The Thinker

Newt vs. Mitt

2012-01-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

I jokingly remarked to my DH (Darling Husband) yesterday that the first names of the potential Republican candidates for POTUS, made me wish for names that sounded more “presidential.”

“Mitt”? Sounds mostly like baseball equipment. “Newt”? Sounds mostly like a salamander. Who takes a leader with a clownish name seriously?

You, of course, may or may not remember the shallow, inane, and laughable “he looks Presidential” standard invented by the media in the past twenty years . . . . Unfortunately, it’s still, more than ever, all about appearances and sound bites.

Yesterday, a voter in South Carolina was explaining why he voted for Newt. It had everything to do with being glib and not much to do with being good or doing what’s best for the country. He voted for Newt because he could be counted on in every future “toe-to-toe” debate with Obama to “win” the debate. However, how that translates into being an effective leader in the country and in the world, I don’t know.

It seems that the prevailing sentiment against Mitt may be largely due to his lack of “stage presence.” He seems viscerally uncomfortable with the way politics is done these days – requiring him to play popularity games and to regurgitate empty slogans and sound bites while “looking Presidential.” He seems nearly sick to death of it all. I cannot bear to watch the news clips of him and his family. To me it looks like it’s killing them all.

A great many people apparently have a hard time feeling a “connect” with Mitt. Of course, the anti-Mitt “cult of Mormonism” propaganda causes otherwise decent people to feel uneasy about him. Nevertheless, in our over-riding culture of entertainment, we seem to focus too much on “style” and symbolism. We like the style and the symbolism of the triumphant debate winner. We don’t value as highly the substance of a person’s moral character or his propensity for following time-honored guiding principles. Indeed, some people feel extremely uncomfortable and incredulous around someone who tries really hard to do the right thing all the time: “Is he for real???? Nobody’s that good!”

Pitiful.

So. Bottom line: I feel sad that so many Americans size up our political candidates using a measuring stick of shallow, inane, and often laughable criteria. And, of course, I fear for our country because of the tremendous power of the news media to shape our views and attitudes. Those who control the news media, control what we see and hear. Thereby, the media controls what we think and feel. And what we think and feel controls what we do.

Making Better Resolutions

2012-01-02T14:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in Relief Society, our lesson was Chapter One, “Living What We Believe,” from the new Teachings of Presidents of the Church manual. [If you don’t have a copy of this new book, the complete text is available online at lds.org.] On page one, we learn that George Albert Smith, at age 34, made a list of 11 ideals to live by, which he called his “personal creed.” The manual referred to them as “resolutions” – perhaps they used that word to inspire members of the Church in their personal New Year’s resolutions. Interestingly, the kinds of ideals on President Smith’s list are to be noted not only for what they included, but also for what they did NOT include:

George Albert’s list did NOT include going on a diet to lose 20 pounds (or any other weight goal).

George Albert’s list did NOT include exercising more to get physically fit (or any other physiological goal).

George Albert’s list did NOT include anything that would not really matter in the Eternities.

His list, in short, was a description of how he would follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in his daily actions throughout his life, being kind, gentle, and a blessing to all. While his goals certainly could be termed “lofty,” there was no spirit of “loftiness” – no pride nor arrogance or self-importance – to be found in any of the eleven ideals. Each of us would do well to adopt his creed as our own.

Obviously, personal creeds and New Year’s resolutions are not the same thing. I recently read some advice that could be applied to New Year’s resolutions. In Chapter 19 of Dallin Oaks’ new book, Life’s Lessons Learned, his advice about goal setting is useful if we want to make better resolutions:

“I believe in setting goals, especially the right kind of goals. I have learned that some goals can be an impetus for progress, but others can be little more than a source of frustration. … The ultimate goal for personal effort is to put the Lord first in our lives and to keep His commandments. Attaining that goal requires personal effort and does not depend on others. … Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in His commandments and His will for us prepare us to deal with life’s opportunities and circumstances….”

As I read that, I thought to myself, what would happen if I made just one New Year’s resolution for 2012, that in all things, I would “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”? The question I would ask myself in each situation would be what would the Lord have me do? The promise that follows seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is that “all these things shall be added unto you.” The “all things” Christ was referring to (see Matthew 6:24-34) were the temporal concerns of his disciples for food and clothing and other “Gentile” desires. He assured his disciples that Heavenly Father knew what they needed and would do a better job of supplying those needs than they could do by “taking thought.” (For us, “taking thought,” refers to obsessing over things beyond our control.)

My last year’s list of New Year’s Resolutions comprised 12 things I wanted to accomplish or improve on during 2011. All of these goals were good goals that required personal effort and did not depend on others. While most of these goals did see a little action, not one of them was successfully “completed.” In most cases, I had been too optimistic about my own strength and time available.

Nevertheless, I think I shall keep last year’s list because it expresses good desires. However, I think I may be more successful at actually improving if my motivation for working on any particular item on the list is to do God’s will.

I like the simplicity of what Elder Oaks said: “The ultimate goal for personal effort is to put the Lord first in our lives and to keep His commandments. … Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in His commandments and His will for us prepare us to deal with life’s opportunities and circumstances.”

A New Year Dawns

2012-01-01T15:19:00.004-07:00

The tumult and the shouting dies,

The captains and the kings depart.

Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet:

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.

The above verse from the Hymn, “God of Our Fathers, Known of Old,” came to my mind as I was contemplating this first day in the new year.

Last night there was a great “tumult” going on as fireworks were exploding around us because the neighbors were “bringing in the New Year” rather loudly. It didn’t completely wake me; but it was surprising how much noise there actually was.

In sweet contrast, the morning dawned peacefully enough. Nothing, not even the clock radio, disturbed the peace.

When we left for Church just before 9 a.m., the day was crisp and cold (but not bitterly cold), and the sun and the blue sky were cheerful. It seemed to be a symbolically optimistic beginning for our new year. And, being the Sabbath day, it seemed to be a glimpse of that Millenial Dawn we look forward to.

I thought about how the “captains” and the “kings” of this world are destined to “depart” when the King of Kings returns. All of the worldliness around us will also depart. All “tumult” and “shouting” will cease for a thousand years.

At that Millenial Dawn, the only possession worth having will be a humble and a contrite heart. We will need to have sacrificed all of the worldliness, tumult, and shouting from our lives and that dwells in our hearts and minds. It is an “ancient” sacrifice because all people in all times will have had to make this same sacrifice in order to “abide the day of His coming” (3 Nephi 24:2).

Lord God of Hosts, be with us in this new year, lest we forget….

2011-12-30T17:59:00.004-07:00

I discovered this morning that writer and atheist Chris Hitchens had died two weeks ago. I had intended to blog about him in November after reading some articles about him in the newspaper. Hitchens had said some outrageous things about Mormons and Mormonism that were responded to in the Deseret News [actually Mormon Times -- click on the image of Christ to the right to access Mormon Times] by a journalism and communications professor at BYU-Idaho, Lane Williams. I was familiar with Hitchens’ name because of having previously read David Berlinski’s book, The Devil’s Delusion, in which Berlinski took to task four prominent atheists (of which Hitchens was one), for their illogical thinking, and pointed out how laughable they and their “scientific pretensions” really were.

My afore-mentioned unwritten November blog would have actually been less about Hitchens than it would have been about my total surprise at my own feelings after reading Lane Williams’ thoughts. In his article, Williams mentioned that Hitchens was dying of cancer. He also quoted several of Hitchens’ statements that are complete falsehoods about Mormonism, as well as Hitchens’ outrageous condemnation of Mormon beliefs and practices as “weird” and “sinister.” Two things became immensely clear as I read what Hitchens had to say: first, Hitchens didn’t really know what he was talking about because he had obviously not studied any respected or unbiased sources of Mormon history, culture or beliefs; instead he had based his diatribes entirely on anti-Mormon screed and slanderous stereotypes; and, second – and most importantly – Hitchens was clearly not motivated by being an impassioned courageous speaker of truth (as he liked to be viewed), but by something else – his own irrational fears, anger, and hatred. Williams, however, kindly attributes Hitchens’ embarrassing failure at responsible journalism to mere laziness.

When I was done reading about Hitchens, how did I feel? I was surprised that I felt sorry for him instead of indignant that he had viciously maligned my beliefs. I not only pitied him because of the cancer that was ravaging his body, I grieved because of the spiritual cancer and spiritual death that he had either knowingly or unknowingly embraced in his mind and heart. I now understood what the Sons of Mosiah felt toward the Lamanites: “they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” (Mosiah 28:3)

The reason that I never got around to writing that blog in November was because several ideas for blogs occurred simultaneously. I had hoped that I would eventually get around to each of the several topics, but life intervened. This morning, I decided that maybe I should just briefly summarize the main ideas of each topic as a single year-end blog. A summarized statement about the Chris Hitchens topic might have been something to do with feeling love for one’s "enemies" or perhaps it would have been something to do with Hitchens being the embodiment of a “modern Korihor.” That was before I knew he had died. When I knew he had died, I guess I felt, “what a waste.” It is a pity that Hitchens, one so talented in turning a phrase and adept at stirring the emotions of his readers, wasted his gift and his life tearing down faith and vilifying believers, when he could have been a power for truth and righteousness for the Lord.

Science Still Doesn't Have All the Answers

2011-10-09T15:34:00.001-06:00

Scientists don’t have all the answers. But then, you knew that. Or you suspected it.

I love it when they admit that they were wrong. Were. Wrong. I love it when they begin to look foolish (think: Keystone Cops) as they fight among themselves about the validity of certain scientific “facts.”

However, what I love most is that they keep trying to get it right. And, I love it when they say they can’t explain some odd phenomenon. A little humility is so attractive.

Three recent events in the world of scientific research are instructive:

First: Daniel Shechtman received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last week, for his discovery, nearly 30 years ago (1982), of “quasicrystals.” Shechtman is now 70 years old; he would have been about 40 when he made his initial discovery. In 1982, he was ridiculed and expelled from his research group because what he claimed he had found was “impossible,” and because he had thus brought “disgrace” on the team. The problem of quasicrystals is that they “break all the rules” of being a crystal.

For me, this is an illustration that God’s chemistry textbook actually has “all the rules,” including many rules which scientists haven’t discovered yet.

Second: A bunch of scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics last week for deciding that the universe is actually expanding at an ever-faster rate. Now, as any kid could tell you, this is clearly impossible. Remember the laws of inertia and gravity? After the Big Bang, gravity would cause the outward expansion to eventually slow to a stop, and then everything might even reverse and collapse in upon itself. Since they really can’t explain what might be the cause of an ever-increasing speed of expansion, the scientists had to invent a new power: “dark energy.” They decided that this mysterious force, “dark energy”— which counteracts gravity, must make up more than 70% of the universe. 70%!!!

For me, this fits right into God’s plan and creations. God’s power—which fills the universe(!)— is 100%.

Third: Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light – right? Scientists in Italy and Switzerland are not so sure about that any more. It seems that neutrinos fired from Switzerland to Italy traveled 60 billionths of a second faster than light. Potentially this has huge implications not only for physicists, but for everyone. For one thing, Einstein’s theory of special relativity goes out the window (I suspect there is something faster than a neutrino, and that was Einstein turning over in his grave at the news about the neutrinos). Charles Krauthammer remarked, “It has to be impossible because, if not, everything we know about the universe is wrong.”

Well, if everything scientists know about the universe is wrong, that just might turn out to be a real moment of truth for them ….

Meanwhile, I can smile gently because I know that God is real and that he is our Heavenly Father who loves us, and that our lives here are part of his magnificent plan for our happiness and eternal life.

Once Upon a . . . .

2011-09-07T10:05:00.001-06:00

It was half a life-time ago!

What an odd realization.

Emily-Pemilie-Quarts is 33 today!

Times two and she will be in my shoes!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Pirates of the Water Gardens

2011-07-18T10:31:00.002-06:00

Last Friday, The Knight and I went to the movies. But while the rest of the world was clamoring for tickets to see the latest/final Harry Potter movie, we chose instead to see the last “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, “On Stranger Tides.” We decided that our chances of getting tickets to Harry Potter were probably bleak, at best, so we didn’t even try.

As it turned out, it was a little tricky getting tickets to “Pirates,” as well. Only one theater in the area, “Water Gardens” in Pleasant Grove, was still having regular showings; while a second theater was having only one showing of “Pirates” per day, at 9:30 at night.

So, we took in the 1:10 p.m. “Pirates” at the “Water Gardens.” This was our first experience with the “Water Gardens.” This is an older theater. No stadium seating. No decorative light sconces on the walls. No lights whatsoever, actually. No curtains. No cup holders. No high-backed, cushy rocking chairs. No water gardens either.

But they did boast “reserved seating.” You actually select your seats from a chart. And the tickets were only $3.00. The advantage/disadvantage of no lights in the theater is that you could not see how clean (or not clean) the place was, or what you might be sitting in/on. Or who or what you might be sitting next to.

We noticed while we were in the ticket line that there were a great number of children of all ages – whole families, apparently – who were soon to join us in the darkened theater. Once the movie was under way, my attention was drawn to the voice seated behind me. I guessed him to be between 5 and 8 years of age. He was speaking to his little brother who was maybe 3-4 years old. “Don’t look,” he was advising his little brother, “it might scare you!” Similar brotherly comments continually tutored the little brother throughout the movie. I was not bothered or annoyed with the comments. I found them charming and comforting to me as well.

So, why were each of us adults there watching Johnny Depp playing pirates? Was it because we feel nostalgic about when we played pirates when we were kids? Does it remind us of the time we made wooden lath “swords” crudely nailed together to brandish in play-acted sword fights and got splinters in our hands? Do we recall with childlike joy how we cobbled together some kind of “treasure chest” to bury and find again with a treasure map? If nostalgia was our motivation, did watching “On Stranger Tides” help us relive our childhood innocence?

I suppose some movie-goers were there just to watch Johnny Depp swagger, flash his gold teeth, slur his words, out-smart everyone, and somehow manage to not get his eye makeup rubbed off, nor to ever need a change of clothing. (Harry Potter is not the only screen character capable of magic.)

Two-plus hours later, I stumbled out of the theater into the blazing sunlight of a glorious summer day with the movie’s soundtrack adventure theme solidly imprinted in my mind and ears. As I passed by one wench … er… woman … who had just watched the same movie, I heard her loudly saying to another wench ... er ... woman that she would see her at the Temple at 6 p.m. that evening for Ward Temple Night.

I am inadequate in expressing how incongruous the concept of the Temple juxtaposed with the environment and context of the pirate movie seemed to my mind. It was highly disturbing to me, in fact. We had just attended the Temple 24 hours earlier. My memories of the up-lifting and enlightening peace and joy of the Temple were still fresh in my mind. And now, 24 hours later, here I was staggering out of a dark theater imbued with visions of violence and suggestions of debauchery. I felt somewhat tarnished – as if I were stumbling out of a tavern after having imbibed for two-plus hours.

The contrasts of the Temple vs. the Theater were stark. Similar stark contrasts were what Moses experienced after having talked with God face to face and then having a frightening and dark encounter with Satan. “Where is thy glory?” Moses asked Satan who was professing to be God. Where was the deep joy/satisfaction I was hoping to find in watching a pirate movie?

On the positive side, there was a positive note mixed in with all the sword play and Johnny Depp nonsense. The real hero in the movie was the Missionary who saved the Mermaid’s life, and then she saved him. Bravo to the Missionary! Bravo to real heroes everywhere!

BLACKHAWK HELICOPTERS OVER PROVO

2011-06-24T18:31:00.001-06:00

This week, while the Knight and I were working in the yard one morning, the unmistakable sound of helicopters suddenly filled the air. I stopped what I was doing and looked skyward. The sound became louder and louder, and finally the first helicopter came into view, quickly followed by a second, then a third . . . .

In all, there were eight of them. Black military helicopters. They were flying in a kind of staggered formation. They came from the north, flew over Provo to the east of us, and headed south towards Springville and Spanish Fork. I felt that I had just witnessed something special. Wow!

I wondered what they were doing and where they were going. Before the day was over, I knew the answers to my questions. The eight Blackhawks plus 66 National Guard Troops were on their way to Texas, and from there they were going to Afghanistan for a one-year deployment.

The following are photos from the Deseret News:

The front page photo of this Deseret News story was of the boy crying. All I could think was, “I pray your father returns home safely.” I don’t think most of us appreciate the monumental sacrifices made by these families.

The Deseret News article, "Utah Guard Blackhawk crews bound for Afghanistan," was written by Steve Fidel. The photos were by Revell Call.

WATCHING FORECASTS

2011-06-23T14:29:00.001-06:00

The UNpredictable-ness of the weather goes without saying. In spite of sophisticated satellite and radar technology or advanced degrees in meteorology, the TV weather guys are lucky to be spot-on only about 50 percent of the time.

Last night they told us that the major flooding caused by snow melt, which they have been forecasting as imminent since May, is finally going to happen. However, last night’s prediction was made with more than normal confidence. It appears that a heat wave this week is inevitable. And rapid snow melt is, therefore, inevitable.

What is interesting to me was how June refused to act like June until yesterday. The cooler than normal and dryer than normal June has seemed to me to be Providential. It seemed to me that major flooding was held in abeyance for as long as possible to give more people more time to prepare for the inevitable. There have, of course, been others who were the unfortunate victims of early flooding. Their plight, widely publicized, has helped to galvanize hundreds of volunteers into action filling sand bags and helping the victims. Nevertheless, the unusually slow warm-up has probably spared the vast majority of flood zone residents an utter catastrophe.

A city official from a local community in a flood zone was interviewed on TV last night. He was full of confidence that his community is prepared for the coming flood. The sand bags are in place. More sand bags and large equipment are ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. I sincerely hope his optimism is justified. Other communities that have failed to respond in like manner now face inevitable disaster.

As I watch the various forecasts and the reports of nature unleashed, I know full well that some kind of disaster could also befall me, just as it has befallen countless multitudes across the globe recently. As I have watched, I have wondered, “ How well am I prepared?”

I have witnessed the Hand of God holding back the forces of nature as well as of unrighteous political entities. I know that He gives us many warnings and more than ample time to prepare. He is a merciful God. But the inevitable is, after all, inevitable.

However, I am comforted that there is a “one-size-fits-all” preparation. After doing all we can do with food storage and financial reserves and 72-hour kits, we may or may not be prepared to weather any coming storms. But the one-size-fits-all preparation that will help anyone weather any potential disaster is spiritual preparation. This is done persistently one day at a time, seeking the Holy Ghost and the Lord’s guiding hand in all that we do, keeping in tune with spiritual promptings. This is the only Sure Way.

... just "watching" ...

Telephone Phantoms

2011-05-20T10:51:00.000-06:00

Last night at 10:30, when all was quiet at our house (except for the soft snores of The Knight), and as I was drifting off to sleep, the phone rang.

Being only half awake, I responded instinctively: It might be some emergency call from one of our loved ones. "Hello?" I said in an anxious voice, wondering who might have died.

"Hello. Is Paul there?" asked a female voice that I did not recognize.

Odd. Very odd.

"Who's calling please?" I asked, still trying to clear the sleep cobwebs from my mind

A slight pause. "Cheryl," she said.

Hmmm. We know two Cheryls, a sister-in-law, and a niece. Why would either of them be phoning to ask for Paul?

"Cheryl who?" I asked with just a hint of challenge in my tone.

Another pause. This one longer. "I'm a friend of Paul's," she said in a tone that plainly indicated she was not going to tell me anything more.

I was fully awake now. No last name. Someone avoiding revealing her identity. But why?

It was my turn to pause as I considered leveling another challenge at the mystery caller. Instead I turned to The Knight, and I said in a tone loud enough for Cheryl to hear: "Your 'Friend' Cheryl wants to talk to you." The stress on the word Friend was dripping with sarcasm.

The Knight took the phone. The first thing Cheryl asked him was, "Was that your wife?" -- as if surprised at my presence or existence.

The Knight was still struggling to wake up and also to identify the voice. He decided that she might be sister-in-law Cheryl, and asked her if that was who she was. A couple of interchanges later, she provided her last name and said she had phoned the wrong "Paul."

So, it was NOT a scam phone call from a bogus 'relative' needing money to get out of jail in Bogota. A few months back, as you may recall, we got a call from a "granddaughter" who needed money in British Columbia to get out of jail. At that time, I quickly alerted The Knight that this was a frequently used scam.

I was glad that this call was not another scam, just a wrong number. Just an unapologetic and inconsiderate caller.

After The Knight said goodbye to Cheryl, I said, "From now on, if a caller will not identify himself or herself with a complete name, I am going to just hang up on them."

Hanging up on a caller who evades revealing his/her identity is not rude. Callers who play identity games are being rude and offensive and do not deserve another moment of my time.

AS A CHILD

2011-04-04T15:39:00.001-06:00

I was recently touched by reading the following:

Two-year-old Matthew supplied me a lesson.

He cried, I thought without reason, in bed tonight. He asked several times if I'd blow his nose for him or hold the tissue while he blew his nose.

After three or four trips, I stalked into his room and asked, "Do you want me to spank you?"

He nodded yes. I asked again, this time illustrating with my raised hand.

He said, "Yes."

Suddenly my heart melted as I realized he trusted me so much that if I thought a spanking would help his problem, that's what he wanted.

I rocked him for a while and realized to my further softening that he had a stuffed nose from a cold that was just beginning. That had been his discomfort. I got some tissues for him, gave them to him in bed, and told him to blow as much as he would like.

He said, "Thanks."

I went away a chastened man.

This incident appears in Henry B. Eyring's book, "Because He First Loved Us." I suppose I was touched because I too have experienced being impatient with a child when I didn't understand what his problem was. I was also impressed because President Eyring was humble enough to share this story without white-washing his own behavior.

And I suppose it also reminded me of another little two-year-old, whose name is Henry, who melts my heart on a daily basis.

"Do you want to go to bed?" asks his parent sternly-- indicating the punishment that is looming if Henry doesn't behave properly.

"Bed," responds a sorrowful Henry, meekly submitting to his punishment.

President Eyring points out that these little children are examples for us to follow. To be acceptable to God, we must become "willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon us, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19).

The Dodo

2011-03-18T10:14:00.000-06:00

The stereotype firmly attached to the Dodo Bird is that it was too dumb to flee and too fat to fly. Thus it became extinct in the 1600s.

So, the term “Dodo-head” is not a compliment, as it suggests a fundamental – nay, a fatal – lack of intelligence. And he was not very cute either.

I confess that a few weeks ago, I found myself uttering “Dodo-head” under my breath on a rather frequent basis. This epithet was most often directed at the preposterous things I was finding in many of the Family Trees on Ancestry.com. (As well as on other genealogy websites that shall remain nameless . . . .)

The Knight was somewhat shocked to hear me spewing such colorful invective. He gently suggested that I ought not to say such things.

He’s right, of course.

But like so many other bad habits that are important to break, attempting to repent of this one seemed to result in an alarming increase in the recurrences of said bad habit.

I found myself saying “Dodo-head” All. The. Time.

To the cats.

To other drivers.

To talking heads on TV.

To inanimate objects.

In short, to anything whatsoever that caused the tiniest bit of frustration.

Yesterday, I was in a hurry as I was typing data into my PAF file, and I kept mis-typing. And . . . you guessed it: I heard myself calling myself “Dodo-head.”

If I have to be a Dodo-head, I hope I can at least be a cute one.

SPRING ... FORWARD

2011-03-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was debating about which blog I should write: One about daylight saving time? Or one about Spring?

Daylight saving time begins next Sunday, while Spring begins the following Sunday.

Thinking about DST always makes me feel a bit depressed because we essentially will be retreating back to the darkness of early mornings typical of January. We will not regain early light again for another month.

In contrast, thinking about Spring makes me feel excited and optimistic because soon there will be daffodils, and Gordon’s crocuses blooming across the street. And robins returning in big flocks. And buds on the trees. And violets between the cobblestones in the backyard. And warm southern breezes. And apricot trees in bloom. And birdsong at dawn.

It’s too bad that DST’s “spring forward” so often carries negative connotations for me, as it seems to be an oxymoron for a big step backward. But, now, I am going to try really hard to think of DST as just another wonderful harbinger of Spring.

Spring Forward!!!

BARGAINS

2011-02-19T13:36:00.003-07:00

A “bargain price” is a highly esteemed reason to spend a small amount of money. At least in my world. In The Knight’s world, however, being able to say, “Money is no object!” is even more highly to be esteemed.

An example of this dichotomy played out yesterday. The Knight announced that he wanted to go see a certain newly released movie, “I Am Number Four,” which he’d read a newspaper movie review on just that morning. It’s understandable, of course, that he’d want to see that particular movie because of his being a science fiction fan.

The first thing that popped into my mind, however, was: Newly Released Movie at Matinee Prices [paying full price is totally unacceptable and out of the question], Means Spending $10 to $12 Dollars! … That’s half the cost of a DVD these days! But then, I don’t approve of buying DVDs either because they are so expensive, especially considering that after I’ve seen a movie once or twice, in most cases I never care to watch it again. On top of that, if I really want to see a certain movie, I can [eventually] get it at the public library for $1. (Of course, I do prefer the theatre’s huge screen to the TV’s more modest-sized screen.) Naturally, the perfect compromise is to go to the “Dollar Theater” and spend only $3!!

Wisely, I avoided saying any of my thoughts because I knew that The Knight would just say, “I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE MONEY!!!!!”

So, my next task was to see if there was a movie at the Dollar Theater that would be an acceptable substitute for the desired science fiction one at the more expensive theater. But first, I needed some persuasive reasons for rejecting “Number Four” and then some other persuasive reasons for preferring some other movie.

It was too easy. Easier than taking candy from a baby. I read the “Plugged-In” movie review on line of “I Am Number Four” which politely described it as a movie whose target audience was young teens, and how the young male star spent considerable time in the film without his shirt on, and how it was a cross between Twilight and Harry Potter. Enough said (even though much more negative stuff could be said).

As luck would have it, the Dollar Theater was showing “The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dawn Treader.” The Knight has long been a fan of “The Chronicles of Narnia.” I didn’t even have to worry about compiling a list of good reasons for choosing Dawn Treader over Number Four.

Now here is the rest of the inside story: I have NOT been a fan of The Chronicles. Many years ago I read book one of the series, and I didn’t care to read more (even though The Knight thought the series was terrific). I watched some of the BBC serialized versions when they came out because The Knight expected them to be wonderful. I hated them. I watched the previous two movies in the series (because of The Knight), and did not like them enough to watch them again. The first one was too cloying. The second one was completely unappealing to me. I had no desire to see any others in the series. Ever.

So, here I was between a rock and a hard place: choose to go see a second-rate teen movie which I knew I would hate and also spend too much money to do so (which I would hate even more), or choose to go to see a movie I would probably find tedious at best, but spend only a pittance to do so. You can guess which one I chose.

The Knight (bless his acquiescent little heart) accepted my evaluation of Number Four and also accepted the substitute of Dawn Treader. He may have been a little disappointed, but he did not express such. He really loves action films, and “Number Four” would probably have fit that bill. A few times during “Dawn Treader,” I actually feared that he might be falling asleep or was bored.

As for me, this was a case of ‘having-low-expectations-may-occasionally-result-in-being-pleasantly-surprised’! Dawn Treader seemed to me to be a vast improvement over the previous two movies in the series. It was less cloying and more edifying. Edifying with a delicate touch and not a heavy hand. The theme of overcoming evil and temptation, and conquering the darkness within one’s own heart was excellently portrayed. The theme of being forgiven and healed by a Savior also worked. Tears sprang to my eyes as I recognized the truths being portrayed.

So, in the end, I was quite pleased with the bargain. The Knight, in days to come, will undoubtedly pay eight times as much as we paid for the Dollar Theater tickets, to own the DVD.

I can live with that.

NOT ALL THERE

2011-02-09T10:36:00.002-07:00

I turned to speak to God

About the world’s despair;

But to make bad matters worse

I found God wasn’t there.

God turned to speak to me

(Don’t anybody laugh);

God found I wasn’t there—

At least not over half.

The poet, in the first four lines above, expresses the overwhelming despair of the Ultimate Despair: What if God isn’t there?

Then, in a perfect 180-degree change of perspective and feeling in the last four lines he expresses his feeling of foolishness for doubting, as well as immense relief that God IS there!

I thought of this Robert Frost poem last Saturday as I read a newspaper article about British physicist Stephen Hawking and a Wall Street Journal article he co-wrote titled, “Why God Did Not Create the Universe.”

This article (based on his new book, The Grand Design) is a symbol of Hawking proudly, perhaps defiantly, turning his back on God, and bowing down to the god of science.

There was a time when Hawking gave God at least a respectful nod, such as when he said that if a complete theory of physics were discovered, then “we would know the mind of God.”

It is not uncommon for individuals with severe physical afflictions, such as Hawking has, to “charge God foolishly” (unlike Job in the Old Testament). Or in other words to ask, “If there is a God, why would He do this to me or let this happen to me?”

Such individuals may emotionally reject God because they feel forgotten or rejected by God. Of course, living a lifetime feeling rejected by God Himself is untenable. It is easier to pretend God isn’t there; to mentally and emotionally erase Him from existence.

Atheists claim that they feel free and powerful once they embrace atheism. Indeed, psychologically they feel that they are even more powerful than God and smarter than God, because they have “killed” God.

This phenomenon can be seen in the story of Korihor who taught “There is no God” because it was “pleasing to the carnal mind.” (Alma 30:53). Hawking is, I believe, an example of this psychological coping mechanism.

With this insight, I felt tender compassion for Stephen Hawking.

I also felt humbly grateful that I regularly experience the “peace that passeth understanding” simply knowing God IS there.

Not all scientists are atheists. My physics professor, Kent Harrison, is an example of a man with a brilliant mind that can grasp the intricacies of unproven “string theory” and “M-theory” (ideas that Hawking finds attractive), yet he does not reject God. Indeed, he is a humble, gentle man full of faith. Harrison, in a letter to the editor about the Hawking article, said:

“Claims that science explains everything are simply incorrect. Many scientists believe in God. Many observations about the universe they see support that belief. We are not in a position to claim final knowledge. Thus, ultimately, it is a matter of faith.”

The poet was accurate on another level. When we go about our lives neglecting or ignoring the spiritual aspect, we ARE only “half there.” We see only half of what is really going on. And we are only half as successful as we might be. …If that.

Lee ... Who?

2011-01-27T10:12:00.002-07:00

Let’s think about Lehi. He had dreams and he had visions. He shared those dreams and visions with his wife and children. He also tried to share things God had revealed to him with the people of Jerusalem—and because they didn’t like what he had to say—which sounded a lot like: “REPENT!!”—the people of Jerusalem wanted to kill him.

What was the reaction of his wife and children to his dreams and visions? Skepticism, mostly. Even Nephi, who believed his father’s words, did not just passively accept everything Lehi said. Nephi never said: “Whatever Dad says is good enough for me!” He always went to the Lord for confirmation and further instruction. Laman and Lemuel, of course, thought their father was crazy. And they certainly didn’t believe that God communicated to Lehi—or anyone else—through dreams and visions.

What do you think Lehi’s motive was in sharing his dreams and visions? Did he just want to make people angry? Was his motive to make his family miserable? Or send them on guilt trips? Or embarrass them in the community and with their friends? No. Lehi was motivated by love. Because he loved his family and his neighbors, he warned them of danger. He told them of destruction to come. Only a few people listened and believed. The majority scoffed, made mock of him, and wanted to permanently silence him.

If Lehi lived today, he’d have an even harder time because the scoffers and mockers would post a video on YouTube of a mob laughing him to scorn. The police would arrest him on suspicion of being on hallucinogenic drugs. The electronic and print media would condemn him for his “hate speech” with headlines demanding government intervention. The Hollywood elite would label him “UnAmerican” and a kill-joy. Laman and Lemuel would try to have him declared senile and a danger to himself as well as others and have him put in an institution.

Are there “Lehi’s” among us today? In other words, are there people inspired by God today who are warning us of dangers to us and our families? If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever – which I believe to be true – then He would have to give the world enough “Lehi’s” to sound in every ear.

Who are these Lehi’s? You can probably name some individuals who are obvious modern-day Lehi’s. I would like to suggest that they are numerous. Some of them are Mrs. Lehi’s. Some are young, some are old. One of them could be you.

I believe that being a warning voice like Lehi was is one of the assignments we were given to fulfill on this earth in our day. We are to be warning voices. We should be able to warn our spouse and our children or our parents and our grandparents or our best friend and our neighbors when our eyes or minds are enlightened by the Spirit as to a danger.

And if they come to us with such a warning, we should be humble enough to listen carefully, and to get confirmation from God. Their motivation is love. It is so easy to get offended and to act like Laman and Lemuel: “God made no such thing known unto me—therefore I won’t believe you!” Remember how they refused to listen to Nephi their younger brother because he was younger? They refused to listen to Lehi because it meant an end to their comforts and pleasures. They even became hard-hearted enough that they refused to listen to angels.

Some people will not listen to or learn from a woman, or a younger person, or an old person, or a person with bad grammar. Others have other prejudices. Because of pride, they do not recognize the voice of the Spirit speaking through the voice of someone they are familiar with or feel superior to.

I believe we are expected to be “Lehi’s” and to “stand for truth and righteousness.” At the same time, we are also expected to be like Nephi and Sam, humble and teachable. When the “Lehi’s” among us warn us to depart from Babylon (and I believe that is happening), it is time to hit the road, not make jokes about Lehi’s latest ridiculous over-the-top rant or make excuses for not giving up our favorite Babylonian entertainments.

When I Was A Child

2011-01-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, I collected photos of movie stars, carefully clipping them from the newspaper every week, and scotch-taping them into a spiral notebook in lieu of a real scrapbook. I watched every movie that was broadcast on TV, carefully noting how the female stars dressed, wore makeup, coiffed their hair, and how they behaved or treated others. From the movies I learned about fashion and beauty, love and happily-ever-after, and about exotic, romantic places far from a farm in the middle of America. And, as you might expect, when I was a child, I wanted to grow up to be a movie star.

That was back in the day when most movie stars actually tried to be decent people who wouldn’t shock the old folks back home in Indiana—or in any other place in middle-America—where the traditional values of “Mom, apple pie, and the Fourth of July” were upheld. I especially admired Doris Day with her squeaky-clean, all-American, girl-next-door image. For those of you too young to remember her, as of 2009, Doris Day was the top-ranking female box office star of all time and ranked sixth among the top ten box office performers (male and female) of all time. Surprised? Impressed? Me too!

When things began to change in Hollywood, I was a teenager. The huge scandal with Eddie Fisher divorcing Debbie Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor was a highly disturbing and deeply disappointing tragedy in my view. With all the anguish a thirteen-year-old can feel, I was angry with Eddie Fisher, I lost respect for Elizabeth Taylor, and I felt sorry for and empathized with Debbie Reynolds. I struggled to comprehend how any decent, self-respecting man could justify abandoning his wife and little daughter, even if it was to marry “the most beautiful woman in the world” (that’s what they called Liz Taylor). Carrie Fisher (“Princess Leia”) was age two when Eddie dumped her mother to marry Liz. Before the dust could settle on that disaster, Liz dumped Eddie for Richard Burton. It made your head spin. My movie star icons now seemed indelibly tarnished and unfathomably flawed.

Although my esteem of movie stars in general had been shaken, I continued watching movies in spite of the tarnished and flawed stars in them. When I graduated from high school and was gainfully employed, I saw nearly every movie that came to town in addition to watching the movies being broadcast on TV. As the years passed, I continued to love watching movies of many kinds. (I also continued to be disappointed in movie star lifestyles.)

One of the things I’ve loved about movies is that they create an alternate world that offers a brief escape and respite from the day-to-day reality and cares of this life. If the movie progresses and ends satisfactorily, it can even be therapeutic. Unfortunately, there is also a potential downside. Escapism may become an addiction. Too much time spent in the alternate movie world may render a person unable or unwilling to grapple successfully with the real world. Other “side effects” may occur as well. (I am sure you can supply your own lengthy list of “side effects.”)

I watch relatively few movies these days in contrast to my viewing habits as a younger person. The two major reasons for the change: (1) there are fewer movies that appeal to me, and (2) I have more important things to do. I am working on articulating further reasons . . . .

Something along the lines of … “putting away childish things” … “not trying to keep one foot in Babylon and one foot in the Kingdom of God … “this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” … .

I think you get the picture.

Speaking of OLD

2011-01-24T12:14:00.001-07:00

So the Knight and I went to a flick Saturday night. ...At the Dollar Theater.

I'd heard about the movie when it first came out last fall, and decided then that I might like to see it ...when it eventually came to the Dollar Theater. I am a Bruce Willis fan.

"RED" (retired and extremely dangerous) was billed as an "Action-Comedy." As I watched it, I agreed that it was full of action and comedy. And something more.

I discerned during the first fifteen minutes that it was also a Fantasy.

I figured that out when a small army of gun-toting guys in body armor snuck up on Bruce Willis at 3 a.m. as he slept in his all-American house in his all-American neighborhood. When they opened-up their machine-gun fire on the house, I noticed right away that we had just entered Fantasyland because not one of Bruce's all-American neighbors woke up at the cacophony of World War Three out in the street and phoned 911. As a matter of fact, the guns blasted away long enough, putting a zillion holes in the house, that when Bruce sauntered out the front door, the house collapsed.

It was similar to "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" which was also a Fantasy. I remember seeing it in the theater when it first came out and that the Knight and I were almost the only ones in the theater who were laughing.

Then there was the scene in which Bruce Willis demolishes the entire office of "Mr. Cute Hair" ("Bones" to you Trekies) as he beats up Mr. Cute Hair, and no one in the adjoining offices hears a thing. Fantasy.

Or how about when the old KGB guy scoops up the love of his life (Helen Mirren) and carries her to safety in his arms. Fantasy. I'm afraid that I couldn't help but notice how odd it looked from the back. The camera angle didn't let you see the wheeled prop under her, but realistically the old guy couldn't have done it--even if Helen Mirren had weighed only 50 pounds.

So, I thought "RED" was a funny flick.

The Knight liked the explosions and the action (are you surprised?). The movie was definitely "entertainment."

What I liked best about "RED" was the "message" about old people. It said that old people can do whatever they want to do. Like outsmart the CIA. Like rip-up their pension checks for love. Like beat up people half their age. Like .... oh, yeah .... more examples of Fantasy.

Ferris: You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go.

Darling I Am Growing Old!

2011-01-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

Just got the news from Becky: we are going to be GREAT-GRANDPARENTS!

Resolution Redux

2011-01-17T14:31:00.005-07:00

Almost before I posted the previous blog, I was already rethinking and revising my new approach to New Year’s resolutions. While heartily agreeing with the Eyre’s Three Priorities philosophy, I saw right away that I needed to tweak the rest of their suggestions. Their balance points of “family, work, and self” just didn’t quite fit or feel right. For one thing, I don’t “work” or have a career.

However, President Uchtdorf’s October Conference talk, “Of Things that Matter Most,” was particularly helpful to me in selecting basic balance or focus points. Although he divided his priorities into 4 areas, God, Family, Fellowman, and Self, I condensed them into three: God, Others (which includes family and fellowman), and Self. Under those 3 basic priorities, I outlined my basic daily focus points.

The first two weeks of January have now passed. I am still trying to get into the habit of re-reading my priorities page with its focus points early in the day. All too frequently, however, I get launched out of bed and right into taking care of business. When I do stop and take the time to re-read my priorities page and focus points, I feel a sense of calm and purpose. And joy. Joy that I can focus on eternally important things.

I don’t expect Perfection, therefore, I cannot “fail.”

I do anticipate Improvement. In that, I have already had success!

Will It Matter In Five Years?

2010-12-27T14:04:00.004-07:00

It was about a year ago that I read a blog by Dian Thomas titled, “This New Year—Live a Designer Life.” She listed ten things she was going to do during the 2010 New Year to accomplish specific goals to make her life what she wanted it to be. Initially, I thought “YES! This is what I am going to do, too!” I immediately set about coming up with my list of ten things. I think my enthusiasm lasted all of two minutes (if that).

Then I felt very tired.

Defeated, I put away Dian’s blog for some other time.

I never got back to it.

It wasn’t that I forgot; it just always made me tired to think about it.

This morning, I read yet another article in the newspaper about making New Year’s resolutions. I almost just skipped it, saying to myself, “Making resolutions is a sure-fire guarantee that I will utterly fail at every single thing I list!” Perhaps the word resolution carries a negative connotation of compulsion which causes me to instinctively resist.

But, I read the article anyway, and decided that they (writers Linda and Richard Eyre) wisely offered a common sense approach to making resolutions. They suggested that resolutions should be our priorities; and that to know whether something is worth doing well, ask the following three questions:

Will it matter in five years?

Do I need it?

Can I simplify it?

Then they suggest that three is the magic number when it comes to resolutions or focusing on priorities. Juggling three balls is relatively easy, they say; four balls are many times more difficult. The mind, they point out, can stay consistently conscious of three items. With four or more, some are always overlooked or forgotten.

The Eyers then tell us that the highest, deepest, and truest priorities of life fit into the three categories, family, work, and self. (“Self” includes service and interests.)

Each day we are to spend just five minutes deciding on the single most important thing we can do that day for our family, for work, and for ourselves. We are to list these three choose-to-dos before listing any have-to-dos. Thinking hard enough to establish one single priority for each day, they assure us, will cause our minds to stay aware of all three priorities all day long.

It sounds just simple enough and easy enough to be doable! I felt optimistic, not tired!!

To read their entire article, “Our Resolutions Ought to Be Our Priorities,” go to:
http://www.deseretnews.com/site/staff/10023/Linda-Eyre.html

People Like That

2010-12-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

— Mark Twain

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy."

— Dave Barry

Outriggers for My Canoe

2010-12-13T11:37:00.003-07:00

Maintaining perspective and equilibrium in daily life is not easy. My very small canoe on the vast ocean of life is easily rocked, swamped, or capsized. I recognize that my vulnerable vessel needs outriggers. Outriggers on a canoe are somewhat like training wheels on a bicycle. The difference is a bicyclist soon outgrows his need for training wheels, while the most experienced sailor of a small craft on the ocean is wise enough to know that he will never outgrow his need for outriggers on his boat.

The best outriggers that help me maintain perspective and equilibrium on a daily basis can be found through contemplating the truths in the scriptures and drawing inspiration from the words and lives of those who have overcome the world, or who are “fighting the good fight.” Their admirable examples help me to try a little harder to be a little better.

For example, I feel encouraged and stronger and able to meet the challenges of the day as I contemplate the strength and wisdom of Mother Teresa:

Words to Live By:

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world your best and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.
It never was between you and them anyway.
~Mother Teresa~

With God at my side -- since this is all about Him and me -- I can let go of hurt feelings, I can be kind, I can chose to be happy, I can notice His blessings and be grateful for them, I can be a blessing to others, and thus, I will find more joy (and safety) in my journey.

Win The War On Germs

2010-10-29T11:02:00.013-06:00

The following is from Prevention Magazine, and may actually keep you and your family healthier:

You may scrub your toilet and countertops until they shine, but these ten scary new bacteria breeding grounds require just as much attention.

Germs (the catchall name for bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms) are everywhere--at home, in the office, even in your car. Luckily, about 99% of them can't harm us. But the other 1% can be annoying, uncomfortable, or downright scary: Most of these pathogens are either viral or bacterial and can cause everything from a runny nose to a potentially life-threatening infection.

You may think you know the obvious places that germs propagate--the doctor's office, the soles of your shoes--but many more germ-friendly locales are completely unexpected yet no less dangerous. We uncovered a host of surprising new spots where germs like to lurk, and offer easy solutions to keep you and your family safe and healthy.

That metal aeration screen at the end of the faucet is a total germ magnet.
Running water keeps the screen moist, an ideal condition for bacteria growth. Because tap water is far from sterile, if you accidentally touch the screen with dirty fingers or food, bacteria can grow on the faucet . . . . Over time, bacteria build up and form a wall of pathogens called biofilm that sticks to the screen. Eventually, that biofilm may even be big enough to break off and get onto your food or dishes.

Keep It Clean: Once a week, remove the screen and soak it in a diluted bleach solution--follow the directions on the label. Replace the screen, and let the water run a few minutes before using.

2. Garbage Disposal
Bacteria from last night’s dinner could end up on today’s food and utensils if you’re not careful.
In fact, there are often more than 500,000 bacteria in the kitchen sink--about 1,000 times more than the average toilet has. Although the metal part of the disposal produces ions that can help kill germs, they still love to grow on the crevices in and around the slimy rubber stopper. That means your disposal can become party central for bacteria, contaminating whatever touches it--dishes, utensils, even your hands.

Keep It Clean: At least once a week, clean the disposal's rubber stopper with a diluted bleach solution--soap and water aren't enough.

3. Welcome Mat
It serves to greet not only your guests but also all the bugs on the bottoms of their shoes.
In fact, one study found that nearly 96% of shoe soles had traces of coliform, which includes fecal bacteria. The area near your front door is one of the dirtiest in the house. Once bacteria plant their stakes in your mat, anytime you walk on it, you give them a free ride into your home.

Keep It Clean: Spray the doormat once a week with a fabric-safe disinfectant (such as Lysol Disinfectant Spray). Leave shoes at the door, and avoid resting bags and groceries on the mat, too

4. Vacuum Cleaner
It’s all in the bag—including spreadable germs.
Vacuums--including the brushes and bags--are like meals-on-wheels for bacteria. You suck in all this bacteria and food, creating an atmosphere for growth. In a study, 13% of all vacuum cleaner brushes tested positive for E. coli, which means you could spread it around the house each time you use the appliance.

Keep It Clean: Change your vacuum bag frequently, and do so outdoors to avoid the cloud of bacteria that filters into the air. (Vacuum bags that feature antibacterial linings are best, and are available for many major brands.) Clean the cavity of a bagless vacuum with diluted bleach and let it air-dry.

5. Dish Towel
You know a sponge can harbor nasty germs, but dish towels are just as dangerous.
A recent study of hundreds of homes across the United States found that about 7% of kitchen towels were contaminated with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), the difficult-to-treat staph bacteria that can cause life-threatening skin infections. Dish towels also rated tops for dangerous strains of E. coli and other bacteria. We often use towels to wipe up spills, says Reynolds, then reuse before washing them, which spreads germs.

Keep It Clean: Stick to paper towels to clean countertops, and save the dishrag to dry just-washed pots and plates. Change towels or launder at least twice a week in hot water and bleach.

6. Car Dashboard
This is your vehicle's second-most-common spot for bacteria and mold.
Here’s why: When air—which carries mold spores and bacteria—gets sucked in through the vents, it's often drawn to the dashboard, where it can deposit the spores and germs. Because the dashboard receives the most sun and tends to stay warm, it's prime for growth. (The number one germ zone? Food spills.)

Keep It Clean: Regularly swipe the inside of your car with disinfecting wipes. Be more vigilant during allergy season—about 20 million Americans are affected by asthma, which is caused in part by an allergic reaction to mold.

7. Soap Dispensers
About 25% of public restroom dispensers are contaminated by fecal bacteria.
Soap that harbors bacteria may sound ironic, but that’s exactly what a recent study found. Most of these containers are never cleaned, so bacteria grows as the soap scum builds up. And the bottoms are touched by dirty hands, so there's a continuous culture going on feeding millions of bacteria.

Keep It Clean: Be sure to scrub hands thoroughly for 15 to 20 seconds with plenty of hot water--and if you have an alcohol gel disinfectant, use that, too.

8. Restaurant Ketchup Bottle
Those condiments on the tabletop are grimier than you think.
It's the rare eatery that regularly bleaches down condiment containers. And the reality is that many people don't wash their hands before eating, says Reynolds. So while you may be diligent, the guy who poured the ketchup before you may not have been, which means his germs are now on your fries.

Keep It Clean: Squirt hand sanitizer on the outside of the bottle or use a disinfectant wipe before you grab it. Holding the bottle with a napkin won't help--they're porous, so microorganisms can walk right through, says Reynolds.

9. Refrigerator Seal
Do you scrub the inside of your fridge? It’s not enough.
A University of Arizona survey of 160 homes in three US cities found that the seal around the fridge tested positive 83% of the time for common molds. The mold can spread every time the refrigerator door opens--exposing anyone who's susceptible to allergies and potentially contaminating the food.

Keep It Clean: Wipe fridge seals at least once a week with a diluted bleach solution or disinfectant.

10. Cell Phone
Drop your cell any place that’s convenient? Read this first.
Several studies on cell phones and PDAs found that they carry tons of bacteria, including staph (which can cause skin infections), pseudomonas (eye infections), and salmonella (stomach ailments). Many electronic devices are sheathed in leather or vinyl cases, which provide plenty of creases and crevices for germs to hide.

Keep It Clean: Use a disinfecting wipe a few times a week, and be conscious of where you rest personal items

Try Opening a Can with Your Teeth?

2010-10-23T09:58:00.005-06:00

I have a theory that nobody on the planet ever opens a can of food of any kind any more with a can opener. (Cans with poptops may have made can openers obsolete.)

That’s why the art of making a good can opener is a lost art.

I once had an excellent can opener. It worked great. In other words, it opened cans without much effort on my part. I took it for granted. When other people complained that their can openers didn’t work, I suggested that maybe they needed to get a new one. More often than not, those folks would claim that it WAS a new one! I was skeptical.

And then, one day in a moment of cavalier optimism, I gave away my trusty can opener to someone who needed one. I then happily went out and got a new one for myself. I bought a generic, inexpensive model. When the new one operated in a stiff manner, I gave it a shot of oil. I was disappointed when it never quite limbered up…. Or successfully cut open a can on the first try. Or the second try, or …. I decided it was defective. You get what you pay for, you know. So I bought another new can opener—a name brand—at a higher price. It performed no better than the cheap one! I strained and worked up a sweat while trying to open a mere can of tuna. But, mostly I began to avoid opening cans. This high class model was as defective as the cheap one.

That’s when I came to the conclusion that no one was opening cans any more. If people really wanted and needed to open a can with a can opener, and the can opener didn’t work, they would complain to the manufacturer, they’d complain to the Better Business Bureau, they’d scream and yell for a congressional investigation, they'd at least return it to the store they got it from—right? Apparently none of that happened.

Of course, there always was a possibility that somewhere good can openers still existed. But, I already knew that they didn’t sell them at WalMart or Bed, Bath, and Beyond!

As I contemplated starving to death while staring at a pantry full of canned goods or opening a can with my teeth or a hammer and chisel, I decided to try one last time to find a can opener that actually opened cans. I went to the nearby restaurant supply store and bought the one they carried.

I held my breath as I used it for the first time. I feared that all of the can openers on the planet were defective. WOW! It was like magic! A child could have used it—or an old woman with arthritis in her hands! It almost worked by itself! I have probably opened at least a dozen cans since buying it a week or so ago. And every time I get the same thrill. This morning Em used it for the first time. She turned to me with an amazed, ecstatic expression: WOW! she said. She couldn’t believe the difference.

Anyone need a new can opener? I’d be happy to pick one up for you and spread the joy around. :D

“Bill and Ted’s Joke and Spencer’s Big Lie”

2010-10-20T13:03:00.002-06:00

In 1989, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” hit the movie screens across America. If I recall correctly, it was an instant favorite among American teenagers. I, however, was horrified with it because even though I recognized that the movie was a huge joke about two impossibly stupid American teens, I knew that fans of Bill and Ted would end up mimicking the two stars—in other words, making the movie a “how-to” cult flick upon which to pattern their own behavior. I was in despair when my own teenagers became addicted to Bill and Ted’s favorite word, “dude.”

Bill: Be excellent to each other.
[room murmurs appreciatively]
Ted: Party on, dudes!
[room approves]
Bill: [to Ted] Good one, dude.

[Bill and Ted are in Ancient Greece]
Bill: [approaching Socrates] How's it going? I'm Bill, this is Ted. We're from the future.
Socrates: Socrates.
Ted: [whispering to Bill] Now what?
Bill: I dunno. Philosophize with him!
Ted: [clears his throat, to Socrates] "All we are is dust in the wind," dude.
[Socrates gives them a blank stare]
Bill: [scoops up a pile of dust from the basin before them and lets it run out of his hand] Dust.
[he blows the remainder away]
Bill: Wind.
Ted: [points at Socrates] Dude.
[Socrates gasps]

At that time, I naively attempted to ban the use of that word in my presence by my own children. Alas, to no avail. It was a lost cause. Now, twenty years later, “dude” still has not died a natural death. Unfortunately, to this day, when anyone in my presence punctuates his conversation with, “dude,” I still shudder involuntarily, and the specters of Bill and Ted, the two most clueless teens who ever lived, flash across my mind.

“Imitation is the sincerest flattery,” goes the famous quote. I wonder: what did the kids really admire in Bill and Ted? It couldn’t have been how smart they were. Did kids imitate them because they were basically harmless; essentially good guys; dumb but lovable?

Now, I am similarly puzzled by the popularity of the “Psych” TV series. Season five is due to begin in November. Last night, I decided to watch a past episode to see if I might like to join its crowd of fans. I watched only the first 10-15 minutes of the first episode of season four. I quit watching at that point because I felt intensely uncomfortable with the main character, Spencer. Everything he did was in support of the big lie that he was a psychic. How could I endorse that? In order to keep the lie alive, he has to keep manipulating the truth. One lie leads to the next one and on and on. In real life, eventually but inevitably, the truth will come to light.

My thought was, why doesn’t Spencer just become a real detective and get some respect for his powers of observation? Yes, I know that if he confesses the lie there will be a price to pay. So, this show justifies a continuing lie because the anticipated punishment would not fit the crime. So, the premise of the show essentially teaches that lying is necessary and harmless if it’s for a good cause. All’s well that ends well. Is this a true principle?

Another thought I had was, “why is this program about a guy scamming everyone now in its 5th season?” What does that say about the audience? Do they like the idea of purposely (and semi-successfully) attempting to deceive other people? Do they envy him? Do they wish they could be him? What is it that they admire and want to imitate? What happens to us and our sense of right and wrong when we hope that a character “wins” by cheating? Is watching this show “harmless” fun?

When the bright lights go out....

2010-10-18T08:54:00.002-06:00

I just learned that incandescent bulbs will be banned in the US when the lights go out on December 31, 2013. All we will have then is those annoying florescent bulbs that start out dim when you turn them on, and then take a minute to warm up to slightly brighter than dim. Poor old Thomas Edison is spinning in his grave. He’s spinning so fast he looks like one of those silly twirly florescent bulbs.

About a month ago, I became so annoyed at the dim light cast by a twirly bulb in a table lamp, that I unscrewed the dumb thing and threw it in the trash and replaced it with a 60 watt incandescent bulb. I have rejoiced every day since then when I’ve turned on the light and had instant bright light flood the room. I have even felt smarter and more alive and happier as a result of the brightness.

After January 1, 2014, the cartoon of a guy with an incandescent light bulb over his head will undoubtedly be used to suggest that the guy is old and stuck in his ways, not that he just had a stroke of brilliance. On the other hand, the 2014 cartoon of a guy with a twirly florescent bulb over his head will not convey brilliance, but, rather, confusion. Terminal confusion. I think confusion is what occurred in Congress when they passed this silly law. I can picture the Senators and Congressmen all with twirly bulbs over their heads on the day that they passed this legislation into law, congratulating one another for saving the planet from Edison’s invention. And things are getting dimmer and dimmer by the day back there in Washington DC.

Back in the 70s, Jimmy Carter saved the planet with a nationwide 55-mile-per-hour speed limit. We had to suffer with this annoying law for 20 years. Will we have to suffer with twirly bulbs for 20 years before someone decides that enough is enough? *sigh*

I wonder if stock-piling soon-to-be contraband incandescent bulbs will be punishable by law? What about buying or selling them on the black market? No worries: No punishment could be worse than living with twirly bulbs!

I wonder how many incandescent bulbs I will need to stockpile to keep me feeling smarter, more alive, and happier for the next twenty years….

"Seen Any Good Flicks Lately?"

2010-10-11T14:35:00.003-06:00

A week or so ago in the Deseret News, there was an article in the entertainment section about the Catholic Church’s movie rating system. I was especially interested to read the article because many years ago—probably when they first began reviewing movies—I accidentally stumbled across a book of their movie ratings at a bookstore, and bought it. I used the book to evaluate movies that we might rent from the nearby (“Now and Then”) video store in Simi. However, when newer movies appeared in the video store, I needed an updated book to continue to advise me on family-friendly films. And, although I have often browsed in bookstores to find such a book, I have never again serendipitously stumbled across one. Of course, where one door closes, another one often opens. And in this case, I was extremely pleased to find an excellent substitute for the Catholic movie reviews: Focus on the Family’s “Plugged-In” online movie reviews. “Plugged-In” quite strictly critiques the content of available films.
(See: http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/) If you are concerned about whether a movie meets the 13th Article of Faith criteria of “virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy,” this website is definitely useful.

Getting back to the Deseret News article, I was happy to learn that the Catholic Church movie reviews can also be accessed online through their website: http://www.usccb.org. Their reviews are another point of view and not in any way carbon copies of the reviews appearing on “Plugged-In,” so it is worth your time to check both sites to determine if you really want to watch any particular film. What I especially liked in the Catholic website was their lists of “Top Ten Movies” of the year and “Top Ten Family Films.” Currently online are their lists for 2009 and extending as far back as 1965.

Their top ten picks of “family films” for the year 2009 were:
1. Astro Boy
2. Bandslam
3. A Christmas Carol (animated, Jim Carrey)
4. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
5. Hannah Montana the Movie
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Monsters vs. Aliens
8. Ponyo
9. The Princess and the Frog
10. Shorts

Their more “adult” or general selections for Top Ten movies of 2009 included:
1. The Blind Side
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Invictus
7. Julie & Julia
8. Star Trek (the prequel)
9. Up
10. Where the Wild things Are

Did you raise your eyebrows, as I did, at some of their selections or their classifications? For instance, why did “Harry Potter” end up on the OK for kids list, and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Up” on the better for ‘adults’ list? Noticing such odd or puzzling decisions on their part, I decided that, when in doubt about their evaluations, it probably would be wise to check “Plugged-In” too, just to be on the safe side, or to get a second opinion.

The primary reason I was interested in the Top Ten lists is The Knight rarely takes me to the movies. We only go if I insist on it—which I rarely do. Instead, The Knight likes to buy DVDs. And the ones he buys, sad-but-true, are frequently unappealing to me. So, potentially, I’ve missed a great many “good” movies. I also think DVDs are vastly overpriced. I personally cannot justify spending $10-$20 on a DVD as long as the Dollar Theater is still operating down in Provo. AND, I recently discovered that movies are available to rent for a week at a time for $1.00 from the public library!

So. Armed with my lists of Top Ten Movies, I have begun checking out movies from the public library. None of the movies I’ve brought home have been movies that The Knight would have selected, so I’ve resigned myself to watching them by myself. Some of the Top Tens that I’ve watched so far:

—Julie & Julia
—The Visitor
—I Am David
—Au Revoir Les Enfants (French film)
—In America
—Secret Lives (a documentary on The Holocaust)
—The City Ember
and, next on the docket is “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.”

Amazingly, I actually cajoled The Knight into watching “The City Ember” with me on Friday night. He was surprised that he’d never heard of it, since it was science fiction. I was pleased that there were no offensive words, nor suggestive scenes, nor gratuitous violence. Happily, The Knight mostly liked it, too, even though it “started out slow”—I think what that means is nothing blew up in the entire movie! LOL

Implications from Conference

2010-10-04T10:49:00.002-06:00

Saturday morning when President Monson announced 5 new temples to be built, my first reaction was “Whoa!!!— That must mean that the Church has not been hit too hard by the recession!” I had been wondering lately about reduced tithing funds because of people out of work—surely, I thought, the Church will have to cut back on building projects. Obviously, I was greatly mistaken.

I also thought that the locations of the new temples were interesting. Indianapolis was fun to hear of. I’m sure that people we know in West Lafayette were cheering: no more need to plan trips to the Chicago Temple! When we lived there, we had to travel to the Washington DC Temple—a 13-hour trip. Tijuana was interesting to me because the San Diego Temple is so close to Tijuana. Now there will be no more need to cross the border which is a huge hassle. The new one in the Philippines will be their third temple—that is amazing! The one in Portugal means no more need to travel to Madrid. The one in Hartford Connecticut means no more need to travel to Boston. I can’t help but contemplate the causes of future limited travel abilities. I also recognize that the Saints in each of those locations have to be sufficiently numerous and faithful to merit a temple. Wow! “The Caravan moves on!”

Speaking of temples . . . and temple work, I have lots of names ready and need lots of proxies—let me know if you can do some. Thanks! :D

Continue in Patience

2010-10-03T10:54:00.004-06:00

Can anybody get too much of President Uchtdorf? If so, I've not met them. His Conference messages of yesterday and today have resonated with everyone I've spoken to.

The above video is the most recent of the postings in "Mormon Messages" on lds.org. Hooray for President Uchtdorf!

General Conference--HOORAY!

2010-10-02T09:41:00.005-06:00

I am excited to listen to Conference to hear the Word of the Lord! It's an absolutely glorious October morning in the mountains.

Looking Up

2010-09-21T12:48:00.006-06:00

Last night we set up the telescope on the front porch and looked at Jupiter and its four major moons. (Of course our view wasn’t like the above picture at all!!)

Jupiter is closer to the earth right now than it has been since 1963, nearly 50 years ago. If you go outside after 9 p.m. tonight and look toward the East, that very bright star—the only thing brighter will be the nearly full moon—is Jupiter. If you have really good eyesight, Uranus is a dim, bluish-green star, just above Jupiter—within the same binocular field.

Last night, the moons were actually lined up in a perfectly straight line with two moons on each side of Jupiter--similar to the above photo--only better!! Emily’s eyesight is pretty good (better than mine), and she could actually see the band across Jupiter--I could see a faint shadow.

By Saturday [Friday, actually!], all four moons will be clustered on one side of Jupiter.

"Different" and "Rougher"

2010-09-20T11:22:00.007-06:00

A week ago Sunday, there was a Regional Stake Conference broadcast (140 Stakes in Utah Valley and Heber Valley). The concluding speaker, Boyd K Packer, said, “things are going to be different from now on—things will be rougher for us than they were for the pioneers.” This remark followed Jeffrey Holland’s recounting of two rather dramatic pioneer stories. In turn, Jeffrey Holland’s talk followed two other talks which were about strengthening our testimonies and doing even better than we currently are in our faith and obedience.

For the past week, I have thought a lot about “different” and “rougher.” If Elder Packer’s talk had been a stand-alone talk, it may not have had the same impact as it actually had. Put together with the other talks, his statement was made more significant, and vice versa. Taken as a whole, the bottom line message (to me) from the conference seemed to be “your levels of faith, obedience, and testimony may have been fairly adequate up to this point, but today’s levels will not be sufficient for tomorrow’s challenges.”

As I’ve contemplated what he meant by “different,” I hardly know what to imagine or expect because things have been increasingly “different” over my whole lifetime. To become dramatically more “different” than today’s measure of “the-way-things-are” suggests (for one thing) that evil and wickedness will become significantly more rampant. “Rougher” seems to suggest physical challenges, and yet I think Elder Packer said that these “rougher” challenges will be more than physical.

So, not knowing specifically what to prepare for to face “different” and “rougher,” my only alternative at this juncture is to: (1) remember the inspiring faith and obedience of the pioneers and follow their examples, (2) purposefully increase my own personal faith and obedience, thereby strengthening my testimony. Thus fortified, the Holy Ghost will be able to tell me in the very hour what specific things I should do, and I will be able to recognize and confidently heed His voice while I am facing all of the “different” and “rougher” challenges that lie in my path.

That should keep me busy for a while. :D

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Out-Witting the "Super-Bugs"

2010-09-15T13:54:00.004-06:00

The headlines this week sounded the alarm about deadly antibiotic-resistant “super bugs” that have emerged from India and in recent weeks have shown up in California, Illinois, and Massachusetts.

Albeit, this current alarm is somewhat reminiscent of the H1N1 (“swine flu”) alarm from last year—which, in the end (as you may recall), turned out to be a lot of unnecessary hysteria.

Nevertheless, cautionary hygiene measures are not only a wise choice, but could even make a life-and-death difference. So, wash your hands! For Pete’s sake (and yours too), wash your hands!! Soap and running water are remarkably effective in washing away those sneaky invisible bugs that lurk on every surface. And, after you have washed, go ahead and use some of that “hand sanitizer” glop, too. It can’t hurt.

However… Ahem: The truth about hand sanitizers is that they only might help . . . a little. I recently read a study on the effectiveness of hand sanitizers that found “no statistical proof” that they actually help to fight the bugs.

Unfortunately, some people erroneously think that the hand sanitizer glop is just as good as—or better than—soap and water. This is definitely not the case. Worse yet: it might even give its user a false sense of security, so that he consistently skips really washing his hands and uses this potentially ineffective glop instead. Now, think about that “health care professional” you recently visited who actually used hand sanitizer instead of soap and water! Yikes!

Now there’s a real reason for alarm!

Are you courageous enough to ask your doctor or nurse to use soap and water before they touch you to take your pulse or blood pressure or temperature or listen to your heart and lungs with their stethoscopes? And speaking of their stethoscopes, you should also ask them when they last cleaned that stethoscope! Someone did a study on stethoscopes and found them to be incredibly germy things.

Having said all that, here is another truth: washing your hands and glopping on hand sanitizers will not protect you from air-borne bugs. Cold and flu viruses are definitely air-borne.

If you have a cold or the flu you can protect others, of course, by capturing the bugs that you cough and sneeze out by using a handkerchief or your elbow sleeve. But, to keep from succumbing to those air-borne bugs in the first place, you will need to bolster your immune system.

Yes. I’m sure you know where this is heading—having repeatedly heard me on this topic. It’s hard to argue with success, however, and I speak from experience (my whole life I have been prone to getting colds, flu, and pneumonia—until I began taking Vitamin D-3). Vitamin D is essential to your immune system, and nearly all Americans are Vitamin D-deficient. The old 400 IU RDA is now known to be laughably, ridiculously low. The new cautious recommendation is 1000 IUs for children (under the age of 12) and 2000 IUs for adults. To overdose on Vitamin D, you would have to take more than 20 times that amount every day for years. Humans make at least 10,000 units of vitamin D within 30 minutes of full body exposure to the sun. If you have little, or no, sun exposure you will need to take at least 5,000 IU per day.

To learn more, go to “vitamindcouncil.org”

Hooray for September!

2010-09-01T08:27:00.003-06:00

Hooray for September! I've decided that for me August is the second most odious month in the year: long and hot and miserable. January is the first most odious--long and dark and cold. Don't you just love the picture (above) which now graces my desktop?

SMILE!

2010-08-29T09:28:00.007-06:00

The following "For Better or For Worse" comic strip was in this morning's newspaper.

I thought, how sweet little children can be. And how easy to put a smile on a mommy's heart.

I, of course, feel really really old now, because I am nearly as old as my grandmother was when I lived with my grandparents during the summer I graduated from high school.

Hollywood's Breach

2010-08-28T17:39:00.003-06:00

The other evening, the Knight and I watched “Breach,” a 2007 movie which I had wanted to see for quite a long time. The movie is based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent, convicted of spying for the Soviet Union / Russia for more than two decades.

Alas, the movie lacked 3 key elements which the Knight especially enjoys in movies: lots of stuff blowing up, lots of car chases, and lots of people getting the tar kicked out of them. You know, gratuitous special effects violence. (LOL) Nevertheless, even with none of that, the two-hour production was nerve-wrackingly tense. We knew from the first few minutes of the movie what the outcome was going to be, but it was still tense.

My interpretation of the film was that it was an interesting study of pride and anger. Agent Hanssen was angry because he felt that his keen intelligence and brillant work were neither sufficiently recognized nor justly rewarded by the FBI. As a consequence, he sold out to the Russians for big bucks as his way of punishing the FBI for dissing him. Ultimately, his pride and anger became a self-destruct-mechanism—first, it slowly pulled him apart as he lived two different lives, and then it triggered his final traitorous act which resulted in his arrest and imprisonment. It was a sad, cautionary tale about pride and anger.

Hollywood, however, was not satisfied with a psychological portrait of Robert Hanssen the traitor along with a chronicle of the careful work done by the FBI to nail the guy. The screenplay writers and the director decided that they needed to spice up the story for the big screen by adding a few fictitious elements, namely, “sexual perversions” and religious hypocrisy or fanaticism (Catholic). And, Hollywood style, they also felt the need to make political commentary. Several major scenes were entirely fictional, as listed in Wikipedia:

• The real O'Neill knew going in that Hanssen was the subject of a counterintelligence investigation. There was no cover story about sexual perversions, and no dramatic meeting where O'Neill learned the truth.

• There was no extensive contact outside the office between O'Neill and Hanssen as portrayed in the film (the O'Neills visiting the Hanssens, the Hanssens dropping by O'Neill's apartment). However, Hanssen did take O'Neill to church.

• The scene where Hanssen takes O'Neill out into the woods and drunkenly fires his pistol is fictional.

• Unlike in the movie, O'Neill never saw Hanssen after the arrest.

In my opinion, all of the scenes depicting sexual and religious “deviancy” were distasteful and added nothing of value to the movie. On the contrary: these scenes detracted from the story and its presentation, and distorted the truth. These scenes could have been deleted and some more accurate parts added, along with some terrific acting, to result in a more powerful story. Truth need not be fictionalized to make it compelling. Resorting to cheap sensationalism and an appeal to anti-religion sentiments were unnecessary.

As the distasteful and repulsive scenes transpired, it was as if obnoxious commercials were interrupting the story. During those scenes I began thinking about the writers and the director, and the ax they were obviously grinding, as well as their cynical opinions of American movie-goers. They obviously did not want anyone to leave the theater with any feelings of respect for the FBI, since the movie included scenes that belittled the FBI, in general, and suggested that the FBI itself could be blamed for Hanssen’s actions. Hollywood apparently also believes that religiously-minded people are dangerous or mentally unstable—they definitely are not “normal.”

“TKKM JXX WDK IVA.”

2010-08-28T10:16:00.002-06:00

My new favorite brain game is solving the cryptoquips that appear in each day’s morning newspaper. It usually takes me less than ten minutes to solve a puzzle, which is a lot of fun to figure out. I can actually feel my brain shifting into high gear—it’s exhilarating! Once I’ve solved the puzzle, I always end up with a smile on my face because the quip is a clever play on words.

This morning’s cryptoquip was:

“Since that poor hammerhead lacked any companionship, I suppose you could call it a lone shark.”

Some others this week included:

“When a chicken farmer needs to urge folks to take action, I would assume he eggs them on.”

“If somebody were obsessed with snaps and zippers, that may be characterized as a fasten-ation.”

Here is one you might like to try to solve (I put an underline mark between each word, because otherwise it all looks like it runs together):

AJ_ VA_ PJW_ WJ_ IKW _V _AMKKZLPI _WLETKW,

L_ AEQLRRGKZ_ JP _WDK _ZVADRJVQZ_ WDK_ GLPK

“TKKM_ JXX_ WDK_ IVA.” Clue: A equals S. [See solution in comments.]

Brain games keep our minds limber and working. Without challenges, our brains literally wither and die. Our brain power doesn’t have to decline with age if we keep learning new things.

Try it, you may just like it!

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CRUISING

2010-08-23T19:20:00.006-06:00

Just in time for our Alaskan cruise, I bought the Knight a “travel blazer” and two short sleeved light blue dress shirts to go with it. The blazer was navy blue with gold buttons and about a dozen inside pockets (thus it was a “travel” blazer for holding miscellaneous documents, etc.). He looked really [really, really] cool wearing a blue shirt and the navy blue blazer. He was cleancut, neat, debonair, suave. James Bond had nothing on him!!

Our cruise line, on the other hand, boasted its “Freestyle” style. Everything was “freestyle.”—meals, dress code, etc. “Nice casual” was mentioned somewhere in their brochure. But even on dress-up night, dressing-up was strictly optional (and very few made the effort). “Freestyle dining” meant eat whenever and wherever you liked, wearing whatever you liked (within reason—a cover-up over your bikini was suggested).

Maybe half of the people on the cruise tried to maintain “nice casual.” The other half (or more) wore sloppy attire—stuff that was more appropriate to working in the yard or vegging out in front of the TV during a long weekend at home. I was a little surprised at how sloppy some people looked.

Actually, I was appalled.

It bothered me a little.

Okay. It bothered me a lot.

I criticized myself for these feelings.

And then I read something that helped me understand why I felt the way I did. The author said:

“There are many ways of showing respect to ourselves and those around us. Minding our bodies is one of them, and certainly not a minor consideration. We all know that we can offend others with our bodies. We do that with the way we look, the way they smell, and what we do with and to them. Thus we all need to become conversant with the civility of body management, which begins with good basic grooming habits. When we take good care of our bodies and our appearance we implicitly validate who we are. We look at ourselves as deserving of attention and act upon that feeling. As we are being good to ourselves, we also show that we consider others important. Behind that attention to our grooming are the goals of appearing at our best on the stage of everyday life and of being as pleasant a presence for others as we can.

“Essential to good grooming are a clean and odor-free body, recently washed hair, finger- and toenails in perfect order, a close shave, well-applied makeup, if worn, and clean teeth and fresh breath. Also essential are clean and unrumpled clothes, well-kept shoes, unfrayed socks, and run-free stockings. Good grooming is simply good maintenance.

“When we are well groomed, we often experience a sense of both physical and psychological well-being. We feel good, and we feel good about ourselves. When this happens, we are better disposed toward others, treat them better, and are thus better treated in return.” [From Choosing Civility by P.M. Forni]

Having read the above three paragraphs, I understood my feelings of discomfort while in the company of people who didn’t seem to care how they looked, nor considered whether they were offensive in dress, or manner or behavior. (Yes, they displayed other incivilities as well.)

I am sure that the cruise line gave up, as a lost cause, on trying to encourage “nice casual” and thus gave in to “freestyle” sloppy. I, of course, will definitely avoid cruising with “Freestyle” cruises in the future.

Having said that, I want to return to how I felt about the Knight when he was wearing his travel blazer and light blue shirt. I felt pleased to be in his company. I felt respect for him. I felt joy and gratitude about being his companion. I felt special. He was special.

If he looked that way every day, I would be flattered that he took the time and effort to look well groomed even if he wasn’t going anywhere. I have never appreciated the snaggly unshaved look. I don’t think any man is “sexy” who neglects to shower and shave or dress neatly. Or get his hair cut before he looks like a hippy.

Concerning at-home slovenliness, P.M. Forni said: “If it’s hard to do the grooming just for yourself, do it for those who share your home. No one will be physically closer to you for a longer time than your companion, your spouse, and your family. Make sure that your body care is such that it adds to their pleasure in being with you. … Being civil to your family is one of the most concrete ways to show them that we love them. Love is not simply made of feeling. Real love is made of doing.”

Sounds good to me!

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I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

2010-08-05T12:20:00.002-06:00

Today’s newspaper contained mostly bad news. But, then, that is the way of newspapers. There are so many depressing developments, one can’t help but notice the dramatic deepening of darkness across the world. Many people purposely avoid reading the news (or watching it on TV) because it is disturbing. I sympathize with their desire to look the other way. However, there is that admonition to “watch”:

“What I say unto one I say unto all: Watch, for the adversary spreadeth his dominions, and darkness reigneth.” (DC 82:5)

Keeping one eye on your adversary at all times seems to be a wise strategy so as to guard against any surprise attacks. And, of course, with the other eye, we are supposed to be focusing on light and truth in order to stay strong and fit for an inevitable battle. At least, that is the way I have interpreted the admonition to “watch” for most of my life.

But I think I’ve been wrong. Keeping a constant eye on darkness can result in a debilitating despair that declares that all is lost and defeat is inevitable. The Adversary, of course, wants us to think he is winning; that the ultimate victory is already in his hand. Unfortunately, our news media aid him in that illusion.

After reading some of the current depressing news this morning, I then read some of the good news in the Mormon Times section of the paper. I felt ever so much better—even optimistic! Even happy! I read of people who are doing good things, exercising faith, combating evil in inspired ways, making the world a better place. I read the insightful views of others who are using the challenges and adversities of this world to become better people, to do a good work. I was uplifted and strengthened. So I had a new thought: if we focus on light and truth with both eyes, we will still be prepared for the surprise attacks. Perhaps even much better prepared because we will feel hope and courage to continue in faith, to be valiant.

[Do you need a boost in your optimism and enthusiasm? Click on the image of Christ in the right column to go to Mormon Times.com. Among many great articles, I recommend Wayne Brickey’s article, “Iron hath entered his soul.”]

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How Low Is Too Low?

2010-08-01T13:36:00.012-06:00

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I am continually amazed at the low quality of so much of TV programming. It's not just so "mediocre" that it is an insult to one's intelligence-- although that would be sufficient reason to complain. Some of the new programs promised to begin next month look to be worse than the worst currently showing.

"How low can you go?" used to be the challenge in doing the "limbo" (for those too young to know--the limbo is a "dance" from the West Indies where you "dance" under a stick that progressively gets lower and lower). Today, striving to get as low as possible seems to be Hollywood's most earnestly sought goal.

How low is too low???

TIME AND A QUESTION

2010-07-31T14:48:00.003-06:00

I hate to be boring and predictable… But didn’t July just zoom by super fast? I know, I know: I was babbling about June going by too fast a few blogs ago. So, I suppose August will vanish super fast too.

Is there is a scripture about time speeding up? Isn’t there?

I don’t think that the phrase “Days will be shortened” (see Matthew 24 and Mark 13) refers to time speeding up. I think it refers to having fewer total days.

August just might end up dragging by. Waiting for school to start. Waiting for the hot weather to end. Waiting for the next birthday party (a zillion birthdays in August—and September—and October …)… or, maybe, waiting for the birthday parties to be OVER. (HaHa)

Einstein thought that time could be slowed down (or stopped?) by going as fast as the speed of light. Hmmm. OK.

So, to speed time up, does that entail going at the speed of darkness??

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I Read Your Blog; Did You Read Mine?

2010-07-27T09:25:00.003-06:00

Earlier this month, Chris blogged:

“I was telling my wife today that I felt sad that I really didn't know my mom or my dad too well. I mean, I know who they are and some of the things that they do, but I really don’t know them. And, it seems that the only way I get to know them better is by reading their blogs.”

Chris, of course, has hit the nail on the head. It takes real interest and effort to know and understand another person—even our own family members. Nevertheless, in reading blogs, sometimes we have to take some time to “read between the lines” in order to “see” the real person. A quick, impatient, disinterested skimming will yield little or nothing.

In choosing as my blog address, “speak that I may see thee,” I wanted to convey the truth that it is through the things that we say that we reveal ourselves. Each of us wants to be known, understood, and valued for who we really are. Robert Frost penned a short little poem about that need:

We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
Till someone find us really out.

’Tis pity if the case require
(Or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
The understanding of a friend.

But so with all, from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.

Interestingly, when someone is truly interested in us and what we have to say, and they show it, then we are much more likely to reciprocate. We will be more motivated to really know, understand, and value them, and what they have to say. “We love him, because he first loved us.”

I read some insightful words this morning about loving that could have been about the higher uses of blogging:

“Loving ... [or blogging] ... has a lot of sharing in it. ‘I saw something beautiful—look with me!’ ‘I heard something funny, laugh with me.’ ‘I have discovered a new fact, isn’t it interesting?’ ‘Something terrible has happened, grieve with me.’ ‘Or marvelous—rejoice with me’ – and let me enjoy with you what you have seen, heard, or learned. I will listen while you explain what I don’t yet understand. I want to hear what you care about.’”

To “connect” with others requires time and emotion. It requires generosity of spirit and the ability to take yourself from the center of the picture sometimes and put someone else there. We do that when we read and enjoy one another’s blogs. And say so.

I read your blog; did you read mine?

.

Summertime Fun--Makes Me Smile

2010-07-26T15:25:00.007-06:00

CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. — Predawn pranksters have surrounded a roadside surfer statue with a papier mache model of a great white shark that appeared to be swallowing it whole.

Crowds of gawkers and photographers gathered around the 16-foot creation after the sun rose on Saturday.

The bronze statue has been the target of a series of gags in recent years. It has been bedecked with bras, skirts and witch hats so many times that locals have come to call it "The Cardiff Kook."

"This is the biggest and best so far," retired Navy dentist Bob Olson, 66, told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't know how anyone will outdo this, but I'm sure they'll try."

San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Tony Ray said no criminal report was filed because there was no damage to the statue.

"It wasn't considered vandalism because there wasn't any permanent defacing," Ray told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The $120,000 sculpture called "Magic Carpet Ride" was commissioned by the Cardiff Botanical Society in 2007.

Funny!

I suspect the shark was created by a team of college students--perhaps art students and/or engineering students. Such a project may have taken weeks to finish and it would have been hard to keep it a "secret." Certainly, others would have noticed this project going on! It probably took at least 4 people to transport it and set it up.

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Dolly's ... WHAT?

2010-07-20T08:52:00.005-06:00

This morning The Knight asked me which biography I was working on. So, referring to my grandparents, I said, “Dolly and Fernow.” As I heard myself say it, it almost sounded like “Dolly’s Inferno” or “Dante’s Inferno”! The Knight heard the same thing, and laughed. The reference, of course, was to Dante’s “Inferno”—part of Dante’s epic poem, “The Divine Comedy.” The word “inferno” is Italian for Hell.

Now I shall never be able to say "Dolly and Fernow" without thinking of my poor grandmother being married to . . . Hell!

Why was my poor grandfather given such a sad name?

(I think Fernow actually was a place in Sweden--perhaps it was the place where his father was born.....)

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Speaking Philosophically

2010-07-17T08:58:00.004-06:00

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” (—Quoth Shakespeare’s Juliet)

While, it may not be as poetic a phrase, the question today is: “What’s in a number?”

The Knight has been alternately bemused and incredulous at his New Number: 68.

Twice 34?

Wasn’t that just yesterday?

Thirty-four. The age of endless possibilities.

Sixty-eight. Two-thirds of the way (and a smidge) to the “age of a tree.”

Robert Browning cheerily contemplated aging with these famous words:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made….

. . . All that is, at all,
Lasts ever, past recall;
Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure:
What entered into thee,
That was, is, and shall be:
Time's wheel runs back or stops: Potter and clay endure.

Look not thou down but up!
To uses of a cup….
But I need, now as then,
Thee, God, who mouldest men….
So, take, and use thy work:
Amend what flaws may lurk,
What strain o’ the stuff, what warpings past the aim!
My times be in thy hand!
Perfect the cup as planned!

So, I repeat: what’s in a number?

For a man of faith, his age, at any given time, is merely a bench mark.

A bench mark is a surveyor’s mark made on a permanent landmark of known position and altitude. It is used as a reference point in determining other altitudes.

What's your altitude?

Art of Work--Work of Art

2010-07-09T11:40:00.006-06:00

In this morning’s paper, was an article on the artist, Arnold Friberg, who died recently (his viewing is today in SLC).

The article quoted Friberg: “When I was a little kid, I mowed lawns. Instead of just pushing the lawnmower around the middle, I got down and edged. I had a little whiskbroom, and I lined up the edges and corners. It was just inborn in me, I had to do extra. The word spread very quickly. I always had work to do. … You always have to do extra. That is the principle of success no matter what field you are in. It’s so simple, nobody will believe it. You give more than you get paid for. All my life, I’ve given twice what they’ve paid for. This keeps you growing. Then your prices, I’ve found, go up almost by themselves [your pay goes up as a result of your extra efforts].”

I read Friberg’s comment with interest on many levels. I remember being a little kid on a farm, who was expected to work, and my sometimes poor attitude toward work. I remember my own children, as they were growing up, and their attitudes. I watch my grandchildren work, and notice their attitudes. While growing up, I also observed the missionaries in Minnesota and noticed that the “good” missionaries (the memorable, admirable ones) willingly worked hard, while some others (the forgettable ones) sloughed off and didn’t put forth much effort. The same thing could be seen in the student nurses of my acquaintance.

Friberg was right about the “principle of success” being based on one’s choice to do more than is expected. The Savior also taught that principle to his disciples. He told them that after someone has compelled you to go one mile with him, go a second mile—an extra mile—with him.

You go that “extra mile” for yourself, for your own self-respect. When you go the extra mile, you no longer are a “slave” or a “servant” or merely an “employee.” You are a free agent. But it is also more than that. You are declaring yourself to be more than ordinary. You are achieving excellence of character as you give more of yourself.

I can image that the Savior also told his disciples that they should “whistle while they worked” —be cheerful— during that first mile, for He knew that they, then, would involuntarily break into joyful singing during the “extra mile.”

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From the Dust: Ashes and Fathers

2010-07-06T12:15:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, I heard a voice “speaking from the dust.” Actually it was my own voice from years gone by. The dust was on an old journal that I’d not looked at it in some time. As I browsed through the pages, I was amazed at how much I’d forgotten.

My journal entries today are more cryptic, less detailed. So, this means that much more is going unsaid now.

Nine years ago this week (July 9, 2001)—according to said journal— The Knight went to California to collect his father’s ashes so that he could bury them in Wyoming. This little saga was reminiscent (in my mind) of the movie “Smoke Signals,” in which Victor, with his cousin Thomas, travels to Arizona from Idaho to collect his father’s remains. In the final scene of the movie, Victor throws his father’s ashes into the river from a bridge. The best part of the movie is that scene. Victor’s actions are accompanied by the sounds of Indian drums and sorrow-singing and the voice of Thomas in a soliloquy on “Fathers.”

I told The Knight that when he obtained them, that he should throw his own father’s ashes from a bridge into a river, and have Andy do the drums and sorrow-singing. The Knight thought that I was being cruel and disrespectful of the dead. I really wasn’t. I thought it would be poetic and memorable. The grandchildren and great grandchildren could also be there on the bridge to witness the ceremony.

Just picture it: a summer morning, the sun glinting through the trees and sparkling on the water, the sounds of birdsong and rushing water, the silent gathering of family on the foot bridge over the Provo River, Andy providing the heart-beat drum like the sound of many hearts beating and the voice singing of ancient sorrows, and then the soliloquy of Thomas:

How do we forgive our fathers?
Maybe in a dream?
Do we forgive our fathers for leavin’ us too often—
Or forever—when we were little?
Maybe for scarin’ us with unexpected rage—
Or makin’ us nervous because
There never seemed to be any rage there at all?
Do we forgive our fathers for marryin’—
Or not marryin’—our mothers?
For divorcing—or not divorcing—our mothers?
And shall we forgive them for pushin’—
Or leanin’?
For shuttin’ doors?—
Or speakin’ through walls?—
Or never speakin’?—
Or never being silent?

Do we forgive our fathers in our age—
Or in theirs?—
Or in their deaths, sayin’ it to them—
Or not sayin’ it?
If we forgive our fathers—
What is left?

As the ashes float out from the bridge onto the waters and then out of sight around a bend in the river, the gathering on the bridge bids him farewell until they meet again.

Poetic.

Memorable.

Never happened.

The reality was stark in comparison.

Although, I suppose The Knight and his two sons would tell you it was poetic and memorable in its own way—The Knight did the sorrow-singing (I am told), and a copy of the song was buried with the ashes.

In a cold, wind-swept valley of the Tetons, it was a small, lonely gathering in a neglected, mostly forgotten cemetery as the whispering of the wind in the dry grasses sighed farewell.

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Holy Cow! It's July!

2010-07-03T19:52:00.008-06:00

I was just now going to shut down my computer when I realized that my computer wallpaper was still the June Calendar page.

Holy Cow! (I thought) How did it get to be July?

I didn't get enough of June! and now July is one-tenth gone already!

So, I quickly found the July calendar page and downloaded it.

Do you like it?

It makes me happy!

Four Birthdays this month: Christina, Aislyn, The Knight, and Ethan.

And it's America's birthday, too!

:)

Summer!

2010-06-21T08:23:00.005-06:00

Photographer Max Alexander is credited with this photo of Stonehenge taken at Summer Solstice.

I was awake this morning at 5:38 a.m. to welcome the first day of summer.

5:38 a.m. was the exact moment of Summer Solstice-- meaning that the earth's northern axis is tilted as far toward the sun as it gets. In other words, the sun is at its northern-most point in the sky for the year. We are as far away from winter as we can get.

At 5:38 a.m. a robin was near my open window to herald this momentous occasion with his cheerful song. He had been anticipating this moment for several days. On Sunday morning he began his rehearsals at 4:30 a.m. There were other robins in the neighborhood who were doing the same thing, but their calls sounded like far-away echos of my yard's soloist.

I remember other summer mornings when the pre-dawn warblings were a veritable symphony--hundreds of birds shouting joy to the approaching sun. Minnesota and Indiana summer mornings were incredible that way.

Celebrate Summer Solstice! Thank Heavenly Father for birdsong.

Adventure versus Pleasing Others

2010-06-17T10:20:00.002-06:00

By now, everyone has heard the story of sixteen year old Abby Sunderland whose attempt to sail solo around the world came to an abrupt ending a few days ago after the mast on her sailboat broke off during a storm in the Indian Ocean.

So, now there is a debate raging about whether Abby’s parents are guilty of child endangerment for allowing her to attempt such a dangerous feat. Some critics of the Sunderlands feel that the parents should be prosecuted and, at the very least, be forced to pay restituition for the costs involved in their daughter’s rescue at sea. The Sunderlands maintain that Abby is a trained, experienced, and able sailor—comparable to other expert sailors, regardless of age.

Should 16-year-olds be banned from sailing around the world simply because of their age?

If my parents had set me adrift on the ocean in a sailboat at the age of sixteen, it probably would have been a prosecutable crime because I had no training, no experience, couldn’t swim, and was afraid of water! And that was only part of it: I was also afraid of my own shadow!

Obviously there are great differences among 16-year-olds, and they shouldn’t be stereotyped and judged simply because of their ages.

I applaud Abby for her courage and determination. I applaud her parents for doing all they could to make sure she was as prepared as she could be, and for having the courage to let her go. If Abby’s parents had been easily swayed by others’ negative opinions, their wishy-washy example would have made Abby less courageous, more fearful.

Our lives should not be wasted in trying to please everyone, or in being fearful of criticism. No matter what you do, someone will try to find something to criticize.

One of my life-long favorite Aesop’s Fables is:

A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:
Please all, and you will please none!

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TOGETHER WING TO WING

2010-06-12T13:20:00.003-06:00

The Knight and I were present when a Provo Temple Presidency member recently shared some of Elder Richard G. Scott’s teachings about the marriage sealing. He said that in the next life the Lord will ask couples married in the Temple if they still want to spend the rest of Eternity together. Their answers will be honored.

A day or so later, the Knight and I had a conversation about that. The Knight said, “I hope you will say, ‘Yes.’” I said, “I hope you will say, ‘Yes,’ too.”

My thought was: we have been married for forty-three years; we share a lot of history together, not to mention children and grandchildren. I cannot imagine turning my back on all that, and choosing to throw it away. Just the thought of not being together as a family or having missing family members is just too sad for words. Would I seriously consider spending eternity with a stranger or alone? What a horrible thought.

Of course, we have had to weather some rough times during those 43 years—as happens in every marriage. And undoubtedly there will yet be some bumpy roads ahead.

Some time ago, I reworded a poem by Robert Frost. To me it is about choosing to be together for eternity:

No speed of wind or water rushing by
But [we] have speed far greater. [We] can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And [we] were given this swiftness, not for haste
Nor chiefly that [we] may go where [we] will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That [we] may have the power of standing still-
Off any still or moving thing [we] say.
Two such as [we] with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once [we] are agreed
That our lives for now and forevermore
Are together wing to wing, and oar to oar.

I WOULD BITE HER TOO!

2010-06-10T19:41:00.001-06:00

In today’s newspaper was an article that caught my attention. The title was: “Plugged-in parents may be alienating their own kids.” The article was from the New York Times; it began with the following incident:

“While waiting for an elevator at the … Mall near her home in Virginia recently, Janice Im, who works in early-childhood development, witnessed a troubling incident between a young boy and his mother.

“The boy, who… was about 2 ½ years old, made repeated attempts to talk to his mother, but she wouldn’t look up from her BlackBerry.

“He’s like, ‘Mama? Mama? Mama?’ And then he starts tapping her leg. And she goes, ‘Just wait a second. Just wait a second.’

“Finally, he was so frustrated, that “he goes, ‘Ahhhh!’ and tries to bite her leg.”

The article goes on to say that MIT has been studying how parental use of technology affects children and young adults. They found that feelings of hurt, jealousy and competition are widespread.

Near the end of the article the author took another tack: Parents who pay attention to their children, talking and explaining things to them, and responding to their questions “remain the bedrock of early childhood learning.” Parents who supply a language-rich environment for their children help them develop a wide vocabulary, and that helps them learn to read.

The question posed at the end of the article was whether the parents’ use of smartphones, (and other technologies that employ screens) etc. will be a detriment to their children’s intellectual development.

My reaction was: While the child’s intellectual development is a legitimate concern, I think the child’s “feelings of hurt, jealousy and competition” should be the deeper concern. The little boy becoming frustrated and trying to bite his mother, demonstrates that when this parent ignores her child’s repeated entreaties, the impact on the child is a profound psychological and emotional one. That is scarier than anything. And heart-breaking.

Another thought: the parent who is addicted to the various technologies may need “intervention” to get them back in touch with real life… and their most valuable possession—their child.

Nudnik Alert!!!

2010-06-03T13:08:00.004-06:00

Weird words are fun. When we lived in Indiana, one radio guy used to have a “weird word of the day.” Bill O’Reilly of the “O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News has a word of the day. And, kids love inventing words: “krickle”!

When we lived in Simi Valley, I took a Voice and Diction Speech Class at Moorpark College. One of my fellow students, who always sat next to me in class, was a Jewish woman who was probably in her late twenties or early thirties.

One day, while chatting with me, she used the word “schlepping” in a sentence. “What’s ‘schlepping’?” I asked.

She was taken aback. “You don’t know what ‘schlepping’ is? Everybody uses that word! It’s Yiddish….”

I knew I’d undoubtedly heard the word once or twice, but as far as I was concerned, it was slang. And since I studiously avoided using slang, I’d felt no need to know what ‘schlepping’ meant. I had a vague notion that its meaning might be similar to ‘wasting one’s time wandering the shopping malls with other time-wasters’ – like packs of teenagers do during the summertime; and the teenagers themselves (in my lexicon) were “schleps.”

I remembered this conversation this morning while I was browsing through the most recent Reader’s Digest and stopped to look at the “Word Power” list. All seventeen words were Yiddish. Number 13 was ‘Schlep’—(meaning haul): “Lois schlepped the newspapers to the recycling center….”

I was curious to see if I was familiar with any of the other 16 Yiddish words. Amazingly I was! I knew “yenta” (busybody) and “mazel tov” (best wishes)—from Fiddler on the Roof, “oy vey” (oh woe), “kibitz” (offering opinions) and “bubkes” (nothing)—think Bupkis, as in the dice game. I’ve also seen “chutzpah” frequently—I thought it was equivalent to being “cheeky” (it actually means gall), but it is pronounced hoot-spuh not chuts-paw.

Hmmm. I probably won’t be slipping any of the above into my conversations anytime soon. The rest of the selections included:

-kvetch (complain)

-zaftig (pleasantly plump)

-plotz (collapse)

-meshuga (daffy)

-nebbish (milquetoast)

-tchotchke (knickknack)

-schnorrer (moocher)

-mensch (honorable person)

-shamus (detective)

-nudnik (a bore) pronounced “nood-nick”

Of the 17, I think I liked ‘nudnik’ the best, and might actually use it some time. It sounds like a word that Chris might have invented!

Seeing "Through a glass darkly"--Our Mortal Condition (or, we need all the help we can get)

2010-05-28T13:56:00.005-06:00

The other day, Shy and Katscratchme were discussing issues with regard to dealing with their spouses. The following article offers some interesting insights for spouses and as well as for other relationships. The Knight and I enjoyed a discussion of the article as we were driving somewhere to do some CSM thing recently. The article appeared in Meridian Magazine within the last month or so. It is definitely food for thought.

Will I Ever Receive His Image in My Countenance?
By H. Wallace Goddard

Alma surrendered his civil leadership so that he could minister to the spiritual well-being of the people. He traveled the cities and villages giving the polished message recorded in Alma 5. Though Alma did not have the technology to deliver his speech to all the people at once, he did deliver the same powerful invitation to people all over the land. I think of this as one of the earliest recorded General Conference addresses.

In Alma’s great speech to the people, he suggested that one of the evidences of spiritual re-birth is to have Jesus’ image in our countenances (Alma 5:14). I have been both inspired and burdened by that expectation. I want to radiate like Jesus. I want people to see Him in me. But, when I look in the mirror, I don’t see any hint of His remarkable goodness. I see tired eyes and a profusion of wrinkles.

Since I have a great talent for self-accusation, I have assumed that I am not really spiritually reborn. I may have had powerful spiritual experiences, I may love Him dearly, but my cankered soul has not yet yielded to the mighty change.

New Revelation

I am grateful for the opportunity I have of teaching Institute in the Little Rock area. When it came time for us to study Alma’s great plea for spiritual renewal, I begged God to open my mind and heart so I could understand his meaning. I studied and pondered. I continued to love the chapter but still felt more accused than encouraged by Alma’s description of the changed soul.

It wasn’t until we were in the middle of the lesson on a Wednesday evening in early March in the Relief Society room of the chapel that God gave the answer I had sought. Suddenly God made the connection between Alma’s words and the practical reality.

The Background

The world’s best scholar on marriage is arguably John Gottman. I have read and studied his books. I regularly use his materials in both writing and teaching.

In Relationship Cure (2001), Gottman suggested that many ordinary behaviors are really bids for connection. When I ask Nancy if she would like to go to Home Depot with me, I am not requesting help with loading lumber. I am really telling her that I love to be with her and would be delighted to have her accompany me to one of my favorite places. I am making a bid for connection.

Very often we miss the significance of these invitations. Maybe Nancy asks me if I would like to take a walk with her. If I am in a foul mood, I might respond: “Are you saying that I am a lazy slob, that I need more exercise, and you don’t approve of my reading newsmagazines?”

YIKES! We can be so absorbed in our own thoughts and feelings that we hardly see a partner’s loving intent. We respond to invitation with insult. When we respond to a bid for connection in such a harsh way, Gottman calls it “turning against.”

I might respond to Nancy’s invitation in a gentler, but still self-focused way. I might shrug, sigh, and announce with non-verbals that I really don’t want to go. Gottman calls this “turning away.” I suspect that we do a lot of this with family and friends. They invite us into their lives and we shrug them off.

There is a third alternative. Imagine that, in response to Nancy’s invitation, I say, “I love doing things with you, Dear.” Maybe I jump up and join her in a walk. Yet my warm response does not require that I take the walk. Maybe my back is hurting or I’m in the middle of something pressing. But I can respond to a bid for connection by “turning toward” Nancy. Maybe I say, “I love doing things with you, Dear. I just need to finish this project, but as soon as I’m done, let’s spend some time together.” I can respond to her message of love by offering a message of love. I can turn toward her whole-heartedly and appreciatively. I can embrace her invitation.

As I thought about “turning toward,” it seemed that maybe that is exactly what Alma meant when he asked if we have Jesus’ image in our countenance. I think he means that we welcome their invitation into their lives, and offer grace, goodness, and appreciation in return. Turning toward people may be the sign that Jesus is in our hearts and souls.

Jesus as the Perfect Model

Jesus life was filled with turning toward His confused and troubled siblings. One of my favorite examples is Jesus’ dealings with the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). While Simon and his hard-hearted buddies judged and condemned both Jesus and the woman, Jesus “turned to the woman,” pointed out her generosity of spirit and “said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven” (v. 48).

At least ten times in scripture we are told that, in spite of our wickedness, “his hand is stretched out still.” That is His attitude, His posture, His stance. He is reaching for us—even when He has reason to turn away or turn against us. In Elder Maxwell’s powerful words: “His relentless redemptiveness exceeds [our] recurring wrongs” (“Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King,” Ensign, May 1976, 26).

He is always turning toward us whether we turn toward Him, turn away from Him, or turn against Him. When we, like Him, turn lovingly and redemptively toward our brothers and sisters, then we have His image in our countenance.

The older meaning of the word countenance included far more than our facial expression; it meant our bearing or behavior. Thus God invites us to turn squarely toward the people in our lives, to see them redemptively—as He does, and to stand ready to serve them gladly.

When a neighbor needs help with a home repair, I can turn toward that neighbor and that need. When a friend seems burdened, I can turn squarely toward him and open my arms. When a fellow saint is not living up to my ideal of gospel standards, I can avoid turning against with scolding and lectures or turning away with an attitude of judgment, and instead turn toward that child of God with love and encouragement. When someone irritates or offends me, I can turn toward that person with acceptance and forgiveness.

That is what He would do. That is what He would have me do to radiate more of what He is.

An Irony and Trap Along the Way

As we read about turning toward others, we may instinctively think of others’ failures to do that for us. We may wish that our parents, spouses, bosses, co-workers, and friends had His image in their countenances! Yet Alma did not ask whether the people around us have experienced the mighty change; he asked whether we had. In His ministry, Jesus—our model--was gracious and redemptive with both those who were gracious and those who were not. He asks that we turn toward others regardless of whether they turn toward us, turn away from us, or turn against us.

In family relations, this is a terribly important idea. I often hear people tell me that they have tried everything to get their spouses engaged and involved in their marriages. I readily grant that some spouses are remote and inflexible. I have also observed that many of us really haven’t tried everything. We have tried the thing that we think should work and we have done it over and over again in spite of its demonstrated ineffectiveness. We get frustrated and we blame the failure on recalcitrant spouses.

For example, I can get mad at my beloved Nancy for being so engaged in Relief Society work that I feel neglected. But getting mad at her is not an effective way of pulling her into my life. If I can adopt the mind of Christ, I know that I should approach her humbly, kindly, and lovingly: “Sweetheart, when you get so involved in Relief Society, I feel left out. I miss you. I get lonely. I would like to do more things with you.”

Rather than conclude that our spouses are hopelessly dull when they do not respond to our bids for connection, we can refine, clarify, and sweeten our invitations. In other words, we can repent. Repenting ourselves is always better than condemning our spouses. It is also more consistent with Jesus’ commands.

At the same time, we can work to be more sensitive to our spouses’ bids for connection. They may be inviting us into our lives in ways we fail to recognize. We can pray for Heaven to give us discerning eyes so that we see and appreciate our spouses’ invitations.

Turning Toward

When my dear wife invites me to take a walk, I plan to jump up and take her hand. And when Jesus reaches towards me with enlightenment, an invitation, or any opportunity to more deeply connect, I plan to fully turn toward Him instead of mentally sighing and turning toward a book, a TV program, or a hobby.

Someday I hope to develop His image in my countenance. I now know how.

IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD, GOOFIER THAN TV, WORLD

2010-05-26T10:06:00.012-06:00

“IT’S ALIVE!”

Do you remember Gene Wilder in “Young Frankenstein”— he was the mad scientist who shouted, “It’s alive!!!” when his cobbled together “monster” rose up and walked?

Gene Wilder’s crazy facial expression came to my mind as I read a recent headline which announced that a group of scientists had “created life.” […Well, … sort of … in a manner of speaking … (just don’t look too closely at the experiment!) … at least they didn’t kill it ....]

Actually, the truth is they merely tinkered with the DNA of a simple bacterium. They took out a chunk of DNA and then substituted some “synthesized” DNA. The synthesized DNA was made of "biological components" which the cell recognized as equivalent to its original DNA, so the bacterium continued to self-replicate.

Other scientists have pointed out that, while this experiment is interesting, it doesn’t even come close to “creating life.” Scientists haven’t a clue about how to make a living cell.

Just thought you’d like to know.

“Part A and Part B”

The Federal Government thinks I’m going to turn 65 this year so they sent me a Medicare Card showing my coverage, “Part A and Part B.”

They also sent a tiny booklet to explain what I should understand by “Part A and Part B,” and at the same time they warned me that a much larger and more confusing book with endless “small print” will arrive before my fateful 65th. Nice.

They also sent me a notice telling me that my future Medicare coverage has been cut. Drastically. And if I want to know what that means exactly, I should mail them a postcard requesting the list of cuts.

Once again it appears that needing a doctor, either now or in the future, is not in my own best interests….

LOST Again

In today’s Deseret News, columnist Scott Pierce (TV critic), shared his reaction to the last LOST episode. His headline read: Last ‘LOST’ turned out to be lazy writing. He went on to say:

The producers of "Lost" kept telling us that their main goal was to make viewers feel like they hadn't wasted the time they invested watching the show over the past six years.

There are some viewers who feel like their investment paid off. And others who, to one degree or another, feel ripped off. Count yours truly among the latter group….

Don't get me wrong. The end itself — in which we saw all of the main characters happily dead and headed toward something great (heaven?) — was fine, in a weepy sort of way.
But when the good feelings started to wear off, we were faced with the reality that we had been snookered….

Within the "Lost" universe, there was no attempt to make any of it make sense. A lot of it came down to — well, … magic.

That's simply not good storytelling.

And the feel-good moments at the end don't make up for six seasons of stringing viewers along without ever providing any real answers or any real closure.

At best, it was an attempt to give viewers a nice ending despite the fact that there was never any real plan.

At worst, it was a cynical attempt to hide that lack of a plan — and camouflage all the bad writing — with a warm and fuzzy glow.

I know some of you loved it. And I, too, enjoyed watching the warm and fuzzy ending. But I am still glad I didn’t waste six seasons of my time on it (as I said in my last posting).

Time Not LOST

2010-05-24T14:40:00.002-06:00

I confess to sometimes reading the end of a suspenseful novel when I’m only part-way through it. That way, I know where the novel is ultimately headed, and I can stop guessing as the plot twists this way and that, and I can enjoy how the author constructed the novel with subtle clues hidden amongst the ambiguous details. I really hate surprise endings anyway. They usually make me feel irritated with the author— as though I have been tricked, and that the author is mocking me.

Sometimes a quick peek at the last chapter also lets me know that I don’t need to waste one more minute reading that particular book: Hooray! I can spend my precious time elsewhere! Some books, of course, are such that by the second chapter, I know that I need not read any further and I don’t care a fig about how the book ends!

I often use the same approach with a TV series. I was an avid fan of ER during its first couple of seasons. But when ER stopped being a medical show and became a soap opera about the sordid love affairs of the doctors and nurses, I stopped watching. However, I did come back to watch the episode about the death of Dr. Green. By that time, the cast had almost completely changed except for Dr. Green. I did not return to watch the final episode of the series.

I’m sure you have guessed where this is heading:

LOST.

I saw only the first few episodes or so of the first season of LOST. It looked promising. But then things transpired on the island that were, well, preposterous. Actually, that there were any survivors at all after the crash was preposterous. I wanted to suspend my disbelief, but I was not entirely successful. From the premise being preposterous, things went rapidly down hill from there. I don’t even remember what it was that turned me away and I quit watching. Knowing my intolerance for outlandish impossibilities, it could have been any number of things.

However, when I heard that the final episode of LOST was going to be broadcast, I thought I might watch just to see how the story ends. The fate of the crash victims needed some closure in my mind. And I was sure that there would be discussions amongst friends and family about it. I didn’t want to be entirely out of the loop.

So, I watched the retrospective and the final episode. The retrospective, while not quite a summary, did let me know that I had made a very wise choice when I stopped watching early on. I would have had no patience with most of it. I can groan “give me a break” only so many times …. That the script writers themselves were LOST is most obvious.

So. The end of it…. I suppose it meant that they had really died as they should have from the crash. What followed, on the island, was some kind of limbo or purgatory experience, until they were “ready” to move on to the afterlife. Supposedly, they redeemed themselves through their various choices and actions while on the island.

Good enough. I am glad that I skipped to the last chapter. The middle chapters would have made me cranky. I am glad of the time not LOST in watching it in its entirety.

Marvin Payne on Mother's Day

2010-05-12T09:34:00.002-06:00

Mother’s Day—And All the Moms Who Stayed Home
By Marvin Payne

Mother’s Day should be a surprise. That way, you’d have a lot more mothers out to sacrament meeting. As it is, you only have the mothers who are either really brave, emotionally resilient, or overly confident. The rest are at home, watching re-runs of devotionals on BYU TV or drowning their feelings of utter inadequacy in diet Coke with lemon.

And they miss the prize, too, which is always a comfort. I don’t mean the prize is a comfort—missing it is a comfort. Because the prize is either a plant, which is one more living thing that will require her care or die, or it’s chocolate, which, of course, will provide one more shove down the slippery slope of guilt. (One of the blessings of being a mother is that, by definition, you have children, and the children will eat all the chocolate before you get any. Of course, then you have to deal with the guilt of having a Sunday with children who are full of chocolate rather than homemade nine-grain bread ((prepared on Saturday)).)

And of course these mothers miss whatever really good things might have happened at sacrament meeting, like, well, the sacrament. But they also miss Nathan Webb, the youth speaker, who actually required his shuddering mother to stand up in the fifth row and listen to his talk. And that was pretty entertaining. (Also, I, who assigned Nathan to speak, must admit, pretty moving, on account of he didn’t talk about her perfections so much as her values. Which is why she is still among us in mortality.) Also they miss Bob Wilcox telling us how Anna Jarvis, who spent a quarter of a century and all her inheritance promoting the establishment of an official Mother’s Day in America, was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace during a protest against the commercialization of the holiday, dying that same year having never married or born children. But hey, the consolation is that I was born that year to carry the torch of protest all the way into the new millennium.

(Why do the commercializers even try? Our little four-year-old gave her mom a homemade drawing of, I don’t know, maybe a paramecium, with a rubber band around it and “from Addie and Daddy” on the card. Hallmark, eat your heart out. You’ll never beat that.

A couple of years ago, Addie’s brother John, sitting on a Mother’s Day panel in primary, revealed that, “I love my mother because she helps me when I clean the house.” He’s a little sharper-eyed now, though, as suggested by what he about wrote her this year:

“…She helps me when I am sick and she finishes my chores for me. My mom makes the best lemon poppy-seed cake, cinnamon rolls, and popcorn.” ((To this I can attest—it’s popped, not in a bag, but in a pan with coconut oil—yumm!)) “She looks the prettiest when she goes to the Temple or out on a date. She loves to eat lemon bars and chocolate.” ((She joyfully attends sacrament meeting on Mother’s Day. We also have many plants.)) )

One of the fixtures of the day is bad poetry. I will quote here a stanza of Mother’s Day verse without attributing it to any individual poet, because it came last week in an email from the Relief Society, who didn’t attribute it to any individual poet.

I see you working hard for me
And wonder what it means:
Whether I will do the same
And give up my own dreams.

I didn’t actually keep this in the inbox where my wife might happen to read it. I didn’t think it would inspire her.

I can’t lay my hand on it right now, but my old pal Carol Lynn Pearson wrote a poem once about how when a mother bird returns to the nest with worms for her babies, she also brings with her shining bits of sky. The closet ornithologist in me wonders, suddenly, how a mother bird might presume to teach her babies to fly if she, herself, didn’t know how. Or how she could testify that dreams may come true if hers hadn’t. (Hmm, I wonder if any branch of ornithology specializes in bird dreams?)

I had a friend, Mike Palmer, who has long since rejoined his departed mother, whom he loved. On Mother’s Day in 1974 he quoted for me a couple of lines from a poem he’d heard. It wasn’t in sacrament meeting. I remember his grin as he spoke from memory the words, “Huge as Asia, siesmic with laughter, gin and chicken helpless in her Irish hand…”

Here’s the whole piece. It’s called “To My Mother.”

Most near, most dear, most loved, and most far,
Under the window where I often found her
Sitting as huge as Asia, seismic with laughter,
Gin and chicken helpless in her Irish hand,
Irresistible as Rabelais, but most tender for
The lame dogs and hurt birds that surround her,—
She is a procession no one can follow after
But be like a little dog following a brass band.

She will not glance up at the bomber or condescend
To drop her gin and scuttle to a cellar,
But lean on the mahogany table like a mountain
Whom only faith can move, and so I send
O all my faith and all my love to tell her
That she will move from mourning into morning.

This was written by George Granville Barker, who must be acknowledged here as the original owner, and therefore copyright holder, of these words. He was not LDS (not by a long shot, apparently), and died before email.

…Or maybe I just don’t get it. Maybe I think the moms are all scared because, heck, I would be. I mean, all the stuff we praise them for is what we might praise the Savior for if there were a “Savior’s Day.” Wait, there is one. Fifty-two, in fact. Hmm. Would He stay home? Well, of course He’s not inadequate. But then, He doesn’t have to cook and clean and… Well, except for broiling fish on the seashore… and then, oh yeah, five thousand—big meal. And washing disciples’ feet, and being the only name on the temple cleansing sign-up. And, okay, we’re there—going deeper into the valley of death than any labor-torn mom and giving birth to all creation.

Maybe what bugged me about the Relief Society verse was that I pictured Mom saying to the sticky-faced kid, “Your dreams instead of mine.” Well, it feels different if you picture Mom suffering in a dark orchard and saying to her Father, “Thy will, not mine be done.”

I guess what makes the difference is what the abandoned dreams are. Beauty? I can imagine the Savior wanting to be beautiful out of reverence for His Father, in whose express image He was made. Education? I can imagine the Savior wanting to learn all He could about the beauty and wonder of the world, to tear at the veil that covered his memory of having made it all. Art? I can imagine the Savior wanting to sound good as He sang the hymn with His disciples on the eve of His atonement.

Beauty again: Helen had a face that launched a thousand ships. Christ has a face that launched a trillion lives. I once asked my Sunday School class of fourteen-year-olds who in the ward they thought had “His image in their countenances.” I expected them to say folks like Merle Broadbent, who, along with radiating measurable light, is just plain beautiful. Well, they went along with Merle, but they were downright eager about Mike Huish, the bishopric guy over the youth. Mike, bless his glorious heart, was not, as a senior in high school, voted “most likely to be mistaken for Tom Selleck.” I was moved by their innocent fervor, and added a beautiful face to my list of inspirations.

Back to the email stanza. It wouldn’t have mattered to the Savior Who’s dream He was serving, because His dream and His Father’s dream were one dream. And this is how it was meant to come true:

“…by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death. Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”

ME:
Wait, I thought that was for the guys.

THE SPIRIT:
Yes, but who does it mostly sound like, your dad or your mom?

ME:
Oh. I get it.

THE MOMS WHO STAYED HOME BUT SUBSEQUENTLY READ BACKSTAGE GRAFFITI: All right, then. Mister sticky-faced six-year-old, I’m your mom. I will not abandon my dream for yours. I will surrender my will to Heavenly Father’s dream and cling to it for all I’m worth (which, according to Him, is a lot), and my joy in that dream will ignite your eyes and His dream will become yours.

And we’ll eat the chocolate gleefully together.

2010-04-30T10:15:00.005-06:00

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. The father hoped his son would gain a better perspective about all that he had provided for the family. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How did you enjoy our trip?"
"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah." said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from this trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, and they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Perspective is an amazing thing.

(The above appeared in an article by Vickey Pahnke Taylor at Meridian Magazine this morning. I just had to share it because too often we have a somewhat skewed view of things, and need to be reminded about "things as they really are" -- including what is truly most valuable and important in our lives.)

When God Lets Us Be Cast Into a Pit

2010-04-20T08:52:00.004-06:00

Sometimes God lets us be cast into a pit.

While we are in the pit, it is easy to decide to "curse God and die," or to "charge God foolishly."

It is extremely difficult to decide to use the pit as an opportunity to grow in faith; to regard our pit experience as one of those "all things shall work together for thy good" experiences.

The following article (published today) was quite timely (esp. for Shy):

http://www.ldsmag.com/lineuponline/100420pit.html

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Stunning Photo

2010-04-19T14:12:00.004-06:00

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is stunning. I hope you will click on the picture to the right to see it in larger format. If you don't look at it today (April 19) by tomorrow, you will have to go to the "archives" to see it. Simply click on the current picture, it will take you to the APOD website, toward the bottom of the page are the links, click on "archives" and then the April 19th posting. For additional photos (16 in all) of the volcano erupting, click on "Pictured above" in the Explanation.

First off, this is not a "large" volcano. Impressive though, isn't it? I thought it fascinating that the ice of the glacier above the volcano causes the lava flow to cool into glass shards. The global warming folks are now saying that global warming is the cause of the recent earthquakes and volcanic activity. If that is true, then Mother Nature is self-correcting because an ash plume across the globe can also cause global cooling! A mini ice age was caused after the volcanic eruption of Mount Krakatoa.

Earthquakes in diverse places. . . . . sounds like Last Days to me!

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SCAMMED!

2010-04-16T18:23:00.007-06:00

I had read about it in the newspaper, I think. I certainly didn't expect it ever to happen to us. The frantic phone call came yesterday and again this morning. One of our granddaughters was in trouble in Canada and needed $5000.00! . . . . .

The Better Business Bureau warns senior citizens that the “Grandparent Scam” is back:

HOW THE SCAM PLAYS OUT:
Typically, the grandparent receives a frantic phone call from whom they are led to believe is their grandchild. A scammer, posing as their grandchild, explains that he or she has gotten into trouble—often in Canada—and needs their help. The “grandchild” might claim he or she caused a car accident or was arrested for drug possession. With the new wave of calls, victims are also contacted by someone claiming to be a police officer or lawyer representing the grandchild in court. The “grandchild” pleads to the grandparents to not tell his or her parents and asks that they wire thousands of dollars for reasons including posting bail, repairing the grandchild’s car, covering lawyer’s fees or even paying hospital bills for a person the grandchild injured in a car accident.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be your grandchild in distress, BBB advises that you don’t disclose any information before you have confirmed it really is your grandchild. If a caller says “It’s me, grandma!” don’t respond with a name but instead let the caller explain who he or she is. One easy way to confirm their identity is to ask a simple question that your grandchild would know such as what school he or she goes to or their middle name.

If you have fallen victim to the scam, BBB recommends that you report the incident immediately to local police and your state Attorney General’s office. If there is a request to wire money to Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre has established the PhoneBusters hotline and Web site to report such fraud. Reports can be filed easily online through the PhoneBusters site at: www.phonebusters.com, or by phone, toll free at, 1-888-495-8501.

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When I asked The Knight what the first phone call was about and he said it was our granddaughter and she was in jail in Canada and wanted money, I thought he was joking. I thought he was alluding to this widespread scam and was trying to be funny. So, I just ignored him. That was yesterday. When he told me she had called back again this morning, and I asked what she wanted and he again said she was in jail in Canada, I impatiently told him to stop joking and to give me a straight answer! . . . . .
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I was astounded that someone is actually targeting us!
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Heart and Souls

2010-04-11T19:28:00.001-06:00

Baylie gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting today, on “Preserving the Heart’s Mighty Change” (Oct Gen Conf, Dale Renlund). Amazingly, she didn’t seem nervous at all! I was so impressed! She shared the most important points of Elder Renlund’s talk, bore her testimony, and was done in about 3 minutes. In those three minutes she also communicated what a darling, sweet and gentle, beautiful soul she is.

The other two individuals who spoke on the same topic were a cute, newlywed-BYU nursing student, and a grandmother in her mid-sixties with unstyled gray hair and glasses. In order to preserve her privacy, I will call the grandmother “Nan.”

Nan has been teaching one of our classes in RS each month for at least a couple of years, now, so I have had ample time to observe her teaching style. Nan is not a “dynamic” speaker or teacher. She does not try to “entertain.” Her approach is always one of thoughtfulness. She thinks deeply and introspectively. For some people that description means that she is a “boring” teacher/speaker.

If anyone in the audience in Sacrament meeting had such thoughts and as a result stopped listening, how ironic, considering the topic of stony hearts v. hearts of flesh. As it turned out, today was also Nan’s day to teach the class in RS. I was glad. I find that when I listen thoughtfully, I am always edified when Nan teaches or speaks.

It is not just kids who quit listening when they decide someone is going to be “boring” (based on the teacher/speaker’s appearance or style). There are some adults who decide that they can’t learn from someone simply because she is female. How many men quit listening when a woman teaches or speaks? I have watched it happen for years. Additionally, there are those who quit listening because they are certain that they can’t learn anything from a person who has less experience or less education or is “beneath” them in some other way.

I am certain that He who knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and minds is not pleased with those who harbor feelings of disdain or condescension. It is one of those things that will condemn us:

… if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.

For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence. (Alma 12:13-14)
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And we will weep with shame.
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Tis Eventide . . . .

2010-04-05T20:07:00.006-06:00

This evening I turned on the TV to see if there was anything to watch since I was too tired to do anything else. I was hoping that BYUTV (21) or Channel 11 would be playing reruns of Conference or at least something uplifting.

No such luck.

So, I started checking a couple of other channels to see what was on. After about 3 minutes I turned it off. Even in that very short span of time I felt slightly stained.

In Conference, Elder Ballard and President Monson (and probably others) had plainly advised us to "turn it off" or to "get out of there" (speaking of movies, TV, etc. that do not reflect our values).

I knew Conference would be available on the internet in all forms by next Thursday. But, I wanted it NOW. So, I went online to check. What I discovered is that the whole thing is already there in MP3 form!

Well, in a matter of minutes, I was hooked up and listening to President Monson! I next listened to Elder Rasband since The Knight had enjoyed his talk so much at Priesthood. I also listened to many of the hymns (and several of them more than once).

The last hymn of Conference was "Abide With Me Tis Eventide." It is one of my favorites that has special meaning and memories for me. As I was listening to it just now, I envisioned Jesus walking through our house, pausing at each room . . . .

"O Savior stay this night with me, behold 'tis eventide . . . ."

On this first day of Spring ...

2010-03-20T12:26:00.007-06:00

Don't you just love crocuses?

Our neighbor Gordon's crocuses cheerily appeared a few weeks ago. He planted a few small clusters of them on the South edge of his property. They were such a welcome sight after days of dreary wintry weather.... helping me to feel Hopeful.

My first experience with crocuses happened in Indiana. Near the front porch steps on the east-facing side of our house they bloomed at the edge of the receding snow bank. It was our first spring in Indiana....

There was a home in West Lafayette where they had planted crocuses in their entire front lawn. It was wonderful. By the time the crocuses were done blooming, their leaves looked sort of like grass. The leaves were ready to be cut by the time the lawn was ready to take over.

I wanted to plant crocuses in our tiny front lawn here in Orem.

The Knight nixed the idea.

Don't you think a lawn full of crocuses sounds delightful?

It must be my British heritage peeking through.

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Grunge is another word for ....

2010-03-17T19:19:00.007-06:00

The word grunge comes from the adjective grungy, which originated in about 1965 as a slang term for “dirty” or “filthy.”

“Grunge clothing” (worn by “grunge musicians”) consists of thrift store items and typical Northwest outdoor clothing (like flannel shirts). Over all, the INTENT is to have a generally unkempt [sloppy] appearance.

The style was never an attempt at creating “appealing” fashion. Music journalist Charles R. Cross said that Kurt Cobain (a grunge musician) was “just too lazy to shampoo”! Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman said, “This clothing … runs against the grain of the whole flashy aesthetic that existed in the 80’s.”

So, let me get this straight, the goal of grunge is to have a generally sloppy appearance that “runs against the grain” of the rest of society. In other words, the purpose is to bother other people. In. Your. Face. And let’s suppose your grunginess doesn’t get the desired adverse reaction? Then, more extreme grunginess must be in order? Right?

So, meet Mark Johnson. Is this man a poster boy for GRUNGE?

On the other hand, if this man’s appearance IS “appropriate” to his job, what might you guess his job is?

Most jobs and work places have a dress code. Many places expect their employees to wear a “uniform” of some type whereby the public can thus determine at a glance what the employee does. Firemen, policemen, nurses, lab technicians, etc. can often be identified as such by their clothing.

What a person wears also conveys his self-image as well as his attitude towards others. Someone who is neat and clean, and appropriately attired for the job or the occasion, usually feels appropriately self-confident. In response, other people in the setting usually react favorably toward that person.

However, a person who purposely and consistently goes “against the grain” is commonly (and understandably) regarded as a person with a bad attitude, or one who is disrespectful. And sometimes not very likeable. Or bright.

Mark Johnson is complaining that his employer has recently mandated a strict dress code which he thinks is unfair and narrow minded. For one thing, he is expected to wear clothing that hides the tattoos that completely cover his forearms. He is expected to be a "role model" and look more “professional.”

Mark Johnson’s job?

Would you believe high school English teacher?

Well, you might say, it depends on WHERE he teaches high school that determines whether his current appearance is appropriate or not. Maybe if he lives and works in an inner-city school plagued with gang members, he might NEED to look like this to SCARE some of his scarier students.

But, do you think his appearance is appropriate for English teachers in the average high school in Utah?

If you said yes, is it because our standards have slipped that much? Or because our culture has been co-opted?

For all his protestations that his tattoos reflect his culture, I don’t think a long sleeve shirt is going to kill him or hurt his culture. I think the truth is he likes shocking people. He protests that his appearance is “teaching” people to not be judgmental. I think this rationale may actually betray an over-riding “in your face” attitude.

This is the role that he is actually “modeling.”

Personally, I think the media has made entirely too much of the issue of the tattoos.

But, what about the grungy looking hair? What about the sloppy attire? If he had no tattoos, would his appearance then be “professional” enough? Without the tattoos, but with the dread locks and the sloppy clothing is he a "role model"?

Just wondering.

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Beware the Ides of March

2010-03-15T10:58:00.004-06:00

On the Ides of March (March 15th) Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate by Brutus, Cassius, and 60 other co-conspirators. Caesar had been warned by a Seer to be on his guard against a great peril on the Ides of March. This warning is most famously dramatized in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, with the words (spoken by said Seer) “beware the Ides of March.” The other famous Shakespearean phrase from this same play is “Et tu, Brute?” which was spoken by Caesar when the “unkindest cut” was inflicted by Caesar’s friend Brutus. (Fortunately, I have not needed to remember that line a whole lot—exept, perhaps, in jest.)

However, for the past fifty years, on the 15th of March, I have remembered, “beware the Ides of March.” I am happy to report that I do not recall anything horrible happening to me on all those Ides of March for these many years. I think I remember it because it just sounds profound or spooky to mutter under my breath, “beware the Ides of March!”

This year, however, the Ides of March may prove to be bad luck for many people. That is because of Daylight Savings time. Someone figured out that there is a 17 percent increase in fatal accidents on the Monday following the time change! So, be careful out there: we don’t want THIS Ides of March to be one to remember…. (Except with humor! :))

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Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo

2010-03-09T20:25:00.003-07:00

I really like the fun poetry of John Ciardi. I've been thinking about that for the past few days. Here's an example:

Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo

by John Ciardi

The morning that the world began
The Lion growled a growl at Man.

And I suspect the Lion might
(If he’d been closer) have tried a bite.

I think that’s as it ought to be
And not as it was taught to me.

I think the Lion has a right
To growl a growl and bite a bite.

And if the Lion bothered Adam,
He should have growled right back at ’im.

The way to treat a Lion right
Is growl for growl and bite for bite.

True, the Lion is better fit
For biting than for being bit.

But if you look him in the eye
You’ll find the Lion’s rather shy.

He really wants someone to pet him.
The trouble is: his teeth won’t let him.

He has a heart of gold beneath
But the Lion just can’t trust his teeth.

ODDS AND ENDS

2010-02-26T14:10:00.007-07:00

Mercifully Short

I have always liked February because it is mercifully short. January, on the other hand, is the most odious month because it seems interminably long. It seems to me that of all the seasons, Winter should have the shortest months, and Spring and Autumn should have the longest months! Actually, May and October should be the longest of all the months—about 45 days each would be just about right! Of course, the other alternative is to move to San Diego and have Perpetual May. In the event that you ever get tired of Perpetual May, you can always drive up to Big Bear.

Yelling and Screaming, Screaming and Yelling

In one of Maurice Sendak’s books [Really Rosie or The Sign on Rosie’s Door], “Yelling and screaming, screaming and yelling” recurs. (Dara can probably fill you in on the details.) A lot of “yelling and screaming, screaming and yelling” goes on these days on most game shows and at sporting events. TV studio audiences are told to do so. If they aren’t “enthusiastic” enough they are admonished during the commercial break. This mindless and nerve-wracking noise is disturbing to my soul and demeaning to those who do it. To me, “yelling and screaming, screaming and yelling” is something that is appropriate only when the house is on fire (or some other life-or-death event is occurring). Otherwise, it is a sound suitable mainly to the asylum or to nightmares.

Time Management

I have been a student of Time Management techniques since the early 1980s. Thirty years have passed, and I am still struggling (and failing) to organize my time so as to get more done. (Read that as “get EVERYTHING done”!) I am a master at producing forms of all kinds—To Do Lists, Check Lists, etc.—in dozens of formats. And without my lists, I get “lost” in the resulting chaos. To make bad matters worse, I have less energy now, and time is “speeding up.” (Signs of old age.) But, I can’t NOT keep trying to master Time Management.

...

...

... just a few thoughts at the end of February, 2010.

....

Critical Mess ... er ... Mass

2010-02-19T12:20:00.004-07:00

This is a picture of Al Gore in his home office. (WHOA! WHAT A MESS!)

And, YES: My “office” is in a similar condition. I make stacks of stuff I am currently working on. Or that I intend to work on but not today. I am able to make stacks 100 times faster than I can eliminate stacks. With so many stacks, I periodically have to go through the stacks to remind myself what’s in them. Nothing much happens with a stack or the number of stacks until one or the other reaches “critical mass.”

At “critical mass,” I explode.

WARNING! WARNING! “Critical mass” is imminent! 

...

("critical mass" definition: 1. the minimum amount of fissile material that can sustain a nuclear chain reaction under a given set of conditions 2. the minimum amount or number required for something to happen, begin, etc.)

...

Uncommon Man

2010-02-14T12:25:00.008-07:00

It’s been five years ago this month that Hugh Nibley died at age 94.

“Who is he?” you say. “And why should I care?”

I am sad if you really said that.

Hugh Nibley was *only* an intellectual genius!!

One afternoon back in 1967, I was on BYU campus with The Knight. He took me upstairs in the Joseph Smith Memorial building to look at the office door that had the name of Hugh Nibley on it. We gazed at the name and the door with tremendous awe. (In today’s vernacular: WHOA!!!!!) Even back then, Hugh Nibley was practically a household word among Latter-day Saints because of his scholarly articles published in Church Magazines.

And then, as we stood there regarding the door with awe-struck reverence, suddenly an elf-like man with a twinkle in his eyes and a knowing smile on his face emerged. He greeted us in a friendly fashion and went on his way. (WHOA!!!!!!! AGAIN.) I think we were still breathless for a full five minutes after he vanished. There was no pretension whatsoever in the man.

Hugh Nibley was also a man of faith and uncommon obedience.

Don Norton (who taught one of the seminars I took while I was doing Degrees by Independent Studies) talked in class about his friend Hugh Nibley. Don wrote the Foreword to Nibley’s Approaching Zion (Volume 9 of the Collected Works). If I recall correctly, it was Don Norton who told us that Hugh Nibley refused to accept any money from the sale of his books and instead gave the money away (to charitable causes). Nibley chose to live the law of consecration in his life.

And for that, Hugh Nibley is my hero.

If anything, I stand more in awe of him today than I did in 1967.

Which of his books have you read?

I plan on reading Eloquent Witness (vol. 17) soon.

.....

Cat Makes Monkey Of Mom

2010-02-04T11:22:00.009-07:00

Yesterday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the front door was open long enough for Miss Kitty to make her escape, I was not overly concerned. I knew she'd not like it out there in the cold for very long. So, an hour later, when I looked out the front door and then the back door and called to her and jingled her ball, and she didn't come, I was just a little surprised. I repeated my invitation for her to come back in several times. No response. Finally, just before 6 p.m., I decided to see if she had somehow gotten over the 7-foot-tall back wall into the escape-proof backyard of our neighbor.

She had done that before. In the summer of 2008. That time, it had been a Sunday morning and I had had to drive around to that neighbor's front door, ring the doorbell, and ask a surprised older woman in hair curlers permission to fetch my cat from her backyard.

This time, no one was home and the gate was locked. As I tromped across the snow to the gate and back, I thought about the foot prints I was leaving in the snow: The "evidence" of a potential intruder!!

And I wondered what the people in the neighboring houses thought I might be doing. And if they might phone the police about my suspicious behavior.

Back at home, I enlisted the aid of The Knight to fetch some ladders so that I could climb over the wall and rescue Miss Kitty. The Knight was grumpy about it as he shook the leaves off the ladders lying against the house, and propped one ladder against the fence and tipped the other one over the top of the wall into the neighbor's yard.

Now, I am sure you are wondering why The Knight didn't do the chivalrous thing and climb over the fence himself instead of letting me do it. I did momentarily think about asking him to do it. But I rejected the idea immediately. Miss Kitty might run away from him. She might even run away from me. But, I knew I had a better chance of getting her than he did. So up the ladder I went to the top of the wall.

Did I mention that I am afraid of heights?

Did I mention that my right ankle has a severe case of painful tendonitis?

I got onto the top of the wall itself, then shakily maneuvered over to the other ladder and climbed down, trespassing into the yard. Miss Kitty was sitting daintily in a snowless spot next to the house. She waited patiently as I crunched across the snow and picked her up. (*I knew you'd come!* she said.) She meekly allowed me to tote her back to the wall and hand her up to The Knight who was on the ladder on the other side. She did not struggle at all.

Cat rescue complete!!

Nevertheless, I still had to climb up the ladder, mount the top of the wall again, transfer to the other ladder and climb back down. During all this, I was wondering how many neighbors were observing my acrobatics show. It had to have looked pretty funny: a chubby old grandma climbing over a wall....

Fortunately no one phoned the police.

At Church an hour later, another neighbor whose yard borders ours seemed to look at me with immense pity and with a rather smirky smile. She probably took a video of the whole thing and put it on You Tube.

The escape artist:

Miss Kitty.

A 3-Day Experiment

2010-01-30T13:59:00.003-07:00

What follows are excerpts from an article that appeared in Meridian Magazine and also in The Church News today. Notice how the "experiment" was only for three days. Notice also how only one small encounter per day was requested. ....

In a talk at BYU-Idaho this week, Elder Russell M. Nelson’s wife, Wendy Watson Nelson, emphasized the importance of being holy and inviting the Holy Ghost into one's life. She said that she recently e-mailed six women, ages 25 to 65, and asked them to try an experiment to do with holiness.

"I wrote, 'In thinking about how to learn about holiness, I was wondering if, for just three days, you would be willing to, just once a day, purposefully choose one activity a day and try to be more holy while doing it or to do it as a holy woman? For example, you might try welcoming your husband home, or making dinner, or reading to a child, or exercising, or eating one meal, or talking with a friend, or shopping, or praying, or doing laundry. How would a holy woman do that?" said Sister Nelson.

The thoughtful responses Sister Nelson received helped her understand the difference a desire to be holy can make.

One woman wrote about her experience with the most troublesome task she usually had during the day: brushing her 4-year-old's teeth. She said that she pictured the Savior in the room with her and felt an immense difference.

"Suddenly, I had more patience. I didn't bark orders. I felt like I had more influence over the situation. I could step back and almost see, well, how would a holy woman handle this situation?" wrote the woman to Sister Nelson.

Many of the women expressed that, after the experiment, they felt that being holy was not such an unreachable goal. They noticed how the desire to be holy affected their lives and wanted to continue to improve being more holy in their everyday lives.

"I believe that if we are really going to do what we came here to do, and that the Lord is counting on us to do, that we need to seek in every way we can to be more holy, to invite more holiness into our lives so that we really can, as the forces around us are increasing in intensity, have an equal and opposite reaction to those forces," Sister Nelson said.

Sister Nelson said that whatever it took in the past years to have a strong marriage, great family and a great life, would not be sufficient now. "I've even started to believe that what was enough last year won't be enough for this year, not as the forces around us are increasing in intensity," she said.

"It is my testimony, sisters, that it is time. It is time to take time to be holy. It is time to pray for the Lord to help us to be holy," she said. "I know the Lord is counting on us to do exactly what we said we would do that we signed up for premortally. The only way to do the things you said you would is to be increasingly holy."

Postscript from The Thinker: I think Wendy also gave us (intentionally or not) the way to go about transforming our lives: begin by trying just one small act of holiness per day, gradually increase to maybe two per day, and so on, until responding in a holy manner becomes second nature.

"Peace Is Coming"

2010-01-22T08:40:00.001-07:00

Fun Mysteries

2010-01-21T19:00:00.008-07:00

Acting on a tip I heard on BYU radio, I checked out a couple of novels by “Charles Todd” from the public library a couple of weeks ago. I quickly read both novels and then went back and checked out two more books in the series. The books are murder mysteries known as the “Inspector Ian Rutledge” mysteries. The author has received several awards and his books are New York Times best sellers.

Inspector Rutledge is a policeman with Scotland Yard. The action takes place in England after World War I. The Inspector has a voice in his head—that of a fellow soldier in WWI (“Hamish”) that he had to shoot because he disobeyed an order. Hamish is quite the character, talking all the time in a Scottish brogue.

Things I’ve enjoyed in the books: There are wonderful descriptions of the English countryside; they are clean with no steamy, suggestive scenes and without crude language; trying to figure out who the murderer is before the end of the story is a great challenge (brain exercise). The books are also hard to put down once you get into them, but not so scary that they create nightmares or disturbed sleep.

I will finish the fourth book today or tomorrow.
Only about eight more to go …. !

P.S. Charles Todd is a pen name--he is really a mother and son duo!

Out of the Rubble

2010-01-15T10:55:00.007-07:00

A two year old boy is pulled from the rubble. You can see it in his eyes, read it on his face: He had been trapped. He was hurt and bewildered. He had cried and no one came. It was so dark. There were fearsome noises. Where was Mommy? . . . .

Then, strangers, men in scary clothes, uncovered him and picked him up . . . .

There was commotion all around in the dark . . . .

But, suddenly, night turned to day. Fear turned to joy . . . .

Mommy came!

All is well!

Mommies are magic that way.

Insights on Adam and Eve

2010-01-08T13:59:00.003-07:00

Since we are studying the Old Testament in Gospel Doctrine this year, Meridian Magazine (http://www.ldsmag.com/) published an article about Eve today, titled, “The Wisdom and Intelligence of Eve,” written by James T. Summerhays. It was a great article with intriguing insights which should elevate the sometimes mundane or humdrum class discussions about Adam and Eve and The Fall.

Some of the assertions from the article: (1) Eve was not “tricked” by the serpent. (2) Eve was a wise prophetess and seer. (3) Paradoxically, Adam’s instruction to “rule over” Eve really meant that he was to be her servant!

1. Eve was not “tricked” by the serpent.

The original Hebrew word that was translated as beguile … suggests Eve underwent a deep internal process; she weighed, pondered, and reflected upon the ramifications of partaking of the fruit before she did so.

A second witness to the original meaning of beguile is given by the prophet Lehi, who makes commentary on the Adam and Eve story from a record much earlier than anything the King James translators had to work with—namely, the brass plates. Lehi explains that Eve was enticed by the tree of knowledge of good and evil that stood in opposition to the tree of life (2 Nephi 2:15–16). In other words, she wanted it; she chose it over the other. And it was a good tree, not inherently evil in any way. Notice all the positive terms in Genesis 3:6—“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.”

2. Eve was a wise prophetess and seer.

The word saw in this verse comes from the Hebrew word ra’ah, which has direct relation and root to the Hebrew word ro’eh, which means seer or vision. Such word play, which is common in Hebrew, suggests that Eve had a prophetic spirit and may have received seeric revelation from God as part of her tutoring in the garden.

Eve, who rightly may be seen as a wise prophetess and seer, came to realize that all those things—the knowledge of good and evil, the sorrow of probation, the ability to bear children—were necessary to receiving the wisdom of, and becoming like, the Gods (2 Nephi 2:22–24; Gen. 3:22). So she ate of the fruit and, technically speaking, transgressed God’s word. But in reality, she had reached into the mind of God. She saw, after partaking, that he had intended for her to eat of the forbidden fruit all along (Moses 5:11).

3. Adam’s instruction to “rule over” Eve really meant that he was to be her servant.

The original Hebrew meaning of mashal (rule) is “to have” or “to have dominion,” but it also means “to liken,” “to resemble,” and “to become like.” This intimates that Adam’s ruling meant he presided only under principles of unity and equality, and that he was to strive to “resemble” the virtues of Eve and thus “become like” her. President Gordon B. Hinckley further explained that Adam’s “ruling over” Eve as stated in Genesis means “to responsibly provide for, to protect, to strengthen and shield [his] wife.” President Spencer W. Kimball quipped: “We have heard of men who have said to their wives, ‘I hold the priesthood and you’ve got to do what I say.’ Such a man should be tried for his membership.”

It is as if God is saying here, “Sorry, Adam, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to place you at the head of the woman, which of course means you are the servant of the woman and a doulos—a slave to the woman.” In fact, Christ goes on to give the same concept about his own station in life: “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people” (Mark 10:45; NIV).

This is a mere sampling from the article. I hope you will find time to read the whole article. (See the web address in the first paragraph above. It was the lead article on Friday, Jan. 8.) Food for thought, indeed.

Adventure #1 for 2010

2010-01-01T18:33:00.004-07:00

I posted a blog a long time ago (in 2008?) about Larry Miller's son Greg who promised his children 100 ADVENTURES during the year. Remember that? I said I thought it was a great idea, so we embarked on our first adventure. As I recall it was a play at the Covey Center in Provo. Remember that???? --And remember the eye-guy who left a comment on my blog????? "YIKES"!!!!!!! LOL

In total during this past year, I think we logged less than half a dozen adventures for the entire year. (Sigh) Oh, well. It's now a NEW YEAR!

Here's a nearby quick adventure for anyone who might be interested:

The Woodbury Art Museum is at the University Mall, on the 2nd floor between Nordstroms and The Gap. It's open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it's free.

The above photo is of a painting in their permanent exhibit. This picture is part of the Fairy Tales collection and depicts a scene from Sleeping Beauty. Other art in the collection includes pictures from Lord of the Rings and Phantom of the Opera. (I think these qualify as kid-friendly art.)

Also currently on exhibit are several Sorensen Wax Dolls. There are a dozen different "Father Christmas" dolls on display until mid-January. These dolls are carved wax and are ornately clothed. Below is a photo of "Father Frost," one of the wax dolls.

What do you think? Does it look like it might be worth a visit to the Woodbury Art Museum? (Or maybe even more than one!)

Then, afterwards there might be a stop at the ice cream place?! (Two adventures for the price of one....)

Be Seeing You?

2009-11-15T16:04:00.009-07:00

I watched more television during this past week than I probably did during the whole previous month. Why? I was making a humanitarian hat which, while it does require some visual attention, it demands little mental attention, and the rest of my mind needed something to occupy it. (Oh—a “humanitarian hat” is a knitted/crocheted/loomed hat needed by the Humanitarian Center at this time—in anticipation of the winter weather, to give to needy people.) So, what did I watch (or listen to) on TV?

Normally, all that I watch every day is the bedtime news to get the weather report for tomorrow. But this past week, I watched/listened to “Ah-Nolt” in Terminator 2. I watched/listened to Nicolas Cage in ConAir. I watched/listened to reruns of NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order. Next time, I think I’ll watch reruns of General Conference!

Of course, during these shows I also watched/listened to a lot of promos for other shows. Shows like the much ballyhooed remake of “The Prisoner” which begins tonight starring the “Count of Monte Cristo” and “Gandalf.”

As you know, I was the First Fan (in our family) of the original “The Prisoner.” And because of our occasional “annual” marathons watching it, everyone in the family had pretty much memorized the opening sequence for each show which went something like: “Where am I? In the Village. What do you want? Information. IN-FORM-A-TION! You won’t get it! By hook or by crook, we will. Who are you? Number Two. Who is number One? You are number Six. I am not a number! I am a free man!”

Judging from the previews and what I’ve read in the newspaper, there will be little resemblance to the original in this remake. Will the star power of Gandalf and the Count be enough to pull it off -- or to pull us in? The New York Daily News says, “Caviezel is a decent actor, but he doesn’t bring enough to carry that much screen time. Six must be riveting, and Caviezel simply isn’t. Ian McKellen gives a fine performance as Two. But most of the time Two simply exudes smug arrogance, so there’s a limit to what McKellen can do.” The Daily News concludes: “Somewhere along the way, this three-night, six-hour production begins to feel less like a compelling metaphor for totalitarian repression and more like a marathon. No offense, but is it over yet?”

So--Will you be watching it?

... Be seeing you?

"Irreducible..." ... What??

2009-11-14T11:38:00.005-07:00

Yesterday, the Knight and I went for a drive up Provo Canyon to the end of the South Fork. During the night before, snow had fallen in the mountains, so that all of the evergreen trees on the north-facing sides of the canyon were picturesquely “flocked.” The blue skies and sunshine artistically illuminated this transformed landscape. It was God’s Christmas card to the world.

We drove slowly so as to savor the wonder of each new view as we passed. “This is good for the soul,” remarked the Knight.

We drove in thoughtful silence. Finally, the Knight asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“The irreducible complexity of eyeballs and flagella,” I said. “And the fact that mathematicians have long looked with skepticism at Darwinian evolution because it is devoid of the precision of mathematical laws, and comprised of too many improbabilities.”

I kid you not.

The Knight was momentarily speechless. You could almost discern the Hopelessly Romantic Knight being abruptly jousted from his steed and tumbling bewilderedly down the mountainside. He recovered nicely however; deftly switching from Romantic to Scientific thought. In retrospect, even I thought it was weird of me to be so not “in the moment” but, instead, exploring intricate intellectual labyrinths and contemplating astonishing philosophical vistas.

This can also be good for the soul.

2009-11-07T13:31:00.009-07:00

A Target Christmas catalog came in the mail this week. It was artfully done: colorful, and full of happy smiling children. It’s goal was to convince you that you could have a joyful Christmas only if you bought all this stuff guaranteed to produce joyful children (stuff available at Target, of course). Mostly that meant very expensive stuff. Mostly that meant electronic stuff. Electronic stuff that had, in every case, one solitary child interacting with an image on a TV screen.

I fear that too many parents, especially parents with little money, will despair (at least subliminally) of having happy children this Christmas because they can’t possibly afford to buy any of this stuff. They may even know that this catalog is a lie—that nothing in it can produce real happiness. Interacting with something electronic is an empty, ultimately unsatisfying endeavor. Loving interactions with other people, genuinely connecting with other people, serving others, seeking to make others happy—this produces real happiness.

I remember being a parent with little or no money for Christmas gifts. I remember overhearing my children say (about dozens of items), “I want THAT for Christmas!” as they watched yet another commercial on TV or looked at yet another printed ad. (Some scriptures come to mind: “their eyes are full of greediness.”) I felt like throwing the TV in the trash just to stop the “I want”s. It was making my children covetous and materialistic. And that guaranteed that they would be miserable on Christmas morning, and that they would think themselves deprived and cheated.

I don’t know at what age a person finally realizes that most “stuff” cannot guarantee happiness. Perhaps some people live their whole lives and never come to that realization. An old song from my parent’s era proclaimed that “the best things in life are free.” It was never a favorite of mine—crummy tune, bad poetry, saccharine sentiments. But, it seems to become truer all the time.

The moon belongs to everyone.
The best things in life are free.
The stars belong to everyone.
They gleam there for you and me.

The flowers in spring,
The robins that sing,
The sunbeams that shine,
They're yours, they're mine.

And love can come to everyone.
The best things in life are free.

My biggest fear is that we are all addicted to our electronic stuff and have lost touch with stuff that is real. And wholesome. And healing. And deeply satisfying. Anyone up for a walk in (or a dive into) the autumn leaves?

Apple Pie Order

2009-10-19T19:37:00.006-06:00

I don’t think that I have ever used the idiom, “Apple-pie order,” in a conversation in my entire life. Furthermore, I don’t think that I have actually heard anyone else use it either.

Therefore, when the phrase popped spontaneously into my mind a couple of weeks ago, in response to my having finished “tidying-up” a family in NewFamilySearch, I was surprised.

Now, it frequently springs spontaneously to my lips as I admire how the family looks when they have their names and dates all tidied-up and the children in chronological order. In that moment, I feel enormously warm and happy and contented.

It’s an odd little idiom. Where did it come from? No one really knows, but it is thought that it was an English corruption of the French nappes pliées, “neatly folded.” Everything is in perfect order and tidy if it is in apple pie order. Interesting that its origins might be French—seeing as how it is French families that I am tidying up. Another oddity is that apple pie is “distinctively American”—“as American as apple pie.”

Just a little food for thought. And its Lo-cal!

2009-09-24T09:44:00.002-06:00

You really need to see this photo on full screen. It's so good, it's almost like being there. This is Wasatch Mountain State Park in Heber Valley. The colors are spectacular. It's time to go for a drive up the canyon! Now!

No, I didn't take this photo, I borrowed it from KSL TV weather news photo gallery. I was looking for a lovely photo to adorn my BLOG. I come here every day to see if anyone has posted anything on their BLOGs, and my last BLOG was rather colorless and drab. As a kindness to myself, I decided that I needed something lovely to greet me when I come here. Sometimes the astronomy photo of the day is sufficient. And it actually was the astronomy photo of the day today that made me think of going to KSL TV weather to look at their sunsets, etc.

Don't you just love the beautiful Fall weather we have been having? Makes you glad to be alive!

2009-09-04T15:46:00.003-06:00

CAUTION: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS A WORD THAT MAY OFFEND SOME PEOPLE.

–It’s a much-maligned, perfectly good word. Unless, of course, you are hurling epithets that contain it at someone. Or suggesting that a person has characteristics that are … you know … st*p*d. Speaking of hurling epithets, it seems to me that just about any word said with an expression of repugnance and a certain nasty tone of voice can be equally as disturbing as … st*p*d.

Sister TY, several years ago, used the word “concoction” to describe a New Beginnings program that someone had … uhm … concocted. Her disdain was palpable. Her meaning clearly was that the creatress and her concoction were … st*p*d.

St*p*d is a word that even a child can understand and use adeptly and it’s easy to pronounce. Once as a joke, I succeeded in teaching a 2 year old to say “troglodyte” instead of st*p*d. Adults who heard him say it thought he was just a two year old babbling. They were unfamiliar with the word troglodyte. Obviously, an epithet needs to be understood to have any impact.

Which of the following words are less offensive than st*p*d?? idiotic, dumb-bell, dimwitted, blockhead (Lucy loved to say that to Charlie Brown), dope, numskull, ignoramus, know-nothing, BB-brain, empty-headed, boneheaded, half-baked, simple-minded, bird-brained, airhead, or how about Mork’s “nim-null”?

How do you say something is foolish or ill-advised so effectively that a person will understand and will stop being st*p*d or doing st*p*d things? Isn’t this a case of a 10-cent word being better than a whole thesaurus full of synonyms?

The above are the things I pondered after I saw the following cartoon in today's newspaper:

2009-08-29T09:36:00.004-06:00

Awwwww.... Doesn't that look on the kitten's face just melt your hard heart? Not to mention the "Please don't hurt me!" body language.

Oftentimes the native intelligence displayed in our pets, causes us to think and react to them as if they are like us and have motives for their behavior similar to ours. (Which may be saying more about us than about them.)

We oftentimes think and react the same way with our little children.

Yes, they are natively intelligent. And, yes, they need to be taught correct behavior. What they need most, of course, is our love and gentle persuasion. And careful teaching.

The older we get (and thus the farther away we are from our own childhood), and the more hassled we feel, the easier it is to become impatient. And perhaps unnecessarily harsh.

2009-08-28T08:51:00.006-06:00

This is today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. When I saw it this morning, I was filled with awe. Wow! Stunningly beautiful!

Part of the caption:
"Pillars of gas, dust, and young, hot stars fill the center of NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and tantalizing shapes are highlighted in this colorful skyscape. "

PS: click on the picture to get a larger view for the full effect!

Looking for Space?

2009-08-13T09:07:00.007-06:00

I woke up this morning with a pain in the neck.

(No. That is NOT code for The Knight. LOL)

In my pain-wracked condition, I glanced at the calendar hanging in the bathroom. I've been looking at this particular picture every day, now, since August 1. It's a Gary Patterson cat calendar. He draws crazy cartoon cats. August's cat is a Siamese who has OD'd on catnip. The cat is lying on his back with his eyes crossed and his tongue hanging out the side. The caption is "Space Cat-Det."

Did I mention that I was in pain? I tried to remember what the caption meant. I had figured it out a few days ago. But now, I had to think about it again.

Really think.

Cat Detective?

No, that couldn't be it.

I repeated it silently to myself: Space Cat-Det.

... Ahhhh, yes.

I guess that makes two of us! LOL

Under the Radar

2009-07-01T15:38:00.004-06:00

So, I was the one who jinxed June (with that one-and-only "what is so rare as a day in June" June blog--unfortunately, as it turned out what was "so rare" were my blogs!). After glorying in the spectacular June weather at the beginning of the month, what happened next? Clouds. Rain. Clouds. Rain. Clouds. Rain..... My fault. Obviously. I jinxed it.

Now, it is July 1st. And it started out with clouds and with a few drops of rain this morning. NOT my fault: I had said NOTHING about July one way or the other. Maybe if I keep a low profile, I will be able to sneak under the weather radar, and we can have more sunshine than clouds this month.

ON THE OTHER HAND . . . . The "climate change" guys--those same guys who used to be the "global warming" guys--actually predicted that some parts of the world would not get a normal summer this year. But, notice how carefully they refrained from calling it "global cooling." "Climate change" is the new terminology that covers every imaginable eventuality. So, no matter what happens they can say they predicted it. And that it is all man's fault.

In my opinion, their "science" is just as much foolishness as my "jinxes." Nevertheless, our political geniuses in Washington DC are going full speed ahead to "stop global warming."

June. Spoon. Tune.

2009-06-04T19:26:00.002-06:00

Today, while the Knight and I were out and about in the Mustang, it was as if I had just come out of hibernation after a very long nasty winter. I could hardly grasp the fact that it is now really June. Roses are in bloom everywhere, and green grass growin’ all around, all around. June! I didn’t think winter would ever leave. What terrifies me is that the next three months are going to whiz by and summer will vanish in a flash. And another long nasty winter will encase us in cold and snow and darkness.

This morning as I was slowly regaining consciousness, the poetic phrase “and what is so rare as a day in June?” passed through my mind. My teacher in the one-room country school made me memorize part of the poem when I was in 7th or 8th grade:

AND what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,
And lets his illumined being o'errun
With the deluge of summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?
Now is the high-tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
We are happy now because God wills it;
No matter how barren the past may have been,
'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green;
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell;
We may shut our eyes but we cannot help knowing
That skies are clear and grass is growing;
The breeze comes whispering in our ear,
That dandelions are blossoming near,
That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing,
That the river is bluer than the sky,
That the robin is plastering his house hard by;
And if the breeze kept the good news back,
For our couriers we should not lack;
We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing,
And hark! How clear bold chanticleer,
Warmed with the new wine of the year,
Tells all in his lusty crowing!
Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how;
Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward striving;
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,
'Tis for the natural way of living:
Who knows whither the clouds have fled?
In the unscarred heaven they leave not wake,
And the eyes forget the tears they have shed,
The heart forgets its sorrow and ache;
The soul partakes the season's youth,
And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe
Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth,
Like burnt-out craters healed with snow.
~ by James Russell Lowell

The other poetic phrase that occurred as I was still wanting to be asleep was “a nest of robins in her hair.” At that moment, I could hear the baby robins outside our open bedroom window cheeping away. Yes, I also had to memorize that poem (which, incidentally, is considered to be a rather poor piece of poetry):

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Well. So at last it’s June! I should make myself a promise to spend a minimum of 1-2 hours outside every day, just so I can prove to my psyche that I don’t live in perpetual winter. And just so I will have memories of June--of roses and green grass and baby birds to warm my heart when winter does return.

Of God's Gifts, a Baby/Child is of the Greatest

2009-05-21T18:45:00.005-06:00

I am enjoying the most recent additions to the photos of my children and grandchildren that grace my kitchen walls. Smiling, innocent, sweet, beautiful, trusting children. I also enjoy it when photos of these innocent ones appear on your blogs. Do you know what a precious treasure your children are? Of course you do. Do you know what a precious treasure you are to your children? I hope you do. Being a parent is the toughest job in the world but also the most important and wonderful. I am grateful that you, my children, are good, loving parents to your children.

“Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of to-day. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its own soul.” ~Francis Thompson

“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.” ~ Pablo Casals

Recently a beautiful, trusting, four year old boy (Angelo Mendoza, pictured below) was horribly mutilated by his own father. The story was so disturbing, I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to even bring it up here. My prayer is that Heavenly Father will pour down special blessings on this sweet child and that his life may yet be one of joy.

BTW... Are You OOTL Too?

2009-05-17T14:48:00.005-06:00

I had to laugh when I saw this comic strip in today's newspaper. Not only does cartoonist Bruce Tinsley poke fun at the proliferation/plague of texting, he pokes fun at the proliferation/plague of abbreviations.

Dandelion, in her last blog used "RPG" and kindly explained what the abbreviation meant for us OOTL (Out of the Loop) sorts. I'm glad she explained, because RPG also stands for Rocket Propelled Grenade and Rebounds per game (basketball). I was relieved to know she wasn't involved with grenades! Picturing her playing basketball with the JAZZ was also disturbing!

I've been perplexed by the use of soooooo many abbreviations in the online things I read. Not long ago, I kept running up against "MSM." I could tell the article wasn't referring to methylsulfonylmethane--which was the only MSM I was familiar with. What else is MSM?

Mechanically Separated Meat.

Miami Sound Machine.

I resorted to Wikipedia to learn that the articles were referring to the "Main Stream Media."

Another recent puzzle for me was "AGW. " The context ruled out "Autonomous Guided Weapon" or "Armed Global Warfare." I correctly figured out that the GW part was global warming. But, what was the A? Anthropogenic. Who knew.

Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Otherwise I would be forever OOTL. LOL

A Charming Story with a Happy Ending

2009-05-15T11:21:00.003-06:00

Hit the following link for a charming story with a happy ending. That is one happy Mama Duck!

http://www.stangardnermd.com/2009/05/14/a-true-story-about-a-quack/

Nice . . . Frames?

2009-05-14T15:37:00.005-06:00

I dashed out to WalMart to get a vinyl table cloth for the picnic table this morning in preparation for our backyard picnic on Saturday (the G-Ma's birthday). While there, I also picked up five picture frames that I thought might work ... of course, I can never find what I really have in mind ... nobody makes what I really want. But, I can be flexible. Sometimes.

When I got home, I inserted the pictures in the frames. Then I laid the pictures out in various groupings on the floor to see how I might like to put them on the wall. Then, as usual, half way through hammering nails in the wall and hanging pictures, I changed my mind. Eventually, my project was completed. Undoubtedly, they will have to be in place on the wall for at least a month before I will be able to decide if I like my grouping or not.

After I was finished with my hammering, the Knight came up to see what I had been up to. "Oh!" he exclaimed, as he admired my work. [... Work done nine years ago!! He thought I had just put up new curtains!] I was momentarily confused. When I told him those curtains had been there for nine years, he was momentarily confused. He couldn't recall ever having seen them!

Eventually, he turned around and saw the pictures on the wall. He said it was nice that those pictures finally had frames . . . . And then he hurried away to mow the lawn.

I can hardly wait to hear what the G-Ma has to say about the new pictures on the wall.

Maybe it will take nine years for other people to decide if they really like the grouping or not . . . . . . lol

Create!

2009-05-13T08:28:00.002-06:00

This video was on Meridian Magazine this morning. I especially loved the pictures (besides the message).

Create! Don't waste your time on inanity.

To see it in a wider screen and to give it a rating go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k

Time to say "YOU ARE FIRED"?

2009-05-12T20:14:00.002-06:00

We have had two negative experiences with “Dr. M” in less than a week. To make a long story short, I am now convinced that (1) he falsified a Medicare claim to get more money, and (2) he wrongly prescribed without taking the time to diagnose.

Experience one: I had at first thought that the office staff may have mistakenly billed for something that hadn’t happened, so I brought it up at G-Ma’s appointment last Thursday. He instantly became huffy, jumping to the conclusion that I was accusing him of fraud. I tried to explain to him what I had been concerned about, but he just wanted to play the role of the innocent insulted one.

But, I ask you: if a patient is complaining of BACK PAIN and you give that patient an injection of cortisone, would you inject it into her hip JOINT? The hip joint was NOT in pain. He billed $130 for an injection into a hip joint. A normal injection (which is what I thought he did) wouldn’t be billed for $130.

Negative experience two: the office staff phoned on Monday to say that they needed to talk to the G-ma about the blood tests that were done last Thursday. They said her potassium levels were too high and that she should stop taking potassium supplements and eating bananas, tomatoes, kiwis, and oranges. She’s never taken potassium supplements, and she RARELY eats any of those foods either. As a matter of fact, she hardly eats anything at all. Last week she barely weighed 103 pounds fully dressed with shoes on.

It is obvious to me that if she has high potassium, it is NOT caused by her diet. THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER CAUSE!! Did the Doc think about her blood pressure medication as the possible culprit? She’s taking the MAXIMUM dose of a “POTASSIUM SPARING” blood pressure pill! The Knight is more than twice her size and that’s how much he takes!

Am I over-reacting? Or is this guy and his staff a bunch of turkeys?

Sage--the Rest of the Story

2009-05-06T20:51:00.002-06:00

Dara, Emily and I met Sage Volkman at a fireside in Albuquerque (about 1995?). When this week's news included a story about a woman who has had a face transplant, I thought about Sage and wondered where she was and what she was doing. The internet had a few clues.

Sage Volkman’s story has been featured twice in Ensign and New Era stories (see “Sage’s Song”—Ensign Aug 1989 and “Sage’s Story”—New Era Feb 2000). At the age of 5, two weeks after her parents and older brother had joined the Church, Sage was on a fishing trip with her dad and brother, Avery. At one point, while her father and brother were a short distance away fishing, Avery heard a dog bark and saw that their camper was on fire. Brother Volkman rushed back to rescue the sleeping Sage but was unable to do so before she had already received 3rd and 4th degree burns over 70% of her body. Her nose and one ear were melted off. Doctors had to amputate her fingers because they were so badly burned. She was in a coma. One lung had collapsed. But, to the surprise of all the medical staff, Sage survived the night.

A few days later, Sage was moved to the burn unit of a New Mexico hospital. Again, there was little hope she’d make it through the night—only a 10 percent chance—but she survived and improved over the next two days. Then pneumonia struck. Sage’s condition deteriorated, and two weeks later she was flown to a burn institute in Texas, still in a coma. The doctors there said her survival through the night was a “big if.” They also said if she survived she would have vision loss, hearing loss, brain damage, chronic lung problems, and she would be unable to walk. Anything short of that would be a miracle.

Sage pulled through again with the help of numerous priesthood blessings. She also had the aid of loving parents and skilled doctors. One priesthood blessing she received promised full recovery and that she would be safe with her Savior until she was better. After a six-week coma, the blessing was fulfilled, and Sage was finally well enough to go home on December 23, 1986, after three months in hospitals.

One of the first blessings was given by Robert DeBuck. “When Robert blessed her,” his wife, Ruth, recalls, “he told her to go where it was safe—into Heavenly Father’s arms. We lived for a long time on faith in that blessing. We believe that’s where she was.”

Months later, Sage gave evidence of the efficacy of that faith. One day Denise asked her if she remembered anything at all during those first six weeks. Sage said she remembered being with Jesus.
A little skeptical, her mother asked, “What did he say?”
“He just held me and told me he was sorry that I was hurt. He told me he loved me,” Sage replied. “What did you say?”
“I told him I loved him, too. I said I wanted to stay, but he told me I had things to do. Then he was gone.”

Sage grew up in Albuquerque, attended Sandia Prep, then went to Ricks College. She earned her PhD. in psychology from the University of Utah. She is now a counselor for burn victims.

A living miracle, Sage writes, “I am happy and people wonder how I can be with all that I have gone through. I tell them you have two ways to see the world, as a good place with wonderful people to love and be loved by or you can see everything as a problem and feel anger always in your heart. I choose to be happy.”