NOVEMBER 2, 2011





ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT?
Performed by Marcelo Gaspar













ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO (TOKYO)

NUMBER SEVENTY
NAKAGAWA RIVER MOUTH (Nakagawaguchi)
Nakagawaguchi is a somewhat confusing name for this site, since it is not really the Nakagawa River mouth, rather the mouth of the Onagi Canal at the point where it joins the Nakagawa.

The Onagi Canal is the stream entering here from below; continuing into the far distance is the Shinkawa Canal, its eastward extension.  The Nakagawa is the broad stream in the center, flowing from left to right, north to south.






Drugs do not cure disease any more than bullets cure war.










Now the biggest porcelain manufactory in Europe, Herend was founded in 1826 to produce earthenware in the small Hungarian village for which it was named. At the time, Hungary was flooded with low-cost pottery, so competition was fierce. In 1839 a major turning point occurred when Mor Fischer became the Manufactory’s new owner. Taking Herend in an entirely new direction, visionary Fischer carved out the unique niche of producing dinnerware replacement pieces for Europe’s royal families to complement their valuable porcelain patterns from Germany and the Far East.

Herend was formally brought to the U.S. marketplace in 1957 by Robert and Lois Grimm, owners of a high-end dinnerware and home accessory store in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. Upon seeing a few pieces of Herend through a chance encounter, it was love at first sight for the Grimms. Their passion for Herend soon led them to Hungary to meet with the Herend Manufactory and discuss distributing Herend in the U.S. That was the beginning of Martin’s Herend Imports, Inc., sole U.S. importer and wholesale distributor of Herend.














Painting by John Stobart
Pittsburgh--The Stern Wheel Packet Dean Adams Arriving In Port In 1880
The original native tribe of the Pittsburgh region, the Monongahela, having no resistance to European diseases, disappeared along with all humans from vast sections of western Pennsylvania in the 1600s, a decline hastened by the fur trade and the resulting depletion of game. However, soon other tribes, displaced from the south and east--of Iroquois and Algonquian origins, especially the Shawnee, Seneca, Susquehannock, and the Lenni Lenape (Delaware)--moved in to take their place.

In the 1700s, both the British and French realized the strategic importance of Pittsburgh's wilderness location at the forks of the Ohio, a meeting place to trade for furs with the Indians. The French saw the Ohio River Valley as the most viable route to connect New France (Canada) with their Louisiana Territory.

In this painting, the Dean Adams enters the confluence of the Allegheny (left), and the Monongahela (right), joining to form the beginning of the Ohio River. The covered wooden bridge, the Richardsonian Courthouse, Duquesne University and the Point and Smithfield Street Bridges all blend into this composition as the Dean Adams approaches the Monongahela Wharf.












Roux, beurre manie, egg yolks with or without cream, cornstarch and arrowroot are all examples of what ???

PASS YOUR MOUSE OVER THE QUESTION MARKS FOR THE ANSWER!












BLOND AND BRUNETTE
Charles Burton Barber
(English Animalist Painter)






Candy Corn has been made since the 1880s and is one of the most popular holiday candies in history. Over 20 million pounds of candy corn is sold at Halloween. This is about 5 1/2 billion pieces - enough to circle the moon twice with plenty left over.

For those of us over the age of 25, when you think of Halloween candy you think of candy corn, those sugary little spikes of Halloween cheer. Who the first person to make these tasty treats was is unknown but the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia was the first to go into commercial production.

However, the company most closely associated with this wonderful confection is the Goelitz Confectionery Company. Founder Gustav Goelitz, a German immigrant, began commercial production of the treat in 1898 in Cincinnati and is today the oldest manufacturer of the Halloween icon.  Making candy at the turn of the last century wasn't the highly mechanized, year-round activity it is today. Candy was manufactured seasonally from March through November.

Large kettles were used to cook the basic ingredients of candy corn--sugar, water, and corn syrup--into a slurry. Fondant for smooth texture and marshmallow for a soft bite would be whipped in. When the right consistency was reached the hot candy would be poured into hand-held buckets called runners. Each runner holding 45 pounds of the hot mixture. Next, men called stringers would walk backward pouring the steaming candy into trays of cornstarch imprinted with kernel-shaped molds. Three passes were made, one for each white, orange, and yellow color. A strenuous job at best before the days of air-conditioning and electric fans. All this strenuous labor wasn't lost on the tiny candy.
Its tricolor design was considered revolutionary for its time and people flocked to buy them. Their shape was also a big selling point for the mostly agrarian population of the early 1900's. So popular was candy corn that companies tried other vegetable shapes including turnips. The Goelitz Candy Company even had to turn orders down for lack of production capacity.












MOUNTAINASH, October 2011, Ann Telling Photo












BUFFALO BILL






ALASKA

Alaska adopted the flag for official state use in 1959. The blue field represents the sky, the sea, and mountain lakes, as well as Alaska's wildflowers. Emblazoned on the flag are eight gold stars: seven from the constellation Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper--the eighth being the North Star, representing the northernmost state. Alaska's flag was designed in 1926 by a 13-year-old Native American boy, Bennie Benson, from the village of Chignik. Bennie received a 1,000-dollar scholarship and a watch for his winning entry in the flag design contest.
























Pencil sketching is an interesting and powerful element of design. To put it correctly, pencil sketching can be termed as "the mother of graphic arts."

The general perception about drawing pencil sketches is that it is either a part of initial training given to Fine Arts students or it's a good hobby for anyone who can draw well. What most of us don't know is that making pencil sketches is almost an inevitable part of design and a unique branch of art in itself.
BRAD PITT






FOLLOWING is the most widely accepted version of how the dreamcatcher came into existence and what significance it has to the owner.

Long ago when the world was young, an old Lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had a vision. In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi spoke to him in a sacred language that only the spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand.

As he spoke Iktomi, the spider, took the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horse hair, beads and offerings on it and began to spin a web.

He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life ... and how we begin our lives as infants and we move on to childhood, and then to adulthood. Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cycle.

"But," Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web, "in each time of life there are many forces -- some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But if you listen to the bad forces, they will hurt you and steer you in the wrong direction."

He continued, "There are many forces and different directions that can help or interfere with the harmony of nature, and also with the great spirit and-all of his wonderful teachings."

All the while the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web starting from the outside and working toward the center.

When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the Lakota elder the web and said..."See, the web is a perfect circle but there is a hole in the center of the circle."

He said, "Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of your people's ideas, dreams and visions.

"If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good ideas -- and the bad ones will go through the hole."

The Lakota elder passed on his vision to his people and now the Sioux Indians use the dream catcher as the web of their life.

It is hung above their beds or in their home to sift their dreams and visions.

The good in their dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them...but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of them.

They believe that the dream catcher holds the destiny of their future.

There have been many variations and interpretations of the dreamcatcher over the years, but the theme of protecting and sorting dreams remains central.












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.