I spy with my occhiolino*

 I. Am. So. Excited.

I found out last week the pastor of my church makes beautiful working telescopes and microscopes out of spare parts. When he saw my excitement he offered me my very own microscope!

It is amazing!

It's made of a Canadian drill press, parts from a brass bed, a ladies mirror, and miscellaneous other things. (He showed me a telescope he made using a roll bar, soup can, and a drive shaft!)

Examining the yellow fever virus.

Inspired by ma chère amie Cécile, I immediately set out to find a cure for yellow fever.

(As you might recall, the New Orleans epidemic of 1853, featured in the Cécile Rey American Girl book series, killed 9,000 people.)

Carlos Finlay, a Cuban doctor and scientist, first proposed in 1881 that yellow fever might be transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct human contact.

U.S. Army physician Major Walter Reed, M.D., led the team that proved Finlay's hypothesis in 1900.

I thought I might try to nudge both men along with their discoveries.

Or maybe I'll do it myself.

Can't you just see me winning the Nobel Prize?

I can't believe it! My very own steampunk microscope!

Now if I can just get a giant telescope....

*Galileo called his compound microscope the "occhiolino" or "little eye."