I just noticed that I never published this post from the beginning of the month!

1. Let’s start with something I learned a while back and forgot to post. I found out the difference in flavour between cassia cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon. Both come from the bark of the Cinnamon genus, but cassia has the intense flavour that I’m used to. When I bought Ceylon cinnamon for the first time I discovered that it smells like a craft store or a Christmas wreath (or cinnamon leaf essential oil)! Now I have two kinds of cinnamon on hand and I’m feeling pretty fancy (truth be told, most of us prefer the cheaper, more familiar cassia).

2. You should cut dahlias when they are open as much as you like because, unlike most flowers, they do not open any more once you bring them inside.

3. For the first time we brought a woolly bear caterpillar inside and it made a cocoon (it got misplaced somehow but the kids found another one… I’ll try to remember to report back if we see a moth emerge).

4. “Childlore” is the term for the jokes, superstitions, games, and stories passed from child to child across the generations.

5. Sturgeon’s Law states that 90% of all created content is low quality.

6. Uranium oxide has been used in ceramic glazes for centuries, making tiles of many different colours. Although uranium is radioactive, the tiles are not considered dangerous.

7. The majority of nail salons in the United States are owned by Vietnamese Americans because in the 1970s a Hollywood actress was running a program for twenty women refugees from the Vietnam War when she decided to teach them how to do manicures and connect them to jobs at salons in Southern California. The rest is history.

8. Elisha Kent Kane was a U.S. Navy medical officer born in Philadelphia who led an arctic expedition to find out what happened to Sir John Franklin. He was immensely well-known during his lifetime (1820-1857) but is little heard of now.

9. Fraktur is a type of folk art created by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 18th and 19th centuries. (Example from the Philadelphia Free Library Rare Book Department)

What did you learn in May?