Footle and Grok

Today is Arbor Day.

This is a holiday that I usually miss. In fact, I thought I had. But no, today is Arbor Day, another one of those holidays that is hard to celebrate when you are supposed to stay home. The Arbor Day Foundation has a list of things you can do to celebrate trees while practicing social distancing. Me, I’m going to color.

If you want to color with me (or have your kids color some trees in honor of Arbor Day), download some of these pages. There are a ton of tree coloring pages out there, but I like the detail on this site.

You can also read books about trees (anything except The Giving Tree, please.) There are a lot of lists if you want a new recommendation. If you want a marvelous book about trees and forests, I recommend The Big Burn by Timothy Egan and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

I’m not much of a hugger of people or trees, but I’ll thank a tree out loud for all it does for us. You can join me if you want, or just sing the song from Paint Your Wagon. Even better, listen to the Smothers Brothers version.

I fell down a sugary rabbit hole.

I was looking for a specific YouTube video and found a How It’s Made video about bubble gum. I like gum, so I clicked on the link. Of course, other How It’s Made videos appeared. I had a delightful time learning the process of making millions of jelly beans, ice cream sandwiches, and candy canes.

I love watching machines that make things. Some enterprising humans had to invent the machine that makes the thing. It’s amazing! My favorite contraption was the jelly bean tray machine, but every one of these videos has some remarkable innovation that allows us to enjoy sweet treats for just pennies.

If you are looking for a way to spend some downtime or entertain the kids, watch the following videos. Everyone will be amazed by how these foods are made.

Sweet How It’s Made Videos

• Bubble Gum
• Jelly Beans
• Ice Cream Sandwiches
• Cake Sprinkles
• Jawbreakers
• Oreos
• Candy Canes

Happy Earth Day.

This year is the 50th anniversary of this environmental holiday. I don’t do much to celebrate except run*. Today is also my friends, Jay and Shelly’s wedding anniversary, and I try to do a virtual run to honor both events. One time, Shelly and I ran a virtual 5k on her anniversary, and we each earned a cute turtle medal.

Today, I ran a 10k as part of the Un-canceled Project. I don’t get a medal (it’s a free program), but I get a cool bib and a congratulations video. Plus, I get to say I ran a 10k for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

I imagine the Earth Day organizers planned to have large gatherings to recreate the first years of this movement. That’s a bad idea this year. However, there are still plenty of ways to honor the Earth. If you have Disney+, they are celebrating Earth Month with lots of animal programs. You may not want to go for a run like I did, but going outside can be nice, too.

I’m running 26.2 miles this week to honor the Boston Marathon that was scheduled for last Monday and has been postponed to the fall. Today’s 6.2 miles are part of that goal and adds to the 1,000 miles I plan to run in 2020. Plus, the run was Day 113 of my 366-day streak. I guess this really was a celebratory run. As every run should be.

*If you run for any amount of time, you are a runner. I am actually a run/walker, running for 25 seconds and then walking for 25 seconds and repeating. I am also not fast, averaging about a 14-minute mile. None of this matters. I am a runner, and you can be too. (There’s also nothing wrong with walking. Moving is what is important.)

You can bring Mickey Mouse and his friends into your own home (without worrying about social distancing.)

From now until April 30, call 877-7-MICKEY for a special bedtime message. Click here for all the details. This is a perfect surprise for your kids and grandkids, or you can just enjoy it for yourself. I’d love to hear Goofy tell me good night.

Well, I spelled a word wrong in Saturday’s post.

It wasn’t a small typo either. “Fiancé” was spelled “finance.” Thank you, Judy, for pointing out my error (or Freudian slip as my husband called it.)

I need to pay closer attention when Grammarly tries to correct a word. Sometimes it can’t read my mind.

I hope you had a nice weekend. I’ll probably have more typos in the future, and I’ll gladly correct them when you point them out to me. Nicely, like Judy did.

Today’s post is for my readers who read traditional books.

I have nothing against ebooks, but today I want to talk about the physical cover of books, which ebooks don’t have.

I was at Walmart, and I saw that someone new was writing Ralph Compton westerns. Out of curiosity, I picked up an older Ralph Compton book and felt a surge of happiness. The reprint had a textured matte cover. It’s hard to describe, but the book felt like it wanted to be held. It wasn’t going to slip through my fingers like a slick, glossy cover.

Matte covers are becoming popular, which seemed odd when I googled the idea. It appears that a lot of authors don’t like the look. I love both the appearance and feel of matte covers, and I’m curious about what you think.

Let me know in the comments if you like the new matte look or prefer glossy. There is no right answer, I’m just curious if this fresh feel could be the future or just a fad.

It’s Husband Appreciation Day. (Wife Appreciation Day is September 20.)

Thanks to COVID-19, we have been spending more time with our spouses, and it’s easy to get ruffled. So why not take some time today and tell your husband that you appreciate him. (Boyfriends and fiances also count.)

Perhaps make him his favorite breakfast, or let him have the remote for a while. Do a chore that you think he should do, or don’t nag him (my hubby would really appreciate that.)

We’re not supposed to leave the house, but there are a lot of ways to show your love while staying home. Perhaps this official Appreciation Day could turn into ongoing appreciation. I’m sure they would like that.

The Footle and Grok podcast reached episode 100.

You can listen to all the episodes in Season One on Apple podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, and the website. Season Two will come out this fall. The best part about podcasts is you can do them on any schedule and in any format. My schedule for the Footle and Grok podcast is one hundred episodes per season and two seasons a year. Cool.

Thank you for everyone who listened to the podcast. I look forward to my next project and the next season of the Footle and Grok podcast.

Until the next episode, remember to feed your curiosity… often.

It’s National Librarian Day.

Many libraries are closed right now (sob), but librarians are still helping us connect with books. My library system has designed a spring reading program that can be done online, and adults are welcome to join.

Here is one of my favorite librarian stories. When my friend, Judy, and I visited Oxford, England, we toured the Bodleian Library. This remarkable place has a sacrosanct rule. The books can not leave the library. They are so serious about this that they chained the books to the shelves.

While King Charles I was residing in Oxford during the English Civil War in 1645, he wanted to borrow a book to read in his own quarters. John Rouse, the librarian at the Bodleian, refused his request. The books did not leave the library, not even for a King.

If you know a librarian, thank them for being the guardians of knowledge. No matter what happens in the world, books need to be protected.

There are several ways to mark a section break in a book.

Some authors just leave a few lines blank. Others use three asterisks (***) or three dashes ( – – -). But in older texts and high-quality books published today, a stylized ivy is used. This symbol is called a hedera (hedera is an ivy) and looks like this:

I love this look and plan to use it in my own writing (much classier than asterisks.) If you want to use it, the easiest way to enter it into a Word document is with a Unicode. (I love Unicodes.) For a horizontal hedera, use U+2766 and for a vertical one use U+2767. To make these convert, type Alt-x after the Unicode. Simple and elegant