MaeLyn's Musings

On Saturday, our ward had a talent show. People signed up in advance to either perform something or to display something. A friend of mine was one who helped organize the activity and she essentially told me I *had to* sign up for something.  So I signed up to display something. The week before, I started browsing around the house for stuff to display. I decided that I probably had the most crochet stuff, so I started gathering them from throughout the house - the amigurumi from Peter's box, the doily from my dresser, the cardigan I finished crocheting just a week or so ago, various odds and ends from my craft area, a couple elves and things from my Christmas box...  At Steven's suggestion I also brought my jewelry board with all the necklaces and earrings and stuff I have made.   And I brought a few calendars just for fun... This years , last years, and the Hogwarts one from a few years ago. Steven brought some of his pinewood derby cars to disp...

A few weeks ago I noticed signs of construction along the path I take for my walks in the morning. Since then there have been more trucks - excavators and dump trucks. There have been piles of gravel and piles of big rocks, tons of dirt moved around, and even a generator running. I wondered if they were widening the stream bed, or if they were shoring up some of the cliffs eroding away. It seems I was right. This morning as I was walking by the construction site, one of the men was near the path and he nodded to me with a "nice day for a walk". I asked him what they were working on and he told me. They are lining the stream bed with rocks and turning the cliffs into slopes, in preparation for flood season. When it rains hard and fast, the park down the street from my house is designed to be a flood retaining system. The big grassy field with slopes popular with sledders becomes a lake, only allowing through what water can pass through a 3 foot diameter pipe into the stre...

Almost ten years ago, we acquired four cats . Their names were Ishmael, Abish, Lamoni and Moroni. We didn't name them; my sister April did. This morning I was thinking about their names and the people in the Book of Mormon they were named after, as well as the connections between them. Ishmael was named after a man who lived in Jerusalem around 600 B.C. He had a wife, five daughters and a couple of sons. When four young men came visiting him one day, asking him and his family to join them in the wilderness so they could marry his daughters, his heart was softened and he brought his family into the desert, abandoning his home and probably most of his property besides tents and what supplies they could carry with them. He saw his daughters married, and not long after, he died there in the wilderness. Lamoni was a descendant of Ishmael and a king of the Lamanites in the land of Ishmael. One day a young Nephite named Ammon showed up in his lands and was brought to him. This young...

I might have mentioned before that Peter's favorite random statement these days is "cats". This morning as we were walking to school, we started naming cats from movies. Can you name the movie each of the following cats is in? Domestic Cats Berlioz Cosmic Creepers D.C. Dinah Duchess Felicia Figaro Gideon Jake Lucifer Marie Oliver Rufus Sargent Tibbs Si and Am The Cheshire Cat Thomas O'Malley Thomesina Tiger Toulouse Other Felines Alex Aslan Bagheera Clawhauser Cowardly Lion Jazmine Mufasa Nala Prince John Rajah Sabor Sarabi Scar Shere Khan Simba Tigger

At 8:15 a.m. the school bell rings to say school is now in session. I often hear it as I am on my morning walk. It sounds like the deep chimes of a grandfather clock - the first four notes of the 3/4 hour Westminster chime.  And every time I hear them I think they sound a bit out of tune, the fourth note in particular sounds off - maybe a little bit sharp? When I looked up similar recordings online, most of them sounded off to me as well. Why is that? Can bells be tuned?