Three Bird Houses

 

In 1971, the Robertson family spent their entire life savings on a 50-year-old schooner – the Lucette – to sail the world. There were six of them: mom and dad (Lynn and Dougal), their 18-year-old daughter (Anne), 16-year-old son (Douglas) and a pair of nine-year-old twins (Neil and Sandy). Anne ended her trip in the Bahamas. In Panama, they picked up a 22-year-old student on his way to the Pacific. June 15, 1972, three orcas rammed the Lucette and it sank, leaving six people adrift in a small dinghy and an inflatable life raft. Anne’s sewing kit kept the crumbling life raft together 16 days until it couldn’t anymore. Then all six were crammed into the 10’ dinghy. The castaways survived on rain water, sea turtles, dorado and flying fish. The 38th day after the Lucette sank, the Robertsons were rescued by a Japanese fishing trawler. Their dinghy is on permanent display at the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall.

Twenty-Five Kitty Cats

 

Marion Clifton Davis was raised in a trailer on a dirt road. Starting at sixteen, he hustled pool and poker to pay for degrees in political science and law. He invested in land and mineral rights, and earned millions. One day on a whim, “M.C.” attended a presentation on Florida’s black bear. “I hate to confess this,” he said. “I didn't know Florida even had black bears.” M.C. started buying land in Florida’s pan handle: 50,000+ acres he named “Nocuse,” Muscogee for black bear. He planted eight million long-leaf pine seedlings on what he called a 300-year project. When lung cancer took his life, he was fifteen years into it. M.C.’s trees are centuries from maturity, but Nocuse Preserve is already home to several black bears. When gopher tortoises are found on nearby construction sites, they’re relocated here. Every year thousands of students learn about Florida’s wildlife at the E.O. Wilson Biophilia Center M.C. Davis built.

X Marks the Spot

 

“When Mary and other faithful women approached the Garden Tomb to care for the body of their Lord, they found two angels, who announced, ‘He is not here, but is risen.’ Those glorious words, ‘He is risen,’ have sparked religious ceremony, gratitude, faith in Jesus Christ and His promises for centuries. President Dallin H. Oaks has testified: ‘The resurrection is a pillar of our faith. It adds meaning to our doctrine, motivation to our behavior, and hope for our future.’ Jesus Christ is more than a mortal first laid in a manger, more than a friend, teacher, rabbi, minister, or prophet. He is the Only Begotten Son of the Father. And by divine design, His Resurrection by His own godly power reunited His body and His spirit. What a majestic and monumental event in Father in Heaven’s eternal plan.” - Elder Ronald A. Rasband

Two Bird Houses

 

In June 2021, boat captain/scuba diver Jennifer Dowker, owner of Nautical North Family Adventures, was cleaning the windows of her glass-bottom boat in Michigan's Cheboygan River. As she worked, she spotted a small, green bottle on the riverbed. “I collect little bottles when I’m diving,” she says. “I have a double-bladed axe head I found last time I washed the windows.” Upon surfacing, Jennifer and her first mate, Rob Hemmer, carefully extracted a waterlogged note dated November 1926. It read: "Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow, Cheboygan, Michigan, and tell where it was found?” Jennifer took photos of her find and posted them on Facebook. Her post quickly received 113k shares, 70k likes and 6,000 comments. Better still, the post helped her find the daughter of the man who wrote the note. George died in 1995, but his daughter, 74-year-old Michele Primeau, was thrilled to recognize her dad’s handwriting.  

Two Dozen Leap Frogs

 

An English town replaced miles of frequently mown roadside grass with wildflowers, and the result was cheaper, more colorful and far better for wildlife. Rotherham Council (South Yorkshire) created an eight-mile “River of Flowers” along roadsides and traffic circles across the town. Instead of repeatedly cutting ordinary grass, the council planted large areas with wildflower mixes designed to provide nectar, seeds and shelter for insects and birds. The change reduced the amount of mowing and maintenance required, saving the council around £23,000 (roughly $30,700) every two years. It also transformed ordinary roadsides into long corridors of blooming color to support bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The project demonstrated helping nature doesn’t always require huge new parks or expensive technology. Sometimes it can be as simple as mowing less and allowing life to return. Eight miles of wildflowers, lower maintenance costs and healthier habitats, all created from land that was previously just cut grass.

Four Gold Stars

 

I don’t serve on a community theatre board, but I have THOUGHTS. In my opinion, if your stage is a postage stamp, you shouldn’t produce musicals with a huge cast. It limits what the choreographer, costumer, and set designer can do. Tiny stages should run You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, She Loves Me, and Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder; not Fiddler or Les Miz. If your audience wants family fare, stage Disney or Rogers & Hammerstein. Avoid Hamilton, Hair, Cabaret and Rent. If your audition pool is 99.9% white, forget West Side Story, Hairspray, The Wiz, and Carmen Jones. As much as I’d love to see (and help stage) The King and I and Flower Drum Song, I’d hate to watch a British/Scandinavian/German cast trying to look Chinese or Thai. And if your venue and budget don’t have room for a live orchestra, skip musicals altogether. Do Christmas Carol, Our Town, or anything Agatha Christie.

Birdhouse

 

Charles Cunningham Boycott was born in England in 1832. He was discharged from a military academy after failing exams. His family bought him a commission in the 39th Foot Regiment, but his military career was unremarkable. Charles became a land agent for Lord Erne. Essentially, he was to manage a 629-acre farm in Ireland and collect rent from tenant farmers. In 1880, after a particularly bad harvest, Charles evicted eleven tenants behind on their rent. The community objected. The process server, escorted by 17 policemen, was pelted with manure as he tried to deliver eviction notices. The locals treated Charles as if he had leprosy. His household staff, farm laborers, and stable hands refused to work for him. The shopkeepers in town stopped doing business with him. He even stopped receiving mail. Charles and his family fled to America and changed their name to Cunningham, because “Boycott” had come to mean shun, spurn, and snub.