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WHAT'S IN A PET NAME?
Early in my girlhood, I became aware my mother and father called each other a name I visualized as "Mi" although they both pronounced it "Me." I had no idea what it meant or where it came from but knew it was not a name I was supposed to use. It had something to do with whatever went on between them that didn't concern me (lower case), their daughter.
"Mi" was used more affectionately than another mysterious word they sometimes called each other — the one I visualized as "Bubi" but sounded like "Booby." "Bubi" was matter-of-fact; "Mi" meant something a trifle more intimate. I eventually figured out "Mi." It was the first syllable of both their names in Russian — his, "Mikhail," or "Mischa," hers, Mira (pronounced "Meera"). Since they were using it while speaking English, it was a trace of their early days together in Baku before they emigrated — the memory of which was exclusively theirs. The provenance of "Bubi" remains unknown to me to this day.
My father sometimes had another word for my mother: "Youshka." It showed up in the context of satisfaction with or approval of something she had produced around the house — a good dinner, nicely ironed handkerchiefs, the fragrance of lemon-scented Old English furniture polish. When reminiscing about his boyhood to me many years later, he once mentioned his family had had a servant called "Youshka" whom he had liked very much; she had brought back candy for him from her day off. I don't know if my mother ever heard this anecdote. She can't have been very fond of being called "Youshka" though; she never called him "Youshka" back.
Bill recalls his parents called each other "M." "M" was the initial letter of each of their first names: Morris and Mary. (Bill's grandmother, who was Mary's mother, called her daughter Miriam. But that began with "M" too.) No one else called either of them "M." It was just for, and between, them.
My first husband, when pleased with me, called me "cute sweet." It's scribbled all over dozens of household notes and post-its which I stuffed into a large manila envelope after reading them with increasing irritation. Whatever affection all those "cute sweets" may have contained, they sounded patronizing to me, as if I were some small something that he had acquired and was fond of but wasn't in any way central to his existence. He was nine years older than I and over six feet tall, so I couldn't really have called him "cute sweet" back even if I'd felt like it. It may be I never threw the "cute sweets" away because as long as I felt I had to stay in the marriage, that might have been bad luck. Then I forgot about the envelope after things went from not-so-good to worse and he stopped calling me that or using it in little household notes. An upside to keeping them: although the last "cute sweet" was probably written in 1959, because I run across the envelope from time to time while looking for something else in the basement, I still remember all those "cute sweets" well enough to tell you about them.
My second husband didn't go in for pet names, So any pet names arising in my marriage to him were the ones I used with my small children when tucking them into bed at night, Since they would now be extremely embarrassed were I even to hint at what they were (if indeed they remember them), I won't. When they reached adolescence, the pet names fell into disuse. But they developed special names for me and their father when speaking about us to each other, which I got to hear but he didn't. I was "the Ya!" and he was "the Uh!" I have my own views on what " the Ya!" and "the Uh!" meant, but if I go there, we will need to commence an analysis of that marriage and our somewhat different approaches to parenting that would be unwise. Besides, "the Ya!" and "the Uh!" are not pet names within the meaning of this post. I believe they too were abandoned by the time their users reached college.
Bill and I also began our life together with pet names for each other, reserved for that private place between the sheets where they will stay. All I will say about them is that (1) these names are not based on either the initials or sound of any syllable of our respective first names, which isn't what you wanted to know, anyway; and (2) a pet name as I conceive it must be accepted by both parties, the one who speaks and the one to whom it refers.
As witness the day when I suddenly burst out not with my usual pet name for Bill, but with "Baba!"
"Baba?" he not unreasonably inquired.
But when I explained I had no idea where it came from but it meant him and it was good, he soon began calling me Baba too. Not always, you understand. Just, impulsively, now and then. I even made up the first two lines of a little song about it. (You will have to create the extremely short tune for yourself.) "I'm a Baba; You're a Baba; We are Babas two."
When I connect with my brain, I suspect that "Baba" is a corruption of "Baby." But believe me when I say that at such times as "Baba" falls from my lips, my brain is usually in sleep mode.
Then came the cats, Sasha and Sophie. Sometimes, when one of them was being particularly adorable, I began calling that cat Baba, too. What do you know? Before you could blink an eye a couple of times, we were a family of Big Babas and Little Babas!
Is "Baba" sufficiently acknowledged by the cats to qualify as a name accepted by both parties and therefore a bona fide pet name of the sort I've been discussing? (As distinct from a "pet" name given to dogs, cats, or parakeets.) I believe I can assure you that it is, at least as far as the cats "accept" that their individual names are Sasha and Sophie. They do know the difference between those two "S" names and sometimes come, correctly, when individually called. And when they feel like it. By now they will also come to the sound of "Baba" — when they feel like it. Of course, they may simply be coming to the sound of my voice, the voice of the treat-and-food provider. But these are mysteries beyond the purview of this post.
Lately, when Sophie — the dumber of the two — is particularly slow to grasp something, such as that it's okay to eat from her dish while Sasha is eating from her own dish — I have begun to call her "Poo-poo," or "Poozie." Bill is still trying to wrap his mind around that one — "Why? Why?" he asks — so it may not become shared family vocabulary. If it doesn't, it will simply be my way of venting annoyance that both our Little Babas are not equally brilliant (for cats).
How did I fall into this seemingly nonsensical post, anyway? Because if I can't think of something to write next, I look at the title of the blog. This time, it occurred to me that when one of us survives the other (as will certainly happen when two people are getting old together), the pet names for each other will go too. But not the pet names we gave together to our relatively young cats. And that will be a comfort.
When my father died, my mother had no one to call "Mi" and "Bubi" anymore, except perhaps in her heart. She didn't even have cats. But in her last years she did start feeding a non-feral stray cat, lost or left behind, who came to her door every morning and evening for the cream and tuna she put out. "Why does she keep coming?" she asked me ingenuously. She looked forward to it though. So I do hope she gave the cat a pet name she didn't share with me. A name that was private — just between her and the cat.
A pet name means more and more as you get older. It means you're still not alone.
Date June 3, 2015
Tags Cats, family, getting old, Intimacy, Life, marriage, names, pets
FROM MY FATHER (Part Three)
From left to right: Menia (my father), Monia (on violin), Bertha (pretending to play the piano), Bronia, Father (my grandfather), Mother (my grandmother). Probably taken in 1909 or 1910.
[My father died at the end of January 1986, just after his 84th birthday. When he learned he was dying, he began to write a memoir of his early years. He didn't get as far as he had hoped before he felt too weak to continue. So what I am offering here is all there is. Since English was not his native language, I've cleaned up his manuscript a bit. But not too much. I did try to preserve his locutions, to give you the flavor of his speech.
I have no idea who will have the patience to stay for long with a dying man wishing to preserve what he can of himself and his family on paper before he goes and at the same time trying to relive his youth one last time. If you think we should quit — because you came to read me, not him — let me know in the comment section below. Until I hear from any of you that I'm just humoring myself, I'm going to keep typing till I get to where he stopped…. A visit with my father wasn't always 100% interesting. But one usually came away with something to remember in the end.]
BY MICHAEL RAGINSKY
[Continued from previous post….]
By this time, I found out I had an Uncle; he was Father's brother, who also arrived with his family to Baku when we did. His family consisted of his wife, two girls named Sifa and Mania and two boys named Solomon and Boris. The girls were a little older than I, but the boys were younger. Uncle's name was Isaac, which he promptly changed to Russian name Alexander; his wife's name was Enaia, which remained same for the rest of her life. They lived close by, and the boys became my playmates.
My father's name was Nachum-Leib, which he too changed to Nahoum, or in Russian, Naum. Mother's name was Sima, but Russified her name to Sonia or Sophie. Both of my sisters also changed names, from Beile to Bertha and from Broche to Bronislava. (Beile in Jewish meant "beautiful" and Broche meant "prayer!") My brother's name was Moses and in Russian Moisei, and that's the way it remained till we came to America, when it became Morris. My name was Mendel. Why I got it and what it meant I never knew. All I knew is that I did not like it. I took the Russian Revolution as a good opportunity for me to change the name to Michael. During the first months of Revolution it was comparatively easy to get hold of documents with the new name, and from then on all other papers could be changed to Michael too. But at home I was always called Menia or Menichka, and my brother Monia or Monichka, although the sisters were called by their Russian names.
My father also had a sister called Dunia. She was married to a man by the name Rossinsky. By profession he was a cap and hat maker for men. He could make very fancy, and I thought very beautiful, hats for officers and other officials, and regulation hats with visors for Gymnasium students. He always made hats for me and my brother, but that was later, when Father brought his sister and family also to Baku.
About the same time, Father also brought to Baku his own Father and Mother. He settled them in a room separate from our dwelling but close by. By that time we had moved from our apartment into a huge building in the commercial part of Baku, where Father and Uncle opened their first store together. The building had many stores and also housed a Gymnasium for boys. The stores had entrances from the street and also from the rear, which opened to a huge back area, more like a ball park.
The building was owned by a Azerbaijanian Moslem (tatarim) who hardly could speak Russian. He chose Father as advisor in his dealings with Russian officials as well as to take care of all his official paperwork. Father became his right hand in dealing with Russian officialdom! He used to arrive in a magnificent carriage with three fine horses, surrounded by his cronies. His name was Gadji-Aga Gadjieff, and he was an enormously rich man. But his sense of humor left me flat. Once, I remember, he arrived in the spring to see Father at the store and had to wait a bit as Father was out, so noticing me in the office part of the store, he casually asked in broken Russian what month was it. I said, "May," to which all of a sudden he broke out again in broken Russian, "Ya perdnu a ti poimai!" "May" and "poimai" rhyme in Russian, but the meaning is very stinky. It meant, "I will let out a fart, and you catch it!" I was taken terribly aback, not expecting anything like that from such a V.I.P. person and was speechless! But the V.I.P. burst out laughing, joined by his cronies, for a very long time. Almost till Father got back to the office. Such delicate sense of humor!
My mother also had a brother. I never saw him, but I knew of him because he had a candy factory in Odessa and was sending us from time to time packages and boxes of his candy; they were very fancy, wrapped up in papers with pretty pictures on them. Mother's Mother was living somewhere in a little village in Ukraine — alone, as Mother's Father was always traveling all over Russia, but mostly in Siberia, representing book publishers and selling books. I met this Grandfather only once, when he came to visit us in Baku. He was a handsome tall man, with a huge white beard and completely bald head! He liked to drink Vodka. I guess in Siberia it is a must to keep warm! My Father was very deferential to him, as also to his own Father. This Grandfather did not stay long with us, but before he left he was very generous with his grandchildren. I do not know what he gave to sisters, but he gave a lot [of money] to Monia, for him to buy a fine violin and a beautiful photo-camera. I got nothing! I received Monia's old camera, which I did not like and did not want! I never did use that camera! Mother's Mother, our Grandmother, was later to stay with us for a few years and once in the summer we all went to her village and spent our summer vacation there. But about all that later.
In our family, no one wore glasses except Father and us two boys. We were nearsighted. All others had fine vision all the time!
Father's goal was to bring out all of the relatives to Baku from Ukraine, and that required a lot of money, which I imagine was not forthcoming in amounts needed. And so, coming back to the time when we lived nicely in our apartment with a maid — I was about five then — we had to move and lower our living standards. We moved to the building I described where the store was located, on Borgovaia Street II (Commercial Street II), into small quarters next to the store. Later we moved again to live in the back of the store. The store was huge in length and so it was easy to partition it off — in the front for the store part, and in the rear for living. Still later on, another store was opened and Uncle and his family set up living quarters in the other store's back.
My uncle Alexander, in contrast to my Father, had a great black beard which he always groomed and was very proud of. He did not wear eyeglasses and neither did anyone in his family. My Grandfather (Father's Father) was a very religious man; he was also bearded, with a great white beard. He was most of the time praying in synagogue or at home. He liked my brother very much but did not care much for me! My GrandMa was a nice little lady and liked me very much; I was visiting her often and she always had cookies and cake for me, something I got very rarely at home. Once, on a Jewish holiday, she even poured me a small glass of vodka with the cake. Vodka for a five year old! Needless to say that I was drunk for the rest of the day! Mother was furious! And that was the end of visits on Jewish holidays to GrandMa.
In our house there was never much religion. Father would go to synagogue on big Jewish Holidays, and also celebrate Passover with all ritual during meals. Mother would pray over candles lit on Fridays, and there were no un-kosher meals during Passover and no un-kosher dishes. Also there was no cooking on Saturdays; all the cooking was done Friday and the meal was kept warm till Saturday. But that was all.
My Grandfather and GrandMa lived near us until GrandMa died. I saw her in coffin and cried! After that, GrandPa left Baku and I never saw him again. I think that he left for Ukraine, where he was more at home with other religious friends near the synagogue.
The huge store building where we lived had also in the center a great gate from the street through which students could walk to Gymnasium and carriages could enter the premises. In the summer, an open-air movie house opened inside the open area in the yard, and Father had a key to the private box that belonged to the rich landlord, so I was the first customer for the first show every evening. I loved movies!
August 9th, 1984.
By now I was about six years old. The year was 1908. The two stores did not work out too good, and Father and Uncle decided to combine both stores into one, but both retained the back parts of the stores as living quarters for each. The front of one of the stores was given to Sister Dunia and her husband the hatmaker, and they established a thriving business for themselves. He was an excellent worker and very ambitious; he was at his sewing machine from early in the morning to late at night working, increasing and selling his inventory of caps and hats.
Father and Uncle were working together in the other store, which they stocked with various merchandise all imported from Germany: sewing machines, knitting machines, bicycles, phonographs and records, different kinds of musical instruments, strings, etc. Apparently, they were doing well. They had a system whereby each would take in all the cash that came from sales every other month — six months one partner and the other six months the other partner. Each one, after taking out equal amount of money for living expenses, would put the excess into a fund to pay business expenses and for the merchandise. Father would go about twice a year to Germany on his buying trip, and Uncle would tend the store. Uncle was a good mechanic (also self learned) and was very good at fixing all sorts of mechanical problems with the merchandise.
By that time, Monia was already going to the Gymnasium, located in our building. The Gymnasiums in Russia were official schools of learning, and the diploma from the Gymnasium was necessary to be admitted to any institution of higher learning, like University or Engineering School. In Tsarist Russia there was a quota for all Jewish children that could be admitted to any institution of learning except private schools, whose diplomas were not accepted at University or Engineering School. Jewish quota for all officially approved schools was 10%; if the class consisted of forty students, only four Jewish children were admitted. The admittance for everyone was by examinations, but the competition for the few Jewish places was fierce, especially where the Jewish population was large. In Baku, there were very few Jewish families at that time and even less Jewish children of school age. So for Monia it was comparatively easier to be admitted to the Gymnasium. But when the time came for me to apply, it was a very different story!
Tags anti-semitism, Baku, Death, Early Twentieth Century history, family, father, memoir, Memory, Michael Raginsky, names, Russia, Time, Writing


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Rising sea levels may build, rather than destroy, coral reef islands
Credit: Holly East
Rising global sea levels may actually be beneficial to the long-term future of coral reef islands, such as the Maldives, according to new research published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Low-lying coral reef islands are typically less than three metres above sea level, making them highly vulnerable to rising sea levels associated with climate change. However, research has found new evidence that the Maldives – the world's lowest country – formed when sea levels were higher than they are today.
The evidence was discovered by researchers who studied the formation of five islands in the southern Maldives. Using a coring technique, they were able to reconstruct how and when the islands formed.
They found that large waves caused by distant storms off the coast of South Africa led to the formation of the islands approximately three to four thousand years ago. These large waves – known as high-energy wave events – broke coral rubble off the reef and transported it onto reef platforms creating the foundations for the reef islands.
At the time, sea levels were up to 0.5 metres higher than they are today, which gave the waves more energy. This means that higher sea levels and large wave events were critical to the construction of the islands.
The researchers say that under climate change, projected increases in sea level and the magnitude of large wave events could actually lead to the growth of reef islands, but only if the coral reef remains healthy to provide the building material.
The research was led by Dr Holly East of the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences at Northumbria University, Newcastle. She explained: "Coral reef islands are typically believed to be highly vulnerable to rising sea levels. This is a major concern for coral reef island nations, in which reef islands provide the only habitable land.
"However, we have found evidence that the Maldivian rim reef islands actually formed under higher sea levels than we have at present. This gives us some optimism that if climate change causes rising sea levels and increases in the magnitude of high-energy wave events in the region, it may actually create the perfect conditions to reactivate the processes that built the reef islands in the first place, rather than drowning them."
However, Dr East stressed that this could only occur if healthy live coral was available in the region's reef communities.
"As these islands are mostly made from coral, a healthy coral reef is vital to provide the materials for island building," she said. "However, this could be problematic as corals face a range of threats under climate change, including increasing sea surface temperatures and ocean acidity. If the reef is unhealthy, we could end up with the perfect building conditions but not the bricks."
Dr East worked with academics from the University of Exeter (UK); Simon Fraser University (Canada); University of Auckland (New Zealand); Southern Institute of Technology (New Zealand) and the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) on this study.
Dr East added: "It is also important to note that the large wave events required for reef island building may devastate island infrastructure, potentially compromising the habitability of reef islands in their current form. A challenge for reef island nations may therefore be to develop infrastructure with the capacity to withstand, or be adaptable to, large wave events."
Their paper, Coral Reef Island Initiation and Development Under Higher Than Present Sea Levels is now available in Geophysical Research Letters.
Andrea Slowey
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/coral-reefs/
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention Review
Disgaea 3 does a lousy job of familiarizing you with its complex mechanics, but rewarding tactical depth and goofy humor make the learning curve worth climbing.
By Carolyn Petit | @carolynmichelle on April 11, 2012 at 12:23PM PDT
Mao has a bone to pick with his father. Ever since dad destroyed his SlayStation Portable and cost him millions of hours in saved progress, the outraged son has been plotting his revenge. But such vengeance isn't easily carried out when your father is the Overlord of the Netherworld. Disgaea 3's zany story, rewarding tactical combat, and unwelcoming attitude first appeared on the PlayStation 3 in 2008. Now, Mao's quest to avenge the actions of his demonic dad is available on the PlayStation Vita, with the same good qualities, and the same problems.
Yes, despite being spiffed up with a new subtitle and containing all the downloadable content made available for the PS3 version, this is essentially the same game that was released on the PS3 nearly four years ago. It certainly isn't any more accommodating to new players. A series of tutorials introduces you to the basics of Disgaea's turn-based combat, and the fundamentals are standard and easy to grasp. On each turn, you can move your characters around the field of play, attacking enemies, casting spells, using items, and so on. You need to take position into account; attacking enemies from the side or rear is more effective than attacking them head-on, and if you attack from an adjacent tile, your target may respond with a counterattack. (Spears let you attack from two tiles away, sparing you this danger.) By having several of your characters attack a foe in succession, you perform a combo in which the attacks become much more effective together than they would be individually.
But to get the most out of Disgaea's battle system, you need to go beyond the basics and start exploiting the system to your advantage. (After all, nobody ever said demons fight fair.) This means, for instance, moving a character next to another to aid with a powerful team attack, then retracting the character's movement and moving him again to perform an attack of his own.
You need every advantage you can get in Disgaea 3's tactically challenging battles, which frequently complicate matters further with special cubes called geo blocks. These imbue tiles with all manner of properties that may be quite beneficial to you, or to your enemy. Figuring out how to efficiently eliminate them can be puzzling in a way that's satisfying to work out, and doing so is often crucial for victory. It's consistently rewarding to exploit the various mechanics of this battle system to your advantage, but the game leaves discovering such opportunities up to you, and coming to grips with this complexity can be a daunting and time-consuming task.
Characters standing on adjacent tiles have a chance to help each other out with powerful team attacks.
Complexity isn't limited to the battlefield in Disgaea 3. When you're not fighting, you're typically roaming around Evil Academy, the Netherworld school Mao attends. There's no shortage of things to do here. You can spend the mana you earn in battle on character-enhancing skills, and on passive bonuses, called evilities. You can also venture into the randomly generated dungeons that exist within your weapons and armor, powering up that gear and leveling up your characters.
Most importantly, you can attend homeroom. Attending class may seem counterintuitive for a student at Evil Academy, where success is measured by how well you manage to ignore your studies. But homeroom serves a number of vital purposes. Here, you can assign characters to adjacent seats to increase their chances of helping each other with team attacks. You can place students in clubs, which can confer a variety of benefits. And you can put forth "topics" for class representatives to consider. These include things like creating a new character, replacing shop stock with higher-quality, more-expensive gear, and much more. Some class reps may not be inclined to vote in favor of your motion, but you can grease the wheels with some good old-fashioned bribery. These are more than optional side activities. Your actions here can have a profound impact on your effectiveness in combat, so these tactical considerations are nearly as involving as those you make from one turn to the next during battle.
Making all these weighty strategic decisions may sound dry, but Disgaea 3's zany, pervasive sense of humor keeps every aspect of the game light and entertaining. The moment you fire the game up, you're greeted with a screen urging you to sacrifice sleep and play in the dark, before this is replaced with a far more sensible statement about playing in a well-lit area and taking plenty of breaks.
At Evil Academy, bad behavior is praised and good behavior is looked down upon; Mao's steadfast avoidance of all academic activity has made him the number one honor student in the Netherworld, while his rival, Raspberyl, has a reputation as a delinquent due to her perfect attendance and her tendency to actually do her homework. Mao's quest to defeat his father throws him into all manner of unpredictable situations involving terrific characters, and sharp, self-aware writing motivates you to push through each challenging chapter to see what craziness the next contains.
Nobody tell Mao about the Mass Effect 3 ending.
Absence of Detention retains the same technically unimpressive but charming visual style that has characterized every game in the Disgaea series. New combat animations and character reactions during cutscenes have been added to this release, but these minor touch-ups aren't substantial enough to make the game worth revisiting if you've had your fill of it on the PS3. Touch-screen controls give you a quick way to select a character in battle who hasn't acted yet, which is a convenient addition. But unfortunately the camera still has problems. Though you can rotate it freely during your turns, it's not always possible to get a clear view of your characters' positions, and during the enemy's turn, you may be stuck with a view of a wall while your characters are thrashed by their adversaries.
Unlike Mao with his SlayStation Portable, you probably won't get millions of hours out of Disgaea 3, but considering that you can level your characters all the way up to 9999, and that there are numerous endings to discover and other scenarios to complete once you've finished the main game, you might come pretty close. It's unfortunate that Absence of Detention doesn't make the intricacies of its combat system more accessible to new players, but if you're willing to stick it out and learn the ropes, Disgaea 3 provides a compelling excuse to ditch class. If you're a demon. Stay in school, human kids.
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Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice / PlayStation Vita
Deep, involving turn-based tactical battles
Funny story with lots of great characters
Enough content to keep you happily occupied for a long time
Does a poor job explaining its mechanics
Minor camera frustrations
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Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice More Info
First Released Aug 26, 2008
The latest entry in the Digaea series will feature 3 dimensional battles courtesy of the new Geo Block feature.
Average Rating1269 Rating(s)
Please Sign In to rate Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
Nippon Ichi Software
NIS America, Nippon Ichi Software, Square Enix, ATLUS, GameMoonhwa Publishing
Strategy, Turn-Based
Theme(s):
Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes


Kathy Slonaker began working at Shepherd Center in 1982 in nursing and has worked in every unit at Shepherd Center, including 10 years in the Outpatient Services Department before joining the admissions staff as an admissions liaison in 2000. She became lead triage nurse in 2014.
"I love representing Shepherd Center and working closely with referring facilities to educate families on spinal cord and brain injuries," she says. "I am honored to be a part of the treatment team, working together to set the course for the patient and family's journey to recovery. I am inspired everyday by the families I serve as I bear witness to love, faith and hope."
Kathy is married and has three children. Her husband, Mark, is the executive director of athletics alumni relations for the University of Georgia.
Kathy enjoys traveling, being outdoors, reading and spending time with her grandchildren.


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Jennings Haug Cunningham's Climb to Conquer Cancer Team Raises More than $7K for the Cause
Firm name partner Bill Haug joins team for climb, celebrating his 80th birthday
Phoenix, AZ (March 7, 2011) -- Jennings Haug Cunningham is pleased to announce that its Climb to Conquer Cancer team, which included 26 people, raised more than $7,000 for the cause, ranking it as the top fundraising law firm team in the challenge and fourth team overall for the 2011 Climb. The firm has sponsored a team in the climb for the past decade, but this year was particularly special because Bill Haug, a firm name partner celebrated his 80th birthday the day before the climb, and joined the team for the hike at South Mountain Park on Saturday, February 26, 2011.
The American Cancer Society's Climb to Conquer Cancer is a unique activity held by the American Cancer Society that offers everyone in a community the opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer, on February 27, 2010.
Climb to Conquer Cancer is a one day event, where teams of 8 to 15 people participate in a hike through beautiful mountain scenery, and take part in the festival area. Each team of 10 or more participants has the opportunity to submit their own artwork for the back of their t-shirts, and to participate in fundraising for the event. Our festival features entertainment, food, and a special celebration of cancer survivors.
Because Climb to Conquer Cancer is a non-competitive event, anyone and everyone can participate. Teams form from businesses, clubs, families, friends, hospitals, churches, schools and service organizations. These individuals all share a common purpose - their support of the American Cancer Society's Mission. More information is available at: www.community.acsevents.org
About Jennings Haug Cunningham, L.L.P.
Founded in 1937 in Arizona, Jennings Haug Cunningham is a litigation law firm with extensive trial, litigation management, dispute resolution and complex litigation experience. The firm's more than 20 attorneys focus in areas of financial institution litigation, construction and contract litigation, personal injury, employment, and municipal risk litigation for businesses and individuals. For additional information, visit the firm's Web site at www.jhc-law.com.
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Great pizza sure, but Vera is so much more…cool vibe, awe-inspiring mixed drinks, savory small plates, beautiful entrees…and pizza extra-ordinaire. It reminds me of a 30s speak easy, or something out of a Paul Newman movie. The bartenders are perched at their station eagerly waiting their chance to create perfection in a glass- cocktails made with fresh juices, homemade concoctions and plenty of love. The wait staff is also ready to field the inevitable "what's your favorite drink?". They can make recommendations based on your liquor preference with the best of them.
Located near the food hip corner of Lexington and Ashland, next to Kuni's Sushi Bar and across from The Place, Vera Pizzeria is anything but your traditional pizzeria. The dim lights, wood floors, brick surrounds and some outstanding dinner rock lend a sense of another place and time.
The space is not large at maybe 35′ x 45′. The bar covers one wall, tables against a banquet the other, some sturdy rectangular tall boys in the middle, roughly 10 foot ceilings, semi-open kitchen in the back. Nice big windows overlook Lexington, candles on the table, and a Longhorn antelope head decorates the space high above the bar.
Vera is well known around town for their tantalizing mixed drinks, and our tasting did not disappoint. The drink menu lists a great-looking assortment: Blood and Iron, The Concept, GlOgg, Brass Lantern, Devils Pride, Applied Science, Cardamon Spiced Old Fashioned, Hey Mister, Hot Rum & Cider, Fort Collins. Vera announced their Spring cocktail menu today.
Pepper Pots (for the daring – Egg white!) – Bourbon, maple syrup, fresh lemon, black walnut bitters, egg white, fresh ground pepper.
Earhart – vodka, St. Jermaine, fresh lemon, blackberry and strawberry purée.
Good Luck Chuck – Uncle Val's botanical Gin, Lilly Blanc, Bernadictine, house made ginger tincture, green chartreuse rinse.
Besides the great vibe and mixed drinks, these guys put out some terrific food. The menu is an eclectic grouping of pizza, small plates and entrees. According to their website it is "Cuisine inspired by the flavors of Italy and the people of Buffalo, N.Y." Gotta be good.
Ham and Chicken Croquettes with Maple Dijon aioli $8.
This is another restaurant that does a great job of putting together layers of flavors and textures that oppose yet compliment. Creamy with crisp, salt with sweet, crunchy with smooth. Everything was fantastic. We all had different favorites. I loved the Fig Jam pizza, but one slice was enough. I could eat the Pork Bianka Pizza until I bust. Probably my favorite dish though was the Warm Duck and Pork Terrine. They slice the terrine, heat it up and dress it – sinfully good. Nothing was left unclaimed as a favorite.
They also have some good looking salads, and a Nickel City Cheese & Charcuterie board. Some of the other pizzas include a margarita, housemade sausage, roasted garlic and tomato, and pierogi.
For dessert, not that anyone was still hungry, we ordered the housemade donuts with a thick, rich chocolate sauce and cheesecake. All good. The donuts could feed two or more.
Unfortunately Vera is not open for lunch, but they do dinner six days a week. Go! Now! After reviewing the items we missed I'm thinking of returning tonight. I really wanted that Pork Belly, and a redo on the Warm Duck and Pork Terrine is a very definite possibility. Be forewarned- they change their menus often.


text:
A quarter century and it could have been yesterday
Part 2: When 'The Globe' Came to Prague
Back in March, when I first wrote about the 25th anniversary this year of the Globe Bookstore & Coffeehouse in Prague, I promised a follow-up article, and that's what this is. In Part 1, I focused on the particular conditions in Prague that led the five of us to open an English-language bookstore and coffeehouse in Central Europe – and some of the early hiccups. For this second part, I'm feeling less ambitious (maybe it's the heat wave in Europe this summer). Instead of reaching for – and not finding -- some profound insight about owning a business or being an expat, I'll simply relay a few of my own favorite Globe moments and share some photos of our staff and customers*.
The Globe was always much less about the owners and more about the people who worked for us – and with us – to make the business a success (and, of course, the people who actually bought the books and coffee). I've tried to dig out as many old photos as possible, but there are many gaps. I'm happy to add photos if you'd like to send them to me. (As you're reading this story, please scroll past the map for more photos at the bottom).
Top Image: From Ken Nash's funny and prescient 'Prague on 13 Beers a Day'. This somehow set the tone for how The Globe came to be viewed by Prague's expats: one party irony, one party necessity.
Posted 13 August 2018
Posted in Life In Prague, Tales From The Past and tagged 1990s, Bookstore, Coffeehouse, Czech, Expats, Globe, history, Prague, The Globe.
One of Adam Trachtman's beautiful, whimsical postcards. And, no, Holešovice never quite looked liked this.
The five original partners, pictured here sometime shortly after opening in July 1993 (from right to left): Markéta Janků, Scott Rogers, Mark Baker, Jasper Bear and Maura Griffin. Photo credit: Chris Niedenthal/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
The day Allen Ginsberg dropped by The Globe to check it out. The man on the far left of the photo was traveling with Ginsberg at the time. That's me on the right. Photo credit: unknown.
Joan M. (left) and Jasper B. on the mean streets of Holešovice. Photo credit: Joan Menefee.
Whenever I tell people about the Globe and once co-owning a bookstore/coffeehouse, the reaction is always the same. "A bookstore and a coffeehouse? OMG, That's my dream job!" And my reaction is usually the same too. I push back gently with a variation of the old adage: "Be careful what you wish for."
The night of our opening party, July 28, 1993, wasn't just the culmination of a frantic four months of preparation to open a business, it was the starting point for what would prove to be a long process of work and learning that would eventually take its toll on all five of the original partners. Looking back, we were so swept up in the positive energy of early-'90s Prague that I don't think any us truly grasped the commitment we'd entered into. Anyone who's ever owned a business will know what I'm talking about.
I was perhaps the worst of the five. Less than a year after opening the Globe, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't cut out to be a business owner and wanted to return to full-time journalism. Much to the bafflement of my partners and friends in Prague, one day in May 1994, I announced I was heading home to the United States to look for a job with a newspaper or wire service. I would keep my stake in the business, but my career focus would be elsewhere.
And that's what I did. That summer, I moved back to my parents' house in Ohio (the proverbial parental basement), and after a long period of frantically searching for work, eventually landed a spot as an editor with Bloomberg News. My first job with Bloomberg was located in a relatively remote corner of rural New Jersey, outside of Princeton (about as far from Prague spiritually as you could get). I was later transferred to Bloomberg's home office in New York, which was a big upgrade, but even then I missed the close-knit community I'd had at the Globe. Eventually, my homesickness for Prague would get the better of me and at the end of 1996, I returned to Central Europe.
A few months ago, as I was paging through some Facebook comments and photos from my earlier blog post, I realized there were many stories and photos that I couldn't recall, and then it dawned on me why. By moving back to the U.S. when I did, I'd missed a lot of what had happened in those early days.
Night in the coffeehouse, sometime probably in 1994. Josh (left), Jasper, James and Barbara. Photo credit: Maura Griffin.
The Globe Bookstore & Coffeehouse -- postcard. Photo credit: Filip Zikmund.
Tom Brokaw and the rest of the NBC Nightly News crew were in town to cover U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to Prague in January 1994. Brokaw stopped by the Globe for a chat. That's me on the left. Photo credit: unknown.
Bookstore manager Rob M. (left), Joan M. and Shelton. Photo credit: Joan Menefee.
Although I love coffee, I was always more closely attached to the book side of our business than the coffeehouse, and most of my memories and stories revolve around buying and selling books and holding our sporadic evening readings.
Back in the day, people would often ask me where we (the Globe) would source our books (they were referring to our used books, as it was pretty clear we bought new books from publishers and wholesalers).
Indeed, finding quality used books and shipping them to Prague was never easy. First off, we had to locate books that our customers – mainly expats, backpackers, and Czechs – would actually want to buy. Back then that meant lots of John Irving titles ("The World According to Garp") and Czech writers in translation (and not too many shiny-cover romances and bodice-rippers). And then there was the question of cost. Even for the best books, our market wouldn't usually support a price of above a few dollars. We had to be ever vigilant in looking for suppliers. That led us on more than a few wild-goose chases over the years.
One of our most memorable but least-successful book-finding trips was a seven-hour drive to Stuttgart, Germany, that Jasper, Maura and I took in my newly bought Škoda in the summer of 1993. A sketchy, middle-aged American guy named "Larry" had come through Prague just as we were opening up and said he had "warehouses and warehouses" of used books in Germany, and that he'd be happy to sell them to us for "10 cents a kilo." He told us he was involved in decommissioning U.S. military bases in southern Germany, so it wasn't such a stretch to think he might have books to sell.
Fast-forward to Stuttgart, and in my mind's eye, we're partying with Larry and some his friends in his sleazy, '70s-era mansion that looked as if you might find Hugh Hefner (minus the bunnies) floating around in a bathrobe. As for the books, Larry did have kilos, but they turned out to mainly grade-school math and science textbooks for the kids on the base. The U.S. military would no longer need the books once the soldiers returned home. The problem is, even at 10 cents a kilo, we'd never be able to sell them in Prague.
We ended up sourcing most of our used books in the United States, and all five partners had stories of stuffing those big U.S. postal service "M" bags with books and shipping them off to Prague on their trips home. I got my whole family in on the act, and my parents and brother got quite adept over the years at filling up those army-green duffel bags.
One of my favorite book-buying stories is a trip that Jasper and I took in 1995 or '96 to Riverrun Books, a private bookshop in Hastings-On-Hudson, north of New York City. I was living in New York at the time and Jasper was passing through town. We met up and caught the train upriver to see what we could find.
It was indeed a major haul. Riverrun had exactly the kind of high-quality paperbacks we knew we could sell, and they were willing to make deals. Feverishly working in their storeroom at the back, the two of us uncrated box after box and neatly stacked all the titles we'd be buying and shipping back to Europe. And then we hit what we thought was the jackpot of all time: a carton filled with books and labeled on top: "Central Europe" or "Eastern Europe" (or something like this).
English translations of books by Czechs or other Central European writers were our bread and butter at The Globe. We simply couldn't keep these titles in stock, and we salivated at the prospect of making some easy sales.
And then we opened the box. Much to our shock and amusement it was filled with porn. Loads of porn. Someone had clearly tried to hide the contents by giving the box the most unappetizing label they could think of.
One of our first hires, Pavel (straight from the Russian Navy), pictured here with Maura G. Photo credit Joan Menefee.
Typical night in the coffeehouse, circa 1994 or '95. Lots of people in this shot, including Laura De Blois. Photo credit: Jeffree Benet.
Chris M. manning the front desk at the bookstore. Photo credit: Jasper Bear.
Part of the plan was to establish links to other English bookstores in Europe, including Shakespeare & Co in Paris. This is a copy of a letter we sent to owner/operator George Whitman. Double-click the photo to open a larger image.
Our author readings were another high point for me.
It's hard to imagine now, but Prague back then was still in the early phases of its re-opening to the world, and it seemed as if every international author coming to this part of Europe would swing through town. Once they were here, as an English-language bookstore, we were one of the few games around if they wanted to read or meet their public.
In that first year of operation, the Globe hosted readings or visits by Allen Ginsberg, Amy Tan, Julian Barnes, Martin Amis, James Salter, James Ragan and several others I can't remember now. Over the years, that list would expand to resemble a "Who's Who" of famous authors.
Czech and other local writers came by as well. It was their chance to meet a new readership. Well-known Czechs like Ivan Klíma, Arnošt Lustig, Ludvík Vaculík and Jáchym Topol, as well as resident Prague authors like Prague Post Editor-in-Chief Alan Levy and Robert Eversz, among others, would drop in during those early days to see what all the fuss was about.
Our readings were always highly improvised affairs. We'd clear out the bookstore of stray customers, pull out some old benches we kept stored in the cellar, and set up an impromptu reading space in a cramped, sweaty corner of the shop. As the speaker was reading, the din from the coffeehouse would invariably pour through the walls and the coffee grinder would pierce its way through every poignant pause. It was comical.
The best events, of course, were when the writers would arrive unannounced.
One afternoon I was working in the bookstore with Jasper (Maura, Scott and Markéta could also have been there, but I can't recall now), when a tall, thin guy with wavy, graying hair and an uncanny resemblance to the Pulitzer-prize-winning American writer Richard Ford strode in with a smile on his face. Jasper and I looked at each other. Could it be?
I remember quietly walking over to the fiction section where authors whose last names began with "F" would be shelved and finding a copy of one of Ford's paperbacks. A quick glance at the author photo revealed it was, indeed, Richard Ford.
A couple of minutes later we approached him, introduced ourselves as the owners, and asked if he'd like to do a reading. He (surprisingly) accepted, and within the five minutes it took to rearrange the chairs in the coffeehouse, he was reading aloud from his collection of short stories, "Wildlife." Even though the place was (much) less than half full, it was a magical moment.
It only occurred to me how truly special this all was months later after I had made that rash decision in 1994 to leave Prague and was standing at a magazine rack at a drugstore in my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. Those first few weeks back home in Ohio were lonelier than I'd bargained for, and I spent many an hour killing time at the local shopping plaza and leafing through books and magazines. On this particular day, I noticed one magazine in the rack, Vogue, had the word "Prague" on its cover. Eager to see what was happening in the place I'd left not long ago, I started reading it.
The article, by another prize-winning American writer, Edmund White, was an artful description of Prague's beauty and rebirth. And then I got to the part in the story where White began describing a surprise reading by the author Richard Ford that had happened a few months before at a bookstore called "The Globe." I nearly fell over. I was reading about our own reading.
Jasper and Nina, who was working as one of our managers in the early days. Photo credit: Jasper Bear.
Another former manager and overall multi-talented Czech guy: Aleš B. Photo credit: Greg Linington.
The highly talented Kuba V., pictured here with Alison D. (right). Photo by Filip Zikmund.
Barbara, Remi (center) and Jeffrey (right). Photo credit: Jasper Bear.
People sometimes ask what was the most unexpected thing about being involved with the Globe. That's hard to say, but something that always surprises me is how many people met their eventual life partners over a book or coffee at the Globe. I've lost count over the years of how many times people have "thanked" me for the Globe because otherwise they may never have met their husband or wife. Believe me, it was purely unintended, but it does make you think about the consequences of any of our actions. One of the first of these Globe couples was the union of partners Scott and Markéta Rogers, who were married in Prague just two years after we opened the store. The New York Times announcement popped up on the first Google search.
Sometimes these expressions of gratitude occur in the most unlikely of places.
In those few weeks in May and June 1994, between when I told my Globe partners I was leaving Prague and I actually flew off for the U.S., I took a few solo trips around the Czech Republic to say goodbye to the country and get my last fill of the place. One of those trips was to the southern Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, about 160 km (100 miles) south of Prague.
I can't remember if I drove the three hours down or took the bus (I can't even remember why I chose Český Krumlov for one of my goodbye trips – I probably wouldn't do that now). Anyway, I got a room upstairs at Na Louži, a friendly pub in the center of town, and went down to the restaurant to get a beer. I had just settled in to my table and was startled to see a Prague friend, John Allison, sitting across the room and having a beer with a guy I didn't recognize. It's not unusual to run into friends by chance in Prague (it happens every day), but in Český Krumlov it felt like an odd coincidence.
John invited me over to his table and introduced me to his friend (whose name now neither of us can remember). We chatted for a while and John mentioned I was one of the co-owners of the Globe. The guy's eyes lit up.
"You know," he said, or possibly slurred (by then I remember the beers were starting to take their toll), something to the effect: "The Globe has a special place in my heart."
"How so?" I asked (maybe a little too skeptically – I've been in these pub discussions before).
"That was the place I first met my wife."
And then he related a charming story about how they got together. Apparently, he'd been living on U Smaltovny street in Prague's Holešovice neighbourhood, very close to us at the Globe, and used to come over in the evenings to relax.
In 2013, to mark the Globe's 20th anniversary, I arranged a party at the old Holešovice space – now a Czech bookstore and coffeehouse called Ouky Douky. This summer, though, I was too busy with work and deadlines to organize anything for the 25th. Thankfully, Michael Sito, the Globe's owner these days, picked up the mantle and threw a bash at the store's current location (since 2000) on Pštrossova Street in the center of town.
It was a wonderful party on a perfect summer afternoon. I gave a short reading about the early life of the Globe and was followed up by Czech-American author Mark Slouka, who happens coincidentally to live on Janovského Street, just next to the site of the old Globe. The third speaker was the American poet, James Ragan, who may have been the very first reader we ever had back at the Globe in 1993.
In the audience, Alan Levy's widow, Val, was sitting there smiling, and there were several other old friends around. A quarter century and it could have been yesterday.
*Most of the photos used in this post appeared originally on the Facebook group The (old) Globe Bookstore & Coffeehouse, Prague and are reprinted here with the permission of the owners. Keep scrolling down for more pictures.
Find part one of this post on the Globe here.
Greg L. (left), Pedy and Jasper B. Photo by Filip Zikmund.
Singer Tonya Graves, shown here with her band Liquid Harmony. Tonya was working the cash desk at the bookstore at the time. Photo credit: Richard Zemke.
A photo from one of the many newspaper and magazine articles from 1993 and '94 documenting the rise of thousands of 'YAPs' -- Young Americans in Prague. This story appeared in November 1993. Photo by Ivan Malý.
One of the many incarnations of The Globe coffeehouse menu over the years. We caught much grief for our prices, but 20 crowns for an 'Americano' doesn't sound all that bad.
The coffeehouse server with maybe the biggest smile, Ivanka. Photo by Joan Menefee.
A partner photo from one of the earliest days: From left to right: Jasper, Maura, Scott, Markéta and 'Milan' (the guy who painted the exterior of the store). I'm sitting at the center of the photo (not sure about my expression). Photo credit: Markéta Rogers.
From one of poet Donna Stonecipher's readings. That's Donna on the left; Jasper is on the right (with glasses). Photo credit: Donna Stonecipher.
Our first Thanksgiving in November 1993: That's Jasper cutting the turkey. Whitney on the far left. That's me, with Jeffrey Y. behind me. Photo credit: Maura Griffin.
Bookstore manager Štěpánka and Brad D. in the bookstore. Photo credit: Greg Linington.
Partner Scott Rogers standing at the bar, showing off his Eraserhead hair, shortly before opening in July 1993.
In 2013, I organized a 20th anniversary party at the original Globe location on Janovského in Holešovice -- now the Ouky Douky coffeehouse. Photo by Mark Baker.
American news anchor Tom Brokaw, visiting the Globe in January 1994. That's partner Maura Griffin standing behind him. Photo credit: Maura Griffin.
The one-of-a-kind Tonya Graves. Photo by Filip Zikmund.
Bookstore manager Rob M (right) and Sean. Photo credit: Glen Melia.
From Donna Stonecipher's reading. Donna is pictured in the center. Photo credit: Donna Stonecipher.
The front cover of the Central European Business Weekly from August 1993. They reported that we expected 50 guests at our opening party, and ended up with 300. Photo credit: Maura Griffin.
Greg L. in the center, with Aleš and Vaclava to the right and Tracy to the left. Photo by Filip Zikmund.
Kitchen manager Andrew and Pedy. Photo credit: Filip Zikmund.
One of our star bookstore managers, Štěpánka. Photo by Filip Zikmund.
Alan Levy, the late Prague Post Editor-in-Chief, pictured here in June 1994 at my 'going-away' party. Poet James Ragan is standing behind him on the right. Photo by Mark Baker.
Coffeehouse manager Todd B. and one of the few employees to make the move to the new location in 2000. Photo credit Adam Trachtman.
Shortly after I wrote the first blog post on The Globe, I found my old diary from 1993. We signed the lease on March 31, 1993. I bought my car, a Škoda Forman Excellent, two days later. We also apparently met to scrape the facade that weekend.
Group clean-up-crew shot. That's Andrew and Filip in the back. Photo by Filip Zikmund.
Early sketch of the outside of the store, showing off Doug Arellanes's logo with the coffee cup in the 'o'.
Talking about the old days at the Globe's 25th anniversary party in July 2018. Photo credit: Ted Simpson
The front of the store, back in the day. Photo by Mark Baker.
As I was going through some old papers for this story, I came across this list of my 'contributions' to our foundation capital in the summer of 1993 (in both dollars and crowns).
From the 25th anniversary party. From left to right: James Ragan, me, and Mark Slouka. Photo credit: Michael Sito/The Globe
Richard Zemke on 14 August 2018 at 9:01 am said:
My father is on his last moments on earth today & seeing your post today with a photo credit for hanging on to that magazine I helped sell an ad in allowed me to publicly acknowledge his help in getting to Prague & Meeting so many of our dear friends.
Richard Zemke
Juan Feliu on 30 August 2018 at 2:25 pm said:
One of the best periods of my life is related to The Globe, where I worked at the kitchen a couple of days per week between 1996 and 1998. I remember the permanent staff working there at the time (Tyson, Kuba, Rob, Bara, Tonya, Brad, etc.) as well as many people which were (like myself) working a few days a week or just passing by. There were always new faces, people from all over the world, also in the cafeteria. I met so many people at The Globe. There was a very special atmosphere, with all the young intellectuals and newcomers full of energy. Everybody went to The Globe sooner or later.
The Globe was an incredibly helpful place whether you were a looking for a job or a room, a friend, a musician for your band (it happened to me several times), an actor for your play, etc. As a worker I remember that I could borrow books.
Being from Mallorca, I once made a traditional dish called "coca de trampo" as "special of the day" but no one would order it as it sounded too exotic. Tyson suggested to change the name for "Mallorquian pizza". Of course, it was finished in half an hour.
I even was allowed to make an exhibition of my little paintings for modest % on the sales.
In short: thank you to you all for opening such a wonderful place. I'm sure that it will be for ever in the heart of all the people who had the chance to spend time in there.
Lon on 17 September 2018 at 6:07 pm said:
Lovely stories of remembrance. I first found the Globe in Jan 2011 when taking an English Lang teaching course. But I was first in Prague in 1992 for a weekend as a backpacker on a college trip through Europe. The 90s where an interesting time. I wish I had visited Europe more often. Through your 2 articles I can feel and see what it must have been like in those free feeling days when Czech was opening up to the world again. Not the tourist trap it is today. I found in the Globe a place to look through some books and have a good meal. Just so happened in 2015 and 2017 I was in town solo during Thanksgiving and both times the Globe found me a table. I most recently chose to have my one dinner there at the end of Aug when flying out of Prague. I know there are more stories of changing hands and what happened to the 5. In August, I was in Germany for a reunion of my old Army unit from the 80s – lots of old pictures and stories like those from you cafe where shared too. As we get older time to reflect but still look ahead to the roads to be traveled.
Mark Baker on 20 January 2019 at 10:41 am said:
Blogging doesn't generate much cash — in my case, none really at all — but it does have its real rewards. I came home last night to this email from an old acquaintance from The Globe days named Stephen. It's these letters and messages that make it worthwhile. I pasted in a piece of the message below:
"I finished last night a book on the 17th century Swedish queen, Christina, and on its final pages the book mentioned Meduza, which reminded me of a certain cafe on Belgicka ul. in Prague, long since closed. And that pointed me to your two-part series on The Globe.
And that, in turn, gave me the opportunity to drop into your inbox and say hello and thank you for all of those great memories — and pictures. Fantastic. While life for me in Prague (1993-2000) was not all Champagne and roses it was a transformational time that positively changed the course of my life. That, as you wrote, cannot be revisited or replicated. That Prague is gone forever."


text:
Dandelion Creek
A Sylvanian Village
History of Dandelion Creek
Easy Paint Brush Tutorial
by nzemily // October 27, 2018 // 8 Comments
Today, I will be giving you the tutorial on how I made those brushes that can be seen in my last story. So, let's get into it.
A bamboo skewer
A small container of water
Clear drying PVA glue
First of all, cut off the tip of one side of your skewer and then set this side in a small container of water for around 30 minutes to 1 hour. This should give the wood enough time to soften.
Then use the end of your scissors to flatten the last 5mm of the now wet side of the skewer.
Make small cuts into the end of the skewer where you have flattened it. This should me more or less an easy task but if the wood is still too hard to cut properly, let it sit in the water for a little while longer. Continue making small cuts until you are happy with how 'bristly' and worn the end of the skewer looks.
Wind the thread tightly around where your cuts stop and then coat this with the PVA glue.
Once dry, cut off the extra thread and cut the skewer to finish your paintbrush, you could sand the end to make it smooth if you would like. You could also try to make a paintbrush like the one in the left of the photo by gluing a skewer into a small 'T' shape and then gluing three bristle bits on the end.
Hi everyone! School started two weeks ago, sadly. Anyway, I hope that you have all enjoyed the tutorial and I would love to see some photos if any of you decide to make your own paintbrushes.
The Daily Dandelion: Buckley House Renovation: A Start!
by nzemily // October 5, 2018 // 6 Comments
Here is as requested, the article that Rowena Moss wrote and issued in the Daily Dandelion this morning about the happenings in the story I published yesterday! If you haven't read the story, you might want to before you read this article.
Wishing you all the best for today, Emily
The Buckley House Renovation: The Beginning
It was quite a sunny and pleasant day in Dandelion Creek. After a whole week of clouds and rain it was sunny again and the villagers were very thankful as today was the start of the Buckley's house renovation. At 10 o'clock in the morning, many of the sylvanians which had signed up to the building group in the meeting Mayor Elliot Beaman had called a week earlier arrived in front of the house, laden with tools, materials and other things that they may need. Not present however was Martin Cakebread who was currently lying in bed with a heavy cold (he had been felling a tree to use for furniture in the rain the day before and had not worn his waterproof clothing). Elliot was in the midst of it all, trying his best to organize everyone.
"Come on Herbage! This ladder isn't that heavy!" called Slick Slydale to Herbage Dappledawn who was struggling to carry his end of the heavy ladder.
"I am trying Slick! I usually work in the veggie patch where the heaviest thing is the rake!" Herbage replied in an exhausted voice, he and Slick had carried the ladder all the way from the main part of the village which was about half a kilometer away.
"You can do it Herbage, keep going!" encouraged Aaron Cottontail who was carrying his saw. It was a very new saw with a sharp blade and a shiny handle, Aaron was very proud of it and this was the perfect opportunity to show it to everyone.
"Put the ladder over there, Herbage, Slick." instructed Elliot, "Then, all of you come over here please."
Gladly Herbage put down the heavy ladder, he was very much hoping that there would be no more carrying of heavy things today!
Everyone then gathered around Elliot and he gave the instructions for what he expected the men to be working on today. That included repairing the windows and fixing the roof to make the building airtight so that other sylvanians might be able to start working on the interior in an airtight building. He also suggested to do a little test sanding on the floorboards and painted inside walls and ceilings to see whether these needed to be completely replaced or repainted or could be salvaged.
No, Elliot really did not know what he was doing, this being his first time as a construction manager, so he often refereed back to a copies of Construction Management; A Guide for Clueless Sylvanians and Construction Management Made Easy both of which he had kindly been given by Martin Cakebread.
So, then everyone went to work with Elliot watching over them like a hawk.
The men's first job was to carry the planks of wood from behind the Country Market to the building site. Herbage groaned, this was exactly what he hoped that he didn't have to do. Nevertheless, he partnered up with his good friend Darcy Fielding who was also not very fond of the idea of carrying planks.
"Come on everyone! We need to get these planks moved and don't have all day!" called Slick who was back already carrying six planks by himself.
Everyone just stared at him in wonder, how he managed to carry such heavy loads was beyond them!
"Aaah aaah!" tutted Elliot crossly, "Planks in a neat pile by this window please. We have only just started this and we are already breaking one of the West Woodland Construction Codes!" he said eyeing the messy pile of planks that was gathering by the picnic table and pulling out a piece of paper which he had evidently written the West Woodland Construction Codes on. "Here, it says that all construction sites have to be clean and tidy to help prevent accidents!"
Henry Hazlewood just smiled to himself, Elliot was obviously taking his new role very seriously and already looked a bit frazzled.
Once the site had been tidied, people began to split up and carry out various tasks. Herbage was in charge of fixing some of the windows, beginning with this one. He sanded for a while and then realized that there was a gap between the top of the window and the window frame.
"Lupin!" he called, "I need a small piece of wood the length of this window!
Lupin Macavity was cutting a plank of wood using Aaron's shiny new saw when he heard Herbage's call.
"Yes, just after I finish this piece for Darcy!"
After the piece was finished, they both put up the ladder and Herbage climbed part way up and positioned the piece with a few nails on the window frame.
Lupin then passed a pot of glue and a paintbrush which Darcy had thankfully remembered to bring. Herbage dipped the paintbrush into the sticky glue and spread it over the piece of wood to be extra sure that it would stay in place. One window repaired, five to go!
Inside, Darcy was teaching Henry how to properly sand the painted ceiling in the upstairs room. The paint had awfully yellowed and in places it was very dirty.
"Just stand here and then make small circles with the coarse sandpaper and the paint should come right off" he demonstrated.
"Like this?" Henry asked.
"Yes! That's perfect! You could do this as a job Henry!" Darcy laughed.
"No, I think that I will stay with cooking."
"Good choice, I always enjoy your meals."
Darcy left Henry to it to pick up his son Jamie and his friend Charlie Cottontail from the Nursery. They had both really wanted to come to see the build!
Aaron was starting to sand the floor and found that some of the flooring underneath the leaks in the roof would have to be replaced while most of the other flooring was in good condition and could look quite nice once fully sanded and stained.
Darcy soon returned with the two excited boys.
"Hi Daddy!" Charlie exclaimed as he saw his father working, "What are you doing?"
"Hello Charlie and Jamie, I am sanding some of the floorboards."
"Why are you doing that?" Jamie asked.
"Because at the moment this floor is very rough and I am seeing how long it will take to sand all of the floors to make them nice and smooth."
"How are you going to do that Daddy?" Charlie asked.
"I am going to time myself how long it takes me to do one square meter and then multiplying it by the square meters of flooring." Aaron answered patiently.
"What's a square meter?" Jamie wanted to know.
"Yeah Daddy, what's a square meter? Why do you need those?" Charlie asked.
"Slow down boys, you will learn all about square meters when you get to school, why don't you two ask your siblings this evening?" Aaron suggested.
"They learn about square meters at school?! Daniel and Maisie must be so smart!" Jamie cried in astonishment.
After a quick lunch of sandwiches, roasted vegetables and a drink of water, the men all went back to work as energized and motivated as ever. Herb Wildwood was helping Slick to set up a ladder so that Slick would be able to safely climb onto the roof and begin repairing it.
"There, now I will hold the ladder and you can climb up." Herb declared and held onto the ladder tightly with both of his paws.
Unfortunately, the ladder was a bit short and only just reached the roof so Slick had to climb to make in on top of the house where the majority of the leaks appeared to be.
"Yes! I am the king of the house!" Slick exclaimed excitedly once he had finally clambered up. He gave a shout of surprise when he saw the roof on the other side of the house, there were a lot of holes and some of the roof tiles had cracked. Slick was shocked to see that two of the main support beams seemed to be rotten and would have to be replaced immediately. Thankfully Elliot had left the site earlier to help his wife with the washing as otherwise he would have immediately have ordered everyone to leave the site at once and would have made them invest in an expensive scaffold. Slick was sure that he could get the job done safely without the need of a scaffold as he would just avoid standing anywhere where the rotten beams would be. "We are going to need some planks of wood up here so that I can brace the beams until we can get a replacement for them!"
Rupert Buckley who had been standing near when Slick had called, quickly raced to get him a plank of wood. Carefully, he made his way up the ladder with it.
"I can't quite reach it! Wait, I will lie on my stomach and if you just push it up a bit higher, a bit higher, a bit higher still, I've got it!"
"I will use this plank before I ask for another one." Slick decided as he carefully walked with the plank, "All I need now is some glue and a hand full of nails to keep this in place."
Rupert, grabbed the glue bucket and brush as well as a hand full of nails and climbed back up the ladder with them.
"How am I going to get these things to you Slick?" he wondered.
"First of all, throw me the nails one by one, I am a good catcher and as they are large, this shouldn't be too difficult." ordered Slick and positioned himself as close to Rupert as he could.
Rupert threw the nails one by one and one by one they were caught by Slick and placed into the pocket of his trousers.
"Now you have to climb a little way up to pass the me bucket and brush" he announced once all of the nails were in his pocket.
Very, very slowly Rupert began to make his way up the roof carrying the bucket and brush. It was very hard work, Rupert naturally wasn't a very good climber and with only being able to use one hand made it even worse but he was determined to do it so carried on.
"Only a few centimeters more Rupert and I can reach the handle." Slick encouraged and was then finally able to grasp the handle.
"Rupert David Buckley!" came a shriek from below.
Rupert was so surprised that he nearly fell off the roof!
It was Agatha Buckley, his wife who was shrieking at the top of her voice.
"Come down! What do you think you are doing?! You could have gotten hurt! I made you promise that you wouldn't do anything dangerous! Come down right now and explain yourself! Come down right NOW!"
Once Rupert had climbed down from the ladder he got a very stern telling off which he was very sure he would never forget. All of the other sylvanians had come out to see what the commotion was about but quickly backed off when they saw Agatha. Sweet, dear Agatha was very, very scary when she was angry.
"That was so dangerous Rupert! You could have fallen! You know that you aren't the best at climbing!"
"Calm down Agatha, I am fine." Rupert responded but immediately regretted opening his mouth. Telling an angry person to calm down is never a good move!
"CALM DOWN?! You are telling me to CALM DOWN?! When YOU could have"…
Agatha continued to scold Rupert for another solid few minutes before she finally calmed down and dragged her husband away to the village muttering something about how she was going to make him wash all of the dishes in the Bakery as a punishment for giving her such a fright.
Slick in the meantime finally had everything he needed to brace the beams so made a start to his work.
It was getting late in the afternoon and the workers were getting hungry! Thankfully, a group of volunteers had spent the afternoon making pizzas after pizzas in the Bakery. Marley and Melinda Cakebread had also went around the village to collect all of the cups and bottles that they could find and filled them with water which they put on the trolley to go over to the building site.
Some of the volunteers began to pile the food onto the picnic table and chairs and then quickly walking back with the serving trolleys to get more food.
"Look at that, brushes all over the place and just a pile of planks, really, what a mess!" exclaimed Clara Macavity in disgust and began to tidy up.
"Oh yes, Elliot would get a heart attack if he saw this, let's quickly tidy it up before he comes." Ginger Wildwood suggested.
"Good idea" Bridget Fielding agreed, "It probably goes against one of those codes he talks about. Elliot certainly doing his best at managing the site and keeping everything to the building code!"
Alonzo Macavity came back at that moment with a group of Nursery children who had all eagerly wanted to come and see what was going on.
"It looks the same as before!" said Skimble
"Yeah but Daddy did a lot of work with triangle centimeters!" said Charlie Cottontail.
"Can we move in tomorrow?" asked Oscar Buckley.
Then all of the workers began to finish their work for the day and saw the food and water.
"Wash your face and paws before you eat!" called Theodora Dappledawn who was holding a bucket of water, soap and a towel.
The workers then began to tuck in, even Elliot Beaman had made it to see the progress made and to chat with everyone. All of the sylvanians were eagerly exchanging stories of what they had done today. Lupin for example was telling Henry how he used Aaron's new saw and how wonderfully it worked while Henry told him how he had learned a lot about sanding from Darcy. It was quite noisy with everyone chatting and talking at once!
"Hello!" called Cameron Moss who had just arrived with his wife Rowena.
"Don't worry, we aren't here for the food, all we want to do is to take a few photos and get some information about the days happenings for our article." stated Rowena brightly. She pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. "So, what happened today?"
Would you like me to post the news article that Cameron and Rowena will write for the Daily Dandelion tomorrow? If not, I won't post it but if you do, I will.
What do you all think about my photos? They are a lot brighter and warmer which I really like so I am happy with that. Also, I have noticed that recently I have been posting a lot of stories (this story today is very long so I apologize if you don't like long stories) so I think that nest week or so I will post a tutorial to change it up a bit. I will be posting a tutorial for the brushes that some of the workers used in this story so you can look out for that. I hope that all of you will have a great week!
Buckley House Renovation: Dividing the Tasks
The Daily Dandelion: Buckley House Restoration: A Lot of Work!
nzemily on Easy Paint Brush Tutorial
Caitlyn on Easy Paint Brush Tutorial
cutata on Easy Paint Brush Tutorial


What Material Should You Choose for a Shed?
This is the most popular of the three materials for sheds. A wooden shed may even double up as a summerhouse or a children's playhouse if built in a larger size. In terms of appearance wood is more beautiful to look at compared to metal or plastic. It can easily blend in to any garden or backyard surrounding. Wood is also very flexible because you can easily build in additional extensions, make changes, or renovate if needed. With proper maintenance and wood treatment, wood will last a long time.
The usual drawback with wood is its high cost. Wood can also rot, mold, or be susceptible to termite damage if not properly painted, treated, and varnished. Maintenance is also quite high, unlike metal or plastic. Homeowners are normally advised to build a wooden shed at least a meter away or more from the house to avoid the house being infested with insects. If frequent rains are experienced, a wooden shed will easily rot.
Of the three, this is the most affordable. Not only do they offer quality, but they're durable as well. There are also sheds of higher plastic quality that cost more but will last even longer even with long use and minimal maintenance. Plastic sheds can handle problems better that metal and wood sheds usually encounter. They are not prone to rotting, insect infestation, humidity, and extreme moisture. No treatments are necessary for plastic sheds. Its only drawback is its low aesthetic value.
These come in aluminum, iron, or steel. Metal is known for longevity and strength. They don't attract mold, mildew, and fungal growth, is resistant to termites, and are fire proof. It also offers higher security value since better locks can be attached to it and a metal shed door is hard to break into.
Its main drawback is denting, most especially with aluminum. If the roof is thin and much snow accumulates, it might dent it. Hurricanes can topple whole metal sheds and these may pose a danger to the household. Rust is also an enemy of metal sheds so metal treatment is needed to prevent this.


A framework is introduced for sequentially solving convex stochastic minimization problems, where the objective functions change slowly, in the sense that the distance between successive minimizers is bounded. The minimization problems are solved by sequentially applying a selected optimization algorithm, such as stochastic gradient descent, based on drawing a number of samples in order to carry the iterations. Two tracking criteria are introduced to evaluate approximate minimizer quality: one based on being accurate with respect to the mean trajectory, and the other based on being accurate in high probability. An estimate of a bound on the minimizers' change, combined with properties of the chosen optimization algorithm, is used to select the number of samples needed to meet the desired tracking criterion. A technique to estimate the change in minimizers is provided along with analysis to show that eventually the estimate upper bounds the change in minimizers. This estimate of the change in minimizers provides sample size selection rules that guarantee that the tracking criterion is met for sufficiently large number of time steps. Simulations are used to confirm that the estimation approach provides the desired tracking accuracy in practice, while being efficient in terms of number of samples used in each time step.
Adaptive Sequential Stochastic Optimization. / Wilson, Craig; Veeravalli, Venugopal Varadachari; Nedic, Angelia.
In: IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 64, No. 2, 8316928, 01.02.2019, p. 496-509.
Wilson, Craig ; Veeravalli, Venugopal Varadachari ; Nedic, Angelia. / Adaptive Sequential Stochastic Optimization. In: IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. 2019 ; Vol. 64, No. 2. pp. 496-509.
N2 - A framework is introduced for sequentially solving convex stochastic minimization problems, where the objective functions change slowly, in the sense that the distance between successive minimizers is bounded. The minimization problems are solved by sequentially applying a selected optimization algorithm, such as stochastic gradient descent, based on drawing a number of samples in order to carry the iterations. Two tracking criteria are introduced to evaluate approximate minimizer quality: one based on being accurate with respect to the mean trajectory, and the other based on being accurate in high probability. An estimate of a bound on the minimizers' change, combined with properties of the chosen optimization algorithm, is used to select the number of samples needed to meet the desired tracking criterion. A technique to estimate the change in minimizers is provided along with analysis to show that eventually the estimate upper bounds the change in minimizers. This estimate of the change in minimizers provides sample size selection rules that guarantee that the tracking criterion is met for sufficiently large number of time steps. Simulations are used to confirm that the estimation approach provides the desired tracking accuracy in practice, while being efficient in terms of number of samples used in each time step.
AB - A framework is introduced for sequentially solving convex stochastic minimization problems, where the objective functions change slowly, in the sense that the distance between successive minimizers is bounded. The minimization problems are solved by sequentially applying a selected optimization algorithm, such as stochastic gradient descent, based on drawing a number of samples in order to carry the iterations. Two tracking criteria are introduced to evaluate approximate minimizer quality: one based on being accurate with respect to the mean trajectory, and the other based on being accurate in high probability. An estimate of a bound on the minimizers' change, combined with properties of the chosen optimization algorithm, is used to select the number of samples needed to meet the desired tracking criterion. A technique to estimate the change in minimizers is provided along with analysis to show that eventually the estimate upper bounds the change in minimizers. This estimate of the change in minimizers provides sample size selection rules that guarantee that the tracking criterion is met for sufficiently large number of time steps. Simulations are used to confirm that the estimation approach provides the desired tracking accuracy in practice, while being efficient in terms of number of samples used in each time step.


Sorry for the lack of beauty related posts at the moment girls, Im trying to get everything settled after moving and then I can get back on track with regular blogging. These kinda posts are great gap fillers, I dont like the idea of having a massive gap of not posting anything on here for a while.
I asked on twitter if anyone would like to see the items I am watching at the moment and a few of you said yes, so below are literally just a few of the bags I am watching at the moment. I am always on ebay, I love using it when I have a specific item in mind and want to get it at a bargain price, its also great to find items that you cant get on the highstreet or are not available in the UK. My watchlist is always a good few pages long, browsing through it last night I realised I had a fair few bags saved on there! Enjoy!
I've seen a lot of bags like these in Zara and on the Romwe website but all are a bit on the pricey side! This one is under £20 which is an ABSOLUTE bargain! It's got zip detailing on the sides which I think is really cute too, come in a range of colours not just black, They all look lovely.
Originally I was looking at birkin inspired bags, but then came across this one. I like the shape and slouch look of it. Im also quite picky when it comes to the colour tan.. and this is the perfect tan shade for me. You know when it can sometimes be too orangey or too dark? Well this one isnt either, its perfect. It's not as cheap as the shopper but at under £40 its still not a bad price in my opinion.
When I first saw this bag it reminded me of my Modalu Pippa handbag. When I saw it came in other colours (love the light grey one) I new I had to bookmark/watch it. Now it is on the pricey side as it is real leather. But still much cheaper than the pippa. Obviously its not as sturdy as the Modalu one and doesnt have the multiple pockets, however it still looks like you could fit a lot of stuff into it, so if youre anything like me and like to carry everything but the kitchen sink around with you it could be a little investment!
When i saw this I knew exactly which purse it reminded me of, the Marc Jacobs zip clutch wallet The one I have wanted ever since watching Laura (Lollipop26)'s first Whats in my bag video - Which has now been deleted :-( The price isnt too bad, it depends on how much you usually spend on a purse or wallet really. However I dislike how it is described as an across the body bag...its really too small to be that!
I am partial to a bit of leopardprint. I dont go on nights out often but when I do, I prefer to take a bigger clutch bag, I cant be dealing with those tiny ones some girls cart around! I love this clutch, its also apparently big enough for a 11"/13" macbook or your ipad.. As I have neither of those I will have to settle with filling it with receipts, loose change and makeup.
I love this clutch, its not too oversized, I've seen some really huge ones while browsing! I think this would be great for the spring and summer where you dont want to carry much around with you. I've always wanted to pull off using a clutch during the day and picking up on of these beauts may spur me on, just under £12 too! Bargain.
Pastels are everywhere at the moment, so I couldnt resist 'watching' these cute satchels I love the pale pink and mint shades (waiting for it to come back in stock), I think they are gorgeous! Perfect for summer.
Have you had any good ebay finds recently, or maybe got a fab bargain?
This post is going to cost me a fortune, love all of those bags!!
GREAT post! I love finding some bargains and you have found some really pretty bags!
love the black zip shopper and the clutches! bag heaven!!!
I love this! Since Ive had the ebay app my watch list has always been full. Some gorgeous bits here.
Possible Payday treats : Nice & Neutral!
Review : GHD Style & Protect Gift Set.