Wood Dale, Wood-Dale, Wood-dale, or Wooddale?

Our Union County Heritage: A Historical and Biographical Album of Union County—People, Places, Events by Kathleen George Graves and Winnie Palmer McDonald (© 1978 Josten’s) relates the following information pertaining to the establishment for Wood Dale School:

WOOD DALE—June 16, 1898, (P-350). Jackson Boruff and wife to the School Directors of District 3, for love and affection, a lot for a public school, so long as it is used for a school—if abandoned, it falls back to the Boruff heirs. (p. 180)

The Whistler

My father was a whistler. You seldom hear a man whistle these days. Maybe to call a dog or to get someone's attention, but not to whistle a melody. There was a time when cell phones, CDs and DVDs were not available. Whistling was a way to amuse or comfort yourself with a familiar song or hymn.

How do you whistle? It takes some practice and can be either harsh or harmonious. Just put your lips together and say “two.” Now blow. It will take some practice but eventually you will get it right. It will take a while to make enough variety of sounds to whistle a tune.

More on Kids With Back Pain

A major contributor to kids’ back pain is the backpacks they use to tote their stuff, researchers in a new study said. Those who used one strap to carry their packs reported significantly more back pain than did those who used both straps. Those who used rolling backpacks reported back pain the most often. It wasn’t clear whether pain prompted their use of the rolling packs or whether the rolling packs contributed to their pain.

Who Sees the Best Rainbow

Humans are apparently hard-wired to love seeing rainbows, as proven by all the Facebook photo postings that pop up whenever one appears in our area. But have you ever wondered if, say your dog sitting beside you, sees the same rainbow you do? Or how about other animals? Let us delve into color vision by various residents of our planet.

Wrong Trip

Maybe I should have been a stunt woman. Since I have tripped and fallen most of my life, I have become an expert at it. Especially on stairs.

When I was 12 years old, I sang in the seventh grade choir. Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I can’t sing. At all. I basically was in it for my mom’s sake. She loves music and studied it in school, so she was always excited when I joined a choir. Also, it was a good excuse to drag my dad to a concert.

A Summer Peach Pie

My daughter Anne goes to the Union County Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. Today she brought back some beautiful fresh peaches. Naturally, I had to make a peach pie. This is a pie that can only be made when peaches are in season. Canned ones won't do. I make it with a baked pie shell. It could be done with a vanilla wafer crust, or to go all out, an uncooked pastry lined pie plate with a lattice top crust. In that case, arrange a lattice crust pattern over the cooked and cooled filling. Cover pie edges loosely with foil. Bake at 400 F. for 40 minutes or until golden brown.