Linkdump

Okay, the time has come. I’ve got this pile of links or images or whatnot that I keep meaning to look at/read/burn in effigy/save forever/etc. But they’re just sitting in tabs in Firefox. Never getting done. Asking themselves existential questions like, “Why am I here? What will happen to me?” And while I love tabs (awesome invention!), perhaps 25 of them is a bit many (cursed tool of procrastination!). So I am now shifting to a new tool of procrastination and confusion: the linkdump.

Unfortunately for you, I am linkdumping on my blog.

So this is a random pile of things that I couldn’t find a better place for. My organizational skills have apparently fallen tragically short.

Oh, also, feel free not to read any of this. It’s pretty much all for me.

Really interesting information on the building of the Washington, D.C., Temple:

http://lds.org/ensign/1974/08/to-build-a-temple?lang=eng

http://lds.org/ensign/1977/10/the-washington-dc-temple?lang=eng&noLang=true&path=/ensign/1977/10/the-washington-dc-temple

Some lovely bits by E.B. White, quoted in Orson Scott Card’s column (http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2011-09-22.shtml):

*“I'm in love, and I'm going crazy.”
(Translation of a Boston terrier's bark)

*(About love):

And if I have not said it well,
        Or even loud enough to hear it,
That is because I cannot tell
        How much I like, how much I fear it.

*“Natural History”

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unwinds a thread of his devising;
A thin, premeditated rig,
To use in rising.

And all the journey down through space
In cool descent, and loyal-hearted,
He builds a ladder to the place
From which he started.

Thus I, gone forth, as spiders do,
In spider’s web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken strand to you
For my returning.

Phone swiping for credit card; Brice’s dream come true: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/technology/personaltech/googles-virtual-credit-card-can-replace-plastic.html?_r=1&nl=technology&emc=cta1

Interesting thoughts on birth in the context of Christianity:

http://womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com/2008/12/importance-of-birth.html

Hilarious description of the uses of common household items—for kids to learn:

http://www.parenting.com/blogs/parenting-post/kathryn-thompson/few-introductions

The toddler miracle diet:

http://www.nanceestar.com/KidsToddlerDiet.html

Haha! Now I only have 11 tabs! Success.

Coriel has something to say.

Uuioj97hg79v9tv7h0g6yj0tbhtyrcxdxzyyjtfx dudtucricfitv7cic68cycduxyn  nn bbhkhk yiduu cuu  c u fhb vvvgydws67tt6s  tutezyxyxzztzzztaza5r4zwaer6yj,m uru8 u5c 7ytyc yr778gng9tg6v8 999 999nr WER667890-123XSDFGGGGGGGJKL;’

UYC76R8T79---0bedt5r46ws3zr4Ew3E3ew5Eqa3es4$zazzed6recffggyigivgoovgogvogoouu trxcdxcccxcdyyydsx6ws46sws5ese57se7se77seeese4sese4sse4se4se4se3wsws3wzzwyyydsx6ws46sws5ese57se7se77seeese4sese4sse4se4se4se3wsws3wzzwaaaa66zw6zweedx7rsyc89x79vcdrbgv79u7nhpk np p m n n l m,  pjnm68fyrc86 7 y77jhuytnhsfv n jn jn nlt7umkgghjkl;’’;lkkjhgfddsaQdtgftujikikikikikikikik../;/

That is all.

We Are the Tapas (coo-coo-ca-choo)

Tapas stroll: A method of dining that involves walking to several restaurants and eating a small portion (called a tapa) at each location.

Here’s what I’ve learned to appreciate about a Utah mosquito: one bite. When you provide a meal for a mosquito in Utah, you are a single-course plate. Yes, the bite is big and itchy, but there’s only one. And if you catch the mosquito at work, you can probably smash it before it flies away. It is single-mindedly engrossed in its meal. You get a slightly nauseating blood splatter, of course, but it’s worth the satisfaction of knowing your diner shall dine no more.

Not so in Maryland. Here in Maryland, the mosquitoes stroll. They nibble. They move on. Your arm is an endless array of appetizers. You end up with five or six bites. Per mosquito. And they’re never in one place long enough to squish. And even if you do finally manage the death blow, you find yourself a bit put out. Five bites, and that’s all the blood you got? Suddenly you long for that awful blood splatter.

Perhaps, to them, this is fine dining. But I’m beginning to miss the simplicity of the one-course meal.

Poniards!

Update: Since I posted this, I have discovered several more: pralines, panelist, harelips, and biplanes.

In my usual wordgeek fashion, I have spent the last decade or so keeping an internal list of words that, on a QWERTY keyboard, use each finger exactly once (thumbs don’t count).* Please note that asking Google is cheating.

So what are these words, you ask? (Even though you probably didn’t.)

pleasing

placings (don’t quibble with me about whether “placing” can actually be pluralized; in my world, it can)

scalping

elapsing

clasping

jackpots

dystopia

Pontiacs

And now, most recently discovered: poniards! Hooray!

And, while we’re talking about words, here’s a completely different one to celebrate: “unstickinessing,” as in “That baby probably needs some unstickinessing.”**

*Don’t worry; this is not the only thing I’ve done in the last ten years.

**This word happily brought to you by my father, who first applied it to a table, not a baby. In my life, however, it’s probably equally applicable to both.

Arrrr, matey!

Aye, the time has come, me hearties. As me oldest brother so kindly reminded me, today be Talk Like a Pirate Day, one of the most illustrious of all the many great holidays on land or at sea.*

And it be mighty convenient for me, as I been meaning to post some pictures of the Stay crew’s piratical uniforms, made by Captain Blackfur, the First Mate, the sailing lass,** and the pirate-in-training (she mostly observed the goings-on).

The crew made this most fashionable garb in observance of another great holiday, the day the captain and the first mate set sail in the uncharted waters of marriage. Aye, it were a great day.

So throw out a few “avast”s, call yer neighbor a landlubber, and vent yer spleen by calling all yer enemies scurvy bilge rats (and then maybe run them through with yer cutlass)! Oh, and enjoy me photographs.***  

*Be ye needing more information about this great day? Check http://www.talklikeapirate.com/howto.html, but be ye warned that the pick-up lines are a bit…salty. 
**If ye seek further adventure and got yerself a need for a new piratical name, check here: http://www.piratequiz.com/. Our lass received the name Iron Morgan Kidd, and yers truly became Bloody Prudentilla Cash. Arrrrr! 
***Jealous of our amazing piratical gear? We bought our supplies at ye olde Target store, but here be the website for the kits: http://tinyurl.com/5rae83o

Jiggedy-Jig*

The end of a vacation generally finds me cranky, sore, slightly nauseated, tired, and filled with despair at the thought of my dirty laundry. (Granted, the rest of the time generally finds me this way as well.) And that flight home: It lasts eternally. I am fairly confident that the theory of relativity should have a corollary regarding time dilation for vacation travel. And an additional corollary for travel involving small children.

However, we are indeed home again from our stay in Utah. It really was quite wonderful, but it is also hard to go back and see everyone we no longer see on a weekly (or daily) basis. We miss you all! We miss you, Seminarios, Joneses, Kummers, Marchants (two of you!), Bigelows, Masons, Camblins, Stays (the other ones), Newtons, and so many more. We miss your friendships, your children, your laughter. I miss how often you forgive me when I say stupid things, because you know (I hope) that I’m just kind of brainless sometimes but I don’t mean to be. I miss the way you make me think differently and the way we can talk about big or little things, and either way it’s fun. I miss how being around you made me a little better.

Yes, Maryland is our home now, and we are making friends here, but no one can replace you.

Now I think I shall go sit in a corner and whimper.

*Please note: No pigs (“fine” or otherwise) were purchased during the making of this blog post.**

**Please also note: The above joke can only be considered even mildly funny if you have read the same nursery rhyme about 7000 times and are under the influence of sleep deprivation.***

***Therefore: To me, it was funny. Ha.

Staring at Turtles

Last year (was it only last year? It feels so long ago), on a spontaneously planned vacation to visit my sister in Hawaii, we went down to Hanauma Bay for the famous snorkeling there.*

Hanauma Bay is bounded by a coral reef and a warm beach. Because it is sheltered from the buffeting of the ocean, the water is calm, clear, and filled with beautiful fish relaxing amid the coral. You can swim right along with them and admire their grace.

After I got past my highly developed gag reflex and pregnancy queasiness, Brice and I snorkeled around the bay in three lazy loops, and on the third loop we got the real prize. Only about twenty feet away was one of the great green sea turtles that sometimes visit the bay. These turtles are protected in Hawaii, and they are beautiful. So when they appear in the reef, you can see a gathering of snorkelers’ heads just bobbing on the surface, watching the turtle below.

I was one of the first to see the turtle, and I quickly tugged on Brice’s arm to make him turn around. I pointed and gestured for him to look. He turned, and together we sat there watching it move slowly, gracefully, through the water.

A few moments went by, and I turned to keep going, expecting Brice to follow. He didn’t. He just floated there, watching. And I realized I had been too quick to move on to the next moment, the next beautiful fish. So I went back, relaxed my shoulders, and let the moments slide by, just trying to soak it in.

Eventually we moved on, but I was so grateful for those few extra moments.

So often during my days with my two lovely children, my mind is drawn to what comes next. Do I need to start making lunch? What about our errand to the store? Do I have time to write a blog post today, and what should it be about? I spend so little time really with my children, just doing what they want to do, just enjoying their presence.

And while they are not an endangered species, those moments cannot last forever, and I regret the waste I make of so many of them. When I look into Coriel’s eyes as we talk, it is a different thing than speaking while I’m cleaning, or walking into another room, or (worst of all) reading a book. When I laugh and dance down the hallway with Addra, it is more precious than a clean living room (and let’s be honest, the living room isn’t ever clean anyway).

My family, when I really take the time to stare at them and see them with my whole heart, are far more beautiful than any sunset, any flower, any tropical fish, and even any sea turtle. I wish that I stared at them more often.

*Marneen and Meghan, you’ll have to forgive me anything I got wrong here about Hawaii or the bay. My memory is not always so great.