What can one do on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon? When I was cleaning out our game closet, I found “the world’s smallest jigsaw puzzle” (read the box). I decided this was a good day to solve the puzzle. The pastel Easter m&ms Kari gave me for my birthday provide a scale model for the size of the puzzle pieces. The tweezer was included with the puzzle. The box says there are 234 pieces that form a 4″ x 6″ finished picture. Thank goodness it didn’t have 12,000 tiny pieces as described on the prank puzzle box we gave La for Christmas!

Four hours later, there were still 5 m&ms, but I discovered there were only 233 pieces in the box. I must have lost one (second row from the top, right center) the last time I put the puzzle together.

My cousin circulated a photo of the Prange’s store in Sheboygan as it looked “back in the day.” Judging by the cars, this is probably in the 1940s. Everyone from the Sheboygan area remembers Prange’s. It was the largest downtown store and a meeting place to hang out–“I’ll meet you at Prange’s corner.” All those display windows were unveiled on Thanksgiving Day, revealing animated Christmas scenarios featuring carolers, Christmas toys, and a Santa Claus display. It was a tradition to go downtown after Thanksgiving dinner to join the crowd looking at Prange’s windows.

My mom often took me to Prange’s as part of a Friday girls’ night out, leaving my dad at home with my brothers. Mom and I would have supper (that’s the evening meal in Wisconsin-speak) at Prange’s and then we’d shop at Prange’s and at other downtown stores. Those were special evenings that I still treasure. (Name-dropping note: Mom went to high school with the Prange and the Kohler kids. I only knew those names as corporate entities.)

While I’m reminiscing, . . . When we were in Hawai’i, Ted and I saw a photo of Honolulu before it became the hub of activity it is today. Our resort was on Waikiki Beach–the curved shoreline in the foreground of the picture. The beachside walk Ted and I took started beyond the hotel where the beach juts out in the center of the photo, and went deeper into the foreground of the photo. Ahhh, back in the day . . .

My birthday party continues. On March 21, one of my friends took me out to lunch at the Walnut Grill. To help us digest our food, she treated us to a one-hour reflexology session. OMG! We felt so-o-o-o good afterward, that we kept telling each other how good we felt.

On Sunday, March 24, Kari’s family joined Ted and me for a family birthday dinner. Naturally, it featured my favorite birthday cake–Vienna Torte–for which I discovered the bakers’ secret last spring.

I gave Dylan a box of candles and told him to go crazy putting them on the cake. He went for seven candles at full height and one candle at 0.2 height. Result: 7.2 decades. Einstein has nothing on Dylan’s math!

You might be able to tell that the candle flames match the colors of the individual candles. (It was a little easier to see in person.) I didn’t get the candles blown out in a single try, but I made a really good wish, so I hope it comes true anyway.

Kari’s family gave me a bag of Easter pastel m&ms (my favorite m&ms), a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers, and a gift certificate for a mom-daughter lunch with Kari. (It’s behind the photo of tulips.) Awesome!

On Thursday, March 28, I went out with two of my former college staff members, Jeanette and Gail, and they treated me to lunch. We went to Lewis & Clark’s restaurant in Historic St. Charles and had a wonderful time together.

It’s only March 30 today, so the celebration isn’t over yet. Stay tuned for birthday season update(s).

After Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report was submitted, Steven Colbert brought his audience up to date. Here’s Steven’s list of reasons why . . . well, you can read it.

Thanks to Mueller, one reason can be erased.

On the other side of the whiteboard, Steven listed the ongoing investigations of President Trump, . . .

. . . and one of those can be erased as well. Only 16 to go.

As usual, I had a great birthday on the first day of spring. My tulips from Ted are opening nicely, and I’m looking forward to the other three bulbs in the pot blooming soon.

At our Pilates class, the group sang “Happy Birthday” to me. I asked how they knew it was my birthday and the answer was “Facebook.” Even though I’m not active on Facebook, I guess my birthday notification still went out to my FB friends. After class, Ted and I went out to lunch and followed that with a little shopping. I bought myself a birthday present.

For at least two years, when family members asked me for gift ideas, I’ve told them I’d like new speakers for my desktop computer. Mine are so old (25 years?), the rubber on the control dials has deteriorated and become sticky and gummy. Well, that’s not a problem any more.

My new speakers–smaller in size than the old ones and with plastic controls that probably won’t deteriorate for a zillion years.

Next, Ted took me out for dinner tonight. Check the etching on the glasses to see if you can guess which restaurant we picked.

Answer: Maggiano’s Little Italy. Is that what you guessed?

We saw Maggiano’s about six months ago and have been meaning to eat there ever since. We shouldn’t have waited. We had a hard time deciding what to order, even after we narrowed our choices down to four items. Everything was absolutely delicious, and now we can’t wait to go back to try something else from the menu.

Because it was my birthday, the waitress brought us a complimentary dessert–complete with candles.


On our way home from Maggiano’s, the clouds cleared enough for us to see the last supermoon of 2019. Throughout the day, I’ve had cards, texts, emails, and phone calls from family and friends, wishing me a happy birthday. It was a perfect day, as usual, so it’s no wonder I always enjoy my birthday–and the beginning of spring.

Below are two words and their definitions.

Which of the two words do you think the reporter should have used in the following paragraph about the current flooding in the upper Midwest?

It’s St. Patrick’s Day today, so Ted brought me something green. I enjoy his tradition of bringing me a blooming spring plant just before spring actually arrives. It helps me believe that winter is really nearly over.

The official kick-off date for my birthday season this year was Tuesday, March 12. I had a birthday coupon for a free entrée at First Watch, so Ted and I went out to lunch.

I also had a $20 birthday discount coupon for another restaurant, so we went out to dinner this evening. Check the logo etched on the glasses to see if you can name the restaurant.

Answer: Weber Grill. (Groan if you feel you must.)

. . . it’s off to work I go.

Thom and Katie are working hard to launch their new business in the coming weeks. Thom knows I’m good at grammar, so he sent a few things to me and asked me to look them over. I did so, made a few minor comments (I also made sure my children knew good grammar), and offered to review/edit anything he needed checked in the future.

I worked as a writer-editor at the Bureau of the Census when Ted and I were first married and lived in Washington, D.C. My job was to compile the material, compose the text, and prepare the quarterly BoC catalog for print. We did not have personal computers at that time (1970), so all copy had to be typed perfectly, and printer’s marks for every single thing involved in the typesetting (yes, actual setting of type) had to be included for the printer.

Before meeting with the printer, two other writer-editors and I proofread the material together, taking turns reading it aloud. That experience showed me how valuable it is to have someone else’s eyes review your work–especially if that person is unfamiliar with the content. No matter how careful we are, when we read our own writing, we see what we expect to see and we often miss minor errors; when someone else reads it, the chance of catching those errors increases greatly. My intent was to offer a secondary reader’s eyes to Thom and Katie.

Thom told me he’d appreciate it if I would do that, and while we were all at Jeff’s house in February, Thom mentioned to Jeff that he has his first volunteer employee. Jeff didn’t expect to hear that it was me. I had an email from Thom a few days ago with my first official assignment.

My new job has flexible hours (as needed), a nice work environment (home), and good bosses (Thom and Katie). This is so exciting!

My brother Steve sent this so I’ll know what’s going on in the world tonight.

Today was our last day in Hawai’i. We’ve had such a good time and are feeling so relaxed that we hate to leave. At the same time, it will be good to be home again.

The day started with some leftover scattered light showers from last night, which cleared by lunchtime. As usual, we ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant. When the skies clouded over again, we decided it was a good time to print our boarding passes and pack our suitcases so we could go back outside when the sunshine returned. That was a good plan, and it gave us time to spend nearly two hours at our hotel pool. It was another relaxing afternoon.

The resort torch lighters run (yes, run) around the resort about half an hour before sunset, lighting the tiki torches that line the walkways. While we were sitting along a walkway waiting for the torch lighter, I was admiring how beautiful it is here–at the resort and in Hawai’i.

The foliage is beautiful everywhere we look.
The fountains, the palm trees, and the sunlight on some outdoor table umbrellas provided another pretty sight.
The torch lighter was right on time. I took this picture of him lighting one of the tiki torches.
He literally ran on to light the series of torches down the walkway.

After the torch lighting, it was time to return to our balcony to view our final sunset on this perfect vacation.

The sailboats were gathered for the nightly viewing and the cloud bank was above the horizon for a change.

Ted and I enjoyed our Saturday evening dinner at the Bali Restaurant so much, we decided to go there again for our final meal in Hawai’i.

The restaurant advertises its “oceanfront dining,” and this was the ocean view from our table. Our waiter told us we had the best table in the house, and I’m sure we did. What a gorgeous dinner setting!

Our airport pick-up time is 5:25 a.m. tomorrow. Our flight to LAX boards at 7:18 a.m. and we’re scheduled to arrive at STL at 10:36 p.m. local time. It’s been a wonderful week, and we’re looking forward to our next visit to Hawai’i. Next time, we’re going to Maui, because we’ve been told we’re “Maui people.” Aloha, Hawai’i.

As usual, Ted and I chose an outdoor restaurant (not hard to find) for lunch today.

I wish the weather in St. Louis was always this pleasant for outdoor eating.

After lunch, we decided to take a walk on the sidewalk that runs for several miles along the oceanfront. We saw some interesting sights.

This is the sidewalk–right along the beach.
The rules are different at the beach. At this Dairy Queen, it’s “No shoes, no shirt, service.”
It’s a surf-mobile! You can carry one more if you put it underneath the chassis.
On our walk, we learned that the people we see bobbing on the sand bar are taking surfing lessons. The lesson is over and these surfers are heading back to shore.
We had a beautiful view of Diamondhead. It doesn’t look that far away, but it’s about three miles from here to there.
Even getting change at the ABC Store was fun.
When we returned to our room, it was time to sit around the pool for awhile. I took this picture of Ted from our balcony.
We had intermittent rain showers for several hours, so there wasn't any visible sunset to watch today.

We had intermittent rain showers for several hours, so there wasn’t any visible sunset to watch today.

After dinner, Ted and I decided to sit at the outdoor Tapa Bar, listen to the live music, and enjoy some mai tais. Thanks to the rain showers, there was a cool wind and the temperature dropped to 66 degrees,* so we didn’t stay long, but it was fun for a little while and the mai tais were delicious–lots of pineapple, lime, and orange flavor, with some rum for fun. Oh yes, the music was good too.

*On our way to the resort from the airport, our cab driver told us that when the temperature goes below 70 degrees, he starts looking for his boots. I hope he found them today.

Tonight we went to the resort’s Starlight Luau. The event was on a rooftop, but it was cloudy and not starlit. There was no refund for that, however, so the show went on.

Here we are, ready to luau.
The buffet had many local Hawai’ian selections and everthing was delicious. This time, Ted was brave enough to try the purple poi dinner rolls.
The master of ceremonies gave us directions for the buffet procedures, introduced the performers, and even sang. I kept thinking of Don Ho, although Don was much better.

A rectangular piece of cloth about one yard wide and two yards long can be wrapped and knotted in a variety of ways to create at least eight different garments for men and women that range from swimsuits to semi-formal wear (in the tropics, not in New York City). The models showed us the results of the various wrapping and knotting techniques. Amazingly, the cloth rectangles are for sale in the resort shops.

The performers showed us dances from each of the six Polynesian nations: Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawai’i. The colors of their clothing indicate which country they represent, but I can never remember which is which. The first picture below is Hawai’i. I remember that because “Don Ho” told us the hula is found only in Hawai’i and the women’s skirts are not made of grass; they’re made of tapa leaves.

The highlight of the luau was definitely the fire dancers. Before performing, they hung protective netting around the stage to prevent audience injuries in case one of the fire swords went astray. Ted and I have seen fire dancers before, but this was the first time we saw a pyramid-type dance formation.

We had a very enjoyable evening. The food was good, and the performance was fun. On our way back to our room, we had an added bonus.

We came upon an open garage door with a large figure inside the storage area.
Apparently, there are times the resort needs a huge sumo wrestler figure as a prop.

In Hawai’i, the fun never ends.

Today, Ted and I went to the top of Diamondhead. This is the most popular hiking trail in the state of Hawai’i. It’s 0.8 miles one way and rises 560 feet in elevation, beginning on a paved state park sidewalk, but quickly giving way to a worn, lava rock trail and stairs.


We’re heading for the high point in the center of this photo. If you zoom your screen, you’ll discover blurry objects that resemble people at the top.
Here’s Ted on our way up. You can see people and the cut trail above him.
This is a good view of the Diamondhead crater. Before it started raining in the distance, we could see Molokai in the upper right.
This is what we walked on most of the way.
We paused for a moment to enjoy the views before making the final push to join the crowd at the top.
Just in case we didn’t notice that there’s nowhere higher to go but into the sky, the sign tells us we’re at the end of the trail.
Here’s Honolulu from the peak of Diamondhead. The arrow on the left points to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. The arrow on the right points to our hotel tower (one of eight) at our resort.
The views from the top are magnificent.
I think I can see New Zealand on the horizon. We’ll be there next December.
The hike up wasn’t bad, but going down was easier.
We enjoyed every minute of our time on Diamondhead this morning.

What did we do today in Hawai’i? Actually, not much of anything, and it was wonderful!

As we have every morning of our visit, Ted and I sat on our balcony sipping hot chocolate and coffee and admiring the view. We both enjoy the way the ocean’s color changes with the distance from shore and the depth of the water.

Just above the trees, you can see a brownish tinge in the water. There’s a good-sized sandbar out there and a lot of people stand on it and bob up and down with the waves.

After awhile, we got hungry and went to lunch. While we were eating, the restaurant manager came over to our table to tell us he could not only see, but “feel” that Ted and I were very much “in sync” with each other and that it was a “beautiful thing.” He also told us that the next time we come to Hawai’i, we should spend our time on Maui because we are “definitely Maui people”–whatever that means. Obviously, we are so relaxed, it shows.

After lunch, we spent a big chunk of the afternoon in our bathing suits on the beach and in the ocean water. I didn’t want to leave my camera/phone unattended onshore while we were in the water, so I don’t have any pictures of this. (No great loss for my readers.)

Then it was time to watch the sun set. It’s weird, but the sky has some cumulus clouds overhead most of the day with a clear horizon. Every day, however, as sunset approaches, a cloud bank appears on the western horizon and partially obscures the setting sun just before it drops behind the ocean. It happened again today.

Except for the clouds on the horizon, the sky was perfectly clear.

We had dinner reservations at the resort’s four-star restaurant, which had a dress code of “beach casual.” The sign asks for no swimwear, shorts, tank tops, or flip-flops, with collared shirts and closed-toe shoes preferred. We learned on our last visit to Hawai’i that an aloha shirt is considered dressy and an aloha shirt with a lei counts as formal, so Ted wore one of his aloha shirts. I wore casual pants (not jeans) and a nice top, but I only brought sandals for shoes, so I wore open-toed shoes and was admitted without any comment from the hostess. The man at the table beside ours was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but I think he was the only one to seriously test the guidelines. The food and service were outstanding and we ranked them as the second-best we’ve ever had. (The best was in Taos, NM on our Fall 2017 trip to the Southwest.)

Here’s Ted and the view from our window table. It’s an open-air restaurant (of course!) so there is no outside wall–only a very nice ocean view and a soft, warm breeze every now and then.

And that was it for today–lunch, beach time, and dinner. Yes, we’re really relaxed.

Ted and I have reached a state of complete relaxation, and it feels wonderful. With no specific daily plans and no “at home” tasks to do, we’re just enjoying ourselves moment by moment. Today we took a walk in the downtown area, discovered we can watch the sunset from our balcony, went to the resort’s Friday night fireworks show, and finished the day with some ice cream.

We saw this mural while we were walking this afternoon.
Here’s today’s sunset as seen from our balcony.

The resort has a ten-minute fireworks show on Waikiki Beach every Friday evening, beginning at 7:45 p.m. I’m positive they shot off an hour’s worth of fireworks during those ten minutes–the bangs were less than a second apart and the sky was ablaze with color for the entire show. The crowd was huge. Ted and I aren’t official crowd estimators, but we’re certain there were more than a thousand people sitting on the beach for the show, and that’s not counting those who watched from their hotel balconies.

The crowd is gathering for the fireworks show.

After the show, the restaurants had a second rush. (The first rush was just after the 6:36 p.m. sunset.) It was a beautiful night to eat outdoors. As usual.


When the fireworks crowd left the beach, several young men arrived and played with fire.

Ted and I went out for ice cream. This girl is making the waffle cones and bowls. She just rolled the waffle cone on the countertop and is reaching for a paper holder for it. These are fresh waffle cones!

We found some chairs and enjoyed the tropical evening air while we ate our ice cream. It was another relaxing day, and I’m looking forward to more of the same tomorrow.

After only a few hours of sleep, Ted and I were up again before sunrise yesterday. (I can’t believe I did that two days out of three!) We were at the airport by 5:30 a.m., ready to fly to Hawai’i.

We had a four-hour flight to Phoenix, a two-hour layover, then a seven-hour flight to Honolulu. The flights were both on time and uneventful, unlike our Hawai’ian trip last year. We arrived at 4:30 p.m. Honolulu time (8:30 p.m. St. Louis time) and were able to enjoy walking around the resort for a little while in the daylight, then eat dinner outside before going to our room and nearly falling into bed. We were fine all day, unless we stopped moving–then we realized how tired we were.

After a long night of sleep, we had a wonderful time today and spent most of it outside in the mid-70s sunny weather. In contrast, Kari texted us that her kids had a snow day today. I bet they had as much fun as we did–with different weather.

We always like to learn things about the places we visit, so we usually plan what we’re going to do each day. This time, however, relaxing sounded so good, we didn’t plan anything except to do whatever we feel like doing. Today we felt like spending some of the morning on our balcony, sipping coffee (Ted) and hot chocolate (me), looking at the Pacific Ocean, and relaxing until we were hungry for lunch.

This is the view from our balcony. We stayed in the Rainbow Tower (left) last January. It’s nice to have a view of the rainbow mosaic this time.
We ate lunch outside to enjoy the weather.

After lunch, we decided to explore (i.e., compare) the resort across the street from ours. (We like ours more.) After that, we walked to the Ana Moana shopping mall, less than a mile away. We had no shopping to do, but it gave us a destination. It’s the largest mall in the state of Hawai’i, with over 300 stores on three levels and an unusual range of shopping choices–everything from Target and Old Navy to Dior and Harry Winston (the real designer stores, not outlets). Surprisingly (to us), there was no food court. Later in the afternoon, we went to the beach.

Diamond head isn’t too far from our resort. We’ll be going to its top while we’re here.

We stayed at the beach to watch the sunset. The crowd of spectators begins to gather around 6:00, then dissipates after the sun goes down. There is no twilight in the tropics; after sunset, it’s dark within thirty minutes.

Sunsets over the ocean are beautiful.
After the beach crowd and the sunset crowd left, this beachcomber came out to hunt for buried treasure.
This is the pool and hot tub below our balcony. That’s a decorative design on the pool bottom, not a swimming serpent.

We had a very relaxing day and we’re loving the sunshine and warm weather. I’m so glad we’ll get to do it again tomorrow. It’s a tough job, but . . .

Ted and I were up early today and on our way home from Colorado before sunrise. It was a cold, sunny day.

The good thing about getting up early is watching the sun rise.
The snow-covered mountains west of I-25 were spectacular in the early-morning sunlight.
We saw hoarfrost during most of our drive through Colorado.
The trees at the eastern CO rest stop were decorated with hoarfrost.
The cold, snow-covered ground produced heavy fog for more than 50 miles in Kansas.
The high winds and heavy snow two days ago in Kansas gave us some beautiful scenery after the morning fog cleared.

It was a long day’s drive after a wonderful family visit. Tomorrow we’ll take the winter clothes out of our suitcases and replace them with our shorts. We’ll be leaving for Hawai’i–and a big change in climate–early the following morning.

Today, we all went to church to hear Kyra’s talk to the congregation about her mission experience. She did an excellent job. It was obvious that she is accustomed to talking to people (she admitted she wasn’t even nervous) and that she has matured a lot over the past 18 months.

Before getting involved in the rest of our day (lunch, games, conversation, a walk in the sunshine, etc.), I decided to take some family photos.

Ted and me.
Jeff’s family. L->R: La, Alex, Kyra, Zaque, and Jeff.
Thom and Julian.
Cousins. L->R: Julian, Alex, Kyra, and Zaque.

Today’s is La’s 50th birthday, which deserves something special, so Ted and I gave her a bouquet of flowers this morning.

The men of the family pampered the ladies for lunch. First, they cooked grilled cheese extraordinaire sandwiches for us. Thom, the family grilled cheese expert, was in charge of the griddle.

After dinner, the younger generation of men did the dishes.

Kurt and Megan, friends of Jeff and La, hosted a party at their house to celebrate La’s birthday and Kyra’s homecoming. Jeff, La, and Kyra left early for the party. The rest of us walked over a little later. I was escorted by this group of handsome men.

As the guests of honor, La and Kyra were presented with bouquets.

On our way home from the party, we saw some daffodils sprouting. It’s nearly spring!

Ted and I took the family out to dinner this evening to celebrate the four events of this week: Kyra’s homecoming and Julian’s, Jeff’s, and La’s birthdays. The Persons of Honor selected Outback as our destination. Here’s our family table.

Zaque has the ability to amuse himself in innumerable creative ways. While we waited for our food, one of the things he did was practice balancing his forks on his knife on his finger.

After dinner, Ted and I took some pictures. Here I am with my only granddaughter. It’s so nice to see her after her 18-month mission.

My grandsons are getting so tall! Sky isn’t here, but he’s taller than I am too! I’m starting to feel like a little shrimp with all these tall guys.

Finally, a picture of La’s and Kyra’s flowers with Thom and Julian at the piano (left).

Ted and I had a wonderful day with our family. I wish we all lived closer together so we could see each other more often, but maybe we are more appreciative of our time together this way. More good times are on the way tomorrow.

Ted and I are with Jeff’s family, as well as Thom and Julian for a few days. We’re celebrating Kyra’s homecoming from her mission (Feb. 20) and three birthdays: Julian (Feb. 16), Jeff (Feb. 18), and La (Feb. 23). Naturally, I had some computer questions to ask Jeff, one of which addressed the icon for my blog.

When I bookmark my blog, I get the gray icon in the lower left (above). Jeff’s blog, on the other hand, gets a flag (upper right, above). I asked how I could get a prettier icon than a gray square. Together, Jeff and I selected a “D” (lower right, above). Much better! Thank you, Jeff.

Ted and I have Sirius XM radio in our cars. As we were driving, we clicked on Channel 5–the “50s on 5” station where they play music from the 1950s. (Guess what they play on Channels 6, 7, and 8.) There are no commercials and no D.J.s on the 50s channel, but they do station IDs. This one said:

“With songs like these, . . .” (followed by one-line musical excerpts from Chances Are, Earth Angel, and I Love How You Love Me) “. . . it’s no wonder there was a baby boom.”

Happy Valentine’s Day.

This paragraph was in a story I was reading about a man with OCD. I guess he wanted to run away from all the stuff he’d collected.

Because it’s dangerously cold outside, Ted and I took our three-mile walk in the mall today. We walked through Penney’s to enter the mall and saw this awesome (?) cap that’s good for cold-weather walking.

Wow! Removable wireless headphones built into the cap!
I could be this happy if I had this cap, right? (I wasn’t even tempted to buy it.)

Last February, I posted this cartoon.

This year, we in the Midwest called it “Wednesday.” It was cold in St. Peters.

It was even colder at my brother Tom’s house in St. Charles, IL (west of Chicago).

From inside his house, where he said he was enjoying the furnace, Tom texted me this photo.

Anyone can throw a cup of boiling water into frigid air to watch it freeze instantly. This girl was more creative–she froze her hair.

All the local K-12 schools closed today because of the cold, but we’re Midwesterners, so Tom and JoEllen went to an appointment and Ted and I went to our morning Pilates class. The rest of the class was there too, so we all warmed up with a good workout. It’s practically summer!

In December, Ted and I tried to book flights to Hawai’i as our consolation prize for needing to cancel our trip to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand. The only available seats in both directions were either in first class or on flights that required an overnight layover on the West Coast. We decided to spend the winter in St. Louis.

For no particular reason, I suggested to Ted last night that we check again to see if we could go to Hawai’i later in the spring. What a surprise! There were lots of flights with the overnight West Coast layover, but there were also two flights available in each direction in February, with lots of empty seats, and with no overnight layover!!! We looked at each other and said, “Shall we book them?” The answer was “yes,” so we are going to Hawai’i after all, departing on February 27.

There were no empty frequent flier seats available nine weeks in advance of our trip, but more than one-third of the main cabin is available five weeks later. Hmmm. Methinks the airline must hold the frequent flier seats back, hoping to sell them at full price. When the plane doesn’t fill up, they later make seats available. Ted and I don’t care. We’re excited to be going to Hawai’i in four weeks.

The Lego Movie 2 will be released on February 8. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has become such a public icon that she has a small part in the movie as a Lego figure. The RGB Lego character will be available for purchase, and I bet it will be a big seller for Lego.

Jonathan Haidt developed 27 non-political questions that can help identify if your brain is more Republican or Democratic. If you want to discover your brain’s political stance, go to chartsme.com. Answer the questions truthfully, and don’t read the explanation at the end of this post until you’ve finished.

It’s very cold outside, so I’ll think about spring while you take the quiz. When you’re ready, scroll down past this photo.

As you might have guessed from the nature of the questions, Haidt developed a “disgust scale.” A scientific study showed that this trait (disgust) can help determine if you are politically more conservative or more liberal. Conservatives tend to be more prone to disgust.

Some scientists think disgust might be an ancestral reaction that protected more primitive people from contamination and disease. (Think drinking water vs. pond scum.) There are probably more accurate tests if you need a test to determine your political leanings, but this one was kind of fun.

Here are my results: 39% conservative and 61% liberal. I guess I’m less affected by disgusting things than I thought.

Tonight’s super wolf blood moon eclipse was beautiful. After a cloudy day, the skies cleared in time for Ted and me to see the eclipse. It was only 10 degrees outside, so we just checked it about every half hour and then went back indoors to warm up. The reality was much better than my phone pictures.

We could see the beginning of the eclipse from the front porch. Nearly half of the moon is already in the earth’s shadow.
The moon is entering the umbra and is already turning red.
Here’s my photo of the total eclipse. With the moon in shadow, the stars were unusually bright and we could see more of them than usual, even in our suburban ambient light.
NASA’s telescopic camera takes better pictures than my phone does. Awesome! I’m looking forward to the next total lunar eclipse in 2021.

I thought my chances of eventually dying were 100 percent, but USA Today recently reported that, if I eat more fiber and grains, I can reduce that risk by nearly 30 percent.

I assume the World Health Organization used better grammar than this reporter, but maybe not. Unless fiber has become a true miracle drug, it would be more accurate to report that a high-fiber diet can contribute to longevity by reducing the risk of premature death.

Just in case, let’s all eat more oatmeal and go for immortality.

Yesterday was Sefton’s second birthday. Thom and Katie had some activities planned for the day and they didn’t think Sefton would mind waiting until today to celebrate with us. We shared a video call tonight and were able to watch Sefton open his birthday gifts from us. We also heard him say “Grandma” and “Grandpa,” practice his alphabet, identify colors, and read the numbers on the toy cell phone we gave him. Obviously, he’s one of the world’s eight smartest grandchildren. (Do I need to mention that Ted and I have eight grandchildren?)

After celebrating with Sefton, Thom and Katie took us on a video tour of their new house, and it was fun to see where they’re living and what everything looks like. Ted and I are eager to see it in person, but this was the next best thing.

While we were video chatting, I discovered that I could take screen shots, so here are some pictures I took of Sefton while we were talking with him.

This picture is blurred, but you can tell he’s having fun with his birthday balloons.
Happy second birthday, Sefton.

Oh, happy day! Today we had a snow day with a total of 11+ inches of snow. At 33 degrees, the snow was too deep and soft for sledding, it was too wet for snow angels, and it packed too hard to have a snowball fight (it made ice balls), so snowblowing was my choice of outdoor play.

This was the view from the kitchen window when we got up this morning.
The holly bushes were snow-covered.
It’s time for me to get to work.
Happiness is . . . . Notice that it’s still snowing.
Once I cut a path, we could use our official NWS “Snow? How Much?” ruler to measure it.
When I finished, it was still snowing. We had another inch+ before the storm moved east of us, but the temperature was above freezing, so the additional snow melted on the cleared concrete.
Then it was Ted’s turn to play. He took the snowblower across the street to clear our neighbor’s driveway. Jim has difficulty walking, so we’re glad to play in his yard too.
Meanwhile, the kids across the street built a giant snowman. There was plenty of snow for it!
I built a snowman too, but on a smaller scale.

This was the fifth heaviest snowfall in St. Louis weather history, and next weekend might include another snow day. Yea!