© Ruth Lopez 

"In some parts of Spain where butter is a rare article of merchandise it is sold not by the pound, but by the yard. It is brought from the mountain districts in sheeps intestines, like sausages that are "tied off" with string in lengths as required by the buyer." — Berrien County Record, 1882

Getting sidetracked while doing research is a given. Book titles jump off their spines at me in libraries and archives and it is not uncommon to end up with an armload of books before I've located the call number that was the original quest. Historic newspapers are particularly enticing; I might be searching for a court case and end up copying a recipe for making ink. The bottom columns of news articles might include factoids or a poem to fill the hole. Newspapers in the agricultural regions of the United States used food tidbits, like the one above, to fill the space. I'll tell you what I was seeking originally another time, Rose because now it is all about butter and Mrs. Krausek — the best kindergarden teacher in the universe. Here is one memorable learning activity: we sat in a circle and passed around a jar filled with cream. We would shake the jar until we tired and passed in on. Eventually it solidified and we spread it on saltine crackers and ate it as our afternoon snack. What did we talk about while it was happening? Dairy cows? Butter churns? Did we sing? A reenactment is in the planning stages. 

 

Comments

[Rich]

Splendid blog you have here. Sorry for potentially derailing the comments section for this entry (ironically it mentions 'sidetrack[ing],' and here I am doing something akin!); what follows relates to the Eva Hesse-themed entry you posted last year (comments are 'closed' for that). After watching Marcia Begleiter's Eva Hesse film and becoming intrigued about the whereabouts of Hesse's grave with its Sol Lewitt-designed marker that you touched on in your post, I did a bit of searching around and came up with a possible answer. In lieu of being able to leave a comment in the relevant place, I emailed you a while ago, but haven't so far had a reply. Possibly it was auto-swept into your 'Trash' folder? I tried to make the heading as clear and specific and as non-spam looking as I could ("Eva Hesse grave marker"), but accept that in the world of Facebook and Twitter and so on, the old-style email can get overlooked in the hubbub, or get zapped by overzealous modern email filtration systems. Perhaps you could check to see if it's still there? I can send it again if it isn't (if you want me to). I've long been an admirer of Hesse's work, especially the late pieces, and would like to know where her final resting place is as much as you indicate you would. I think with the info emailed you might be able to confirm where I think it lies.