No snacks?!?!? Airline travel is not what it used to be!

This past week, I went on a business trip with Lutheran Zephyr. We flew off on a little jet owned by a major airline and were offered NO SNACKS! What is with this? I wasn't expecting salmon with a buerre blanc sauce or anything. But a bag of pretzels would have been nice. Or maybe a couple of cookies. It was a LONG flight. Fortunately for me, LZ never leaves the airport without snacks and water. So we were okay for the next several hours. I know this sounds like whining and it probably is. It's just that I remember when about the only place you ever got honey roasted peanuts was on an airplane. Ah, the good old days.

Ramona the Pest and other friends

A while back, the preacher in "Pink Shoes" made a request for new book titles to add to her reading list. I found myself ignoring all the classy literature on my shelves, so that I could write about children's and adolescent literature.
I am a sucker for anything that was ever nominated for a Newberry medal. Not fluffy teenage girl junk, but the classic good books they made you read in school. I like interesting plots. Well written imagery. Stories that are funny or heart warming or universally smart and educational. So my list went like this...
- Anything by Madeleine L'Engle
- "The Chronicles of Narnia" in their original order.
- "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen, which is coming out as a movie this month. Funny and smart.
- The "Ramona the Pest" books by Beverly Cleary when you need a nostalgic good laugh.
- "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson. Haunting story of life during the American Revolution.
- "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
I have read some grown up books in the last six months, but every so often, I need to explore the world of Ramona or Meg or Eustace.
p.s. The picture is of a statue of Ramona that lives in Portland, just like she does!

Mentos Explosion

I love NPR. Not only do they provide you with intelligent news of world happenings, they're willing to do something really stupid on occasion as well. Apparently if you take a two liter bottle of pop and put a package of Mentos candy into the bottle, the chemical reaction is such that the entire bottle of pop will shoot up into the air. Soda explosions have been measured from ten to twelve feet. Warm soda works better than cold. Go figure! Listening to the report on NPR made me want to rush out and buy pop and candy. But so far, I've not ventured into the backyard to create my own little geyser of sugar water. But it's tempting....