion? Nah, that’s a different badge. Candlemaking Beginner Level Badge: check! Candlemaking Intermediate Level Badge: coming right up …

photo-of-the-day

Posted on February 3, 2015 by maryjane

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Verbigeration

Posted on February 3, 2015 by maryjane

When I set out to share a word for today (word of the day), I realized it would be more effective to show, really show you than to tell you. Just as well not to tell sometimes, you know? Some words are easier to explain by showing than telling. Everyone’s always telling, you know? Telling this. Telling that. Don’t you think that also sometimes? If you think so too, you know, you most likely do, so why don’t we just go ahead and go with that?

In case you’re beginning to wonder, and who in their right mind doesn’t wonder now and then? You should understand—please understand—I haven’t lost mine. Mind you, I don’t know though, do you really mind about my mind in particular or can you simply muster mind over matter? Ha, or does it even matter?

I’m simply attempting to exemplify the peculiar, very peculiar pathology of verbigeration (ver-bij-uh-REY-shuhn), in which one engages in the constant or obsessive repetition of meaningless words or phrases. Super meaningless words or phrases, like you know, I don’t know, know what I mean? Lots of unnecessary little words thrown in, sometimes every other word it seemingly seems. Like, really meaningless words or phrases, you know? Like, taking, like, forever ever to say almost nothing. Interestingly, “verbigeration” entered English in the late 1800s from the Latin verbigerāre, meaning “to chat, converse.” Chat or converse, or not chatty and then, you know, like wham bam, conversely chatty? What do you think about that, my little mockingbird? Mocking, mocking, mocking, but only maybe so so mocking, you know? Right?

Photo of a mockingbird by benjamint444 via Wikimedia Commons

Monthly Archives: February 2015

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