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Clover Luck!

May12

This month of May started with me finding three four-leaf clovers in two days at home. Yesterday coming back from Memphis I stopped at Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, to give the dog a chance to do what dogs need to do. I found a total of five four-leaf clovers before we got back in the car and left. This morning I found one more! This must be a good omen for a good decade.

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No Wells in Amsterdam?

April5

Were there really no wells in Amsterdam in the late 1600s?  While researching material for my book about Maria Sybilla Merian I realized that not once had I come across any reference to wells.  Nothing was mentioned in the books I read.  I had not seen any marked on old maps of the city.  Oh there was plenty of water with all of those canals, but I suspected that the canal water was salty since they did connect with the sea.  So where did the residents of Amsterdam get their drinking water?  Who could I ask?

I finally emailed the information desk of the Amsterdam Historical Museum with my question.  Frans Oehlen answered.  He answered my question and provided even more information.
As I thought, canal water was salty.  It was also polluted.  But it was used for washing, and for cleaning doorsteps.
Some people used rainwater collected in wooden rain barrels for their drinking water.  But there was not always enough.
The best water for drinking was brought into Amsterdam by water barges.  These barges brought water from the Amstel River (upstream), the Gein River, and especially from the Vecht River.  This water was for sale, though, and not everyone could afford it.  Also during the winter it could be a serious problem to keep the rivers navigable when they became frozen over.  (Ice cutters probably had a good seasonal business then.)
I had never given a thought to the possibility that people ever might have to buy water back then.  In fact I assumed that buying water was a more modern phenomenon.  I knew from traveling when I was a child that the taste of local water in various places could be quite different, but nobody ever bought and took water with them anywhere.  Only fairly recently has buying bottles and jugs of water become an option…at least in my area of the world. 

posted under Chasing Caterpillars, Research, miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt

October20

Last weekend in Columbia, MO, I tried Tiger Ice Cream at MU. It was quite tasty and the scoops were the biggest I’ve seen in awhile.
Last night we went to Andy’s where I had my favorite––a concrete with raspberry topping (which means the topping is all mixed in). Delicious.
But my all time favorite is the ice cream I had in the little town of Wilster, Germany, at the Eiscafe Rialto across from the church. It was a dish called Spaghetti Ice Cream; looked like real spaghetti with tomato sauce! Tasted fantastic! I loved the combination of looks and taste. And if I’m ever back in Hamburg, I will definitely take the train to Wilster for more ice cream at the Eiscafe Rialto.

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Researching Amsterdam

October19

I have taken Maria Sybilla Merian and her family from Frankfurt, Germany, where she was born to Nürnberg, back to Frankfurt, on to Castle Waltha in Friesland, northern Holland and now to Amsterdam.

This part feels different to me because I have not yet been to Amsterdam; I haven't seen it, I haven't walked the streets myself where she would have walked.  By far, the best source for obtaining a bit of this feel is the DK Eyewitness Travel Amsterdam guidebook!  It has given me new directions to pursue as well as showing in brilliant color what is there.
But I would still love to actually go to Amsterdam myself.  I want to see for myself what streets are like with canals running down the center.  I want to see the old house placques, the gabled houses, the "yawners" that used to be over the pharmacies, the skinny bridge.   I'd like to know how long it takes to walk the length of the Prinsengracht, what the Hortus Medicus looks like, etc., etc
I do hope that my readers cannot tell from my writing what feels so different to me.

posted under Chasing Caterpillars, Research, miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

Inside the Old Walls of Nürnberg

October19

The first photo shows the cobblestone street––notice the width of the street––and a modern wall that is boundary of someone's house/yard today.

The second photo gives a better look at the outer wall.  The tower has the door which is an entrance to the upper walkway of the wall.  Here I can imagine the men, whose duty it was to defend the city, walking their assigned stretch and keeping a close surveillance of any activity outside the city.
Old wallWall street

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Nancy Dailey

I have always loved to draw and paint.  In high school I got caught drawing a teacher.  I knew I was in big trouble when she took the drawing and left the room.  Sure enough, I was soon called out.  But what happened astounded me.  My schedule of classes had been quickly rearranged and changed to include art!  If anyone had told me then that I would teach art for over thirty years, the size of my eyes would’ve outgrown my face — that was so impossible!

Writing crept up on me while I was busy teaching and raising a family.  Finally, encouraged by my husband I enrolled in the Institute of Children’s Literature of West Redding, Connecticut.  I was amazed at what began to flow from my pen!

As an educator I was always looking for something to enhance the classroom experience, something involving looking at things in a different way — both literally and figuratively.  I experimented, researched, and sometimes learned along with my students.

These days I’m painting for myself, currently ocean scenes in watercolor.  I also make one-of-a-kind pendants from seashells.  I’ve illustrated a children’s book which has been published in Holland.  I’ve begun writing again.  Currently I am working on two books: a picture book and a fictionalized biography.