Mom was right ... there is a better way to teach history than what usually happens in schools! She would have enjoyed this book, I'm sure: Dinner with the President: Food, Politics and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House, by Alex Prud'Homme. It covers most of the presidents from Washington to Biden and was an excellent read! It was Washington who requested the title "Mr. President" as he didn't want anything royal in the title for the leader of the new country. At the time of the first dinner with him, many folks were frontier folks and did not know how to use utensils and ate with their fingers, others, wanting to break from any fancy British etiquette were inclined to change how they used utensils,or even ignore them. The Hoovers both spoke Mandarin and would do so in public if they wanted to keep their conversation private. FDR fed hot dogs to the King of England, on paper plates! King George had never seen them and had to be instructed on how to eat them. He loved them, had several. With beer! (FDR had the kitchen prepare something more formal, too, in case the hot dogs didn't go over well). Some presidents liked to cook, or their wives did, others were less involved. Some had elegant dinners, others more casual. Some treated the staff well, some dismissed or ignored them. On 9/11, when the area was cleared of all visitors and tourists and there was a heavy presence of military and security, the kitchen staff got busy preparing meals (did this on their own, they weren't asked) and in a 24 hour period of time served over 800 meals. Just a fascinating read.

If you like history, ancient history, and have a fondness for the UK, then you should enjoy Secret Britain: Unearthing Our Mysterious Past, by Mary-Ann Ochota. Evidence of towns, burial sites, hoards of gold, and other objects as well as human and animal remains are explored and explained, all with good pictures! They are unsolved mysteries, many of them: we know the where (obviously), the what (mostly) an item is and/or what it is made of, better methods of dating give the when, experience can tell the how it was made and sometimes even the who determined ... what is missing a lot of the time is the why, and that is often a question in the narrative. A thought provoking read. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog