No. 342 - Pygg

On Sunday evening before bed, my daughter came downstairs and handed me a book she was reading called Why Money Was Invented by Neale S. Godfrey. She said, "Look, Daddy!" while directing me to read a certain section.

I read aloud: The first piggy banks were made from a clay called pygg. Later the banks were made to look like pigs and were called piggy banks.

I told her that I didn't know that, and she said I could use it for my blog. I told her that I already learned and posted something for the day. She said I could use it the next day. But I explained that my rules were that I had to learn it that day, not the previous day. I think she was disappointed. I don't blame her.

Well, since Sunday I haven't stopped thinking about it. She taught me. SHE taught ME! If nothing else, this blog has been worth the time and effort for that moment alone. I am so proud of her. So without breaking my own rules, I knew there had to be a way to incorporate "pygg" into my blog.

So I researched piggy banks today and learned that there is a famous bronze cast piggy bank that weighs nearly 600 pounds named Rachel. She is the official mascot of Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington. The Market opened on August 17, 1907 and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States.

Rachel receives $6,000-$9,000 annually in just about every type of world currency, which is collected by the Market Foundation to fund the Market's social services. Now that's the way social services ought to be funded -- with donations that are given freely and not coerced through taxation.