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Cathy Learoyd (Texas)'s avatar

To comprehend the power of pi, think back to the Age of Cathedrals. Did you know they didn't have rulers or measuring tapes then? And, of course, no computers. What they used were two compasses. Remember the compass you drew circles with in geometry class? The two-legged device with a point on one leg and a pencil strapped to the other. The master masons of the 14th century used first a small compass to open the compass to the length of a wall on the Mason's sketch of the cathedral's structure on his drawing table. He'd then go to floor of his studio starting at one point on a straight line on the floor and then put the other leg on line, twirl it halfway around so now the first leg is twice the length from the starting point. Twirl the compass ten times and then use a larger compass, one about about waist high, and put one leg on the starting point and open the other to the end point. Then the Mason takes the big compass over to the building site and starts at the corner where the wall starts and this time twirls the large compass fifteen times. Now he has the length of the full size wall scaled by 150 times (10 times 15) from his drawing. After a few decades you have a monstrous Gothic cathedral. Amazing!

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Bob Aldrich's avatar

Well, pie. I've always loved pie, even more than cake. I had the good fortune to work as a canoe guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on the border of Minnesota and Canada, and, as luck would have it, blueberries grow there.

There is no better pie than wild blueberry pie. It is the very Platonic essence of pie. Not just fruit, but wild fruit, loved by bears and humans alike.

I made my campers a deal: you pick the berries, I'll make the pies. You can't have just one pie, after all, if you are feeding eight hungry high school kids. You need two pies. So, they'd go off into the woods, pick the berries, and I'd get ready.

First, turn your canoe over, put it on two logs so you have a level surface. Then, find a piece of beaver wood--yes, it's what you think it is: a stick cut by a beaver, the bark long gone. Cut it into a ten inch length for your rolling pin. Now all you need is flour and shortening. Cut the shortening into the flour with two knives, and sprinkle in the water.

Once you have a ball of dough, flour the bottom of the canoe (not all of it, just enough for your pie crust!), and roll out the dough. It's pretty much how you do it at home.

Once it's in the pan, put in your cleaned berries, 3/4 c. of sugar (more or less) and some butter if you have it, and put it in a dutch oven. Build a fire on top. Small sticks, big flame. Wait about 40 minutes.

Viola! Pie! In the woods!

That, my friends, is paradise on earth.

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