A Year of Blogging: September 16, 2011

September 16 was 'Collect Rocks Day'. This is a day Erich would love. I never really gave rocks much of a thought until I met him. Sure, I remember some things from Dr. Totten's geology classes, but science and I have never really gotten along. Erich is the science guy. His bachelors and doctorate are in geology (of some form or another-he always corrects me, but basically, he studied rocks). I used to bring him back rocks from my vacations. It's a little harder to bring rocks through security these days, so now I just take pictures of neat rock formations for him. September 16 was also 'Mayflower Day'. On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England to the New World, or as we know it, America. They were headed for a settlement in the Virginia Colony, at the mouth of the Hudson River (present day New York City), but veered off course and landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts after a 66 day journey. Today, you can fly from Boston to London in about 7 hours. September 16 was also 'National Play Doh Day'. Play Doh! It seems like I spent hours playing with the stuff as a child. My sister and I made all kinds of things. Now, Sydney has a lot of play doh and loves to play with it. I can't stand the smell, and wonder how children get past that. When my sister and I were children, we used old kitchen supplies from Grandma or Mom's kitchen with our playdoh. Now you can buy kits. Sydney has numerous 'kits' including an ice cream shop and a dog play set. She loves all of them. Play Doh's origins are debated, but it seems it started in the mid 1950s in the Cincinnati area. How cool is that? Well, I suppose to non-Cincinnati area people, it isn't that great. But I like it when I find a local connection to big things. Do you remember homemade playdoh? That was very popular when I was growing up as a less expensive alternative to the play doh in bright yellow cans. I remember the big draw it had with the children, too. "It's ok to eat this playdoh, Mommy made it!" Seems even homemade playdoh is not simple anymore. I did a google search looking for the recipe, and found all kinds of variations. In case you want to give it a try, this recipe was billed as 'Plain Old Playdough Recipe #1'.

1 cup flour 1 cup water 1/2 cup salt 1 TBS cream of tartar 1 TBS oil food coloring Heat all ingredients in a saucepan, slow to medium heat. Stir continuously. Once dough is at the consistency you want remove from heat. Cool before using. Due to the high salt content, this playdough should be kept away from pets.

Actually, given the amount of salt in this, it's probably not a good idea for children to eat it either!