6 Things I Learned in April

  1. If you don’t know how to tell a sheep from a goat, remember this: goat tails go up, sheep tails go down. (You are welcome – I’m sure this will be useful information to you at some time in your life.)
  2. Glazed ceramics are porous- who knew? We have this pretty bottle for dish soap sitting on the kitchen window sill. Trail Guy kept telling me that the outside of the bottle was slippery with soap, and I just couldn’t understand how that could be. Then one morning I saw what was happening:Soap is seeping through the almost invisible cracks in the glaze. Weird.
  3. Flying in a helicopter is magical. I always thought it was fun (except for that med-evac off Sawtooth when I was 16), but now I am convinced it is magical, EVEN WITH THE DOORS OFF! MAGICAL!

    I’ve walked on that road down there many times.
  4. If you make yogurt from scratch and use store-bought vanilla yogurt for the starter instead of leftover yogurt from your previous batch, it is REALLY good. (Yeah, I know, who makes their own yogurt?*)
  5. The place where the Dodgers play is called Chavez Ravine. No reason I should know this because this is a house of Giants fans (well, really only one, since I’m fairly indifferent to sports). Never heard of this until April when I drove past it and my sister, wife of a Dodgers fan, asked me to photograph it as we were passing AND a friend of mine was the recipient of the Dodgers make-a-wish type deal and mentioned Chavez Ravine. (No one in my life who loves the Dodgers reads my blog, so I could take this opportunity to really jab at them. But, as I mentioned, I am fairly indifferent to sports, so I’ll let the moment pass.)
  6. I’ve been doing Roman numerals wrong. I thought you could put smaller numbers to the left to subtract, but that only is acceptable on the number 9. So, 9 is IX, but 14 is XIIII. I think IXV is more efficient, but someone else made the rules. (I am taking the word of someone smarter and more educated than I am, but I haven’t consulted The Google yet.)
  7. UPDATE ON ROMAN NUMERALS: Only 4 and 9 use the “subtractive notation”. 4 is IV; 9 is IX. This means that 14 is XIV, not XIIII. So, I was right about smaller symbols on the left, but I did it the wrong way. I wonder how many of my painting series are numbered incorrectly?

*Me, that’s who. I make my own bread too. No, I don’t drive a Prius. . . they don’t come in stick. Besides, how smart is it to pay $30,000 for a car just to save some gas money? And what happens to the old battery when it is time to buy a new one? And doesn’t the making of the electricity to charge the battery have a more negative effect on the environment than burning gasoline?

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5 Comments

  1. My husband bought a Prius d/t his daily commute to work that is 40 min/one way. We saved so much $ on gas, the car was helping pay for itself and now has over 100,000 miles on it. But Jana, you are the guru of conscientious spending and I admire (and envy) your discipline in such matters. You are my mentor on art and often life. Thank you.

    • Gina, I thought about skipping the Prius part of the post but then decided it would be fun to see what sort of comments it sparked! It would be really interesting if someone was able to track exactly how much was saved on gas by buying and driving a Prius, but I’m guessing no one actually does that. And as for being an art student, you are a persistent warrior of pencil and you are winning! Your drawing is going to be a show-stopper.

  2. 5. Native Los Angelinos (especially us older ones) know Chavez Ravine. It was named after Julian Chavez, a Los Angeles councilman in the 19th century who originally purchased the land that the stadium would be built on in 1962.

    6-7. Roman numerals. I’m sure there is some rule somewhere, but I found out that 40 is not XXXX but XL (50 minus 10). Oh wait, I found something (Google is your friend):
    https://www.math.nmsu.edu/~pmorandi/math111f01/RomanNumerals.html
    (Side note: “smarter?” “more educated?” Not sure about that!) Useful only, I suppose, for reading the copyright on movies, and disguising other years, such as the year I graduated from high school: MCMLXXI.

    • Sharon, you are definitely smarter, and more resourceful and thorough. Thank you for all the info! (I graduated in MCMLXXVII, so I suppose I could refer to you as “older and wiser”!)

      • I precede you by only VI years so we’re practically peers!

        And a stickler for accuracy, as I imagine you are, too. It’s a Good Thing.

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