Recently I met Eloise, a 9 year old girl, who reads a lot. She raved about her current favorite book and spoke enthusiastically and eloquently about preferring series books, especially this one, because she loved getting to know the characters and didn't want the adventures to end. I asked her to write a few words about why the series captured her attention.

Suki takes a unique twist on classics, which I passionately favor, however I appreciate the quality recommendations of "literary professionals" like Suki of The Babblery and Becky & Jenny of LitWits. Read Suki's essay, "Old Books = Modern Time Travel." She's right! Take a trip into the classic past!

When your reader delves into The Famous Five series, make certain to get the original books, with vocabulary that expands their own vocabulary, (not the watered down version some editor attempted to bring forth).

This is perfect hiking weather. Wear jackets and nifty hats on cool days. It helps to clear the mind of bothersome cobwebs! Then return home for tea or cocoa and cozy up with a good book.

Remember to look ahead on the calendar, both November and December, for those special holiday events that can sell out!

Enjoy the cooler weather! Parmalee

"As a community we have an opportunity to ease the struggles of families in Santa Cruz County and make the holidays brighter for our neighbors. Each year the Volunteer Center partners with 26 fellow non-profits to meet the needs of 450 families struggling to make ends meet, like this one (and so many others):

Our non-profit partners provide us with a short bio about each family and a list of the items that each family member requests. Choose your family from these individual family profiles!

Questions? AdoptAFamily@scvolunteercenter.org

Depending on your circumstances, you can choose to volunteer, give to others or ask for help in order to ease the burden of poverty or tight budgets. Look at all these programs leading up to and during the holidays: https://www.scvolunteernow.org/holiday

"In September, a surfer named Nick Ericksen was catching some waves at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz when a creature emerged from the depths and grabbed his board. To his relief, the creature wasn’t a shark, but a cute, fluffy sea otter. And this otter had an agenda.

In a video of the encounter captured by a shoreside onlooker, Ericksen relinquishes the board to the sea otter and struggles to get it back. The otter curls up on Ericksen’s board and, like a true Santa Cruz local, proceeds to ride a few waves." Read the entire Otter Tale and watch the video with the children > > >

A Hat Tip to Lizz, director of Musical Me, for her years of bringing music to babies, toddlers and their parents and for sharing this article, Music of infant-directed singing entrains infants’ social visual behavior.

"Music’s role in social bonding begins in infancy, with caregivers singing to their infants to soothe, placate, and engage them. This phenomenon, infant-directed singing, is culturally universal and promotes affiliative bonding. Infant-directed singing captures infants’ attention, modulates infants’ arousal, and reduces infants’ distress [even more so than infant-directed speech]. For caregivers, singing to infants regulates their own arousal levels and increases their perceived affective connection to their infants." Read the entire article.

Check out Musical Me's classes for babies 8 months and up!

No oysters, sausage, jalapenos --or anything exotic.

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I have always saved bread ends, drying them out in the oven, then spending time breaking them into bits. When I saw that my brother the gourmet foodie, used a store-bought bag of dry stuffing mix I was shocked! He had deviated from family tradition to labor-saving tradition. BUT! The stuffing was delicious, so, I have modernized! Save yourself some time if you wish.

Throw together, dried bread or unseasoned stuffing, a large onion diced into very small pieces and sautéed in butter, celery chopped small, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper to taste, raw eggs and chunks (lots) of butter. Pour boiling hot water with added chicken bouillon over it, stir, add more as necessary, until it all sticks together. Form into serving-size balls (both baseball and golf ball sizes), place in large baking dishes, cover and bake in the oven, 325° about 30-45". Increase the temp and give it 5 minutes uncovered at the end to crisp the top a little.

My Boston sister-in-law gave me a box of Bell's Seasoning, a New England product I haven't seen since childhood. I'll use it and add a dash of nutmeg. (Guess what! It's on the "A" website.)

If you're in the mood, you can make your own Bell's All Natural Turkey Seasoning: 1 T rosemary, 1 T oregano, 1 t sage, 1 T ginger, 1 T marjoram, 1 T thyme, and 1 t pepper (all ground).