Mystery of the Night

Did you know there are mysterious things that happen to you every night? While you are asleep, all kinds of activity is going on. Actually, it’s a wonder you get any rest at all! When you’re asleep, your muscles and cells repair themselves. In fact, some cells in your brain are 5 to 10 times more active when you’re asleep than when you’re awake! Your immune system strengthens itself to help you fight off sickness. Also your brain organizes the things you learned during the day.
Then there are the dreams! If sleep is a mystery, dreams are even more mysterious. Most dreams happen in a stage of sleep called REM (Rapid Eye Movement), when the brain is really active. You might have REM sleep five or six times a night, so that means five or six dreams a night, and that would be more than 1800 dreams a year. How many of those can you remember?
Animals need sleep, too, but some have strange sleep patterns. Some animals sleep almost all day. Some hardly ever sleep. The brown bat sleeps 20 hours a day, but the giraffe only sleeps two hours. The squirrel needs 15 hours of sleep, but the horse only needs three hours per day. Most birds can sleep with one eye open and they can sleep with only half of their brain at a time.
Scientists don’t know a lot about the mystery of sleep, but what they do know is really cool, isn’t it?
(Taken from the May 2009 Banner article The Big Night Mystery by Sandy Swartzentruber.)

Workbasket Magazine

Have you ever heard of the little craft magazine called "Workbasket?"
The "Workbasket" magazine started publication in October 1935. It was a 16-page issue and printed on newsprint. The first issue titled, "Aunt Martha's Workbasket, Home and Needlecraft, For Pleasure and Profit" contained a little letter which stated: 'Aunt Martha is going to compile different projects together in each issue. Each issue will sell for 15 cents or a yearly subscription would be $1.00. '
It became so popular that three printings were necessary to meet the demand for the September 1936 issue. Dropping the "Aunt Martha's" from the name in Jan 1942, it went on being published until 1996 with several price increases until then when it had a complete change in format and the charge was $2.95 per issue.
I have quite a few copies of the magazine which I am willing to sell. The three I have listed in my Etsy shop are from 1982 and 1983. If there are craft people looking for something to make from long ago these magazines may be the answer.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24689022

It's That Time of the Year

We have lots of plants started and they are living in the greenhouse for now. Any day now we should be able to get them planted outside; however, with the frost two nights ago, perhaps we need to wait a little longer.










Picture on left shows pink allysum. Picture on right a flat of marigolds with four pots each with a tomato growing. The tomatoes will stay in the greenhouse all summer.

Picture on the left shows geraniums, tomatoes and impatiens. Picture on right are two kinds of basil--green is sweet basil and in the back is curly purple basil. On left are blue salvia. Other started plants not shown--petunias, lobelia, morning glories, four o'clocks, thyme, marjoram, parsley, and three kinds of peppers.

How Special!

I have made a new Etsy friend and she has done something very special. Kayla contacted me weeks ago about doing a feature on my Etsy shop. It sounded interesting, so I completed a questionnaire that she sent.
Actually Kayla is a very special person and she is a very sick person. Only 19 years of age, she has been living with Lyme Disease for 5 ½ years. If you go to her blog, you will read more about her, and this is where the feature of me is located.
I invite you to check it out –
http://theeclecticelement.blogspot.com/2009/04/sunday.html