Aunt Dinah

 

When someone started rifling through all the mailboxes in our neighborhood, we installed a Ring doorbell/camera. The mailbox raids stopped. We never caught the culprit, but we were surprised to see how many non-human visitors we get in the wee hours of the morning, primarily to use our yard as a toilet. Most are Canada geese. Some are semi-feral cats. And a few are neighbors’ dogs, with the neighbors in tow. McKenzie Sterdivant, a young Florida resident, says her mother complained someone was doorbell ditching around 3:00 or 4:00 every morning. McKenzie checked her mom’s Ring app, and discovered the nightly visitor was a large roach. Her story raises questions. Ring doorbells emit light. Don’t roaches generally avoid light? Is a roach strong enough to ring a doorbell? And if it is, how do you make it stop? Meanwhile, I have my own question. Should I post a sign saying, “We can see you. Please bag the poop?” 

Argyle Square

 

It’s hard to imagine an odder Hollywood couple than Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. Anne was by every definition a serious actress. She won awards for her roles on stage and screen, in works like The Graduate and The Miracle Worker. Mel achieved fame for being anything but serious, with films like The Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, and TV shows like Get Smart. Mel attended a rehearsal for the Perry Como show in 1961, and Anne was guest star. She sang a solo, and he leapt to his feet, applauding wildly. He shouted, “Anne Bancroft, I LOVE YOU!” He was surprised to learn she was a fan of his work, too. He stalked her for weeks before he worked up the courage to ask her out. They were children of immigrant parents, raised in NYC. It was a second marriage for both of them, but it was also (most likely) their last. 

Six Plain Pines

 

“Surely, when the final stitch is entered and the needle laid to rest, only the quilter can know the feeling of pride soaring within her soul. She has the contentment of knowing that long, hard journey has come to an end. She has conquered a challenge, and through her own patience and endurance, has created a loving work of art. It may live long after she has finished her walk upon this earth. Perhaps what makes a quilt so special is that pride a quilter knows – that deep in her heart she knows – some distant future generation may gaze upon her quilt, or touch its fragile threads, and still feel the love and care that she has sewn in every stitch.” – Debbie Anderson Searles

Four Extra-Large Stars

 

A woman was vacationing with her family in a small New England town. One morning, she got up early to take a long walk. After a five-mile hike, she drove to the bakery/ice cream parlor for a double-dip chocolate chip cone. There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman, sitting at the counter with a doughnut and coffee. The woman's heart skipped a beat as she made eye contact with those famous baby blues. The clerk filled her order and the star-struck woman left the shop, avoiding even a glance in Newman’s direction. When she reached her car, she realized she had a handful of change but her other hand was empty. Did she leave her cone in the store? Back into the shop she went. No ice cream cone was in sight. She happened to look over at Paul Newman. His face broke into a friendly grin and said, "You put it in your purse."

PInwheels

 

“Freedom for most people of the world means ‘freedom from’ the absence of malice or pain or suppression. But the freedom that God means when He deals with us goes one step further. He means ‘freedom to’—the freedom to act in the dignity of our own choice. What then does it mean to be free? Freedom means to have matured to the full knowledge of our dangerously many responsibilities as a human being. We have learned that everything we do, and even say or think, has consequences. We realize that too long we have believed that we were victims of circumstances. In the Gospel of John, 8:32, we read the following: ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ Let us always stay close to the loving, caring hand of our Redeemer and our Savior to find safety and joy.” – Elder F. Enzio Busche

Four Plain Pines

 

July 2, 1947 Mac Brazel, a rancher near Roswell, New Mexico discovered some interesting wreckage on his property. He didn’t recognize the metal it was made of and couldn’t decide what it had been before it crashed. He contacted military authorities who investigated and removed the wreckage. The first military reports – later rescinded – referred to an Unidentified Flying Object. The official story involved a downed weather balloon, which of course led to wide speculation and claims of a massive government cover-up. It’s far from the first UFO sighting, in fact, pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine blue, glowing objects in V-formation near Mt. Rainier just nine days earlier. But the Roswell incident really sparked our collective imagination. July second is World UFO Day. How to celebrate it? I’m reminded of that quote from the end of The Thing from Another World (1951): “Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!”

Extra-Large Sawtooth Star

 

“Some years ago, I was invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists, scientists, writers and discoverers of things.  I felt at any moment they’d realize I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who’d really done things. On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, and I started talking to a very nice elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. Then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, ‘I look at all these people, and think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.’ I said, ‘Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.’ And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did.” – Neil Gaiman