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| Scotty McCreery sings our National Anthem at the first game of the 2011 World Series of Baseball in St. Louis, Missouri, October 19, 2011. |
| Scott Cooke "Scotty" McCreery (born October 9, 1993) is an American country singer from Garner, North Carolina, who won the tenth season of American Idol on May 25, 2011.
Later in the year, McCreery released his coronation single "I Love You This Big." McCreery was born in 1993 to Judy (née Cooke) and Michael McCreery in Garner, North Carolina. His mother works as a realtor, and his father works as a manufacturing systems analyst. His father was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother from San Juan and an American father. His mother is the daughter of a retired school teacher from Gates County, NC. McCreery used to impersonate Elvis as a child, and started learning guitar at age ten. He attended Timber Drive Elementary School in Garner, and later West Lake Middle School where he sang at his graduation. He also attended Garner Magnet High School where he joined a vocal ensemble, Die Meistersingers, that performs across the United States. He started out singing tenor but switched to bass when his voice turned lower in his sophomore year. McCreery won a singing contest called "Clayton Idol" at the Clayton Harvest Festival in Clayton, North Carolina, and was one of 36 finalists in a "Rip the Hallways" contest featuring teenage vocalists in North Carolina. He has performed at various local events. He also attended Caswell Youth Retreat in the summer of 2009, and participated in the talent show there singing "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner. McCreery often states that his faith plays a big role in his life and that God helps him get through the things he has to face. He openly tells others that he loves Jesus Christ with all of his heart and that he needs to stand by him all the time because God is the only way he can get through the competition. He also states that Sunday is his favorite day of the week because he gets to go to the First Baptist Church in Garner and helps his mother cook. |
| McCreery won the tenth season of American Idol on May 25, 2011. At age 18, he is the second youngest Idol winner behind season 6 winner Jordin Sparks. |  |
 ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO (TOKYO) NUMBER SIXTY-NINE |
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| HALL OF THIRTY-THREE BAYS, FUKAGAWA |
| The origin of the Hall of Thirty-Three Bays is a revealing commentary on Edo culture. The structure was built in 1642 as a replica of a famous building of the same name in Kyoto, which had been constructed in the twelfth century to house a spectacular array of 1,001 images of Kannon, a testament to the piety of the Helan aristocracy. |
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| Original woodcut engraving by Harold Fenn |
| 'Steamboat Warping Through a Suck' circa 1872 |
| Navigating the Tennessee River was especially challenging for steamboats. Some ten miles below Chattanooga there was a narrow gorge called The Suck, also known as the Valley of the Whirlpool Rapids.
This is a hand-colored woodcut of a steamer being tediously 'warped through a suck' on the Tennessee River. A 'suck' is a narrow channel where the current concentrates forming a swift chute, sometimes too swift for a steamer to negotiate without being 'warped' upstream with windlasses from the bank, while under steam. Such work would be required more and more as boats climbed further toward the headwaters, and as river levels fell during the season. Steamboats running up tributaries needed to be light and shallow-drafted, while powerful enough to overcome most swift water. Even non-navigable water could be ovecome with sufficient ingenuity and effort. On the Missouri, steamboats used 'stilts' to lever themselves over sand-bars. |
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Aloysia triphylla, or Lippia citriodora is an herb that originated in South America. It has long, narrow pointed leaves with a pleasant, sharp lemon scent and flavor, quite different than other lemon-scented herbs, it has been described as 'lemon perfume.' This herb was brought to Europe in the 17th or 18th century, and has been popular in France for many years. It is used to make tea, as a seasoning herb, and as a perfume and soap fragrance. It has recently become popular in the U.S.
CAN YOU NAME THIS HERB ??? PASS YOUR MOUSE OVER THE QUESTION MARKS FOR THE ANSWER! |
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| A SPECIAL PLEADER Charles Burton Barber (English Animalist Painter) |
| A1 STEAK SAUCE TRIVIA
A1 Steak Sauce is said to have been created sometime in the late 1820s by Henderson William Brand, the Chef to England's King George IV. The king was so pleased with the new sauce, he proclaimed it ‘A number 1’ - or ‘A1’ for short. After the king's death in 1830, Brand started his own business producing meat extracts along with A1 Sauce. The sauce became popular with the public, and won awards at international expositions in London and Paris between 1862 and 1900. G.F Heublein and Bros. (a major wine and spirit importer) began to import A1 Steak Sauce to America in 1906, eventually purchased the rights to the sauce and in 1918 began manufacturing A1 in Hartford, Connecticut. During Prohibition, which destroyed many other wine and spirits producers, sales of A1 Steak Sauce is said to have enabled Heublein to survive. After several acquisitions and mergers, A1 Steak Sauce is now produced by by Kraft Foods in the U.S. and by Renée's Gourmet Foods in Canada. |  |
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Some other uses for A1 Steak Sauce: • Use it to repair scratches on wood furniture. • Use it to shine shoes (preferably brown shoes). • Supposedly relieves the itching from insect bites. • Use it to polish and remove tarnish from copper and brass (high acidity from the vinegar and tomato content). |
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| Wildfire SE of Townsend, Montana, August 2011, Ann Telling Photo |
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| Gordonton, North Carolina, 1939 |
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 | ALABAMA Crimson St. Andrew's cross on a white field, patterned after the Confederate Battle Flag, and adopted in 1895. The bars forming the cross must not be less than six inches broad and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side. |
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| Ann Telling Photo My River Walk |
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| ELK IN VELVET |
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| Susan has been publishing her Daily Dose for years. She did a fine job of creating email pages, but felt the need to transition to a website. It was a big step for Susan and she has made the change like a pro. You can visit her site by clicking on the graphic. |
