Stringing Popcorn for the Tree

Having tried to string real popcorn with heavy thread and a standard needle, I can tell you don't.  The needle would only pass  easily through the outermost bit of the popcorn "leaf" (?) and promptly break with an end result of popcorn all over the floor and a dangling piece of string.  If you are hellbent  to have an old-fashioned popcorn chain, go to Target - 9 ft. for $8.  Just sitting here, we know it's not going to look like the real deal, so bury it deep in the tree with only selected spots showing.
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The French Are So Rakish - here we call it "Aleppo;" there it's called the jaunty-sounding "Alep."
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Many of us have seen vegetables that resembled something other than a veggie, right?  But who knew there is a Website devoted to this phenomenon - justsomething.com/18-funny-shaped-vegetables.  I won't spoil it, but will counter with my cousin who calls broccoli "little trees" and an online comment about cauliflower - "It looks like albino brains."
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Perhaps good viewing tonight - "The Queen at 90" to be aired on PBS. 
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Speaking of viewing, am not quite sure what to think of this ...a contestant named Andy Stowell, from Austin, was on "Jeopardy!" last night and will be on again tonight.  This particular episode was filmed last August and by December 5th, she had died of stage 4 colon cancer.

Her letter to the show's producers asked about length of time between selection and filming, adding almost casually that her doctor had advised her that she would be dead in six months.  Stowell went on to say that if it was a longer period of time, that her spot be given to her runner-up. 

In some ways, it doesn't seem right to broadcast it.  On the other hand, loved ones might want a final look at her doing what she (apparently) loved to do.  It could also be argued that if you're watching a movie made before the '50s that everybody in it is dead (except for Kirk Douglas.)  I did find it unnerving though, sitting there, speculating about her condition and hoping for a mistaken diagnosis or something.  Not to be a spoiler, but she won last night and will again tonight for a total of $22,000+ to be donated to a cancer-fighting organization.   And I salute her gallantry and generosity  wholeheartedly.