Author Archives: maryjane

Zoo Jeans

Posted on August 10, 2014 by maryjane

Jeans designed by lions, tigers, and bears?

Oh my!

Just watch …

Puzzled? Intrigued? Fashionably fascinated?

Well, I’m sorry to say that you won’t be able to buy a pair of “Zoo Jeans” any time soon, but I couldn’t resist telling you about this unique idea for “giving back” devised by the Mineko Club, a group of volunteers who joined forces to support the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi City, Japan.

“Zoo Jeans are the only jeans on earth designed by dangerous animals,” boasts the project’s website. “We first take their favorite playthings—old tires and giant rubber balls—and wrap them in sheets of denim. Then we return them to the animals and let nature run its course. The animals roar, gnaw, and claw at their toys, and when they’re done, we gather up what’s left of the damaged denim. It is from this unique fabric that we make the jeans. So, the wild rips and tears in Zoo Jeans have been created with pure animal instinct.”

How chic is that?

Unfortunately, for those of us who would love to sport these killer knickers (I mean, who wouldn’t want to brag about the tiger bites in her jeans?), the three original pairs were auctioned on Japan’s Yahoo Auction site earlier this month, raking in over $1000 per pair.

Photo by Keven Law via Wikiemedia Commons

All profits from the sale are slated to support Kamine Zoo’s efforts to preserve the captive animals’ habitats as well as the World Wildlife Fund’s campaigns to conserve lions, tigers, and bears in the wild.

If I hear of a second Zoo Jean sale, though, I’ll be sure to share!

photo-of-the-day

Posted on August 9, 2014 by maryjane

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photo-of-the-day

Posted on August 8, 2014 by maryjane

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Hear Ye!

Posted on August 8, 2014 by maryjane

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Emily Race!!!

Emily Race (Simply Satisfied, #3591) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Putting Away for Winter Merit Badge!

“We try not to freeze veggies and fruit, since most of our meat comes during the fall during hunting season. We did freeze zucchini (shredded), carrots, and squash this winter. We also froze some blanched green beans when the season was late and I didn’t have enough to bother with a batch for canning. We also froze strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currants this winter. I shared my ideas on the chat forum and gave a fellow farmgirl a new way to store zucchini.

The carrots, squash, and zucchini taste great after freezing. The beans seem similar to canning, but take longer to cook when we are ready to eat them. The berries all tasted great this spring. I just made the raspberries into jam with huckleberries to get them out of the freezer to make room for new produce and meat this year.”

photo-of-the-day

Posted on August 7, 2014 by maryjane

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Perfectly Piggish

Posted on August 7, 2014 by maryjane

Pondering the prospect of a pet pig?

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Photo by Brian Robert Marshall via Wikimedia Commons

Ponder no longer.

The Ross Mill Farm in Pennsylvania is dedicated to one purpose: the care and handling of pot-bellied pigs as (perfectly presentable) family pets.

“The Farm, originally established in 1740, is nestled in the rolling hills of Bucks Country, Pennsylvania, one hour north of Philadelphia,” explains the Ross Mill website. “Situated on 30 acres of pristine woods and streams, its historic fieldstone buildings and grounds have been carefully modified to provide the perfect environment for the care of pet pigs. The main farmhouse provides a place for piglets and youngsters to become socialized household companion pets. Outdoor facilities, the stone barn, and other buildings create the perfect environment to grow, learn, and express their natural social behavior.”

But the Farm doesn’t just pamper its own pigs. Owner Susan Magidson, also known as the Pet Pig Information and Consultation Specialist, provides guidance to prospective pig owners who can even come and stay at the guest cottage B&B for a bit of pet pig practice.

Photo by Eirik Newth via Wikimedia Commons

“Ross Mill Farm has everything a pig fancier could wish for, from boarding services to specially-formulated feed, and for those of us unable to keep our own pigs, a chance to mingle with them, and perhaps sponsor an orphaned pet in need of foster care,” writes Hannah Kirshner of Modern Farmer, who recently stopped in for a stay at the farm. “People usually stay in the bed-and-breakfast for two or three days, but pig guests often stay longer—sometimes indefinitely when circumstances don’t allow them to go home. They might come for weight loss or behavior modification, or just for ‘camp’ while their owners travel.”

If it’s pet pig boarding you need, there is no place more posh to leave your pig pal while you’re away from home. Many guests stay in the Village, with its camp-like cabins, private yards, and pools. But primadonna pigs who prefer profuse pampering may upgrade to the Luxurious Lodge, which includes the famous Lula’s Piggy Spa …

Not your average pigpen, now, is it?

So, tell me … if you have a pet piggy, I’d love to hear the perks of your porcine parenting.

photo-of-the-day

Posted on August 6, 2014 by maryjane

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if only …

Posted on August 6, 2014 by maryjane

In light of recent news about the Israel–Gaza conflict, I wanted to share a story we ran back in 2005 in an issue of my magazine.

It was a rare moment of humanity in the blood-soaked Palestinian-Israeli conflict, highlighted on Israeli news broadcasts as an act of peace …

Read the story here: “Hope, life salvaged from death.”

photo by Al Jazeera English via Wikimedia Commons

photo-of-the-day

Posted on August 5, 2014 by maryjane

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Assonance

Posted on August 5, 2014 by maryjane

At about 4:30 this morning, I awoke to hear a friendly bird outside my window. My heart brimmed with whimsy as I whisked off my quilt to begin the day!

Image courtesy of Bumble Button

Okay, clever girl, did you catch the literary device I employed in the sentence above?

It was neither alliteration nor hyperbole,

not metaphor or simile …

So, what could it be?

The repeating short “i” sound I used to describe my morning is an example of assonance, a rather tricky technique involving the repetition of words that share vowel sounds but have different beginning and end consonants.

Told you it was tricky. And I’m not even sure I have it right.

It can be tough to pin down instances of assonance (it probably slips right past most of us), but ambitious writers have been known to rely on this device to set the mood of their text. Long vowel sounds tend to s-l-o-w the energy of a passage, making the tone more somber, while short vowel sounds lend a literary lift.

Assonance has been used by all sorts of famous wordsmiths …

Frost:

“He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.”

Poe:

“Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore.”

Sandburg:

“Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came.”

Do you dare to come up with a line or two of your own using assonance?