5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

14,000 Things To Be Happy About• a wood-burning stove
• fresh starts
• a ribbon-cutting ceremony
• kneading bread dough
• funky mailboxes


Feeding Our Feathered Friends
image

Freezing temperatures, chill winds, snow cover, and lack of natural food make winter the most obvious time to keep bird feeders full. Nights are long and temperatures plummet. A study of chickadees found that they could put on as much as 7.5 percent of their body weight during the day, only to burn it off by the following morning. Birds will be most active in their search for food first thing in the morning and again just before nightfall. Make sure feeders, water, and grit are accessible at these high-demand times.

imageFreezing weather places a tremendous energy demand on a wild bird's system. Because of this, high-fat/high-protein/high-energy foods are more important in the winter than any other time of year. They are referred to as 「heating foods.」 Nuts are one example, and suet—the hard, white beef fat found behind the kidneys—is a favorite winter offering. It is gratefully accepted by a wide variety of species.



Bessie: Last night I forgot to call my parents until it was way past my curfew.

Jessie: Were they furious with you?

Bessie: At first, but I told them something that made them stop yelling at me for being late.

Jessie: What did you say?

Bessie: 「Don't pay the ransom, I've escaped!」


Fiction
Classics

ON MAUGHAM

「The modern writer who has influenced me the most.」—George Orwell

「One of my favorite writers.」—Gabriel Garcia Marquez

「A writer of great dedication.」—Graham Greene

Maugham's novel follows the obsessions of an English banker who runs off to Tahiti to live as an artist, leaving the lives of those closest to him in ruins. Based on the biography of painter Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is a master's rumination on the destructive nature of genius. If you've never read Maugham, now's the time.

THE MOON AND SIXPENCE, by W. Somerset Maugham (1919; Penguin, 1993)



The Original SUDOKU Calendar
SUDOKU!
Easy Medium PuzzleTime: _______



EXERCISE

This year, every month will feature a suggestion about small ways we can get more exercise.

For January, we can take the stairs whenever possible.



vapor
v 1a: to rise or pass off in vapor b: to emit vapor *2: to indulge in bragging, blustering, or idle talk
*Team members had vapored all week about how they would demolish their opponents, but come crunch time, they failed to produce.


DID YOU KNOW?

Speakers of the English language, mindful of the lightness and unsubstantiality of floating air and gas, have put several airy words to good use over the years to describe the act of talking idly or boastfully. The earliest such word is 「blow」 (as in 「he kept blowing about his new job」), which drifted into English sometime about 1400. 「Vapor」 wafted into the language in 1628, and a little over 200 years later 「windbags,」 later also known as 「gasbags,」 not only blew and vapored but also 「gassed」 about anything they could.




imageGOLD PIECESdifficulty
Place the gold piece on one of the squares of the treasure map at right so every number measures the shortest distance from that square to the gold piece, measured in horizontal plus vertical steps.
imageAt left is a sample solved puzzle. Notice how the numbers show the shortest distances to the gold piece.


Hint: The piece is in row D.


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