Ian Klepetar leaves an encouraging message everywhere he goes: Save on Gas. Bicycle.

We caught up with Ian in the bookshop. Sweatband securing his long hair in 85 degree heat, he left Tillsonburg this morning ~ and before many people are awake, he had already bicycled to Cayuga. We didn't ask where he eats or sleeps. (He did volunteer that his mother wouldn't approve of his hygiene.) He filled up his water bottle in the bookshop.

Ian and his family, including his Mom, along with a few friends have an impressive program called Bicycle Benefits, advocating the benefits of bicycling. They have enlisted over 750 businesses in less than three years. Ian left Madison, Wisconsin a week ago ~ his destination, Ithica, N.Y. via Fort Erie.

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Sign up with Ian at http://www.bicyclebenefits.org/ Click on Our Team for pictures and profiles.

By the way, Ian's favourite book is Walden, H. D. Thoreau. "Thoreau is good company," he said.

"Critical Mess*," a phrase coined by a New York collector, may describe the habitat of most hopeless book lovers. In that particular collector's case, it was thousands of almanacs, old periodicals and booklets.

Herb Martindale, original owner of The Neat Little Bookshop, left us with only one wise piece of advice, "Don't accept everything that everybody brings to you."

We have stopped giving credit for books that are out of fashion and come a dime-a-dozen. However, being book lovers, a good clean book of any genre seems to deserve shelf-space. So we go on quietly making history on Cayuga Street ~ stepping over boxes and piles of books ~ looking more like the original Neat Little Bookshop everyday. Herb would be proud of us.

*A Splendor of Letters, The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World, Nicholas A. Basbanes.Perennial/HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.

Life ~ Emily Dickenson

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If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
or cool one pain,
or help one fainting robin
onto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

~ Emily Dickinson, American poet (1830 - 1886) Life

Lilacs, Mount Olivet, Ontario. Photo by Lorna

Oil Spill Disperants and How They Work

For fascinating information on oil-spill dispersants being used in the disastrous fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico, visit Nalco website, the leading water treatment company in the world.
http://www.nalco.com/

Photos: Courtesy of James Walker, Ontario, Canada

Your Smile for Today ~

"A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold."

~ Henry Miller, American novelist. (December 26, 1891 - June 7, 1980) Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer

Air Boats Monitor the Marshlands of the Gulf

Air boats on Boggy Creek, Kissimmee, Florida

Recreational activities, fishing, oystering and many related businesses are becoming a remote reality along coastal Louisiana as crude oil fouls the marshlands ~ with little relief in sight.

U.S. President announced today additional crews will be dispatched to areas of the oil-damaged Gulf. Meanwhile, the President's visit to the disaster area did not include oil-drenched wetlands. He walked along a sunny sandy beach surrounded by BP-clad "extras", bused-in for the photo-op, according to Anderson Cooper of CNN.
Update: On Sat.CNN journalists interview BP executives. The clean-up crews are dispatched each day to different locations. It was a coincident that the crew was on the same beach as the President.

Tragic news 6 PM Sat., May 29: The current attempts to stop the flow of oil has failed. Experts predict that it will be end of the August before the relief wells can solve the well disaster. Meanwhile, the heart-breaking, overwhelming question of reducing the impact on the ocean and coastline remains.

Female alligator guarding her chosen hideaway ~ preparing to build a nest. For sea creatures, it is spawning season.
Photos: Wetlands Kissimmee, Central Florida. Compliments of James Walker, Ontario.

For larger image, click on photo.

Delicious "Clean" Food

Balsamic-Glazed Ontario Asparagus
Serves 4
1 lb Ontario Asparagus, trimmed
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp grated Ontario Parmesan Cheese

Toss asparagus w/oil, salt & pepper; place in single layer on baking sheet.
Bake for 8 to 10 min. in 400 degrees F (200 C)
Meanwhile, in small saucepan, bring vinegar to boil; reduce heat & simmer until reduced by half & syrup-like, about 5 min.
Place roasted asparagus in serving dish; drizzle w/vinegar reduction. Sprinkle w/cheese.
Nutritional information 1 serving: Protein: 4 grams; Fat: 4 grams; Carbohydrates: 5 grams; Calories: 67

Foodland Ontario, Calendar 2010 http://www.foodlandontario.ca/
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Fresh Fruit Salad
Serves 12
2 cups cubed honeydew melon
2 cups cubed cantaloupe
2 bananas, sliced
3 kiwi fruit, sliced
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1 cup blueberries
2 fresh peaches, sliced

Combine ingredients in large bowl.
Nutritional information per serving (1 cup): 78 calories, 3 percent fat (0.3 grams), 91 percent carbohydrate, 6 percent protein.

Kim Galeaz, R.D., nutritionist. SHAPE magazine.