Laundromats & Campgrounds

Hi Puzzlers,

Evening Rendezvous Puzzle item #



Yesterday I had to do laundry at the Laundromat! My beloved 10 year old washer refused to spin my clothes and left them soaking in a ton of water. It seems to me that many of today’s products are being built intentionally not to last. The first washing machine I ever bought was a used 20 year old machine and it worked great for several years. I replaced it because it looked dated, not because it broke down. For all I know it’s still working! Thankfully White Mountain Puzzles continually strives to improve the quality of our puzzles. Ok enough of the rant and rave where was I? Oh yes, the Laundromat. Glen Ellis Campground has a wonderful state-of-the-art Laundromat where you preload a card with a dollar amount and then swipe it through the washers and dryers to activate them, eliminating the need for change. It’s very cool! Doing laundry at the campground brought back a plethora of camping memories.

During the 80’s I camped every weekend with my friends in the summer. Rain or shine it didn’t matter. The ten of us were like a well oiled machine, packing and preparing for our trips within an hour. We had a special spot we would go to that we nick-named the Ponderosa. We got to it by wading waist deep through the river while toting our gear in a canoe or by holding it above our heads. Within a half hour all the tents were assembled, the fire had been lit, extra wood was neatly piled nearby and the kitchen area was up and running. Next, as was custom, we all dove off the riverbank into the freezing water below. Once we started to turn blue we would come out and warm ourselves by the fire and have a beverage. It was so relaxing to just sit there and talk. No cell phones, iPods or any electronics to disturb us, just the sound of the river gushing by and the radio playing softly in the background. During the day we would take hikes and explore the surrounding wilderness, never venturing back into civilization until we had to. These weekend trips relaxed our minds, invigorated our souls and connected us to nature. I believe many people have these same feelings and that is why camping is so popular.

Records indicate the first “organized” American camp was the Gunnery Camp located in Washington, Connecticut. It was founded by Frederick W. Gunn and his wife Abigail. The Gunns who operated a home school for boys decided in 1861 to take the entire school on a two-week trip. I n order to reach the camp site the boys had to hike in and then set up camp. The students spent their time fishing, boating and trapping. This tradition continued for twelve years.

In 1874 the first girl’s camp was founded in Philadelphia by the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association). It was a summer boarding and vacation house geared towards "tired young women wearing out their lives in an almost endless drudgery for wages that admit no thought of rest or recreation."

By the 1920’s most American’s lives had changed considerably. Homes had electricity and indoor plumbing, and our connection to the great outdoors had diminished with the Industrial Revolution. The invention of the automobile coupled with the establishment of national parks and America’s desire to get away from its industrial life sparked a new interest in recreational camping.

Today campgrounds and RV resorts can be found throughout the United States, and in other countries throughout the world. To me, camping will always help mankind find its way back to nature and the great outdoors. It gives people memories that will last a lifetime.

Happy Puzzling!

Time Square Jigsaw Puzzle

Hi Puzzlers,



Time Square Jigsaw Pauzzle Item #922



Today my thoughts turn toward big cities. You know the ones that all you have to do is say the name and people from around the country and across the globe know where you are talking about. If the city of Tokyo gets mentioned, everyone knows it is in Japan. How about Milan? You guessed it, Italy. If something happens in Boston and it makes the news and we all know that city is in Massachusetts. How about Chicago? Bingo! It is Illinois. But alas, not all cities have this distinction. Take for example the lovely city of Concord. Some folks who live in New England may have correctly guessed I was referring to New Hampshire’s capital city, but for those of you living in other parts of the country the name Concord would have held little significance. New York City on the other hand is quickly recognizable, but what makes it unusual is, it’s a double header. Not only does its name make it instantly recognizable but it has an inner layer that also serves to make it a distinction within itself and that is Time Square.

Time Square is located in central Manhattan at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. It is a vast intermingling of commerce, art and life; shared by locals and tourist, performers and spectators. Time Square is home to the American news and the modern American culture. Behind each building and down every street is vast rich history showcasing America at its best and at its worst.

In the beginning the Square was called Longacre Square. It was originally built and developed with a few brownstones for a new “uptown” neighborhood. Once the area was developed people flocked to it in droves, bringing with them pickpockets, streetwalkers and brothels. It wouldn’t be long before the Square was known as a red-light district.

Oscar Hammerstein I, motivated by a desire to rekindle an interest in Opera, moved into the Square in1895 and developed a large entertainment complex called the Olympia. The complex featured three theaters and consumed a full block on 42nd Street. Other theaters, along with the vaudeville circuit quickly followed and the area became known as the Great White Way, based on the famous lights of Broadway.

In 1904, Albert Ochs, owner of The New York Times, decides to move the newspaper headquarters to a newly built sky scraper in Longacre Square. To celebrate the move and the cities approval to rename the Square; Ochs decides to host a New Year's Eve celebration. Albert wants the celebration to be the grandest of any ever seen and spares no expense. The celebration began with an all- day festival followed by a gigantic fireworks display set off at midnight to a cheering crowd of 200,000 people. Reports state that noise from the rattles, cheering and noisemaker could be heard as far as thirty miles away!

In 1907 the city restricts the fireworks display which forces Albert into designing another grand finale for his annual New Year’s Eve celebration. Ochs decides to have an illuminated seven-hundred-pound iron and wood ball lowered from the tower flagpole at midnight to usher in the New Year. Since its inception in 1907 the ball drop ceremony has become a televised, worldwide-celebration that attracts millions of people from around the globe. Now that’s what I call a double header!

Happy Puzzling!



Best Sellers Jigsaw Puzzle

  
Hi Puzzlers,

 

Best Sellers Jigsaw Puzzle Item #930



Don’t you just love all of our new puzzles? It seems like each day a new one gets shipped to our warehouse. I like variety and White Mountain Puzzles definitely strives to give its puzzlers a wide range of puzzling choices. My need for variety, like many of you, stretches across the board and into the realm of a good book. So just imagine how delighted I was when Charles Girard designed a new puzzle titled Best Sellers. I was drawn to it like a moth to flames. This new puzzle incorporates my love of puzzles and books. Check out all the titles on the puzzle, I have read most of these bestsellers. Look out White Birch Books and BAM! I’m coming down to buy one of the new bestsellers. But now I’m plagued with the question, “What makes a bestseller, a bestseller?”

In 1895, a monthly magazine called The Bookman published the first American bestseller list. This list was based on book sales. Next, in 1912 the list was published by Publishers Weekly. Publisher Weekly has since become our country’s oldest continuously published Bestseller List. The New York Times began its list in 1942 and since then, most major publications, including USAToday, publish their own variation of a Bestseller List. But, The New York Times continues to claim the top spot for the most popular list.

 The Bookman’s first list contained only works of fiction. Publishers Weekly expanded its list to include works of fiction and non-fiction. The New York Times published its list with the top 15 fiction books and the top 15 non-fiction books.

The Times model of 30 bestsellers continued for more than 40 years. By 1984, the self-help books era was in full swing and extremely popular. Its presence in the publishing industry necessitated a need for a third section. The new section would include the top 15 Advice/How-To books. In 2000, the wildly popular Harry Potter series began to consistently dominate the fiction lists top spots. Publishers worried that these top spots could be held for years by this successful series. The Times acknowledged the publisher’s concern by adding Children’s Books as a fourth section to the list. This addition brings the total for the weekly bestseller list to include 60 books. New sections are continually being added to the list, further solidifying our cultures need for variety.

Today we still use best in sales to rate bestsellers, but how the information is gathered is different from publisher to publisher and the accuracy of the numbers can be subject to errors and exaggerations. Then the issue is further compounded when books go into new editions with a different publisher. One must also take into consideration that some of the bestselling books of all times have made the list due to mandatory purchasing and extensive gift-giving. The historic top three bestsellers fall into this latter point: The Bible, 6.7 billion copies: Quotations from Chairman Mao, Mao Tse-Tung, 900 million copies: The Qur’an, 800 million copies.

Bestsellers capture the imagination and touch the hearts of the reader. Just like a good jigsaw puzzle they can be “Nostalgic”....“Fresh and fascinating”... and “Impossible to put down”.

Happy Puzzling!