I had a little NPR-moment today. During Writer's Almanac Garrison Keillor informed me that Benjamin Franklin invented, among other things, the swim fin!
Now, I don't know about you, but I think of Ol' Ben Franklin as a serious guy. I use his bifocals every day (much to my dismay), and am very grateful to him for his part in bringing electricity into my home and my computer. But picturing Ben swimming had me chuckling all the way to the grocery store.
I did look this up, (Inquiring Mind) and found out that Franklin's swim fins were shaped like lily pads, and were worn on the hands. I wonder why not feet? Who thought up the frog feet kind?
So: happy birthday Ben! And thanks for the fins.
Today's gratitude list:
1. Bifocals (hate that I need 'em, glad to have 'em)
2. Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac," which I almost always catch by accident. I don't read nearly enough poetry, but Garrison reads to me while I drive, and I love the poems he picks.
3. NPR. Oh yes, indeed. Where would we be without it?
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2 comments:
My 82 year old mom and her boyfriend enjoy the Writer's Almanac every day. I printed out a whole year's worth of poems from it before I went to Ecuador to volunteer in an orphanage so I wouldn't suffer withdrawal. I am grateful to Garrison for making poetry a daily habit and to Ben for the bifocals and the following generations of optical experts who perfected progressive lenses!
Thanks, Dona. Someone, somewhere, called Writer's Almanac Garrison's "labor of love" and it always feels like that to me when I hear him reading.
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