It's Friday!!!

Whoo hooo my Friday raviolis.  Yes, it's Friday and Grandma-ma loves Friday.  That means she and Grampy and Aunt Renee will enjoy the weekend. 

I will run errands,

put stuff in my antique booth,

and then go to dinner with Grampy. 

 Aunt Renee will be attending a wedding. 

On Sunday we will go to the pool and have fun. 

Yes, weekends are for having a good time and resting.  What will you do on your weekend?  Leave a comment and tell me.  Love to  you all my raviolis.  Grandma-ma

Ravioli mix.

Hello my raviolis. This has been a very busy week for my raviolis. One ravioli had to have 10 stitches in his head. Caleb is being very brave as the doctor stitches him up. I understand that he tried to sneak out to play with his skate board today. I was very happy to hear that he decided to not do so. Let you head and ear heal, my ravioli, so you can play without further injury.

Here is a ravioli who is already doing chin ups.

Please, no more photos. I must have my beauty rest.

And a mermaid swimming in the water. Can you see her, she is at the bottom of the pool looking for treasure.

So have a wonderful day my raviolis. Grandma-ma loves you all.

Word of the Week Wednesday

Hello my Wednesday raviolis. Today's word follows yesterday's post about my visit to the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA. So today's word is:

  "whale"

Whales are not fish but large, intelligent, aquatic mammals. They breathe air through blowhole(s) into lungs (unlike fish who breathe using gills). Whales have sleek, streamlined bodies that move easily through the water. They are the only mammals, other than manatees (seacows), that live their entire lives in the water, and the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans. Whales have hair (although they have a lot less than land mammals, and have almost none as adults).  Whales are warm-blooded (they maintain a high body temperature) and they have mammary glands with which they nourish their young.  

The biggest whale is the Blue Whale and can measure 94 feet in length. 

 It is also the loudest animal on Earth and is larger than any of the giant dinosaurs were.

The smallest whale is the dwarf sperm whale which as an adult is only 8.5 feet long.

The species makes slow, deliberate movements with little splash or blow and usually lies motionless when at the sea's surface.  It is about the size of a dolphin so this is a small whale.

Whales are pretty creatures and they are fun to learn about.  Remember, to use the word whale in three sentences today.  Did you guess which whale species if grandma-ma's favorite?  Well I will tell you in my sentence below.

My first sentene of the day with the word whale in it is:  "Grandma-ma's favorite whale is the Sperm Whale."  Do you know why?  Let me tell you, I like the shape of this whale, it looks the most friendly to me.

Have a "whale" of a day my raviolis.  Love Grandma-ma

Whaling Museum - New Bedford, MA

Hello my raviolis.  Grandma-ma had a wonderful time in Massachusetts with Grampy.  He took me to the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA.  There were so many wonderful things to see about the whaling industry.  The biggest exhibits were the whale bones they had and today's post will be all about those bones.

The entrance to the Whaling Museum. They had lots of whale activities for children going on.  I thought of all of you and what fun we would have tying ships knots, making candles, climbing rigging, painting faces and shooting harpoons at targets.

When you walk into the main lobby you are greeted by a huge skeleton of a whale that is hung from the ceiling.  I won't tell you what type of whale this is.  I want you to guess after you have read the entire post.

A closeup of the skull.  This is huge, about the size of a Volkswagen beetle.  What is that shiny, sticky brown stuff on the whale bones and particularly on the skull?  Do you know?

Grandma-ma is standing directly under the rib cage and looking up. These bones were huge.

The rib cage of one whale and the tail of another that is hung next to it.

This whale skull is full of this brown, sticky fluid which is whale oil.  Whale bones contain lots and lots of oil and it can take decades (20 years or more) to leach the oil out of the bones until they are dry and white.  This skeleton was buried for 7 years in sandy materials to pull or leach the oil of the bones.  This still left lots of oil in the porous bones of the skull so rather then keep it buried for so long, the museum decided to suspend the skeleton and put a big Plexiglas pan under the skull and now the oil slowly drips onto the pan and down a long tube.  Can you see the oil drips on the pan?

The beaker that the tube is in and the oil from the whale spills into it.  This is three months of oil that is slowly collected from just the bones.  How amazing is this?

Can you see how many whale skeletons are hanging?  Can you see all three?

This is a blue whale skull that is in one of the whale rooms.  This was a small whale skeleton that measured about 20 feet in length.  The teeth you see are about 6-9 inches in length.  The blue whales in the exhibits were not killed for the museum.  These were whale carcass's that washed up along the shore or whales found floating that had already died. 

Whales that were hunted in the 18th and 19th century were completely used and produced many necessary products.  Whale oil being the most sought after commodity.  It burns clean and was the oil used in nearly all gas lamps and lights in America and in much of the world.  Now I am going to give you a guessing game?  I have four whale pictures below.  Can you name what kind of whale species they are?  The answers will be below and then I want you to guess which is grandma-ma favorite whale species and why.  You can tell me by leaving a comment. 

Whale 1 is a ?

Whale 2 is a ?

Whale 3 is a ?

Whale 4 is a ?

I hope you enjoyed learning about the whales at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  Love and kisses and big whale hugs to you all. Love Grandma-ma

answers: 

Whale 1 - Blue Whale

Whale 2 - Orca or Killer Whale

Whale 3 - Sperm Whale

Whale 4 - Humpback Whale

Don't forget, which of the four whales do you think is grandma-ma's favorite and why?

Grampy is taking Grandma-ma to a museum

Hello my raviolis. Today grandma-ma is getting on a plane and flying to Boston to meet Grampy.  He is going to take his favorite mermaid to a special museum.

It is the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachuesetts.  Grandma-ma is very, very excited about taking a trip to this museum. I have never been to a whaling museum, have you?  There will be lots of whale bones and paintings and even scrimshaw.  I will take lots of pictures and post them for you. 

So have a wonderful day my ravs and look for grandma-ma's posts this weekend.  Lots of love and whale kisses. Grandma-ma

Word of the Week Wednesday

Hello my Wednesday raviolis.  Today's word of the week is in honor of a wonderful summer pastime...

"camp"

Yes, camp...everyone loves to summer "camp" whether it is in your own backyard.

 or even in the house like a ravioli I know.

You can go on a big camping trip like the Aurora raviolis went on this summer.

One of my favorite ways to "camp" is a day camp over the summer.  When Grandma-ma was a little girl, she spent two weeks at a nature day camp in Minnesota.  She loved it and got to walk on peat bogs and see carnivorous plants and leeches.  We pressed wild flowers and identified them and put them in frames.  We roped off small areas of ground and labeled everything we saw in it and counted the many creatures.  It was lots of fun. 

So, remember to use the world "camp" in three sentences today.  Here is grandma-ma first sentence:

I learned how to make boondoggle crafts at the day camp in New Jersey.

Have a wonderful day my raviolis.  Grandma-ma loves you.

Look! It's a real mermaid.

Look, can you see her?  Can you see the little mermaid in the clear, blue water swimming.  She must have come to the surface to see the land world. Shhhhh, let's not scare this pretty little mermaid away.  Do you think she will want to swim over and say hello? 

 I hope so.

Did she?  Is she here?  Did the little mermaid come over to the edge of the pool to say hello to us? 

YES!!! She did.  Yippie!!!

What a pretty mermaid. Can I come swim with you?  Love grandma-ma.

It's HOT HOT HOT outside

Hello my roasting raviolis.  It is hot hot hot outside and everyone is trying to find a way to cool off. Check out these fun photos of animals trying to stay cool in hot temperatures.

A cool fan breeze always feels good.

Even polar bears like swimming in refreshing water.

This sweet boy keeps his water bottle handy, even when he is in the pool.

Smart doggie.  I would sit in the pool too.  He looks very happy.

Even a big moose wants a dip in the pool on a hot day.  He needs to make room for the squirrels.

Nothing refreshes like an ice cream cone.

Or a frozen fruit pop.

Stay cool my ravs and have a wonderful Friday.  Grandma-ma loves you.

Word of the Week Wednesday

Hello my Wednesday Raviolis.  Today is word of the week Wednesday and today's word is:

"patience"

This is a good word.  The word "patience" means the quality of being patient, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like. To wait for something while you work for it, or it comes to pass in its own time.

A man and his son waiting for fish to bite.  It takes patience to wait for the fish to take the bait, but what fun it is when you finally hook the fish.  A bonus is the time spent waiting for the fish as you can talk about the day, your dreams and things you like and dislike with your friends or family.

.

A group of kids waiting in line to get on a ride at the playground. All are waiting nicely and waving to the person taking the picture. This is a good example of patience too.  The ride they want to play on is worth patiently waiting to get on it.

Now can you think of another word that sounds like "patience"?  I can. 

Here is a hint:  The Aurora raviolis mom takes care of "patients" every day.  Did you guess correctly?

Patients are people who are seen by medical staff.  We have all been a patient at sometime in our lives and that includes our pets too.

So today, please use the word "patience" in three sentences. Here is grandma-ma's first sentence:

It took a little patience to lay quietly on the sea floor with my camera waiting for this little yellowhead jawfish to come out of this sand hole.

Because grandma-ma waited quietly and patiently for him, she was able to snap this neat picture for you.

Have a wonderful Wednesday my loves. Grandma-ma

Cookie cutter sandwiches

When grandma-ma was a little girl, her mommy would take out the cookie cutters and make cookie cutter sandwiches for summertime lunch fun. 

Because my sisters and I and all of our friends were busy running and biking and swimming and playing dress up,we would often want to have little sandwich picnics during the day.  My mom would make bologna sandwiches and cheese sandwiches and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and even little "devil" ham spread sandwiches  on fresh bread.  But then she would turn them into fun little "tea" sandwiches by using different shape cookie cutters.

Here is a tea sandwich that is a star shape.  There are two pieces of meat and some cheese in the middle.

I like these fishie shaped sandwiches too.  They have cheese, egg salad and lettuce. They sure look good, don't they?

But this pictures is my favorite sandwich using a rabbit cookie cutter.  Do you know how they did this?

If you think  you do, leave a comment to tell grandma-ma.  It's not hard to do.  Look carefully to see what they did to do this.  Somebody made a sandwich puzzle.  Have a wonderful day my ravs.  Grandma-ma loves you.