Sylvan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's in the plane, it's on the ecliptic, it's zodiacal light!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Sky-Eyed,

 

I can hardly contain my newfound enthusiasm for this dark-sky spring (or fall) time visible phenomenon:  zodiacal light or false dawn.  False dawn!  Oh, the beauty of that phrase!  What might a false dawn signify?  The untrue fiancé, the early miscarriage, the brilliant idea that flops?  So many allusions to consider....  Still, what is this fabulous offering from our earth's past?  Nothing but dust!  I know!  Isn't it just terrific!  Can you feel your mind gently unfurling with possibilities? 

 

I know, I know; just what am I babbling about?  This. 

 

If you haven't seen zodiacal light, you will want to make a pilgrimage to a dark place and seek it out-  You will need dark, and you will need a nearness to twilight or sunrise.  I saw it a few days ago, in a place very dear to me, The Land of the Alluvial Fans.  To be sure, I saw the night owl preferred 'false dusk,' but I find that term a little less poetically-charged, don't you?

 

Yes, I think a song to celebrate this new knowledge is just what we need.  Maybe just one more?  I could listen to this one over and over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jane's Cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Readers,

Presently, the team at the Dodo are reading Calamity Jane's Letters to Her Daughter.  It is possibly written by Martha Jane Cannary Hickok, aka Calamity Jane.  You probably love the idea of Calamity Jane enough to burke this trifling detail, because you know that the existence of a Big Blue Ox named Babe is missing the point in reading Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill. Plus what, most of us prefer to live in a world populated by blue oxen and women of dubious authenticity. 

 

The book begs the question, regardless of its veracity, of what it is we leave for the future; of what to tell Jane's daughter.

 

The author gives a few recipes in her book, this one is for 20 Year Cake.  I reprint it here exactly as in the copy of the book I borrowed from the library, Shameless Hussy Press, 1976.

 

     *     *     *

 

20 YEAR CAKE

 

25 eggs beaten separate

2 1/2 pounds sugar

2 1/2 pounds four

2 1/2 pounds butter

7 1/2 pounds seeded raisins

1 1/2 pounds citron cut very fine

5 pounds currants

pint brandy

1/4 ounces cloves

1/2 ounces cinnamon

2 ounces mace

2 ounces nutmet

2 teaspoons yeast powder or 2 teaspoons soda & 3 cream tartar

 

This cake is unexcelled & will keep good to the last crum 20 years.   Pour over cakes while still warm the pint of brandy.  Seal in tight crock.  This will make 3cakes 8 pound each.

 

     *     *     *

 

By now, I know you are rushing out to obtain your own copy and trying to figure out whether to cut the recipe in quarters or fifths, but to further whet your appetite for this curious little book, know that her beloved horse was named Satan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS  

 

Calamity Jane's Letters inspired composer Libby Larson's Songs from Letters, hear some of them here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Si mi quieres, no me quieres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear April,

 

The lovely yellow goldfield flowers are named for Lasthenia of Mantinea.  I wonder why, though, don't you?  Here are some things that we do know about lasthenia;  I hope, with their spicy, bright scent, that they are blooming near you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember those Marbles?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Ones,

 

Staff here at the Dodo has found yet another interesting use for marbles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did I ever show you this short film of marbles being made?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dexterity abounds, my friends, and I type to you my love with humble, clumsy, and sincere fingers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Yeggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Dear Technicolor Henfruit Decorators,

 

At the Dodo, we have been saving the girls' lightest and whitest eggs now for some weeks.  We are ready to decorate them for the spring season of fertility and chocolate.  A good pal of ours has directed us to this silk-dying method:

 

 

Video Tutorial.

 

Words and pictures directions.

 

 

 

May your baskets be full!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

A Song to Sing Today