Sunday, April 5, 2015 B
Julia at our Computer Area and...
4:41pm


Julia asked me for a photo of her sitting by the computer, as a FB friend of hers is asking to see people's computer areas. She has on the screen Stellarium, showing yesterday's lunar eclipse.

Julia did wake early enough to see it, and she got me up, too. The coverage wasn't as dark as it was when Laura, Julia and I huddled outside under a blanket back in 1996. Instead, the moon mostly looked dark red with only a peek of bright moon at the edge.

I crawled back into bed after that.

I've been noticing the exuberant growth of our prickly pear bushes, but hadn't gotten around to photographing them until a FB friend shared her blooms. This photo turned out the best:


This bush wasn't nearly so plush back in May of 2013!

Friday, April 10, 2015
"May the Forks Be With You"
9:52pm

Yes, I know it's a cutesy title for this little tale of silverware. I am perhaps too susceptible to ads. But I am susceptible in my own way. An ad showed in my email box, "Silverware Sale at Famous Fancy Design Ware Shop!" So I hopped over to their sale, and found it underwhelming, not much of a sale. And as intriguing as their designs were, I couldn't help but remember an old favorite. All I had was spoons of the Oneida "Act I" design. Back in the early 80s, I saw ads in Gramma's Woman's Day magazines, in which we could send a dollar in and get a sample spoon. I got quite a few sample spoons. I've enjoyed those spoons for the past thirty years. Even though I'd bought a set of a different pattern long ago discontinued, the "Act I" spoon has been favored, over the ones which belonged to that set. It just plain felt good in my hand, nicely weighted, and with a pleasing "tactile quality".

I prefer using a salad fork to a dinner fork, perhaps because it suits my small hands better. So I sent for four salad forks. While I waited, I read the comments section on the Oneida website. Apparently, the silverware used to be manufactured in an American factory. But now they are all made in foreign factories. My forks arrived, and they do not seem to be lightweight, nor of poorer quality steel, of which some people had complained. But I did notice on the bottom of the fork, INDONESIA had been printed.

Then I saw an ad for a single place setting, which had formerly been a display model. It occurred to me this setting may have been made in the States, and when the pattern had been (temporarily) discontinued, the seller sold their display model. My surmise was correct. If you look on the handle of the middle fork, it says © LTD BY ONEIDA ® 18/10 USA. The one made in Indonesia simply has © LTD BY ONEIDA ® 18/10. My thirty year old spoon has quite a different logo. Back then, they indicated an item belonged to the "Heirloom" quality line by placing the Oneida name between two cubes. The mid-range quality line had only one cube after the Oneida name.

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