I'm Back!

 After taking a break to recover from the A-Z blogging challenge, I'm back. Here's a little peek into the goings-on around here in the last week and a half.

We had a retirement celebration for Ward, who retired in April. The weather was perfect, and the yard was in its spring glory. Because we still have limited kitchen facilities, we ordered pizzas for the main dish.

And speaking of limited kitchen facilities, our cabinets got delivered a couple of days ago. Yay!

The delivery men said that they deliver all kinds of cabinets from different manufacturers and these are some of the best. So that was good to hear. It was also good to see the cabinets up close and personal because we didn't remember exactly what we ordered; it's been so long.

Another day, we visited a local wholesale nursery to get some plants.
I really enjoyed seeing all of the plants in different stages of growth.

Some of the plants we got at the nursery are the little begonias you see in front of the azaleas. We plant begonias in this spot every year because they do very well here without much maintenance.

Also blooming in the front on the other side of the walk are the yellow variegated tulips that have joined the already blooming red ones.

Also, newly blooming this week is the lily of the valley.

I had a nice Mother's Day because both Wally and Theo were here for a cookout. It was especially nice because, after three days of cold rain, it cleared in the afternoon. This Mother's Day rose is in a vase that was my mother's, and the table it is on was hers, too. A nod to remembering her, too.

Until next time...

Z is for Zero

If you've been reading along recently with my A-Z challenge, you may have already guessed that Z is for Zero. I was going to go into a long discussion about zero and infinity-whether they were the same thing or opposites. Sort of like the continuum of love and hate. But my schedule is full, and I need more sleep, so that's too much to think about right now. So I've pulled another one from the files for you to peruse.

After tomorrow, there is Zilch to do for this challenge! Yea!

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Zero--a book review

This month's selection for my book club was Zero-the Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife. This nonfiction book discusses the history of numbers and their place in society, focusing on the ever-important concept of zero and its partner infinity. Now, if you're not a math person, don't stop reading yet. Seife has master's degrees in math and journalism and takes a seemingly dry subject and makes it a very interesting read. He starts in the beginning with the use of numbers to count things and goes to the present day with string theory and such. 

First, let me tell you what background knowledge I brought to the book, so you can put my perceptions in context. I had the basic science and math courses in college of physics, chemistry, and calculus. I didn't have any advanced courses in these areas. However, I am married to someone who reads math and physics books for fun, so I should know a lot if you can learn anything by osmosis. I found the book an interesting read for several reasons.

I had never thought about the evolution of numbers and their use. I guess I just assumed that all of them had always been there, including zero. However, that was naive. They have evolved over time just as our scientific ideas have often hand in hand--which makes perfect sense if I'd ever taken the time to think about it. Also, I had never thought about the beautiful or sinister (depending on your point of view) concepts of zero and infinity in a religious sense. There have been a lot of different ideas about whether God created things from something or from nothing and whether there is a beginning and ending to the universe. Many men and societies survived or didn't, depending on their views on this subject and what was politically correct at the time. Also, the book reads like a who's who of the big players throughout time in the science and math world. However, Seife does more than discuss their math contributions. He tells about the life they were living and how their work affected their life. It is very much a history book in all of these ways.

Zero is also a math book. Seife describes each new concept as it was discovered, and he gives very understandable examples of that concept in everyday terms. He seems to have a real gift for this, and I think his examples could be used in the classroom to make things clear and relevant to students.

Now, after all of that praise, let me tell you the rest of the story. The book can be a quick and easy read. At least, that was how it was for the math professor in our group. However, I found it a fast read if I didn't try to thoroughly understand the examples or a tedious read when I was trying to understand them--especially toward the end when they were getting more complex.

What did the others think about Zero? Some commented that there may have been other sides to the story, especially in the religious context, than were presented by Seife. However, most of the other comments were favorable. They thought it was well written and the subject matter interesting. Out in the rest of the world, it has won awards and has gotten favorable reviews from most major newspapers.

Would I recommend the book? Yes, but I wouldn't call it a beach-read type book for the average person. I plan to reread it and savor all of the fascinating information it has to offer. (Especially when I have trouble sleeping.)
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But wait, there's more:

The latter parts of the book discuss many things that I have heard referenced on The Big Bang Theory. I now understand better what Sheldon and Leonard are often talking about.

But wait, there's even more:

If you want to know more details about the book, read here.

Y is for "Yes! We Have No Bananas"

There were many good Y words like Youth, Years, Yellow, Yogurt, Yardstick, Yarn, and Yipee to write about, but every time I tried to think about a way to develop a post on one of them, the song, Yes! We Have No Bananas, was the only thing that popped into my head. Are you familiar with that song?

The song first became a hit in 1923 and has been recorded many times. (The Wiki Page needed more references, so I'm not going into any more of its history.) I first heard it in third grade, and I had to think twice about the meaning. The song was saying yes but meant no. I thought it was very clever.

Flash forward a few years to when I was learning about negative numbers, and I just couldn't understand how you could multiply two negative numbers and get a positive result. But Aunt Martha had the perfect words to describe it to me. She said, "I don't have no pencil. Do I have a pencil or not?" With those few words, it all made sense. I did have a pencil. That example reminded me of the banana song and the clever use of yes and no, and it seemed to be a good example for negative numbers, too. If you have a yes (positive number) combined with a no (negative number), the result is negative. There you have it. Simple math explained in a complicated way. :)

And now I have two posts in a row with a math theme (remember yesterday and using X as a math variable). Although granted, it's a weak theme, I may use it to finish up. So, can you guess what tomorrow's post will be about?

X is for X

 What do math variables, x-rays, Malcomb X, and the X-Files all have in common? They all use X to represent an unknown. 

X-rays-- Roentgen didn't know what he had, so he called them x-rays.
Malcomb X-- calls himself that for all of his unknown ancestors from Africa.
X Files--They worked on strange cases with unknown origins.

Going with this idea, my next two posts are Y is for x, and Z is for x. :)

W is for What's Blooming

Spring is a constant parade of color. Here's what's blooming in the color parade this week at my house.

Pansies

Phlox subulata, Emerald Blue

Viburnum, Decker 

Lilac

Apple Tree

Sour Cherry Tree

Wallflowers

Daffodils

Virginia bluebells

Grape Hyacinth 

Daffodil

Tulips

Dogwoods