Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • Page 16

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1974 TUCSON DAILY CITIZEN FOOD FASHION FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT HOMES FOCUS PAGE 17 Seat of learning To be sure, getting into the swing of things after a long summer vacation can be tough on the school kids. But consider if you will, the teachers. It can be plenty tough for them, too. Especially the one who for a few weeks to come will be doing most of her teaching standing up. inrr WU i il for reasons that will'become' increasingly apparent.

To further cloak the poor soul's identity we won even mention the name of the school where she does her stanrt-up teaching. Let us merely note that it is a North Side elementary school and let it go at that. It was another teacher at the same school who spilled the beans us, explaining that their school has those heavy sliding folding doors between many of its rooms. You know the Kind. "It takes a great deal of pushing, pulling and shoving to get the doors into place and fastened properly," our informant continued.

Which explains why one of the teachers the protagonist of this evening's tale developed what our tipster describes as an unusual technique" for handling the doors. What she would do is push the door into position, then stand up on tippy-toe, and toss a well-executed hip block into the door which would invariably place it in proper position for fastening! The technique called for a minimum of physical effort and was all but foolproof. But unfortunately, during the long summer away from the classroom, our teacher's technique became a trifle rusty. One day very early in the school year, the time came for her to go into the ol' door routine. So, as she spoke to her class giving instructions, as teachers do, she tugged and shoved deftly, manipulating the door into line.

Tiptoe, then, without missing a word of instruction- the wind-up and the hip-thrust. It was said that the "EEEEYOWEEEEK" that followed rattled the very windows of the whole school as the door sections, slammed together smartly on a portion of the teacher's anatomy that our informant delicately described as "her petite derriere." Quickly regaining her professionaPcool, she gritted her teeth, brushed the tears from her eyes and sent her pupils skittering off to an early recess. To her everlasting credit, only then did she attempt to.extri- cate herself from the latched doors. Our tipster wound things up with the tale's end: "She fled then to the teachers' room, to discover she had a humdinger of a four-inch blood blister forming. She plans to do' all of her teaching from a standing position for some time nrdeners Randolph Park will be an active spot Sept.

29 as Tucso- nkms take part in the third annual Flower and Garden Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The fair is sponsored by the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Service and Arizona Nurserymen Association. Forty manned stations where visitors can get information on many horticultural subjects are planned. Subjects, include best deciduous fruit trees for Arizona, hanging baskets for the home, shade trees for Tucson, care of palms, wild flowers, organic amendments for the soil, weed control around the home, ground covers, growing of vegetables in containers and many more.

The stations will be manned by professors from the University of Arizona, Extension Service specialists, nursery and landscape operators, garden club and plant society representatives and teachers of agriculture. The fair is open to the public at no charge. A free tree seedling will be given to the first 2,500 families attending. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Who put the mushrooms on the Ping Pong table? By MARY BROWN Citizen Homes Keillor Sometimes when Gary and Jimmy Florian decide to play a game of Ping Pong they find they're out of luck.

Their mother, Mrs. Kenneth Florian, has beaten them to the table not to play Ping Pong but to dry mushroom' caps. Jimmy and Gary don't mind. They know it's just that their mother is readying materials for her designs of dried arrangements. They, their father, friends and neighbors all are constantly on the lookout for such materials.

In fact, one 4- year-old neighbor fattens his allowance by bringing an occasional offering. Mrs. Florian, a landscape design critic as well as a member of the Mesquite Garden Club, specializes in dried arrangements in which she uses almost anything that grows or has grown even an item such as a dandelion puff. "I'm constantly searching for says. "I've gotten driftwood on camping trips to' Mexico, weeds, cotton and yucca pods, chive blossoms, eucalyptus, branches, corn stalks and even some bittersweet from Michigan.

Many items come from my own garden locust pods, Johnny-jurnp- ups, roses, pansies, violas, marigolds, and nandina berries. If you use your imagination, you can use almost anything." Her interest in the art started at the. University of Arizona where she took art courses and later courses in design. It's grown'to a point where now the designs are all over the family home at 5717 E. 14th St.

One room of the home, formerly a bedroom for her daughter, Susan, now Mrs, Richard Sisler, has been turned into a workroom where shelves accommodate hundreds of clear plastic shoe boxes in which she keeps the dried materials. Mrs. Florian dries her flowers in silica gel, a sand-like material. The flowers are buried in the gell, which pulls out the moisture. The next step is standing the stems in Oasis, a product similar to sty- rofoam.

The flowers then spend three to four minutes in a microwave oven and that takes tlie water out of the stems. There are other ways of drying, directions for which come with the silica gel, but Mrs. Florian has found the oven method a shorter process. For color she uses grated color chalk on the flowers and a floral spray on the green parts. She shapes the design in a base of Oasis or clay.

The mushrooms are air dried and Mrs. Florian observes thai some of the forms they take in the drying are "fantastic." "Every mushroom is different in shape." The designs are done in all sizes, some under bell-shaped glass holders, some miniatures in glass boxes trimmed with brass. Still others are mounted on driftwood. Leftover materials may be formed into what she calls "mini plaques" because they're mounted on round or square coasters which can be hung. She sells her arrangements to one Tucson store and ships some to various parts of the country as well.

Mrs. Florian also does arrangements of bride's bouquets. These are dried and can be cherished as keepsakes. Imside THE SOCIAL SCENE. Sue Giles reports on the Tucson scene.

Page 18. FRIDAY CALENDAR. News of club activities, entertainment, points of interest, art galleries all that's going on. Page 19. FOR FREE.

Pets and many items are yours for the asking. Page. 21. TREAT your house plants with care. Garden columnist Steve Fazio gives explicit instructions regarding soil, watering and other aspects regarding care and feeding.

Page 22. HINTS. Heloise offers cures for household problems. Page 24. YOUR STARS.

Is this a good day for you? Page 2fi. A fat child is a healthy child Not so, say today's doctors. Old sayings such as this are debunked in a new series "Your Child's Health" beginning Monday in the Tucson Daily Citizen. Topics to be treated include "Mental health," "Excercise and hearts," "When to call a doctor," "Allergies" and many more. Read this vital series, beginning Monday, on FOCUS Page One.

ton Edited by C. MH'ORMICK QUESTION I sent $10 for a "Five-Minute Body Shaper" in June and am still waiting for it to arrive. A letter to the company has gone unanswered. My order was supposed to be filled within four weeks. Do you think you can get my body shaper for me, or get my money back from this company? ANSWER The California body-building company claims your order was shipped on July 10.

It assumes your order was lost in the mail and is sending another this week. A lot of things do get "lost in the mail" these days, but judging from past experience with this company, we tend to believe it's using the postal service as an excuse. QUESTION Water is being wasted at a great rate by an apartment complex in our neighborhood. The sprinklers are turned on long and hard to get new plantings to grow and often shoot over the curbside grass into the street. A wash of water from the apartments flows steadily down an alley between 5th and fith streets, goes to 5th and rounds the corner at Sawtelle, flows over to 6th Street and down to a drain at 6th and Forgeus.

This has been going on for all of August and part of July. Am I wrong in thinking that no one should be allowed to waste water like this? Is there anything that can be done about it? ANSWER A water department official tells us it has had complaints about this address before. The department has contacted the management and requested better conservation of water. The water code, however, labels the wasting of water a misdemeanor and the penalty is the value of the water wasted. In-other words, the official adds, if the bills are paid, there is no other action the Water Department can take in a situation like this.

QUESTION I recently had my davenport recovered, but when it came back from the upholstery store the seat part sagged badly. When I called the store about it the manager said it probably needs more stuffing. However, she claims the company is now too busy to repair my davenport and won't even answer my phone calls. I hope you can get some action from these people. ANSWER The owner quickly responded to Action, and your letter today confirmed that your davenport has been repaired and returned to you.

"As a result of your inquiry, I discovered our system for handling complaints was inefficient and we are now trying a new system," the manager said. Sound off! DEAR ACTION: The recent "energy crisis" didn't make a dent in the wasteful habits of most people. Every day I see companies and individuals wasting water, food, wood, electricity and gasoline. Wake up, Americans, before we end up back in the caves gnawing on raw meat! you have a problem to be solved, wrlle to Action, care of (he Tucson Daily Citizen, Box 26767, Tucson, 85726. PRINT your name, address, telephone number.

A It takes imagination Citizen Photo by P. K. Wels Mrs. Kenneth FJorian proudly displays one of her dried arrangements in which she used a cholla skeleton, cotton potl, eucalyptus leaves, desert marigolds, a mushroom cap and a butterfly. okra stalks of beauty A sta-mobile Some of Mrs.

I'saltis' designs are a combination of stationary and mobile items. In this nnc she has combined a weathered ironwood base with strelil- leaves, Infant palm fronds and lion's tail to form a sculptured creation. Most of her designs are done with natural dried tiKucrials but sometimes she adds a bit of color with acrylic paint. When Mrs. Gus M.

I'saltis joined the Indian Ridge Garden Club some 12 years ago didn't realize she was opening up a whole new leisure-time activity for herself. She had been an art major in college and that training is coming in handy now that she creates sculptured designs using dried materials such as palrn branches, artichoke blossoms, palm spathcs, okra stalks, date- bearing sections of palms, manzanita branches and weathered wood. Many of her designs provide accent notes around the Psallis home at l741 E. Nasiimpta Drive. Some of the materials when dried are used just as they are.

Some shu paints with acrylic paint. She also buys some artificial materials to add to her arrangements. She once was a potter and her great interest was ceramics. Now combines two talents by designing her arrangements around the containers in which they arc to be placed. Most of the latter are done by Tucson artists.

Mrs. Psaltis does stationary designs as well as sta- mobilcs (which are part stable and part moving). One of the latter includes weathered ironwood, Iwo bird of paradise leaves which have been Irealed with acrylic, a baby palm frond and a portion of a branch of a lion tail. "I use tons of Elmer's i 1 Cltl7.cn Photos by Bruce Hopkins Sculptured look Mrs. Gus M.

Psaltis (above) beautifies her home with dried arrangements such as the one she's holding. It's mounted on a base of weathered wood and includes an artichoke blossom, stem of a giant split leaf philodendron and a stalk of star jasmine vine. The arrangement below is a manzanita branch, strelitzia leaf, two giant philodendron leaf sheaths and a protea from which petals have been removed. It is set in a container of fungus mounted on a base of weathered wood. to gel them stabilized," she said.

Probably the most gratifying thing that has happened, as far as her hobby is concerned, occurred a couple of years ago. She sent a color picture of one of her dried arrangements to the National Council of Garden Clubs. That picture landed in living color on the front cover of the council's calendar that next year. Mary Brown.