Last evening I went outside, and floating through the air came the deep, luscious scent of honeysuckle. Hall’s honeysuckle was planted deliberately by gardeners years ago. Then, in Virginia at least, it went wild, taking over large sections of fence and killing many shrubs. A few years back I spent whole afternoons trying to dig its deep-down roots out of my shrubs. But tonight the scent was heavenly as it wafted from the woodland back of our yard, where it does what it pleases.

     Honeysuckle wasn’t the only heavenly scent. I grow just one peony, one my mother had. I believe its name is Mrs. Harvey Nichols. It has a many-petaled creamy white bloom with pale pink center, and its scent is that of roses and cream. A wonderful experience. It, and, I suppose, honeysuckle, are among the few things the deer won’t eat.

     Last summer, when I was in Montana, I visited my childhood home and found the row of peonies my mother planted in the late 1930s. They have outlived her and, if left alone, will outlive me and the people who now own the house, bringing undemanding beauty year after year. If you’d like to grow peonies yourself, the time to plant is September or October. Later this summer I’ll give you some addresses of nurseries that have them, once they bring out their new lists.

     This issue has several travel related items at the end, as I figure June 1 is about the last date I can logically help people plan for a summer vacation.

     But first, some astonishing websites. The first two are one kind of astonishing and the third is a different kind of astonishing.

     Janette

----Table of Contents----

1. It’s All Done With Chalk?
2. Another Kind of Astonishing
3. Voices From The Past
4. A Tribute To Your Father Or Grandfather
5. Father’s Day Crafts For Kids
6. Congratulations From The White House
7. The Mysterious Not-Doings of Copykat.com
8. My Apology To The Squirrels
9. It’s Not Too Late To Learn French
10. Are We There Yet?
11. Calculating Fuel Costs For Your Vacation
12. Tanks A Lot
13. Outlet Stores

1. IT’S ALL DONE WITH CHALK?

     Just keep scrolling down the website for some astonishment. Hard to believe, isn’t it?

http://gprime.net/images/sidewalkchalkguy/

     And here he is again!

http://www.enkidu.cx/stumble/beever/

2. ANOTHER KIND OF ASTONISHING

     I’ve seen many astonishing things on the Internet, but nothing like PROSPER.COM. Banks are no longer interested in loaning you, say, $5,000, to consolidate your debts. We’ve gotten used to consolidating our debts with credit cards, generally at high rates of interest. Or with rates of interest that begin low, then suddenly go UP-UP-UP. Some unfortunate people turn to loan companies and loan sharks that charge even more. Prosper.com helps ordinary people help other ordinary people pay their debts, at a reasonable rate of interest.

     To look over the site itself, click on

http://prosper.com/

     Since Prosper.com is so innovative, I’ve also checked out the site my favorite way: I put about Prosper.com into the Google search box. The first item that came up was a link to Prosper.com itself. After that came different views about it. If you get interested in the site, as either borrower or lender, I’d suggest you do the same. A lot of people have spent a lot of time checking into the financial aspects of this site, and you’ll find interesting articles. Finance-Weblog.com did a pair of articles on it. If you read the first, “Why Prosper.com Will Fail,” you’ll see at the end that it’s followed by a second, “Why Prosper.com Will Succeed.” Here are the articles:

http://www.finance-weblog.com/50226711/why_prospercom_will_fail.php

http://www.finance-weblog.com/50226711/counterpoint_why_prospercom_will_succeed.php

     They were written a year ago, and the second one turned out to be right. It has succeeded! So do visit this fascinating site for yourself, then read some of the financial analyses on Google. What do you think?

3. VOICES FROM THE PAST

     THE HISTORICAL PAST: Would you like to listen to John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis? Or one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside chats? HISTORY AND POLITICS OUT LOUD has these voices, and more.

http://www.hpol.org/

     THE RADIO PAST: Remember Amos ‘n Andy? Arthur Godfrey And His Talent Scouts? Tennessee Ernie Ford? These websites allow you to listen to many of the old radio shows. For free. And without static. I grew up with radio, in the Rocky Mountains, and, just when one of the radio comedians would hit the punch line . . . LOUD STATIC. “What did he say?” we’d ask one another frantically. But no one knew. And then the commercial would come on, clear as a bell, and bitterness entered our bosoms.

     Well, the bitterness is gone, and people collect these shows now, as you’ll see if you get into it. I’m listing, first, two free sources of shows mostly from the forties and fifties. Then one where people can buy, sell, and trade shows from the sixties, seventies, and eighties.

http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/

http://www.radiolovers.com/

http://www.oldradioshows.com/

4. A TRIBUTE TO YOUR FATHER OR GRANDFATHER

     This is your chance to tell a beloved man how much you appreciate him. Or it’s your chance to tell the rest of us about a beloved man no longer on this earth. Your tribute to your father or grandfather can be humorous or serious, prose or poetry, but please keep the length to 1,200 words or less. It can be sent to me – before June 12 – as an attachment to an e-mail, or you can simply make it part of an e-mail. I’ll post it in a special section on my Nostalgia page, at

http://foodandfiction.com/Nostalgia/index.html

5. FATHER’S DAY CRAFTS FOR KIDS

     You can turn the kids loose in here: it’s full of great ideas for Father’s Day gifts and cards, and it’ll keep them busy too. And then, if you scroll down the page, you’ll find “Father’s Day Gifts for Traveling Dads,” which gives ideas for gifts from teens and grownups.

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/fathersdaycrafts/a/fathersdaymn.htm

6. CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

     The White House will send greetings signed by the president to U.S. citizens who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and beyond and their 80th birthday and beyond. (This has been true for many years, since the time hitting 80 was a great accomplishment, but most people don’t know about it.) Requests should include the name, title (Mrs. Dr., etc.) and address of the honorees, name and daytime phone number of the person making the request, month, day, and year of the special occasion, age of recipient (for birthdays), how long the couple has been married (for anniversaries). Mail requests at least six weeks before the event. Mail to:

White House
Attention: Greetings Office
Washington, D.C. 20502

     Or fax your request to the White House Greetings Office at 202-395-1232, or send your request online through

www.whitehouse.gov/greeting

     Click the second “Guidelines” under “Invitations and Greetings.”

7. THE MYSTERIOUS NOT-DOINGS OF COPYKAT.COM

     COPYKAT.COM says “You have tried it in the restaurant, now make it at home and we will show you how.” Okay. Fine. But where are the restaurant recipes? Netscape says Copykat “offers a daily copy cat recipe of a famous food,” and I remember the days when it did just that, but Copykat.com no longer lists restaurant recipes. It has turned itself into an ordinary recipe site where people can submit their recipes and find those of others. The only “copycat” feature I see is under “Copykat Chat,” where members of their forum request restaurant recipes of fellow viewers. Did a restaurant or restaurants bring a lawsuit because Copykat gave out their recipes? I don’t see evidence of it when I google “about Copykat.com.” Perhaps a restaurant quietly threatened to sue if they didn’t stop what they were doing, and they quietly stopped. What happened is still a mystery you can view for yourself at

http://www.copykat.com/

     So we move on to COPYCAT.CDKITCHEN.COM, where they don’t boast of a new restaurant recipe every day, but they do have “copycat” versions of hundreds of restaurant recipes. If you want the recipe for 21 Club’s rice pudding, it’s right here, along with wads of other beloved restaurant recipes. You might want to hurriedly copy off a few. Who knows when the site will be threatened with a lawsuit and disappear?

http://copycat.cdkitchen.com/

8. MY APOLOGY TO THE SQUIRRELS

     Last issue, I wrote about someone who hates squirrels. It’s only fair that I give the squirrels equal time. I think you’ll enjoy this one, no matter what you think of squirrels. And, while you’re on the site, do click on “Vivaldi Playing ‘Cat Scratch Fever’” in the upper righthand corner. You’ll love it!

http://www.animalliberationfront.com/News/AnimalPhotos/Animals_31-40/Squirrel-dog.htm

9. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO LEARN FRENCH

if you’re going to France for your summer vacation. Okay, it’s too late to learn to read Madame Bovary in the original French, but not too late to learn how to talk your way through a number of tourist situations in French. Or German, or Italian, or Greek. The excellent BBC site listed below will teach you how to maneuver through tourist encounters in many different languages. You’ll learn the language you choose, in easy steps, by listening to a native speaker.

     And the price is right. Like so many good things on the Internet, these lessons are free.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

10. ARE WE THERE YET?

     MOM’S MINIVAN has 101 car games, a scavenger hunt, and travel fun with aluminum foil, from someone who’s been through it all.

http://www.momsminivan.com/

11. CALCULATING FUEL COSTS FOR YOUR VACATION

     If you’re traveling in the U.S., this AAA site helps you figure the approximate cost of gasoline for your vacation trip.

http://www.fuelcostcalculator.com/

12. TANKS A LOT

     More than 200 inns and bed and breakfasts are giving out gas cards, car washes, and more if you book with them this summer. Find out if you’re eligible for the Tanks A Lot program by clicking on Free Gas (under B&B Specials) at

http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/

13. OUTLET STORES

     I listed OUTLET BOUND last year, and it still seems the best site for locating outlet malls near you or near where you’re traveling.

http://outletbound.com/

     I looked for a website that lists for both U.S. and Canada, seemingly a simple matter, but the nearest I could come was EZILION, which seems to be more of a shopping site than an outlet locator, but may fill a need for Canadians.

http://search.ezilon.com/

MISSED SOME ISSUES?

     Have I got a solution for you! Now that we are using a frame for each issue, you can just look over to your left and find all the back issues nicely set out. Simply click on the ones you missed. That means too that if your e-mail service provider gets sticky and decides that Tour the Sites is spam (it is NOT spam), you can foil it and find the newsletter at this address.

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WARNING!

     If your e-mail box sometimes gets full, you are in danger of falling off the subscription list of Tour the Sites. Not because I want to lose you, but because, if your box is full when I send out a newsletter, you are automatically kicked off the list. I don't like that policy, but I don't have any say. If you change your e-mail address or get a new kind of spam filter, you may also fall off. So do keep an eye on your newsletters, which should arrive around the first and fifteenth of each month. If you haven't gotten one for a month, let me know and I'll be happy to put you back on the mailing list. Because I'd really hate to lose you.

Janette
Newsletter@tourthesites.com

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© Copyright 2007 Janette G. Blackwell. All rights reserved. You may copy and use portions of this newsletter for noncommercial, personal use only. You may forward a copy to someone else as long as the copyright notice is included. Any other use of the materials in this newsletter without prior written permission is prohibited.