Today I’m following Emily P. Freeman’s lead to share the things I’ve learned lately. (By the way, two years ago I wrote about my favourite passages from Emily’s book A Million Little Ways in three blog posts; here’s part one, if you’re interested.) Now on to what I learned in November.

1. “Saguaro” is pronounced  “suh-wah-roe.” (I have a feeling I should have known that already, but better late then never.)

2. E.B. White’s full name was Elwyn Brooks White, but he went by the nickname En until he went to Cornell University. He was thereafter called Andy after Cornell’s first president, Andrew White.

3. Artist Marc Chagall was born Moishe Segal; author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats was born Jacob Ezra Katz; authors/illustrators H.A. and Margret Rey were born Hans Reyersbach and Margarete Waldstein. All were Jews who changed their names.

4. Madame Tussaud made plaster casts of people’s faces after they were beheaded by the guillotine (including Louise XVI and Marie Antoinette).

5. Until the kilogram was redefined on November 16, 2018, it’s mass was defined by a man-made metal artefact (a platinum-iridium cylinder kept in a vault near Paris).

6. Boxes of DavidsTea are sold in Zehrs in Owen Sound. I think I’ll still be stocking up when I’m in London or Ottawa because I like to refill my tins rather than buying sachets, but it was neat to see DavidsTea for sale at a different store for the first time.

7. When bubble wrap was invented it was marketed as wall paper. (?!)

(Bonus: watch this 3-minute video about replicas of famous paintings made with bubble wrap — so cool.)

What did you learn in November?