November of 2021 is when I started reading for other reasons. I did it to help my writing. I was trying to find a way to revise my 2nd bat story. I saved it in my computer back in 2011, and now a decade later I pulled it out.  

I’m only sharing the books I picked as mentors, and I’m cutting out the parts that don’t apply to the bat story. Here’s the link if you’d like to read from those titles. Link: ​Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach
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Part 1 -  Me as a Reader, and a Writer – This is me, at a book event. I’m not just a reader anymore . . . I’m a writer. It changed the way I read, the way I write. Reading and writing are like opposite sides of the same coin. They work together.

I wrote my 2nd bat story ten years ago, and I haven’t touched it since. I pulled up the first chapter last week and revised it. It was easy . . . I’ve grown as a writer in the last ten years. My critique partners said I needed to push the characters, but I knew that. Ten years ago they were flat, and they still are. I was surprised that a couple people thought I should grow the story, a lot. I didn’t see the potential, last week.

This week I outlined my five chapters (I designed it as an easy chapter book) and sent it in . . . The response was universal! I need to grow this story . . . it’s way bigger than my original plot. I knew I needed to up the stakes and add complexity, but now I know . . . if I want this story to find its own depth, I need to let it grow. To become more than I can imagine now. WOW!
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After I finished my critique group, I didn’t know where to turn, where to find ideas. Then I remembered that books have always been my mentors so I found it. My next read is imaginative, creative, and a fantasy. It’s a great place to start rebuilding my story. I also thought I should look at fractured fairy tales, fantasies with princesses and witches. Maybe even bats and bugs. Here’s to my new voyage, and however long it takes! Here’s to the new series – The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. 

​Part 2 – The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, plus a few PSs: Most of my book posts are about my reaction to the book and the plot. The PSs are where I wrote my thoughts about revising my bat story.
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Book 1 - PPS – I’m three days in, and dragon magic is working! I moved the setting from Lienen to Tecklenburg. It has history and atmosphere, from the ruins of an old German castle to the Teutoberg Forest where Herman the German battled ancient Rome.

My story’s grandmother changed too. The bats called her a witch in the old version. Now I think making her into a real one, opens a world of possibilities. I also changed her granddaughter’s name from Hannah to Anna, because a real Countess Anna lived in Tecklenburg Castle. She didn’t want witches burned, and my grandma and her Anna won’t either.  Imagine what I can do with that angle!
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Finally, I did some research and picked out one kind of bat. I also discovered that all bats need help. Did you know they’re in danger worldwide because of wind farms? In Germany too! I read that if they turned the fans off when bats are out, it would save their lives! AND we’d only lose 1% of the power wind farms produce. WOW! Who knew this book could get my juices going and fill my head with ideas? WAHOO! 
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Book 2 - PS – I decided to rewrite/revise my bat story with the original five chapters. I need to explore it first before I look for ways to grow it. I believe in story magic, and I’m willing to let it take me wherever my story is meant to go.


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Book 3 – Time for the December Book Link: Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach

​PS – I just finished the first two chapters of my bat book. The witch’s part is the most fun to write. It all started with a throwaway line in the 2011 version. A bat thought that the grandmother was a witch. Originally I said she was a nice old lady, but this time I decided to play with it. I’m having so much fun that I can’t wait to see where that witch takes me!
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​Book 4 - PS – My critique partners said the 1st two chapters are heading the right way. Their biggest piece of advice – GROW THAT PLOT! I’m working on it, but I’ll finish the last three chapters of the almost original story first.
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Then . . .  I’m moving the story across the ocean to my lake in Tennessee. That’s the setting where I’ll work to imagine the fantasy, I believe it can be.
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Part 3 – A Witch, Three Queens, and a Sorcerer – Follow me through the next 5 books. As I read each one, I left myself notes about where the bat story should go. 
December Book Link: Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach
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William - PS – I picked this story because I need to reimagine my bat story. It’s keeping me in the middle grade range, but I haven’t found the perfect path to stretch it out. I think the witch character is the right way to go, but I think I need to look into some bat lore to help me push my story farther. Here’s to my new quest!


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​Three Queens – I wrote this when I started reading the Hundredth Queen,
​and it’s what I noticed through the whole series . . . 

Harry Potter, My Writing Mentor - I’m still reading the Hundredth Queen series to look at world building, but my mentor suggested I look at Harry Potter for my bat book. Why? She thinks the tone and complexity are what my story needs. I’ve worked with her since 2018, and I trust her advice.

Harry Potter – that sounded so intimidating until I wrapped my head around it. I don’t have to write 800 pages or sound like J.K. I’ll write my story, and I’ll follow Harry’s footprints. Not exactly, but in a way that fits my bats and 2 humans.

Reading Harry as a mentor text is different than reading it for fun. It’s like taking a road trip. You read as fast as you can and enjoy the scenery. But now that Harry’s my teacher, I read a chapter at a time, then take notes. I’m looking at how Jo put the story together, and the elements I want to remember. I just finished chapter 3. Here’s a peek at my notes.

Chapter 1 is all about setting the stage – introducing the setting and characters. Jo doesn’t show the inciting incident between Harry and Voldemort. We’re told about it through the fallout. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on one incident per chapter. Chapter 2 takes place 10 years later, and Jo uses a birthday to show how Harry’s treated in the family. Chapter 3 focuses on a letter, and all of Mr. Dursley’s attempts to keep Harry from reading it.

PS – I got stuck on Chapter 4. Harry’s a great mentor text, but he’s not helping me picture my story.
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Part 4 – One Last Queen and a Spindle  - They’re the last two books in my journey, so far.
January Book Link: Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach
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The Last Queen - I wrote this after I finished The Warrior Queen. It tells you the direction I thought I needed to go with the bat story. The interesting part – I’d forgotten I wrote it . . .  
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I pick my books by author, and I’ll take a look at Emily’s, along with my other favorite authors. It’ll be a while. I have book 1 of Harry Potter to read. Then I’ll skip to another magical book, and it takes place in the Smokies. I have the where for the story, but I need to figure out a problem for my bats to solve. I’m hoping Story Magic will point me down the right path. Fingers crossed!
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 Spindled – This is the first thing I wrote about it . . .

Shanna Swendson is one of my favorite authors, and that’s why I picked this book. I’m rereading it to uncover details I missed the 1st time through.

 - And this is how it’s helping me with my bats . . .  

​This book was written for kids aged 11-18. That’s the range I want to hit with my bat story, so this is another good mentor book for me. I’m also happy to announce – there will be a sequel. Dawn’s parents, the true king and queen, are hiding somewhere in east Texas. I can’t wait to read it!
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​Part 5 – What I’m Reading and Writing Now – I’ve never posted this before. It’s new material that I put together, just for this post.
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​Writing Now - This week I finished revising the last chapter of my Almost True Bat Story. Next week I’ll hear what my critique partners think about it.

The old version’s pretty much what happened to me in 2007 when I held a bat on a mop in Germany . . . Really! What’s interesting is that this new version is still flat, and that’s the same comment an editor told me in 2011 . . . so I mothballed it, until now.

This weekend I’m going back to Chapter 1 for another round of editing, and I’m changing just ONE THING in the story. I’m moving it from Germany to the US . . . to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
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But I decided to change something else– the characters. I’m aging the girl. In the original she was 5-7 years old. Now she’ll be 11-13. That will turn it into a middle grade novel. I’m also making the grandmother a real witch. It was a throw-away line in the original chapter book, but now I’m ready to play with it in the new and improved story. And the bats, they’ll become American of course.
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​Food comes from all over the world. I picked three classic dishes for this post. Can you guess where they came from?

Part 1 – Swedish Meatballs
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Where did they come from?
Sweden looks like the logical answer, but is it?

Italy       Sweden       Turkey     Norway

Take a look at the map. Then choose the right answer.

                                                                              And the answer is . . .  Turkey!

I know! I missed it too. In 2018 Sweden’s official Twitter account said that “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century.” That always confuses me. Early 18th century – that really means the early 1700’s, when America was still a British colony.

The meatballs came from Turkish ‘kofte.’ You start with ground beef, lamb, chicken or pork. Mix in some onions and a few spices, and you have kofte. But the Swedes needed a little more flavor – so they added gravy! Everything’s better with gravy!
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King Charles didn’t stop with those meatballs. He brought home Turkish stuffed cabbages and coffee too. Now coffee’s so popular that Sweden is one of the top coffee-drinking countries in the world. 

This is how the Swedes eat their meatballs – with mashed potatoes, brown sauce, lingonberry jam, and pickled cucumbers, AKA pickles.
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​​Coleslaw
Where did it come from?
Italy     Holland      Turkey    Germany
Take a look at the map. Then choose the right answer.

​                                                                                And the answer is . . .  Holland!

Coleslaw came from Holland, AKA the Netherlands. It’s two Dutch words, combined. Kool is cabbage, and sla is their abbreviation for salade.

Dutch settlers brought cabbage to New Amsterdam in the 1600’s. It didn’t exist in the New World so the Dutch started growing cabbages along the Hudson River. When they made coleslaw, they drenched it in melted butter and vinegar. Later the British took over the city. They renamed it New York, but they kept the Dutch coleslaw.
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Coleslaw was on the table in Ancient Rome. They soaked it in vinegar before they ate it. As their Empire spread, so did their cabbage salad, to places like Germany, where they decided to add sour cream to some of their cabbage recipes. 
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​Coleslaw is part of restaurant platters from sea to shining sea, but with a small change in the recipe that came from Richard Hellman. He owned a deli in New York, and he bottled mayonnaise.  Would you believe his company is still making it for you today?        
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This question came from one of my trivia sites, but I forgot to copy the address. They got the idea for this question from . . . www.wikipedia.org   

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​Sponge cake is dry, but you soak this one in Kirschwasser or kirsch. That’s a special kind of brandy bottled only in the Black Forest. Don’t put any other kind in your cake if you’re in Germany or the European Union. It’s been against the law since 2013. Use cherry juice if you want it without alcohol, but whatever you do, don’t call it Black Forest Cake in Europe.

PS – if you want to make Black Forest cake, go to the link for Britannica. It has a video and text with the directions included.
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Sources:  Britannica                                                     Black Forest gateau - Wikipedia                                                 
https://www.traveltrivia.com/answer/where-did-black-forest-cake-originate/YZKS6XCprcEU2Kxs

​If you’re happy, and you know it . . . Christmas is supposed to be the happiest time of the year, but not for everyone. I have three quotes from three famous people. I hope they help you find a little bit of happiness.

Quote #1 – There is in the worst of fortune the best chances for a happy change.

Who said it? Euripides! It came from one of his tragedies. Here’s a recording with a minute’s worth of information about him.    Link: Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes

If you’ve never heard of Euripides, I’m not surprised. He wrote tragedies about 2500 years ago. Would you believe only three writers from ancient Greece had their complete plays survive? I hadn’t heard of the other two either – Aeschylus or Sophocles. I think it’s amazing that a quote about happiness came from a writer who specialized in tragedies.    Source: Euripides - Wikipedia
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​This is how I’d illustrate Euripides’ quote, the worst of fortune leading to a happy change. It might be raining on their parade, but these two are still having fun, together.

​Who said it? William Carlos Williams. He was 20 when he wrote it in a letter to his mom. Back then he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Here’s a link to a minute-long recording about him.  Link: Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
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I’d never heard of William Carlos Williams. He was quite talented! He was a medical doctor, poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright. He may have been overshadowed by other writers, but he inspired the Beat generation of the 1950s and 60s. Who knew he lived a pretty normal life as a doctor for more than 40 years? Maybe that’s why his words still ring true to me!
Sources: William Carlos Williams | Poetry Foundation                       William Carlos Williams - Wikipedia
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When I think about what William said, this is what I picture . . . SHARING. One of my firm beliefs is that when you give, you get. When you get, you give. They work together.

Quote #3  – Whoever is happy will make others happy too.
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Who said it? Anne Frank. She’s unforgettable. She was forced to hide in an attic for 2 years during WWII. That’s when she wrote this sentence about happiness. Here’s a link to her recording. It’s about a minute long.        Link: Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
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This is Anne, back in July 1942. It was taken two months before her family went into hiding. Her father knew about some concealed rooms in his office building. They were hidden by a bookcase. The photo below is a cutaway of that building. If you go to Wikipedia, you can enlarge it and identify each room.
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​This model reminds me of a doll house, but this was no children’s game of hide and seek for the Franks. If they were caught, they’d be sent to a concentration camp.

Anne and her sister, Margot, were separated from their parents in November of 1944. They were sent to Bergen-Belsen, another infamous camp. They died a few months later, sometime in late February or early March. No one knows for sure.
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Anne’s father was the only one in the family who survived the war. Otto lost his wife, his daughters. When he returned to Amsterdam, he found his secretary Miep Gies. She’d helped them hide, and she saved Anne’s diary. Otto published it in 1947 because Anne wanted to be a writer. She succeeded! Her diary has been published in over 70 languages.
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​What Anne wrote about happiness is incredible. She was so young and so wise. She found happiness in writing, and I get to share it with you.

Information Source:  Anne Frank - Wikipedia

Photo Sources:  1. Her house: By Alexisrael - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31562690
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2. Anne and Margot’s grave: By Arne List - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=184880

Part 1 - A Little Family History: Do you recognize these characters? The Addams Family? I thought this post would be about two commercials, but whenever I start researching something, I find cool facts and images.  ​

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​This story started with Charles Addams. He created the original cartoon back in 1938 for the New Yorker Magazine. Charles drew another 58 cartoons in this series, and almost all of them were published in the 1940’s and 50’s, long before I was born.

​ The Addams family has come back in a few different incarnations since 1938. These photos are from two different TV shows from 1964. I was 5 back then.

 The 1st one is The Addams Family. I didn’t watch them, but this is their cast photo. Clockwise from the back left – Gomez (John Astin), Lurch (Ted Cassidy) Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax), Morticia (Carolyn Jones), and Wednesday (Lisa Loring).

​ ​ Photo Source:
- Cartoon By Charles Addams, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15992920
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- Cast: By ABC Television - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19464844

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​The real theme came from the 1964 TV series. It was written and arranged by Vic Mizzy, a famous TV and movie composer. I knew Vic used finger snaps for the percussion section, but I didn’t realize he used harpsichord for the rest. Amazing!

​​If you’d like to hear it again, search out Addams Family Theme song, and you should see these two images. Click one, and listen. Don’t forget to check out the harpsichord!
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BTW - This is a harpsichord! I think it looks a lot like a piano. What do you think?

Information Sources:
​The Addams Family - Wikipedia 
​The Munsters - Wikipedia
​The Addams Family Theme - Wikipedia


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​​If you watch TV, you probably saw both commercials. I did, repeatedly! They got a lot of air time during October, when the movie, The Addams Family 2, came out.  

​I found the Progressive Addams Family commercial first. It used the original music, but changed the lyrics to add in the Progressive characters. They’re as funny and quirky as the Addams Family, and the contrast between them is clever!

My favorite moment – when Morticia asks Flo how long they’re staying. Morticia looks positively horrified when Flo says forever. If you love clever, search out this commercial and watch it one more time! Enjoy!

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​Information Source:   Go RVing Uses Real RVers To Create RV Orchestra Commercial To Promote Addams Family 2 Movie | RVIA

Part 1 – The Song that Still Inspires Me – Back in 2013 I wrote a slide show on Photo Peach about my writing adventure. It told my story starting in  2007 when I started . . . until I retired in 2015. Unfortunately I can’t use it any more . . . because Photo Peach went out of business.
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My slide show featured one of my favorite songs, Fantastic Voyage. It was released in January of 1981 by Lakeside, and it hit #1 on the R&B chart. I still remember it from my colllege days when I was into disgo and funk. This song still speaks to me, 40 years later, and it still makes me want to dance!

Information Source: 
​Fantastic Voyage (Lakeside song) - Wikipedia

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Album Cover:
By SOLAR Records - Discogs. Fair Use
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60306392

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​​I started my adventure last October, and I finished it this October. It was supposed to take 5 months . . . I should have been  done by February, but I couldn’t do it.
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I could have pushed to finish it. Or sent something in, but if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right. I persevered! I finally finished the 4th and final manuscript on October 20th. Two days later, I sent off my query.  I got an answer – that I could nudge the agent in a couple of weeks. I won’t. I’d rather wait until after Thanksgiving. No one wants to be nudged when they’re celebrating Thanksgiving.

It’s been a year! My safety story was done first. That was the one that got the ball rolling, but it took until March to get it right. ​

The fourth and final book was my dog story. I’ve worked on it since 2011. I’ve been revising those ants and that dog for a decade, and now finally,  they’re both ready to send out on submission. I’m so excited!

When I accomplish something special, I go shopping – usually clothes and jewelry to celebrate. This is what I bought when I thought I’d reached the room of requirement. It was 2011, and Bruce Hale said fine-tune and publish. That was my ant story so I bought a tunic and this necklace. I don’t have the tunic, but I still have the necklace. Whenever I look at it, I remember that moment. When I video tape this post, I’ll wear my agent audition challenge outfit. This time I picked something I’ll still want to wear in another 10 years.
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​​Bruce was one of the critiquers available at the 2011 SCBWI conference in Cleveland. He read the 1st ten pages and gave me suggestions. One of them was making sure the things I’d written about ants were true. My first page said Poppy’s heart was pounding. Bruce asked if ants had hearts. I said I didn’t know, and he said that, if I wanted to get it published, I’d have to find out. I did! 
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​I bought this necklace when I got home from the conference to celebrate. I thought within a year or two, Poppy would be published, and so would I. Oh, how wrong I was! I had so much more to learn! About ants and bees. I found photos and charts like the ones in this post to help me get my story straight!

I pushed the plot and the characters. I took a workshop in 2016 and discovered I had a saggy middle. That I needed more of the 5 senses in my story. That I needed to show, and tell how my characters felt.  It took me until the summer of 2020 to get things almost right. That’s when I added another character to the plot. Why? Because a writing friend suggested it. I didn’t want to add Chase right away. I never want to change. Ever! I have to think about it first, process it, but after a day or two I thought why not? Chase and Hunter, the bees in the story, add fun and humor, but together they play a jokester and his straight man. My critique partners think they’re one of the best things about the story.

The summer of 2020 I got all the way to chapter 18. The saggy middle was gone! But I got stuck . . . Then I started the Agent Audition challenge. I started back with chapter 1 in March of 2021. The hardest part of this voyage was bridging what I hadn’t changed since 2016; then matching them to the new chapters I’d revised in 2020. I kept pushing. I even found a chance to work with my mentor across 6 weeks. Instead of revising a chapter a week, I learned to do 5. It was hard! But so worth it.
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I didn’t let off the gas until I finished chapter 30 on the 26th, but, I won’t reward myself until Callie gives me the thumbs up on my last three chapters. When she does, I’ll message my friend Stacy. She does medical massage, and I think it’s the perfect reward for a year of very hard work!

​​ Part 1: Baby Buckeye:   This is Brutus, and he’s a Buckeye. So am I! When I was born in May of 1959, I didn’t know anything about the Buckeyes, but this is the story of how I became one . . .
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First and most important, I was born in Ohio, the Buckeye state. But, I was born in Bowling Green. It’s a small university town where my dad went to college, and NO! I never, ever was a Falcon.
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Back in the day if you were born in Ohio, you were automatically a Buckeye, but when I was teaching in the 80’s and 90’s, things changed. The state up north was winning, a lot. Suddenly kids in Ohio were rooting for the Wolverines. Me, never, ever! Well, OK, I’ll root for them, but only if it’s a bowl game. That’s when I’m a Big Ten kind of girl!
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​Sorry, I digress! Back to the 60’s! I wasn’t a Buckeye back then. Football wasn’t important to me, at all! I watched cartoons, not football. But I’m a daddy’s girl, and my daddy watched football.

Dad cheered for two teams – The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Cleveland Browns. I remember him watching games, and I can still hear him yelling; I mean cheering😊 He’d be upstairs with our one TV watching the game. I’d be downstairs playing. He’d yell when they played well. Or, when they failed miserably. I could hear him clearly through the floor, like we were in the same room, but that didn’t make me a Buckeye.

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​​               Part 2: Dad, Woody, and a Football Game

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​In high school I was into football games and marching band. I was also figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and where I’d go to college.
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Sometime in high school Dad took me to an OSU football game. I think he was hoping I’d decide to go to college there. If I did, I’d get a season ticket. My guess –  he hoped I’d get him into a home game, or two! BTW – this wasn’t me or my 70’s hair!
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​We started the day at St. John’s Arena about 2-3 hours before the game. That’s when the band marched in. Back in the day, it was their final practice before the game. It was incredible to attend, and it was FREE! I still remember it, even though it was 45 years ago.

​But the band experience isn’t over. When they leave St. John’s, you should leave too. Join the crowd heading to the ’Shoe. Find your seat because there’s no place like it on game day.

Listen for the drum cadence. They’ve been playing it for years. It signals the beginning of pregame. As soon as you hear it, watch the ramp! Then listen for the roar of the crowd! Dad told me back then there was nothing like it, and I’m glad some things haven’t changed!
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If a picture’s worth 1000 words, I wonder about a video. It must be about a million! If you’d like to find out, use your search engine. Type in ‘osu marching band pregame,” and you’ll see what I mean. 
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​Then came the big event . . . THE GAME! I don’t remember which year or who the Buckeyes played, but I remember the most important thing – how Dad and I tried to call plays – the Woody Hayes way.

Woody was THE football coach as far as Dad and I were concerned – forever. He was a legend in his own time. Before he arrived, OSU was the coach’s graveyard. Woody became an institution.
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He was still popular after he left. I was in college in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was running for President. He held a fundraiser in Columbus. Woody was the draw, even though Reagan was running for national office.  

​On 1st down plays, the quarterback would either throw, or hand it off to a running back. If it was short yardage, the quarterback would hand the ball to Pete Johnson. He was a HUGE guy, and he used the laws of gravity and motion to push forward for a yard or two. I heard on the Big 10 network that Master T is a lot like Pete – he can plow through the other team and get those yards.
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It’s funny – I don’t remember what year it was, or who the quarterback or the running back was. I wonder now if it was 1975, the year Pete scored 25 rushing touchdowns. That year Archie Griffin also won his 2nd Heisman Trophy, something very few people do, but I don’t remember Archie. I remember Pete. What an athlete! But, BAM! He was a Buckeye! (That’s something we say in Ohio. And Bam! I’m a Buckeye too!)
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​Meet Neil Armstrong! He was born in my hometown of Wapakoneta. His claim to fame – he was the first man to set foot on the moon. That was  over 50 years ago, and I still can’t believe that someone from Wapakoneta could do something so history-making. Here are two trivia questions about Neil when he was16. Would you believe he was a school year away from graduation?!
 
1. Which license did Neil Armstrong earn first?         
Driver’s license                            Pilot’s license
 
2. What did he start building a month later?
A Wind Tunnel                             A Generator

The answers . . .
1.   Neil earned his pilot’s license first. He started taking lessons at age 15, and he paid for them himself! Neil worked at the local drug store, stocking and sweeping. He earned 40 cents an hour. When he turned 16 on August 5, 1946, Neil took his solo flight, and he earned his pilot’s license. He didn’t get his driver’s license until the following spring, just in time to drive to prom. 
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2.    Neil built a wind tunnel. He had dreamed about it for years. He’d studied them in aeronautic magazines, taken notes on how they were put together and how they worked. Neil modeled his wind tunnel after the Wright Brothers, the ones who were the first in flight. BTW – Neil build his generator when he was in Boy Scouts in Upper Sandusky. He was probably in middle school, but it was definitely before he moved to Wapakoneta in 1944. 
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Sources of Information:

Neil Armstrong - Wikipedia

​Neil A. Armstrong - Ohio History Central

Neil Armstrong’s Wind Tunnel Dream
         By Me, Rinda Beach

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​ Part 2 – Wind Tunnels  –   What are They?   What do They Do?     Why are They Important?    

​This is one of NASA’s wind tunnels. It’s 12 feet or 12 floor tiles long. It has a model of a D-11 airplane inside. It was made to scale so it’s a miniature version of the real plane. I think this picture of the wind tunnel was taken in January of 1996.
 
Why is it a wind tunnel? 1. It’s a large tube. 2. Large fans blow air through it. 3. The tube is used to test how a plane that’s anchored in the tunnel, reacts when wind moves around it. It’s the same reaction the plane would have when it’s flying through the sky.
 
Why are wind tunnels important? It’s easier and cheaper to test a model and correct the design before the real plane is built. Some tunnels are model-size, but there are some big enough for real planes and cars to fit inside.
 
This is one of the earliest wind tunnels. It helped Wilbur and Orville Wright design and fly the first airplane. Obviously the Wrights never put the real plane inside. But testing a scale model of the Wright Flyer in that wind tunnel, helped them get the real one off the ground.

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​Take a look at this wind tunnel. The photo was taken in 1935 when it was part of a German aviation lab. I couldn’t find anything else about this wind tunnel, but I wanted to share it so you can see how big they can be. I’d love to walk inside, and take a look around.

This is a photo from 1990. It shows fan blades from a 16-foot transonic wind tunnel. Transonic means the plane reached or broke the sound barrier. Those flights used to get bumpy, but transonic wind tunnels helped make them smoother.

Look at the dark bar in the middle. Shift your eyes to the right. Then look for a person who’s walking around inside the tunnel. Can you imagine a fan blade that’s taller than you? I can’t!
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Sorry, you can’t walk inside this tunnel any more. It was retired in 2004 from NASA’s Langley Research Center. I wonder what they have now.

​Information Sources:
 
Wind tunnel - Wikipedia
 
Wright Flyer - Wikipedia

​

                                            Photo Sources:

- Replica of the Wright brothers' wind tunnel: By The original uploader was Axda0002 at English Wikipedia. - Photographed by uploader, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3780674
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- German Aviation Laboratory in 1935:  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-17158 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5415574



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​I got interested in Neil because I used to volunteer at his museum in Wapakoneta. This is from one of their cases. The wooden square is part of a generator Neil built, probably in middle school. The red dog is his Boy Scout scarf, and the tub – that’s what’s left of his wind tunnel.
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Neil built it when he was 16. His fan didn’t come from his house . . . Neil used a propeller from an airplane, a real one! Neil was an incredible thinker and explorer!

I never thought my first published book would be about Neil Armstrong. I thought they’d be about ants or dogs or ducks. Surprise!

I got interested in Neil because I used to volunteer at his museum in Wapakoneta. This is from one of their cases. The wooden square is part of a generator Neil built, probably in middle school. The red dog is his Boy Scout scarf, and the tub – that’s what’s left of his wind tunnel.

Neil built it when he was 16. His fan didn’t come from his house . . . Neil used a propeller from an airplane, a real one! Neil was an incredible thinker and explorer!

​Next put the tubes inside the box. Start where the white boxes begin. End before the window. I used golf tubes, the kind that you put into your golf bag so your clubs don’t scratch each other, but you could use any kind of cylinder. Just make sure they’re the same length, then stuff them into your box.

​    Why do you need the tubes? To straighten the wind so you can control the way it hits your model.

​

​You could do this step next, or the one below it.

First, get a fan. Pick one that’s strong enough to feel 30 feet away. This one disappeared. I bought another . . . it was too weak. The wind couldn’t lift my plane, at all.
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Once you have a fan, find a box that fits around it. Duct tape the box to the fan. Then tape it onto the white boxes so they look like my tunnel below.



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​​                                                                                                                            Part 4 – A Wind Tunnel Visit with Me

​Now that you’ve read this post about wind tunnels – can you imagine bringing me in for a school or club visit? I can do them in person, or on zoom. I can tailor your session to cover whatever you need. I taught 2nd grade for 33 years, and I’ve subbed in Preschool through 5th grade. I’ve also done a few clubs and museum visits.
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What would a wind tunnel visit look like? I’d probably start with a picture walk through my book. It gives you a baseline for what a wind tunnel looks like, and an idea for who Neil Armstrong was as a kid, and as a young man.
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​Then I’d pull out my REAL wind tunnel, and we’d play with it. No, I mean – I’d show you how it works the way I have it set up. Then I’d ask you for some ideas to experiment with. We could put my plane in different positions, or try new things that fit inside of it. It’s more fun when you test out your own ideas.

​We’d also use the scientific method (or reading skills) by making a guess or prediction about what the new object would do to my cooking scale. Would it raise the number of grams, or lower them? Next, duh! We’d test our guesses. Then we’d end by examining the data to come up with a conclusion. It’s fun to pretend to be a scientist!

​I can also talk about how to make your own wind tunnel. It’s not hard! If I can make one, you can too! If you don’t need specifics, your kids could tell me how they’d make one, after looking at mine. That’s what I wrote about in part 3 of this post.

If you’d like to make wind tunnels with your kids, I can do that too. I have the materials listed in my book. In fact, if you can get your hands on a copy of it, the back matter can be used to make your own individualized lesson plans.

Part 1 (language arts) tells you what parts of the story are true.  Part 2 and 3 (science or language arts) tell you how to make a primary or more advanced wind tunnel. I also have a link to show you an expensive primary wind tunnel that I wish I’d had when I was teaching 2nd grade. Part 4 (science) gives you some ideas for how to use your wind tunnel. Science can be so much fun! It’s still one of my favorite subjects to teach!

​ Would you like to learn about wind tunnels? What are they? How can you use them? I can talk about them in a visit, or you can take a look at the four photos I wrote about in part 2. Do you recognize this picture or the one below it?

​Have you heard, “If you can be anything, be kind?” I have, and right now it feels like everyone could use a heaping helping of kindness. Here are three quotes from three famous people about kindness.
​

​Quote #1  – No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Who said it? Aesop! You know the one from the fables? This quote came from the moral to “The Lion and the Mouse.” Here’s a recording with information I didn’t include. It’s about a minute long.
Link: Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes

Aesop was a Greek storyteller who was known for his tales. Someone gathered them together to make Aesop’s Fables. He was born around 620 BC, before Christ. He died around 564 BC or BCE (before the common era). That’s almost 2500 years ago.

Details get lost over time, but Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch wrote about him in their histories, so some details are still known. Aesop started life as a slave, but he was clever enough to win his freedom. He became an adviser to Greek kings and city-states.
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No one is quite sure what Aesop looked like. This is a Greek statue of him. It’s in a collection in Rome, but I’m not sure how old it is. There’s another image of him from a woodcut that was done 1489. It’s below, with my list of sources.

Do you know the story of “The Lion and the Mouse?” It’s #150 on the Perry Index. I’ve never heard of it before, but I like to learn new things. There are 584 fables on the regular list; more on the extended one.

The fable – A mouse wakes up a sleeping lion. Mouse doesn’t want to be a snack so he asks lion to let him go. Lion does, but later he’s caught in a net. Mouse hears his cries and sets him free by chewing through the rope. Lion’s kindness is repaid.
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That’s the first version of the story. Later ones, in English have the mouse asking for freedom, saying he’ll pay lion back someday. Lion of course is tickled that such a tiny creature can help him.
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​Information Sources:
Aesop - Wikipedia        
Aesop's Fables - Wikipedia     
The Lion and the Mouse - Wikipedia 
Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
 
Photo Sources
- Greek Statue - By user:shakko - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5545991
 
- Lion and Mouse Sculpture - By Celeste Hutchins from The Hague, Netherlands - statue 2, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2186911
 
- Woodcut to the left - By File created by me; art by Francis Barlow (died 1704) - The 1687 edition of Aesop's Fables with His Life: in English, French and Latin, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9510028

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​​Quote #2  – More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.

​​
​Who said it? Charlie Chaplin. Have you heard of him? He was a famous actor who starred on stage and screen from the time he was a kid until 1976. That was a year before he died. Sorry, I couldn’t find a recording this time, but if you click this link, you can read their information.
Link: Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
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If you read the information from Daily Inspiration, it’s about this photo from Charlie’s movie The Great Dictator. Charlie wrote the script. The quote about kindness and gentleness is at the end of the movie. Charlie wanted it said in 1940 because of Hitler and World War II. I think it still needs to be said today.
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Charlie may have become a famous movie star, but he didn’t start out that way. He was born in 1889 in London, England to a pair of music hall performers. His parents separated when he was two, and his dad left the family behind. His mom struggled with money. Charlie was sent to a workhouse twice before he was nine. That’s where you went when you were penniless. They’d give you a place to stay, and work to do.

By the time he was 14, his mom was hospitalized for mental health issues, but a young Charlie was already taking care of himself – He was performing onstage in music halls. By age 19 he signed to do stage work with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company. The famous producer even took him to America.

Charlie soon found his way into silent movies, and by 1918 he was a world-wide star. He was only 29. A year later he went in with three friends to found United Artists. It gave him the freedom to make movies the way he wanted – to write, direct, produce, edit, star in, even compose the music. His movies were known for their slapstick comedy, with a little tragedy/sorrow on the side.
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Charlie has a website. The link: Charlie Chaplin : Official Website
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Information Sources:
Charlie Chaplin - Wikipedia                                                                      
Charlie Chaplin : Official Website
 
Photo Sources
- Charlie starred as Adolf Hitler in The Great Dictator, 1940 – By United Artists - Cropped from File:The Great Dictator publicity still.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29507472
 
- Charlie in City Lights, one of his best movies, 1931 –  By United Artists - www.creativelydifferentblinds.com/TVStageandFilm/CharlieChaplin/CityLights, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19983420
 
- Charlie as The Tramp – his iconic role, 1915 – By Essanay Studios - British Film Institute, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24496648

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Who said it? Julia Alvarez. She has published 17 books so far. Most of them are both in English and Spanish. She writes everything – poetry, nonfiction, novels, and picture books. Sorry, I couldn’t find a recording this time either, but if you click this link, you can read the information from Inspiring Quotes.
Link: Daily Inspiration | Inspiring Quotes
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This quote came from her essay an Aha Moment. Julia wrote about a horrible plane ride and the acts of kindness she saw during it. She also noticed how kindness inspires more kindness. Sometimes when life is at its worst, people rise to be their best.
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Julia was born in New York City in 1950, but she moved back to the Dominican Republic when she was 3 months old. Her family lived there for the next 10 years. Julia thrived! Maybe because Domincans value story-telling, and they nurture it too.
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In 1960 Julia’s dad helped with a plot to overthrow the dictator. The plot failed, and her family fled to the US. Can you imagine leaving everything behind?
​

That night Julia lost her home, her language, family and friends, everything she knew. She was homesick in the country she’d been born in, but it wasn’t home. She felt out of place, and people didn’t accept her because she was different.

At school she was discriminated against because she was from Latin America and spoke differently, with an accent. How did Julia cope? She turned to books and literature. She had teachers who liked her writing and encouraged her to keep going.

At age 13 her parents sent her to boarding school. They wanted her to have a better education than the local schools could offer. She also spent every summer visiting the Dominican Republic. Her parents wanted to make sure she kept her heritage and grew up properly.

Those experiences with immigration, new schools, and living in two different worlds found their way into Julia’s books from the Garcia Girls to her Tia books.
​

​

​Information Sources:
Julia Alvarez
Julia Alvarez - Wikipedia
 
 
Photo Sources
Julia Alvarez

In June of 2019 I found out I was going to be a grandma. Images danced through my head; of the things we’d do together. I pasted pictures of a few of them below.

This baby-to-be found a place in my heart. Boy or girl, it didn’t matter. I loved that baby in a way I still can’t explain. An idea for a story started flitting through my head. A story for Baby Beach.
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Part 1 – Time to be Born – My first grandchild arrived in 2019. I live 18 hours away so I imagined stories of what we’d do together. I wrote this one down and sent it into Vivian Kirkfield’s #50 Precious Words Contest in 2020. 

Time to be Born
​​ Baby, can’t sleep?
Here’s a story –
You were tucked in your mama’s belly.        
You twisted and turned.
“It’s time, baby!”
But hours passed,
Then a day. Was it two?
You twisted, tried turning.
“Need a little more room?”
You nodded and decided it was time to be born.

​

​I tried revising it for #50 Precious Words in 2021, but I like this version better. Maybe because I wrote it for my grandchild.

But something’s missing in both versions, something I haven’t captured. There’s something special about the night you’re born. I hope if I let it sit, that I’ll find the spark this story needs.
​
I have a new grandchild, and a new idea. It’s something I did with my second graders when I was expecting. Each month I’d tell them about our baby and how it was growing. Maybe I can take that old idea, and make it new again!

​Part 2 – Teaching Grandma – But this time, I won’t be the one doing the teaching. My grandkids will!
​

They both live in Texas. That’s 18 hours away from Ohio. I won’t be the granny who sees them all the time, who knows them in-and-out. I’ll be the one they meet on a computer screen.
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My grandkids are so little. They’re at an age where I’m a stranger. The last time I saw them, we were there for a weekend, long enough to get acquainted. The next time I see them, I’ll be a stranger again.

​I never had a grandma, and my two grandpas lived hours away. They paid more attention to the adults. Maybe they didn’t know how to talk, or to play with me.

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But I spent a lifetime teaching 2nd grade. OK, it was only 33 years. 😊 But I do know how to talk, or to play with kids. Whenever I had a shy kid, I waited for them to warm-up to me. I was there. I was supportive, but I let them set the relationship where they needed it to be.
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When my kids came in for a class visit, they were preschoolers. I asked my 2nds to give them space, to let them warm up to them. I did the same when pets visited the classroom. Too much stimulation is scary, for kids and pets!

​​ So when I visit my grands, in-person or virtually, I let them set the pace and decide what we do. That’s what I did when we were there in July. I watched them, but my husband copied what they were doing. (OOPS! I forgot!)

But it worked! Smart man! They played with him first. They even let him pick them up – all because they controlled the situation.
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The best part – when things got diaper or meltdown tricky – you passed them back to their parents. I’ve heard being a grandparent is great, AND, it’s true!
​
That visit gave me the idea for the next baby book, for my grandchildren and yours. We aren’t the only grandparents who live a computer screen away, and I’d love to help the little ones. The old ones too.
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I haven’t started it yet. I’m letting the idea sit at the back of my head. When it’s time, I’ll know, and I’ll start writing . . . Soon . . . I hope . . . Fingers crossed!

​Part 1 – The Story of the Photo Shoot – Leia and I did our shoot back in November or December of 2013. I had a snow day and called High 5 Photography in St. Marys. As luck would have it, Emily had an opening that day.

I remember it like yesterday. It was the first time I realized how old Leia was. I knew she was 14 in my head, but my heart still saw her the way she used to be. Leia loved to walk and would drag me down the street. Not that day . . . She walked a couple yards, and I carried her the rest of the way.
​
I saw more signs at the studio. Signs I’d seen with my father and his Alzheimer’s. Leia started pacing, like dad did. She wasn’t searching for scents. She was in a panic, trying to figure out where she was. She only calmed down when I held her, like I did in the picture.

​That’s the day I found out Leia was old, that we didn’t have as much time left as I thought. I cried all the way home. It was only 10 minutes, but I spent it reliving what Alzheimer’s did to my dad.

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People still saw the puppy in her, but look again . . . Can you see the gray hair around her eyes? I didn’t want her to suffer so I asked for advice. I wanted to know when to say good-bye. The vet said look for trouble seeing, hearing, and with bathroom issues.  

I didn’t see it coming, but my friend Danelle did. She warned me. When she had bathroom issues in her crate in February, 2013, I knew it was time. I made the appointment to say goodbye.
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The best thing I did that day was to tell Leia stories while I stroked her back. It helped. The worst – I didn’t let her have chocolate. It was her favorite thing to sneak. She only did it three times, but it always made her sick. Now I wish I’d made time to give her that one last treat.

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​Part 2 – How Leia Joined Our Family – I took this photo back on the first day of school in August of 1999. My kids were in 5th, 3rd, and Kindergarten. Leia was 4 months old. We’d had her for a few weeks. Our house was full of life – with 3 kids and a dog!​

We picked up Leia in August, and I remember the day she came home . . . the neighborhood kids were on alert and in our yard.
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Poor Leia! She’d been living with 2 ladies, senior citizens, and now she was surrounded by kids. Oh my! They put her down the slide and introduced her to the neighbor’s cat. Within the hour she ran into her crate and refused to come out. The kids knew the crate was her sanctuary.

My husband, Mr. Non-Dog Lover, was the one who got her out. His secret – a steak bone. It was their one and only good moment in 14 years.

My kids had so many! Leia was FAST! I remember her standing, waiting between two bushes. My son and his best friend stood waiting to catch her. Sure enough, Leia squirted out, right between them, and neither kid caught her. When her kids were young, chase was Leia’s favorite game.

And if you wanted to see her doggy smile, just say the word walk, and she’d go crazy bouncing and barking. She only weighed 15 pounds, but she’d drag me down the street, choking the whole way. She was so happy to be out leading her human around! But her favorite thing of all time – taking her kids roller blading down the street. There was nothing better!


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​​​​Part 3 – The Heart of the Family –  No one will ever love you like your dog. She was my best friend. Leia was always happy whenever we came home. We might have been gone 10 minutes, or 10 hours. It didn’t matter . . . She’d bounce and bark with joy.

​​That was the starting point for her story. Leia was such a great character I knew she had to be in a book. I’ve been working on it since 2011, trying to get it just right, for my best friend.

Would you believe her character could be anything from a Great Dane to a Chihuahua? The illustrator gets to decide what she looks like. I hope my Leia is somewhere in the book. It’s why we did that photo shoot.
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This was my favorite shot. We talked like this from the time she was a pup until the day she died. Leia would stop and sit. I’d lean over. She’d look and listen, sniff my breath to see what I’d eaten or where I’d been. Even as a senior dog, she kept tabs on me. I don’t think I’ll ever have a better friend. It’s been 8 years, and I still remember and hug tight the memories, of the way we were.