family health history observations

Bathing in the Blood of Virgins – Health Metaphors That Provide Clues to Body Functions

By Mary | by Mary

Each morning, I read the 1440 newsletter, which provides snippets of news from around the world, including links back to its sources. It’s called 1440 because that’s when the printing press was invented. [https://join1440.com] In the July 28, 2023, issue, I read an article called “New Blood, Slower Aging,” which discussed how scientists had connected the circulatory systems of young mice to older mice and discovered that the blood of the younger mice extended the…

Continue reading

music observations travel

Interesting Public Bathrooms

By Mary | by Mary

Public bathrooms aren’t the sort of places most of us are tempted to take photos. And, let’s face it, most public bathrooms aren’t that interesting. However, over the past several months, I’ve been in some public bathrooms that were interesting enough that they deserved a photo (or several in once instance). Here is my gallery of public bathroom photos. The bathroom that will not run out of toilet paper anytime soon. I’m not sure who…

Continue reading

family history museums pragmatic historian travel

A Sleepover at Linden Hill

By Mary | by Mary

Last weekend, Hubby and I had the pleasure of sleeping over at Linden Hill Historic Estate in Little Falls, Minnesota. (https://linden-hill.org) The invitation came from good friends of ours who chose to celebrate a significant wedding anniversary there. Having worked for the Morrison County Historical Society for over 25 years, I knew a little something about the history of the place and had even been there before ownership had been transferred to the city. The estate…

Continue reading

art family travel

Large Lake Horizon Tilt

By Mary | by Mary

I recently returned from a family vacation to Grand Marais, Minnesota. Grand Marais is one of the small towns on what is affectionately known as the “North Shore,” which runs along the northwestern edge of Lake Superior. Daughter had reserved a couple of cabins at the Croftville Road Cottages just north of Grand Marais, which served as our base camp during our stay. The cabins were directly above the shore, with paths down to the…

Continue reading

art design family home projects work in progress

Designing Around an Iceberg

By Mary | by Mary

Hubby and I put the (almost) finishing touches on the dining room yesterday. All the walls were gray, gray, gray, and the floor was a darker gray. We wanted to carry our blue theme from the living room into the dining room without making it matchy-matchy. When we were searching for a house, we knew we needed a couple of large walls, one for a giant mid-century room divider and one for a giant iceberg.…

Continue reading