Forty-Nine Butterflies

 

The first Tyrannosaurus Rex (the name means tyrant lizard king) skeleton was discovered in 1902 in Montana (There were T. Rex teeth and bone fragments unearthed long before this, but they were misidentified.) From time to time, smaller skeletons that LOOKED like T. Rex would pop up, and they were usually classified as juvenile T. Rex specimens. Eventually, though, paleontologists studying the growth rings in the ancient bones realized the smaller dinosaurs were fully developed at half the length and a tenth the body mass of the T. Rex. It had bigger forearms, a narrower mouth and a LOT more teeth. They’re calling this “new” dinosaur (the phrase always makes me giggle) Nanotyrannus Lancensis. The prefix nano- means “one billionth.” It’s a catchy moniker, but not very helpful, if the purpose is to show these weren’t just little T. Rexes. This may be further proof that scientists shouldn't always be trusted with naming things.   

Three Pineapples

 

Jesse Delos Jewkes was born in Orangeville, Utah in 1895. He used the money from his first job – delivering milk – to buy a violin. When he served a South African mission in 1915, the violin came with him. World War I travel restrictions sent him back to Salt Lake, where he worked as a music salesman and then as a deputy in the State Auditor’s office. He sang with the Tabernacle Choir as a basso profundo soloist. Delos’ distinctive deep voice led to roles in opera, theatre, vaudeville, radio, records, movies and television. He was the voice of God in The Ten Commandments (1956). He was in four episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, where he loaned his voice to a lip-synching Barney Fife during a choir performance. Delos played a member of the old home guard in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. He’s the fellow with round glasses and a helmet strap across his chin. 

Forty-Nine Pine Trees

 

When Henry VIII died in 1547, clerks catalogued his belongings. There were jewels, furs, tapestries, and the contents of fifty-five houses, castles, palaces and hunting lodges. And there were musical instruments. Henry owned at least 76 recorders. They were hand carved from ivory and boxwood, stored in velvet-lined cases. Some were tipped with silver. They came in all sizes from the tiny sopranino to the massive great bass. The instruments were there in part to be played FOR the king, and in part to be played BY the king, as he was an accomplished musician. Beyond the recorders, he owned at least forty flutes, along with crumhorns, cornetts and shawms. There was a set of ivory/purple velvet bagpipes, dozens of viols and lutes, and several keyboard instruments. Most were kept at Westminster in the care of Flemish composer Philip van Wilder, “Keeper of the King’s Instruments.” Because someone had to keep everything dusted.

Nine X Blocks

 

“Elder Holland and I had the privilege of escorting various groups of people—including Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Rabbi leaders, as well as secular Jewish leaders—through open-house tours in temples here in Utah. At the baptismal font, I had the opportunity to explain the doctrine of baptism for our deceased ancestors. This relates directly to Malachi’s promises of turning the hearts of children to their deceased fathers. I read to them from 1 Kings 7:25, where Solomon’s temple is described. The baptismal font sits on top of the hinder parts of twelve oxen representing the twelve tribes of Israel. This brought both recognition and tears to some. They realized they were essentially looking at certain aspects of Solomon’s temple, which has sacred significance to both Jews and Muslims. A few years later, Jewish leaders requested we celebrate the 175th anniversary of Orson Hyde’s historic dedication of the Holy Land in Jerusalem.” – Elder Quentin L. Cook

Two Pineapples

 

David Hahn was born October 30, 1979 in Royal Oak, Michigan. His parents divorce when he was nine. David stayed with his dad, who remarried. He developed an interest in chemistry, fireworks and model rocketry. His family encouraged him to join the Boy Scouts, and David became obsessed with achieving a merit badge in atomic energy. He read everything about it he could get his hands on. He began collecting smoke detectors (they contain americium), lantern mantles (for thorium), and old glow-in-the-dark clock hands and dials (radium). He used it to create a reactor in a potting shed in the backyard. When David was 17, a routine traffic stop put an end to his fun. Police found suspicious material in his car and traced it to his backyard. The EPA showed up in hazmat suits. The shed was dismantled and buried as nuclear waste. David never did earn that merit badge.

Five Bird Houses

 

When he was thirteen, Gabriel García Márquez walked up to the prettiest girl on the dance floor and said, “I just realized all my poems are about you. Marry me.” Most girls would have laughed and walked away, but Mercedes said, “Alright. But I have to finish school first.” They married thirteen years later. Gabriel’s dream was to write an epic novel. He shut himself in a room and wrote while Mercedes dealt with the real world. After 18 months, Gabriel’s enormous manuscript was ready to ship to a publisher. The only problem: there was no money for postage. Mercedes pawned the last two things she owned – a hairdryer and a blender – and the rest is history. That manuscript became One Hundred Years of Solitude; one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. After it came Love in the Time of Cholera, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. And a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Four Dozen Butterflies

 

Insulting people is a dying art:

“He had delusions of adequacy.” – Walter Kerr

“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” – Winston Churchill

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” – Oscar Wilde

“I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” – Stephen Bishop

“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright

“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.” – Irvin S. Cobb

“He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” – Forrest Tucker

“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.” – Mae West

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” – Billy Wilder

“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.” – Abraham Lincoln

“There’s nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won’t cure.” – Jack E. Leonard

Pineapple

 

We had these Sunday, with cheese burgers. Honestly, they’d be a great accompaniment with any grilled meat.

 

Marinated White Beans

 

2 (15-ounce cans) white beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs (I chose fresh basil.)

2 roasted red peppers, finely diced

1/3 cup finely diced shallot (Out of shallots; substituted red onion.)

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

 

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours; preferably overnight. Will stay fresh in the fridge 3 or 4 days.

Four Dozen Pine Trees

 

More thoughts about a 13-month year: If each month had only 28 days, some holidays wouldn’t fall on the same days they do now. New Year’s Eve, for instance would happen on the 28th of the month – either December or March, depending on which came at the end of the year. Thanksgiving would always be Thursday, November 25. Valentines Day would always be a Sunday, like Mother’s and Father’s Days. I’ve read the Kodak company used a 13-month calendar from 1924 to 1989. Their extra month was called Sol, and it came between June and July. Leap day, when it happened, was December 29, and it was an extra weekend day. For years, George Eastman (Kodak’s founder) tried to promote worldwide acceptance but was unsuccessful. I’m not awfully surprised. We’ve been trying for ages to do away with Daylight Saving Time; something absolutely EVERYONE hates. Yet here we are, still adjusting all our clocks twice a year.

Four X Blocks

 

“Each Sabbath we invite all to come worship Jesus Christ in the community of His restored Church. In the sacramental ordinance, we covenant that we are willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, and keep His commandments. He promises we can always have His Spirit to be with us. As we witness and remember Jesus each week, we abide and walk with Him. Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus ask Jesus to abide with them, Jesus Christ promises to abide with us. In the Gospel of John, chapters 14 and 15, Jesus teaches His disciples and us how He can remain, belong, walk with us. His faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death. When we have a question, problem, or joy, Jesus Christ says, ‘I am your answer—your way, your truth, your life.’” – Elder Gerrit W. Gong

Four Bird Houses

 

Antoine-Joseph “Adolphe” Sax was an inventor and musician from Belgium. Adolphe was the eldest of eleven children, only three of whom survived to age 13. He studied flute, clarinet, harmony and solfège at the Royal School of Music in Brussels, but he abandoned a career in performance to create musical instruments in his father’s workshop. Adolphe made changes in the design of the bass clarinet that are still in use. His most famous invention is the saxophone, which combines elements of both woodwind and brass instruments. Adolphe designed a massive family of saxophones in 14 distinct sizes, from the tiny sopranino to the massive contrabass. Only four sizes are commonly used today: soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. The saxophone may be made of brass, but it’s classified as a woodwind instrument because it generates sound with a reed. Adolphe also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba, but somehow, none of them caught on. 

Twenty-Five Leap Frogs

 

Every year should have thirteen months. With thirteen months instead of twelve, every month would have exactly four weeks instead of 4.257. We could stop memorizing “Thirty days has September, April, June, and November, All the rest have thirty-one, Save February at twenty-eight, But leap year, coming once in four, February then has one day more.” Months would start on Monday and end on Sunday. Friday the 13th would disappear. I propose our 13-month year should start April first, the way it did until 1582. We’d still need an occasional leap day. It could happen at the end of March, and be an extra weekend day. The thirteenth month could fall between August and September, so September, October, November and December would go back to being the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months, as their names imply. The new month could have the Latin name for 6th month: Sextilis. Or, we could name it for some Roman god.

Five Gold Stars

 

Samuel Augustus Maverick was born in South Carolina in 1803. Because he was christened with his father’s name, his family called him “Gus.” At Yale University, he was known as “Sam.” Sam dabbled in law and in politics. He owned a gold mine and a plantation, then he bought a lot of land in and around San Antonio, Texas. Sam was involved in the siege of the Alamo, and he was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Sam served in the legislature, as Bexar County Chief Justice, and Mayor of San Antonio. He refused to brand his cattle. He said he didn’t want to inflict pain on the animals, but his neighbors believed he just wanted to collect and claim any unbranded cattle as his own. Because of Sam, the word Maverick – meaning a person with a stubborn streak of independence, and also any wild, unbranded range animal – became a part of the English language. 

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.

Twenty-Four Kitty Cats

 

Ignacio Anaya was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1895. He worked as a maître d'hotel during the 40’s at the Victory Club, a restaurant near the Mexican/U.S. border. The Club was a popular spot with servicemen, because of its proximity to a U.S. Army base. One day in 1943, a hungry group of Army wives walked in, and the chef was A.W.O.L. Ignacio seated the women and said, “Let me fix something up for you.” He went into the kitchen, picked up tostadas, grated some Wisconsin cheese on top, and put them under the broiler. Once the cheese was golden-brown, he topped his creation with sliced jalapeño. The wives loved the crispy, cheesy dish. They returned often to request “Ignacio’s Special.” In no time at all, the simple recipe showed up in cookbooks and other restaurants, often with additions like meat or beans. Ignacio never patented his creation, but to this day it bears his nickname, “Nachos.”

Striped Heart

 

“Jesus Christ has infinite capacity to forgive, promising that ‘as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.’ Because of Jesus Christ, sins for which we have sincerely repented leave no spiritual scar, track, or trace. There is no scarlet letter to wear, now or in the eternities. When we repent with real intent, the entirety of our sin, not just a part, is figuratively nailed to the cross and we no longer bear its spiritual consequences. After we have repented, we owe no more to justice because Jesus has paid the debt; He pardons us from deserved punishment. We are forgiven, our hearts and hands are made clean, and the Lord remembers our sins no more. The Lord our God is mighty; he will save, and he will rejoice over us.” – Elder Dale G. Renlund

Eighteen Leap Frogs

 

Wikipedia calls Centralia, Pennsylvania a “near ghost town,” because it has four residents. In the 1950’s, there were nearly 2,000 people living there. In May, 1962, the borough council hired volunteer firemen to “clear” the town landfill, meaning they were to burn the trash, then put the fire out. The area had been an old strip mine, above a warren of coal mine shafts dating from the 1860’s. There should have been a layer of fireproof clay between the trash and the mines, but someone dropped that ball. In 1979, a service station owner noticed his gas was very hot. A thermometer lowered in the underground tank read 172 degrees. A 12-year-old boy nearly died when a 150-foot sinkhole opened in his grandma’s back yard. Carbon monoxide spewed from the ground. In 1983, Congress allocated $42 million to relocate residents and demolish homes and businesses. It’s estimated the underground fire will continue burning another 200 years.

Green Bat

 

They started showing up the day after July 4th, and now there are displays of Halloween-themed merchandise absolutely everywhere. Halloween is exactly two months away. While there are plenty of minor holidays between now and then, none of them seem to drive consumers to whip out their pocketbooks like the spooky end of October. So, store windows that held red-white-and-blue everything just a few weeks ago are now full of orange, black, purple, and slime green. There’s even a name for this odd phenomenon. It’s called “Summerween.” I think the Disney program “Gravity Falls” coined the term back in 2012. In the show, Summerween fell on June 22nd, and I’m sure die-hard fans still observe that date. But it might be more rewarding to celebrate sometime in August. It’s a great excuse for dragging out your 20-foot skeleton several weeks early. Pumpkins aren’t available just yet, but you could try your hand at carving Jack-o-melons. 

Gold Star

 

You know Murphy’s Law. Do you know these?

Parkinson’s Law: “A task always expands to fill the allotted time.”

Hofstadter’s Law: “Everything takes longer than expected, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law."

Hanlon’s Razor: “Don’t attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.”

The Pareto Principle: “Roughly 80% of outcomes result from 20% of causes.”

The Peter Principle: “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.”

Hick’s Law: “The time it takes to make a decision increases logarithmically with the number of choices available.”

Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

The Dunning-Krueger Effect: “People with low ability overestimate their competence, while highly skilled individuals underestimate theirs.”

Occam’s Razor: “Of two competing theories, the simpler explanation is to be preferred.”

Chesterton’s Fence: “Look before you leap; understand before you take action.”

Brook’s Law: “Adding manpower to a late project makes it later.”

Corn and Tomatoes

 

Jeffrey “Roofman” Manchester was born in Sacramento in 1971. After high school, he served in the Army, where he learned weapons handling, rappelling, and several other skills he would use later as a career criminal. Before embarking on his crime spree, Jeffrey was a McDonald’s worker. In November, 1998, he began robbing businesses – most of them McDonald’s locations. He’d start by meticulously casing the joint. Then, late at night or early in the morning, he’d climb to the roof, drill or saw a hole, and enter the building. He’d wait until employees showed up, then hold them at gunpoint and lock them in the freezer while he emptied the cash registers. Jeffrey used this method for up to 60 robberies across the country. He was caught and incarcerated, but escaped prison by hiding in a truck undercarriage. For several months he evaded capture by living in a Toys “R” Us, eating candy and baby food off the shelves.

Twenty Kitty Cats

 

Darius Salem Clement, my third great-grandfather, was eight years old when his father died in New York. His mother took her young children to Nauvoo, and when the Saints abandoned their “City Beautiful,” she followed. She died along with her oldest son and daughter at Winter Quarters, leaving Darius to walk the rest of the way to Zion with his younger brother and sister. I think of them whenever I hear the song, "Pioneer Children." They arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1848, when Darius was just 14 years old. Darius worked at the Archibald Gardner Mill with his uncle Warren Foote. (Yes, this is the same mill that today houses Archibald’s Restaurant in Gardner Village.) Later, when Warren built his own mill between the Big and Little Cottonwood creeks, Darius worked with him there, too. His grandchildren spoke of him as a quiet man who loved tending his orchard, his garden and his bees.

Four Tomatoes

 

“As we extend Christlike love to each person we serve, our eyes are opened to their divine potential. We begin to see them as the Lord sees them—mortal souls with the capacity to become exalted beings through the Savior’s restoring power and grace. As we care for each soul, we help connect them to the Savior, inviting them to be healed and transformed through His atoning blood. In return, our own lives are blessed—we become more like the Savior and are filled with great joy. My dear brothers and sisters, as one of His special witnesses, I testify that our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves us more than we can ever imagine. In the words of the hymn, ‘For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.’” – Elder Gérald Caussé

Sixteen Leap Frogs

 

George Reynolds, my second great-grandfather, was a nine-year-old boy in England when he met his first Mormon; his grandmother’s maid. He attended the Paddington Branch with her and wanted to be baptized. His family was furious. They sent him to a boarding school in France, but he managed to be baptized at age 14. George was 21 when he was called to serve as George Q. Cannon’s private secretary and emigration clerk of the Liverpool Mission. He made arrangements for thousands of European converts to come to Zion before he was able to make the trip himself. He took a steamer to New York, a train through St. Louis, a river boat to Nebraska City and a stage coach to Denver. The Sioux nation was on the warpath at the time, so George and two companions had to make most of the rest of their journey by mule. They travelled at night, careful not to light any fires, to avoid being seen.

Two Tomatoes

 

My third great grandfather, Henry Weeks Sanderson, was born in Massachusetts in 1829. His parents became converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Nauvoo in 1843. He wrote in his journal about hearing the news of Joseph Smith’s martyrdom less than a year later. Henry was only 17 when the Saints arrived at Council Bluffs, but he was accepted as a member of the Mormon Battalion in Company D. The battalion made a grueling 2,000-mile march from Iowa to San Diego, helping the U.S. secure much of the American Southwest, and opening a southern wagon route to California. Henry never made it all the way to the coast. He rejoined the Saints in the Salt Lake valley with a detachment of sick soldiers from Pueblo, five days after the original band of pioneers arrived. He was not yet 19. 

United

 

Tomorrow is Pioneer Day, a holiday in Utah, Idaho and Arizona honoring the explorers, homesteaders and refugees who made the intermountain west their home. One of them, John Nebeker, was my third great-grandfather. John was the second of 13 children, born in Delaware in 1813. He and his bride were in their twenties living in Illinois when they met with missionaries and were baptized. Determined to follow the Saints wherever they went, he went to Winter Quarters where he fitted three wagons with oxen and gave them to Brigham Young for the first company to cross the plains. Brother Brigham asked him to stay and help the second company prepare for the journey. John arrived in the valley with the second company September 26, 1847. He cut the first wheat crop harvested in the Intermountain region. His farm was where West High School stands today. Some of John’s children founded Laketown, on the shores of Bear Lake.

A Pair of Ears

 

Did you know your ears never really go to sleep? Even when you’re dreaming, your ears constantly process sounds. This is why a loud thunderstorm or a smoke detector can wake you in the dead of night. Your middle ear contains the tiniest bones in your body. They’re called malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup). All three can easily fit on a penny. You’ve probably heard your ears and nose are the only parts of your body that never stop growing. This isn’t quite true. Your skeleton stopped growing during puberty. But ears and noses are made of cartilage, which stretches or sags as you age and appears to grow. Earwax protects your inner ear from dirt, bugs and bacteria. Ears are meant to be self-cleaning, if you don’t use Q-tips or other objects to impede the process. Most people use their right ear to process language, their left ear for music and other non-verbal sounds.

Eighteen Kitty Cats

 

Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon fifty-seven years ago yesterday. Over 600 million people worldwide watched the event on television. Many of us were convinced it wouldn’t be long before there’d be scientific outposts on the moon. Surely within our lifetimes, we’d book lunar vacations. That didn’t happen, and probably never will. One reason is the high cost of fuel we’d need to escape Earth’s gravity. Another is the hostile environment we’d need to deal with once we were there. Earth’s atmosphere protects us from solar radiation, cosmic rays, and micrometeorites. The moon has no such protection. Then there’s dust. The moon is covered with regolith: sharp, toxic, magnetic dust that infiltrates and destroys equipment and people. It chewed through astronauts’ boots, scratched visors and contaminated sample cases. Tracked into lunar modules, it became airborne and was inhaled, causing “lunar hay fever.” Short-term exposure means sneezing, congestion and sore throat. Long-term exposure threatens lungs.

Ripe Tomato

 

“Not only does the Savior know you, but He also wants you to come to know Him and His Father. In His great Intercessory Prayer, He declared, ‘This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’ He is the Good Shepherd, who leads us to green pastures and still waters. He is the Light of the World, who lights our path so that we need not walk in darkness. The question should never be ‘Will the Savior walk with me?’ He will. The real question is ‘Will I walk with Him?’ As we choose to walk with Jesus Christ, everything begins to change. He is no longer a casual acquaintance but a trusted heavenly friend. May I invite you to choose to remember Him and follow Him—not casually or occasionally but deliberately and always.” – Elder Clement M. Matswagothata

Fifteen Leap Frogs

 

William Kampiles always wanted to be a spy. While he was attending Indiana University in 1977, he was recruited by the CIA. He was given a job routing message traffic. I’m not sure what that means, but apparently it was very boring. He really wanted to work in the covert section of the CIA, but that would require a good deal of training. William had a better idea. He stole a top-secret KH-11 spy satellite manual from CIA headquarters, and quit his job. Then he flew to Athens and visited the Soviet embassy there. He offered them the stolen manual and was paid $3,000. The Soviets gave William a camera and told him to gather more secrets. William then contacted an agent and told him what he’d done. He thought the CIA would be impressed with his skills and make him a double agent. Instead, he was sent to prison. 

Ear of Corn

 

In 1825, a wealthy Welsh industrialist bought an American town to prove socialism could work. Robert Owen paid $150,000 for New Harmony, Indiana. His purchase included 20,000 acres, 160 buildings, working mills and farms. The town had been founded by German immigrants who’d later decided they’d rather be in Pennsylvania. Owen, who’d become rich running Scottish textile mills, believed if you removed private property and paid everyone equally, cooperation would naturally replace competition. He filled his town with educated, civilized, industrious people. But things fell apart almost immediately. The hardest workers resented being paid as much as those who did little or nothing. Production waned and food became scarce. Buildings decayed because no one owned them. Owen wrote seven different constitutions to fix the problem. None of them worked. Two years later, he admitted defeat. Owen blamed his settlers, saying they were “unprepared to be members of the community of common property and equality.”

Sunlight and Shadow

 

I just finished the novel I’ve been reading. I’ve got plenty of great books worth a second (or third or fourth) read, but I’m enjoying the convenience of an e-book. I can adjust the font (no reading glasses), and the screen is backlit (no itty-bitty book light). Lately I’ve been wading through murder mysteries and classics. What I need right now is a really funny book; one to make me laugh out loud. Here are some I’m considering:

A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson

The Best of Me – David Sedaris

The Princess Bride – William Goldman

A Long Way from Chicago – Richard Peck

One More Thing – B. J. Novak

Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

I Feel Bad About My Neck – Nora Ephron

If you know of a book that belongs on this list, I’d love to hear about it.

Green Maple Leaf

 

Victor Lustig was born in Bohemia in 1890. His father was a salesman who frequently brought Victor along on business trips across Europe. His school career was less than stellar, but he was fluent in six languages, including English, French, Italian, and Hungarian. Victor became a con man operating on ocean liners between France and New York. Sometimes he’d pose as a music director seeking investors for a Broadway production. Victor’s most infamous scam was selling the Eiffel tower. Twice. In 1925, he invited a group of scrap metal dealers to a meeting where he informed them the famous tower was crumbling and repairs were too expensive. Paris wanted it discretely removed, and Victor would be accepting bids. He pocketed the largest check (70,000 francs) and fled to Austria. The crazy thing is, as soon as he realized he’d gotten away with it, he pulled the same trick again with a different group of patsies.

Sixteen Kitty Cats

In 1916, fourteen-year-old Antonio Gentile submitted a drawing for a design contest to create a mascot for Planter’s Nut and Chocolate Company. His sketch of a peanut with arms and legs was selected, and Antonio won five dollars. Andrew S. Wallach – a commercial artist – added white gloves, a monocle, top hat, spats and a cane to create the Mr. Peanut that is still on every package. But the founder of Planter’s, Amedeo Obici, (Right now, are you asking yourself why his name wasn’t Planter, or why the company isn’t called Obici’s?) didn’t just hand the teen a five-dollar bill and move on. He became close with the Gentile family. He paid for Antonio’s education. He even footed the bill for schooling four of Antonio’s siblings. Antonio eventually became a doctor. His original crayon drawings of Mr. Peanut sat in a drawer for nearly a century until someone rediscovered them and donated them to the Smithsonian in 2014.

Golden Checkerboard

 

“Young men and women are peacemakers when they forgo the temporary pleasure of self-gratifying activities and involve themselves in service projects and other acts of kindness. Persons who seek to reduce human suffering and persons who work to promote understanding among different peoples are also important workers for peace. So are faithful mothers and fathers who lovingly care for their own children or shelter foster children and raise them in righteousness rather than leave them to be scarred and twisted by the sins of others. Our missionaries seek to be peacemakers. By inviting all to repent and come unto Christ, our missionaries are working for peace. As followers of Christ, let us follow Him by forgoing contention and by using the language and methods of peacemakers. In our families and other personal relationships, let us avoid what is harsh and hateful. Let us seek to be holy, like our Savior.” – President Dallin H. Oaks

Green Marble Frog

There are lots of unwritten rules that we follow, because our moms raised us that way, because it’s good manners, or because we’d rather not get punched in the face. Here are some:

Never use your speaker phone in public. Sharing the audio from your game or video at full volume is also considered rude.

Wash hands when using the bathroom. Be sure to shower regularly, too. Your nose is not designed to smell YOU, so it’s safe to assume you stink and act accordingly.

When entering a train, bus or elevator, let the people who are ON get off first.

Remember “please” and “thank you.” They really are magic words.

Don’t let your kids scream and run amok in public. We’re more likely to think your children are adorable if they’re also quiet and well-behaved.

There are more, but they all boil down to: "Do to others as you would have them do to you." – Luke 6:31

Night Music

 I think most people are aware John Wayne’s real name was Marion Robert Morrison, that Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortensen, and that Cary Grant was really Archibald Alec Leach. But did you know Cher is short for Cheryl Sarkisian and Sonny was really Salvatore Phillip Bono? Vin Diesel’s real name – Mark Sinclair – makes him sound like such a milquetoast. So does Whoopi Goldberg’s (Caryn Elaine Johnson) and Elton John’s (Reginald Kenneth Dwight). Post Malone sounds like the kind of guy who’d cover himself with tattoos. Austin Richard Post does not. When Katy Perry started her singing career, she adopted her mother’s maiden name, because Kate Hudson was already taken. David Tennant changed his name from David McDonald at age sixteen, because there was already a British actor by that name. Albert Brooks’ parents named him Albert Lawrence Einstein in 1947, even though the other Albert Einstein had been world-famous since 1919.

Sixteen 2026 Challenge Blocks

 

I’ve followed the Riley Blake annual quilt block challenge since 2021. (I could have used a quilt block challenge the previous year, when all my in-person block-of-the-month classes disappeared forever. Better late than never, right?) So far, all the challenges have involved sets of sixteen 10” quilt blocks with patterns released almost every week – there’s a break to catch up the last week of each month – between January and May. At the end of the challenge, we’re given a finishing plan to use the blocks. Sometimes I use their plan, and sometimes I make my own. I usually make extra blocks. The most elegant 10” blocks are designed on a 4-patch or 5-patch grid. Anything else just ends up looking clumsy. A couple of this year’s blocks are prime examples. I do hope there will be a quilt block challenge in 2027. But it might be time to consider a different block size.

Eight Split Four-Patches

 

When the game Monopoly first appeared, it didn’t have tokens. Players used buttons, coins or whatever was on hand. The game was purchased by Parker Brothers in 1935, and the tokens were a battleship, a boot, a cannon, a thimble, an iron and a top hat. I don’t play it much these days, but I could be convinced to try if you let me pick the Scottie dog. I’m not an enthusiastic Monopoly fan because it’s the opposite of what a board game should be. It doesn’t bring people together. And that’s by design. Its whole purpose was to teach the evils of unregulated capitalism. Once a player pulls ahead, he’ll just get richer while everyone else slowly goes bankrupt. The winner is usually the most ruthless player. That guy who always insists on being the banker? Yeah, him. If you’ve ever seen a game of Monopoly end in tears or a broken friendship, now you know why.

Fourteen Kitty Cats

 

In patchwork quilting, the most important skill to learn is the scant quarter inch seam, meaning you sew slightly less (the width of two threads) than a quarter inch from the fabric’s edge. The word “scant” is there because when the seam is sewn and the fabric is pressed, the fold “eats” a tiny, almost imperceptible amount of cloth. If your seam is ever so slightly off in either direction, your finished block will be “off.” It will cause no end of frustration when you try to set it with other “off” blocks in a quilt. One way to check your seam allowance is to cut three pieces of fabric exactly 1.5 inches wide. The length doesn’t matter, but three or four inches will do. Stitch them together, then press and measure again. If the width is 3.5 inches, bravo! If it’s wider, your seam allowance is too small. Narrower, the allowance is too big.

Grandma's Dishes

 

“In the perilous times in which we live, the rising generation needs a defense and refuge from the storm. We can contribute to this effort by investing time and teaching. There is no greater need and no greater return on this investment than when it is made with Primary children, young men, young women, and young adults. President Uchtdorf has promised as we do our part in teaching, nurturing, and then trusting in God to work His miracles, ‘the result will be more beautiful and more stunning and more joyful than anything you could accomplish just by yourself.’ How do we do this? By motivating, teaching, and encouraging young people to receive the holy name of Jesus Christ in their hearts and minds, to joyfully take up the cross of Christ, and to walk in holiness as His disciples and emissaries.” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

July Star

 

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” – Albert Einstein

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” — John F. Kennedy

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.” – Ronald Reagan

"Just found out that every Fourth of July, the British celebrate, ‘We Dodged a Bullet Day.’" — Conan O’Brien

Friendship Star

 

Some of my favorite movies are hiding bible verses:

National Treasure: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” – Matthew 6:21

Footloose: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, a time to heal; a time to break down, a time to build up; a time to weep, a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

San Andreas: “God is our refuge and strength.” – Psalms 46:1

Steel Magnolias: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.” – Job 1:21

Ben Hur: “He was wounded for our transgressions.” – Isaiah 53:5

Pay It Forward: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” – Luke 6:31

Titanic: “The Lord is my shepherd.” – Psalm 23

Double Square

 

Secrets to a Happy Life:

Focus on positive thinking. Look for the silver lining.

Celebrate little victories. Notice the small wins.

Find your work-life balance; stick with it.

Practice mindfulness. Be present and aware.

Be creative. Cook something. Grow something. Build something.

Accept imperfection. Embrace your humanity.

Do what you love. Find your true passion.

Spend wisely. Accumulate memories, not stuff.

Learn from the past, but live in the moment.

Cultivate gratitude. There’s always something to be thankful for.

Give back. The happiest people are generous.

Surprise yourself. Try new things.

Listen to and engage with music.

Be yourself. Don’t fret about others’ approval.

Build meaningful relationships.

Stop comparing yourself to others, especially on social media.

Worry can’t stop bad things from happening. It prevents you enjoying good things.

Hang out with happy people. Turns out, happiness is contagious.

Spend time in nature. Touch grass.

Reminisce over happy memories. Make new ones.

Four Split Four-Patches

 

Without much conscious effort on my part, my sewing room is looking very patriotic. It started when Quilts of Valor presented the Echo block and asked for donations. I rummaged through my scraps and quickly whipped up 49 of the simple blocks. Then our quilt guild selected the United quilt from Gigi’s Thimble for this year’s scrappy joint project, and I combed through the same red, white and blue prints to make over 100 7-inch American flags. Bonnie and Camille’s Early Bird quilt and Sparrows from Pen & Paper Patterns both employ other colors, but they’re still mostly red and blue. And then there’s this little project. It doesn’t really have a pattern. I haven’t done a postage stamp quilt in a while, and with all these red and white and blue scraps floating about, it just sort of happened. It might be time to clean the sewing room and move on.