Here are seven things I learned recently, as assorted as ever.
- The expression “waiting for the other shoe to drop” comes from NYC tenement houses in the early twentieth century. Since you could hear your neighbours clearly, after the sound of one shoe hitting the floor at the end of the day, you would expect the other to follow.
2. Cinco de Mayo is a commemoration of Mexico defeating French forces in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. (I didn’t even know that France had ever invaded Mexico!)
3. Fireworks were only orange until the 1830s.
4. Baking powder was not invented until the 1840s.
5. On a personal note, I discovered that I can read ebooks on my phone. For some reason I thought this would be utterly unenjoyable, but it turned out to be fine — and now I can get more books even though my public library remains closed.
6. Turns out kneading bread with the dough hook on the KitchenAid for two minutes is equivalent to ten or twelve minutes of kneading by hand. I need to experiment more to cut down my time in the kitchen. (Or just buy my baked goods, but where is the fun in that?)
7. The bush outside our front door is a flowering quince. (Thanks, Mom!)
Well, I didn’t know any of those! I try to restrict new things to one a week at my time of life 🙂