Hello booty shakers! We're on a much-needed vacation for a bit. The Rave Cave is closed for now but will reopen very soon.
There is a Saturday all day disco in the Finchie sub that could use a little traffic. Check it out!
Mochie has some rather alarming information to pass along. Plenty of people believe that clouds only contain 100% fresh water. However scientists now think that in the Arctic, sea salt aerosols make up over 25% of cloud particles. This high concentration of salt in the clouds inhibits precipitation and increases cloud density. The result is higher levels of surface warming and solar radiation being reflected back to the earth. Arctic air temperatures are increasing at four times the global average. https://www.bas.ac.uk/news/sea-salt-aersols-warming/#:\~:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20this
Penelope wrings her wings. "How can we stop this?" Mochie says we need to reduce greenhouse emissions. https://oceanvisions.org/arctic-sea-ice/ Penelope wonders if she should plan a dance-a-thon to raise awareness.
StellaBlu has been researching Roman baths. They weren't just for getting clean! The Romans got up to all sorts of shenanigans in the public baths. They would feast on plates of fruit, seafood, and meat in the baths. They would gamble, playing games of dice for money. They even had rudimentary "showers". They used their knowledge of aquaducts and piped water supply to create a sluice of water that a person could stand under to rinse themselves down. Penelope thinks about all of the time the Romans must have spent in the baths. Is that why they wore towels all the time? Because they lived their lives while simultaneously bathing?
Jitterbug has brought Penelope a gift. It's Penelope's favourite candy, rose lokum! She hugs the box tightly to her chest with glee and thanks her friend profusely. When known as Turkish delight, rose lokum gets a bad rap. But the real thing is genuinely delicious! It is a soft, silky, chewy, pale pink jelly; scented with rose water, and sugary sweet. While it saddens Penelope that lots of people think they don't like it, it also means that there is more for her. But she still wants to share the things that make her happy. Perhaps she can persuade Jitterbug to taste a piece?
Little Persimmon popped in, did an energetic twirl around the dance floor, and then promptly fell asleep. No doubt she's dreaming about thunderstorms due to the pounding of the bass.
🎶Listen to me - don't listen to me
Talk to me - don't talk to me
Dance with me - don't dance with me
No
🎶
Scout is putting her problem solving skills to work. Penelope loves cornballs but hates making them. The idea of a pot of boiling oil on her stovetop is very unappealing. Scout shows Penelope her schematics for an electric appliance that can fry the cornballs for her. Now these appliances do exist but are only available in Mexico. Plus they are very dangerous. However, Scout is certain that she can build one that won't give the user third degree burns just from touching it.
Morrigan and Penelope are reading about colours. Red is the first named colour in recorded history. It is the first colour that babies can see and it is the first colour associated with the earliest humans' attempts at art. Its history goes back over 170 000 years when late stone age people were grinding ochre containing iron to make coloured powders. The colour is still visible in Cave paintings from 25 000 BCE. Funnily, the colour (name) orange is derived from the fruit, not the other way around. The colour's name is newer, not recorded until the early 16th century. Because oranges (fruit) were introduced and spread by the Moorish empire, the colour was never associated with actual oranges until recently. Prior to that, orange coloured things were referred to as being saffron, yellow red, or just straight up red (i.e. redhead).
Once again, Pebble just wants a peaceful weekend. It's what he loves best! Instead of sailing like last week, this weekend he's going to go canoeing with Penelope. They will meet up with the loons that they befriended when they went sailing and have a relaxing picnic.
Nomi has discovered the refreshing joy of the bidet! She sat down on a park fountain and came away with the cleanest, fluffiest butt! How did she ever live so long without one? How does anyone?
🎶Love forever, love is free
Let's turn forever, you and me
Windmill, windmill for the land
Is everybody in?
🎶
Kiwi is inviting Penelope to go camping with her. Penelope is not entirely sure about going. While Kiwi is a wonderful friend and always has the good snacks, she is also the teller of the most terrifying campfire tales. She shines a flashlight under her chin and then relays the most blood curdling tales known to man and birb. Penelope is rather timid so she's not sure if she could survive an entire weekend of Kiwi's alarming storytelling.
Pickle is rhapsodizing about woolly mammoths. She met an elephant just by chance and they were trading stories about their ancestors. Pickle had just finished telling her new friend about velociraptors when the elephant began describing woolly mammoths. Pickle is smitten! Imagine all the wonderful, charming qualities of an elephant but with thick, soft fur. How dreamy!
Noodle is going on a photography tour of Germany. She finally found a publisher willing to make her dreams come true - a coffee table book of sausages! It's going to be a called "The Wurst Pictures Ever!" Germany produces over 1000 different kinds of sausage so it'll be a pretty hefty tome! Penelope doesn't own a coffee table but she'll buy one just for her friend's book.
Merida has discovered the joys of bread and butter! Ah, the simple things in life are really just bliss aren't they? She has been hanging around a nearby dairy farm to see if any of the cows can spare some cream for her. She wants to churn her own butter! Penelope encourages her efforts. Those black and white ladies are very generous with their bounty. Merida is sure to be successful.
🎶 There's a dark secret in me
Don't leave me locked in your heart
Set me free
🎶
The doors are open so let's get right to shaking it!
It's been a rainy few days in Floof's neck of the woods. She was standing on her porch when she saw something so spellbinding, so eye-popping, that she couldn't believe it was real! The clouds looked like they'd been coloured in with rainbow paints! They shone and even sparkled a bit. Penelope is so excited to tell her friend about cloud iridescence, or rainbow clouds. It's a phenomenon that happens when the clouds are really thin and wispy, and they are full of water drops, and the sun hits them juuuuuuust right. Floof knows that it's all science-y but deep down in her little believer's heart, she also suspects that it's magic.
Waffle is here from her chess club. Today she did a very exciting move. She managed to get one of her pawns all the way to the other side of the board! And the best part is, that pawn got promoted to a queen! Unfortunately, there were no extra queen pieces to play with so Waffle recycled a shiny button from her golden wand and used that as a queen instead. Penelope is impressed with her friend's brilliant moves.
Pretty was so kind to take Penelope out for some night fishing! It was such a beautiful night for it too. There was no wind so the lake was still and smooth as glass. The reflection of the stars on the water made it look like the fish were swimming in the sky, as though through a Vincent van Gogh painting. They spent the whole night pretending that they were fishing for stars. It was utterly enchanting.
Mizuki has brought her boom box to hook up to a mic so she can put on a show! Huzzah! We love live music! What will she sing? Will it be something we can all dance to? We are all shivering in antici.... pation.
🎶 It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
🎶
Mizuki just got back from Victoria, BC. She had the best time ever at Haunted Manor Mini Golf and Ping Pong! It somehow managed to be spooky and scary and fun all at the same time! How did they do that? She can't wait to go back to scream and laugh!
Pebble, on the other wing, is fond of more sedate fun. He has invited Penelope for a sailing afternoon. The plan is to bring a picnic that they can eat on whatever deserted island they encounter. They will spend the day exploring an uncharted lake and perhaps make friends with some of the local loons.
Merida is so excited about her latest purchase! She ordered a solar filter for her backyard telescope so she can look at the sun. It just arrived today! The idea of being able to see a star up close has her hopping with excitement. Given that she doesn't have $1.3 billion to buy herself something like the Parker solar probe, this filter is the next best thing. But she's still going to try to save up!
Waffle has a bean burrito that she plans to eat but first, she must compose an accompanying symphony. 🎶 💨 🎶
Jitterbug has been leafing through art books in their spare time. One painting that has particularly captured their attention is Magritte's "Son of Man". It seems to be about the natural desire to see what is hidden while also illustrating the equally natural tendency to hide ourselves. We only present what we want others to see and as a result, you can never really know anyone. Penelope thinks it's pretty ironic that the painting is in a private collection and spends most of the time locked in someone's home where the public can't see it. Penelope wants to find out who owns it, steal their key and break into their house just to get a peek at it. Jitterbug should come too! Given the theme of the painting, it would be the only appropriate action. They would be blameless.
🎶 Let's go outside, in the sunshine
I know you want to, but you can't say yes
Let's go outside, in the moonshine
Take me to the places that I love best
🎶
Dove wants to order pizza to the Cave. Their favourite toppings are sunflower seeds, walnuts, dried fruit, grubs, and double cheese. Penelope thinks that all those gourmet toppings are going to cost extra. She fetches her magnet so that the two of them can search the couch for loose change.
Tiger has been watching lots of nature documentaries on the TV. Life on Earth, Planet Earth, Our Planet, The Blue Planet. Penelope can't hold it in any longer! She screams out her raging crush on David Attenborough! Sure he's way older than she is and a completely different species but she's certain that with his love for our planet and its wildlife, surely he could see a future with a a little birb like her! Tiger plots - perhaps she can find out where the next documentary is being filmed and then her friend can 'accidentally' fly into the frame? He'd fall in love with Penelope for sure! Tiger is the best wing person!
Trooper saw a dog panting this morning. He learned that that's how they cool down. It's no wonder he was panting because it's been so hot. He wonders how animals who live in really hot climates cool down. Do camels pant too? They do not, asserts Penelope. Camels are super weird in the way they handle heat. They want to conserve water so they won't sweat until they are over 40°. That's really high! Camels will allow their body temperature to rise in order to cope with extreme heat. Anything higher than 37° in humans is considered a fever. Camels are so good at keeping their cool in crazy hot environments, they're the inspiration behind cooling technology that uses insulation rather than electricity to keep temps low:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/desert-camels-inspire-a-new-cooling-technology
StellaBlu has entered a taco eating competition. She's a little concerned. What if she can't eat more than five? What if she gets too full to really compete? Penelope tries to reassure her friend. There's always room for tacos. They're like jello that way.
🎶 I've been on tenterhooks, ending in dirty looks
Listening to the Muzak, thinking 'bout this 'n' that
She said that's that, I don't wanna chitter-chat
Turn it down a little bit or turn it down flat
🎶
Floof is having a lot of thoughts after seeing "The Odyssey". She is a fan of Greek olive oil. It's the Greek gods she can live without. Especially that Zeus dude. He's the god of thunder and lightning but his personality is so lacking that he'd have to dress up as a swan or a bull or an eagle or a cloud or a shower of a gold to get girls. And even then he was so unappealing that he'd end up attacking the ladies. There were times when he'd have to dress up as some ladies' husbands in order to get some play. What a loser!
Scout was so obsessed with FIFA! Even now that it's come and gone, she has her little heart set on becoming a soccer star. Let's get a coach for her and maybe she'll be spotted by a recruiter!
Poodia thinks that there is more than one route to world peace. And one of those routes is good oral hygiene. Think of how peaceful the world could be if only everyone brushed their tongues. No more having to suffer through others' stank breath. The air everywhere would be fresh and clean and minty. It would elevate everyone's moods and make them disinclined to fight.
Pretty is debating where her next trip should be. Should she go to the city? Or should she go to the beach? Why even choose though? Penelope suggests that she go to Sydney or Rio. Make sure to wear your sunscreen!
🎶 Dressed up to the eyes, it's a wonderful surprise
To see your shoes and your spirits rise
🎶
We're back after a long hiatus! We've missed you all so let's get right down to getting down.
Persimmon, our newest tree friend, is opening the doors tonight. She is craving Khatchapuri, Georgian cheese boats. So delicious! Penelope, who can never say no to food, is having some difficulty deciding between staying to dance and leaving to eat.
Kiwi is fretting about the time. Penelope is sorry - she knows that she got the Rave Cave off to a late start today. All the more reason to just dance while they can. Less talking! More booty shaking!
Pickle is confused. She has heard that Easter is a day when bunnies bring eggs. But don't bunnies have fur instead of feathers? How do they lay eggs? Penelope thinks that the bunnies don't bring their own eggs. She hears that they bring chocolate eggs. Pickle goggles. Bunnies lay chocolate eggs?! She wants to join a bunny friend group so she can get a supply of year-round chocolate eggs.
Wobbles went to Ethiopia for a little vacation. She made sure to bring back lots and lots of coffee as gifts for her friends. Penelope is entranced by how delicious her friend's suitcase smells.
🎶 We gonna have us a party
All are welcome too
We ain't down with nobody
That don't party like we do
Once we get it started
We gotta go all night
This is the life o' the party
We gon' do it right
🎶
https://youtu.be/rfLHkK-hOeg?si=aEpDuDPRsTbZX6pO
**'****
Floof came over before bedtime to brainstorm tomorrow's shenanigans. What kind of silliness will these two be cooking up?
​
Nomi has found the perfect dress! It's white - all the colours of light combined. She never has to decide what colour to wear. As long as she's wearing her white dress, she'll be wearing whatever colour and all the colours! She is so thrilled to have all of her wardrobe conundrums solved. Penelope doesn't get it. The dress is so obviously blue.
It's 3am and finally cooling down a bit to about 30°. Good night disco birbs! Thanks for coming 💕
🎶Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it
Snap it, work it, quick – erase it
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it
Load it, check it, quick – rewrite it
🎶
Even though it's a long way off, StellaBlu is counting the days until May 5th. It's Children's Day in Japan! She is looking forward to putting up colourful carp steamers. A big one at the top to represent her dad. Then below that is a slightly smaller one to represent her mum. Then a whole line of little carps to represent her nest mates. It's based on an old story about a determined carp who believed in himself so much that he swam the perilous route upstream to a waterfall. Then through sheer force of will and his own strength, he leapt to the top of the waterfall and transformed into a dragon! There is even a temple in Kyoto that has a stone with a natural formation that looks like the carp as he transforms! The transformation part intrigues Penelope: "He transforms?! Like Toad?"
StellaBlu : "no 😐"
Penelope : "oh 😔"
StellaBlu : "more like Toadette"
Penelope : " ☺️"
Birdly is helping Penelope decide where to travel next when she leaves the Galapagos Islands. He thinks she might enjoy Bhutan. She can attend the Phala Choepa Festival. Its highlight is the dance with boar masks to celebrate the monastery's guardian boar deity. It chases away evil spirits and welcomes good fortune. Penelope thinks that sounds lovely. Boars get a bad rap in most places. The boars must feel so sad and left out. It's nice to see them loved and appreciated.
Waffle is listing naturally occurring pink things. She is currently cataloguing pink animals. She thinks flamingos are so pretty and flamboyant. They get their colour from eating carotenoid rich algae. Then there's Bargibant's Pygmy Seahorse. They live on corals and have evolved to blend in seamlessly with their homes. And there's the Amazon river dolphin which starts off grey but turns pink as an adult. Waffle gazes off thoughtfully into the distance. "You know what else is pink?", she says. "Unicorn barf." Penelope is startled. She was under the impression that unicorns vomited chunky glitter.
Pebble met a skunk this morning. The skunk was charming if a little shy and they've made plans to get together for lemonade and snacks at the skunk's house next week. Pebble is so happy to have made another friend! There's only one teeny tiny problem. Pebble's new friend is sort of.... stinky. "I think it's coming from his butt", whispers Pebble. Penelope nods sympathetically. She's heard this about skunks. They're really sweet but they have a BO problem. Maybe Pebble should bring a host gift when he visits his new friend. Penelope has just the thing. She tells Pebble to come round to her place tomorrow and she'll give him a bar of persimmon soap for his odiferous friend. It has a bunch of natural tannins in it that neutralize odour. It also smells delightful. Pebble is relieved. He wants to be able to breathe when he hangs around with his new buddy.
🎶Don't mess around
You bring me down
How you get about
Don't make a sound
Just move out
🎶
Even though it's the middle of summer, Floof is hungry for apples. They are her favourite! It is one of the first fruits ever cultivated. It first shows up in central Asia and by 4000 BCE apple trees had spread out across Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. Today they seem commonplace but they have a scandalous history! Eris, the goddess of strife, crashed a wedding that she was excluded from and, in a fit of pique, threw the golden Apple of Discord. Her tantrum fueled an argument between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite ultimately culminating in the Trojan war. As his 11th labour, Hercules was tasked with stealing some Apples of the Hesperides. He did steal them but it was all for nought. He had to give them back as they belonged to Hera. What a naughty man and a total time waster! Hippomenes tricked Atlanta into marrying him when he threw apples in her path to distract her from a race (that he was losing! 🤨) so that she lost the bet. What a cheat! Despite their bad influence, Penelope will always have apples in her fruit bowl. An apple a day will never keep Floof away!
Kale is having an art party and Penelope is invited! They will spend the whole day being crafty! Penelope does a mental tally of her pipe cleaners, macaroni, and glitter. Does she have enough water colours and brushes? Kale pauses. Given that Penelope runs around naked a lot, she was kind of hoping that Penelope would be the life model. Penelope thinks for a bit. Could she wear the glitter if she's not going to be using it?
Poodia feels that her life is sorely lacking in dragons. It would be so nice to have a dragon friend. They can fly faster and further than birbs ever could. They bring luck and good fortune to everyone around them. They are so pretty and colourful. And they're mighty handy at a barbecue. Penelope advises her to bang a drum loudly. The sound wakes up dragons and guides them. They like the booming sound and will come towards it. Poodia hopes a nice dragon will find her and want to be her friend.
Birby was out walking in the forest after a rainy morning. There were so many mushrooms! They'd popped up out of nowhere! She's curious about maybe snacking on them but heard that they are fungus. Isn't fungus bad for you? Penelope says that her doctor told her that mushrooms are really good for your heart! They lower cholesterol and have beta-glucans and ergothioneine. They help prevent artery plaque buildup and reduce triglyceride levels. Then she stops the mushroom evangelism. Perhaps Birby should be be cautious about eating any old mushrooms from the forest. Birby considers just going to the store instead.
Morrigan saw a play! It was called Romeo and Juliet. Penelope has heard of it! It's about star crossed lovers. How romantic 💘. Morrigan furrows her brow. She thinks Romeo was a total dweeb. He had a fickle heart and had they both lived, he probably would have fallen in 'love' with some other girl next week. He had one job to do. One job! It was to just sit tight and wait and he was so dumb and unreliable that he couldn't even do that properly. As a result, he was unaware of Juliet's end of the plan. So she ended up dying for nothing! It's maddening. She should've woken up, realized that she'd married an imbecile and then sauntered out of that crypt as a rich widow. Why didn't she?! She doesn't think it's terribly romantic at all. Penelope realizes that Morrigan is correct. Rosaline is the real heroine of the play.
🎶The picture you see
Is no portrait of me
It's too real to be shown
To someone I don't know
🎶
Tiger is starting a band! Establishing the rhythm section is of paramount importance. She is auditioning frogs to ensure some sick beats. Frogs have a sort of internal metronome that allow them to maintain very precise pauses between their croaks. She's actually thinking about hiring two frogs as they can perform "counter - singing" where one frog will croak and the other will croak back during the interval to create a rhythmic harmony. Frogs are so sensitive to rhythms and vibrations that if they live in houses with humans, they will sometimes ribbit along to rhythmic house noises like the dishwasher or the dryer. Penelope hopes that she can book them for the Rave Cave in the future.
Kiwi has heard that time flies when you're having fun. But what does it do if you are flying for fun? Does it move more slowly? Penelope clears her throat. According to Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, time is not fixed. Its passage can be altered by gravity and/or speed. It can move slower for bodies that are travelling at very high velocity. So if Kiwi flies fast enough time will, theoretically, slow down. Kiwi vows to practice her flying. If she can fly fast enough to slow down time, she'll have more of it to play and dance with her friends!
Nutmeg has developed a great love for bowling. She has unearthed some fun facts about her latest hobby! The largest bowling alley in the world is the Inazawa Grand Bowling Centre in Japan. It has 116 lanes! Originally, women were barred from bowling 😠 It wasn't until 1917 that the Women's National Bowling Association was founded so that women could play. Bowling equipment dating all the way back to 3200 BCE was discovered in Egyptian tombs! Penelope wonders if the ancient Egyptians had to wear other people's sandals to play.
Jitterbug has heard that dogs sweat through their noses and their paws. As a birb who doesn't sweat at all, that seems so weird! Penelope mentions that pigs don't sweat either. Jitterbug scratches their head. Then where does the term "sweat like a pig" come from? Penelope suspects that the idiom came from the process of smelting iron. Moisture would form in rivulets on the cooling slabs of iron, known as 'pig iron' way back in the old-timey days.
🎶 Baby let me show you how to do this
You've gotta move this
You're doin' fine
There's nothin' to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this🎶
Vibe is living up to his name. He's put forward a new song for the Rave Cave Playlist. It's a trance-y, house-y, ambient song called "Eagle Sprout" by Toronto-based Kinder Atom. It's just pure vibes for vibing out. Penelope closes her eyes and sways.
https://youtu.be/vIYE9VGbN14?si=7URhMzy0eVdVzBup
Wobbles is trying to, not befriend exactly, get along with the mean yellow cat. She thinks that maybe a gift would be appropriate. She paid a visit to Mr and Ms Beaver to see if they could take a twig that she'd found and turn it into a long, flexible stick. Then she tied a long bit of string to it. Penelope sees where she is going with this. She offers up a few of her loose tail feathers. Voila! Cat toy! Hopefully this will make the mean yellow cat a little less mean.
Bubby is relandscaping her garden. She would like to add a water feature like a fountain so she could take baths al fresco. Penelope can't help but think that this Al Fresco dude sounds kind of boring. A beautiful fountain and all it spouts is plain water?! She tries to convince Bubby to have a fountain that sprays bananas. Bananas are so much nicer than water! You could probably bathe in them if you try hard enough. Mmmmm, bananas....
Scout is really getting used to the idea of becoming an immunologist. Her latest class was about DRESS (Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms). It is an allergic reaction caused by many different medications. Eosinophils are blood cells associated with allergic diseases. High levels of eosinophils can cause rashes, fever, swelling and even organ failure. Any drug can cause DRESS but the most common are antibiotics and seizure meds. Penelope is so impressed with her very brainy friend ☺️
Merida is trying but she just cannot bring herself to like cucumbers. Penelope doesn't want her friend to do anything she doesn't want to do. A dislike of cucumbers is often genetic and can't be helped. Some people have a variation of the TAS2R38 gene, making them very sensitive to bitter things like cucurbitacins. Some people are averse to cucumbers because they think that cucumbers smell rotten or fishy. Sometimes it really is genetic predisposition! So eat what you like and don't force yourself to eat things you don't. That's just bad for you.
🎶Instead of carving up the wall
Why don't you open up with talk?
We are ready, we are ready for the floor
🎶
​
We're off to a late start today as the heat here is unbearable. It's been in the 40's for the past few days. Penelope's human has been spending the day sitting in a cool bath, eating pizza. Old house + radiators = no central air 🥵. Penelope is melting in the heat.
Mizuki was practically busting the door down - someone's eager to shake her tail feathers in the cooling venue of a cave! She's been listening to Vivaldi's The Four Seasons - Summer. The adagio is still and stifling, mimicking the oppressive heat of a summer day like today. Then, a burst of high pitched, violin trills represent a violent swarm of mosquitoes and buzzing flies! The third movement erupts in a persistent frenzy of hungry biters that transitions into an angry summer cloudburst. Penelope feels itchy just hearing about it.
Potato is learning about some of their cousins. It saddens them to know that Dodos could not fly. Penelope suggests that they travel to Mauritius and teach the dodos what they know. Even though neither of them are great fliers themselves, perhaps they should team up and share their knowledge. Potato demonstrates their skills. They're coming along nicely. Penelope understands that it's been a minute since anyone has met a dodo, but she thinks that with enough gentleness and ice cream, they can coax the dodos out of hiding.
Pretty has just found out about jobs! A very officious duck was telling her about "climbing the corporate ladder". Is there a slide at the top? Is there a tree house at the top? Penelope hopes that there is a loft at the top and then you can jump down and land in a pile of hay. They both wonder what kind of ladder is "corporate". Maybe the duck meant cooperate? One birb holds the ladder while the other one climbs? That would make total sense! They make plans to climb the cooperate ladder tomorrow.
Dove can't imagine how dinosaurs play badminton. Their arms are so short! Penelope guesses that they hold the racquets in their mouths.
Noodle is warning everyone - the pigs are angry. Many years years back, there was some kind of birb vs pig war. Really mean birbs were stuffing pigs into slingshots and launching them at buildings. The destruction was appalling. The pigs ended up with a lot of injuries and trauma. Now the descendants of those pigs are out for revenge! Penelope tries to calm her friend. They are safe inside the Rave Cave. It is a well known fact that pigs cannot abide disco.
🎶 Moving on the floor now, babe, you're a bird of paradise
Cherry ice cream smile, I suppose it's very nice🎶
I hope everyone is having a great day today! Stay safe and enjoy the bank holiday!
And if you are in southern Ontario, it's a scorcher with humidex values expected to rise to 43° 🥵 The holiday makes it harder to keep cool what with places like libraries being closed. If you're in Toronto, the ROM is not only open, but there's free admission today. The AGO is open too. Stay hydrated!
Poodia shows Penelope a newspaper clipping. Penelope is astonished. Who reads physical newspapers anymore?! But then she reads it and her beak drops open. There has been a rash of runaway merry-go-round horses! Carousels everywhere are emptying as their brightly coloured, bedecked horses are breaking free and leaping away on their striped poles. Poodia claps her wings together in excitement. Be free, beautifully painted ponies! Go live your lavishly adorned lives in whatever direction you want!
Trooper is selling tickets to his watermelon eating competition. He is chomping for charity! Funds go towards purchasing bells for feral cats and subsidising classes to defend one's pantry against greedy bears. Penelope will take ten!
🎶 Darlin’
Don’t got to worry you’re locked in tight
Darlin’
Now don’t you worry turn out the lights
🎶
Mizuki and Penelope are examining shapes. Penelope notes that a curved shape is very relaxing as it reminds her of hills and winding streams and nature. She wonders if magnets are curved to make them prettier and more pleasing to hold. Mizuki thinks for a minute. "A magnet's shape is actually practical. It bends the north and south poles so that the distance between them decreases, thus increasing, strengthening, and focussing the magnetic fields. However, the bent shape does make it comfortable to hold." Penelope nods sagely, "That would explain why bananas are curved too. It concentrates and focusses the banana flavour. It's why they're so good and why they can make anything and everything taste like banana." Mizuki smiles at her food obsessed friend. "Well the sun plays a big part in that too. It's called negative geotropism. They start by growing pointing down on the bunch. Then when the sun shines on the outer side of the fruit, it starts to bend itself towards the light, making the inner side grow slower and become shorter. So the banana grows curved outwards." " And then", cheeps Penelope, "the two ends focus and concentrate the banana flavour!"
Noodle has read that salmon need to go back to their home town to get married and have children. But many of them live in vast oceans when they were born in small streams. How do they find their way home again? Penelope says that, like birbs, they use the earths magnetic field to find the river that they came from. Then, unlike birbs, they use smell to pinpoint their old home stream. Noodle wonders what they are smelling. She's has heard that fish don't smell nice but if they all smell like fish, how would they tell the difference?
Pretty is sharing a funny memory with Penelope. She was giving a presentation to a group of Very Serious and Impressive Birbs. It was quite nerve wracking. Then she noticed that one of the VSaIB was wearing jeans! And his fly was down! 😂 She didn't feel quite so intimidated after that and the rest of her presentation went off without a hitch.
Nutmeg is totally freaked out by owls. Not only do many of them belong to the Society of Very Serious and Impressive Birbs, they can turn their heads nearly all the way around ! Like, more than a 180°! That's creepy 😱 Plus they don't make any noise when they fly. You'll never hear them coming. Plus plus, the way they stare at you is just plain unacceptable. Like, gawk much?! Penelope has never met an owl and now she's pretty certain that she doesn't want to.
Birby is examining a world map. He asks Penelope if she's ever heard of this thing called "the world wide web". Apparently it stretches out to cover everything everywhere but Birby has never seen it. He's afraid of getting caught in it. Penelope thinks it's something like the 'interwebs'. It's invisible and it's not for catching birbs. It's for catching information. Then you can look at the web and get whatever information you need. She just used it to find out about high altitude pickling. Birby is relieved to know that he won't be trapped in the world wide web. But he's still peering at the sky to see if he he can spy it.
🎶 Ooh (Ooh), fallin' free, fallin' free, fallin' free, fallin' free
Fallin' free
Ooh (Ooh), you and me, you and me, you and me, you and me
You and me
🎶
Wobbles was hanging around with some horses and made a startling discovery! Horses don't like to live alone. They will often have cats or goats as roommates. They're called barn buddies and they help a horse feel less anxious. Penelope is delighted. How nice of the cats and goats to provide mental health care for their horse friends!
Scout attended a karaoke party. It was for a rhinoceros' birthday. The rhino in question was so big and fierce looking. Scout thought he was going to sing something like "Raise Your Horns" by Amon Amarth. But he surprised her with his sensitive rendition of Tom Petty's "Rhino Skin". It was a very pleasant reminder about books and their covers 😊
Kale was offered a sip of wine at a fancy gathering. Ick! He did not like it at all! Is it wrong to expect something that was allegedly made of grape juice to taste sweet? So someone, looking down his nose at him, said that perhaps some sparkling cold duck would suit his palate more? So Kale took a little sip of that instead. Delicious! And so, like any fan of the '70s, Kale took his bottle of sparkling cold duck to the disco to share with his groovy friends.
Bert Bert has a dilemma. Like all birbs, she loves fruit. And grapes are one of her favourites! They are so sweet and juicy! They come in convenient portions! They are cheap and plentiful! But they are very sugary and have enough acidity that they can erode tooth enamel. But also, they have polyphenol compounds that can fight oral bacteria that lead to plaque buildup. Penelope just stares at her. Birbs don't have teeth. Bert Bert pats her beak in confusion. So what exactly are teeth and why doesn't she have them?
Pickle picks up a seashell and puts it to her ear. She's been told that you can hear the entire ocean in a single shell. She is surprised to hear a voice hollering at her to put him down. Penelope tries to listen too. She can't hear much beyond a lot of naughty words. Pickle drops the shell in horror. Who knew molluscs were so foul mouthed?
🎶The last days of the sunset superstars
Girls in cages playin' their guitars
But how can I leave?
I just follow the hood of my car, oh, ah-ah
🎶