Will You Plant This?

 Our cute little 3-year-old neighbor girl came to our door.  Ken answered.  She handed him this green apricot and said, "Will you plant this?"  Ken looked at it and said, "Okay.  Where do you want me to plant it?"  She thought for a few seconds, then said, "In the dirt."

So, Ken did as he was asked.  
I texted these pictures to her mom.  She had no idea that her little girl had done this.  She laughed and said, "It will take Ken Hinton kind of prayers for that thing to grow!"

A Mortifying Mistake

 

A Mortifying Mistake

When I was in fourth grade, a school assignment was to memorize and present a poem for the class.  My mom encouraged me to memorize a poem she had learned when she was a child called “A Mortifying Mistake.”  She looked it up and found it in a set of books we had downstairs on our bookshelf called The Book of Knowledge.  I learned it and presented it to my class.  I remember the happy feeling I had when my classmates laughed. 

Later, when I was a mom, I taught the poem to each of my daughters and each of them presented it in their classes.  Now it’s time for my grandchildren and maybe later my great -grandchildren to learn it.  It has/ will become a link for our family generations.   I googled it and found it is by Anna Maria Pratt.  Ask your mom to recite it.  She knows it.  Let me know when you have memorized it.

A Mortifying Mistake

I studied my tables over and over
And backward and forward too
But I couldn't remember six times nine
And I didn't know what to do
'Til my sister told me to play with my doll
And not to bother my head
"If you call her 'Fifty-four' for a while
You'll learn it by heart', she said.

So I took my favorite, Mary Anne,
Though I thought 'twas a dreadful shame
To give such a perfectly lovely child
Such a perfectly horrible name,
And I called her my little Fifty-four
A hundred times 'til I knew
The answer of six times nine
As well as the answer of two times two.

Next day, Elizabeth Wigglesworth,
Who always acted so proud
Said, "Six times nine is fifty-two,
And I nearly laughed out loud
But I wished I hadn't when teacher said,
"Now Dorothy, tell if you can."
For I thought of my doll and sakes alive!
I answered, "Mary Anne!"

Nathan's Mission Call

 Our oldest grandson is graduating from high school this month and just received his mission call!  He will go on his mission and then go to BYU when he gets home from his mission.

Nathan will be serving in the

Columbus, Ohio Mission

He leaves on Sept. 15, 2025

It wasn't easy, but his family gathered to be together for his mission call opening.  Brielle rode the bus to Idaho from BYU and Nathan flew from Colorado to join their family there.

Many friends and family gathered over Zoom. Nathan first bore his testimony, then said that wherever the call was, he knew it was where the Lord wanted him to go. Then he read his call.  Columbus, Ohio!  It was such a great celebration!

His mission will include many historic church sites.

We are very happy and proud grandparents.  Nathan is a wonderful young man and will be a fine missionary!

Easter 2025

 Our family was not together for Easter, but we shared some of our celebrating through technology.  I love that we do that.

Kristen has recently moved to where her cousin Kyler and his family live.  They invited Kristen's family over for Easter dinner.

Shonna's family had a special Easter dinner consisting of bowls of foods that Jesus would have eaten.

The weather was nice enough to eat it outside.

Michelle made cinnamon pull apart bread for breakfast.

She and Brian drove up and picked up Brielle at BYU so she could spend Easter weekend with them.  They are the best aunt and uncle!

Twinner cousins

Our Easter dinner was delicious!

In many ways, this Easter season was the best I've had in a long time.  I really studied the Come, Follow Me lessons and felt the spirit as I learned more about the atonement and resurrection.  Our Sunday sacrament meeting program was beautiful.  We are so very grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Happy Easter to one and all!

Keynotes Spring 2025

 I love being in Keynotes.  We had a wonderful spring season.  I think it might be my favorite of all we've done.  We sang such fun songs, with many well-known crowd pleasers.  It's so fun when the audience sings along- even in memory care units in rest homes.  Our theme was "Music" and Kim put together a wonderful program:

Music Everywhere- lots of instruments

The Song in the Air -acapella

How Beautiful is the Rain- Rainsticks and Kalynn and Kay soloists

The Daffodils (poem by William Wordsworth) Kyla soloist with dancing daffodils

The Happy Wanderer (Chris soloist) 4-hand piano, Jen and Marsha

Down in the Valley (Val soloist) one of my favorites

Rocky Top- lots of instruments

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree- with simple choreography

Red is the Rose (Jen and Cindi soloists) with violin

Take Me Home Country Roads (Tami, Connie, and Lydia soloists)

     with Jen on guitar 

A Psalm (my favorite) with cymbals by Jen

All the Way Home (Cindy and Kim soloists)

How Can I Keep from Singing

Music is Always There (such a fun closer with violin and harmonica)

Keynotes, right before our concert:
Back row: Jen Pusey, Connie Spilker, Kalynn Snow, Kay Hinton (Christmas leader), Cindy Alton, Kim Meyers (Spring leader), Chris Tonks (newest member)
Front Row: Lydia Labrum, Cindi Witt, Val Jones, Tami Peterson (president), Marsha Brinkerhoff (accompanist), Kyla Lawrence

Singing at Legacy Village

Singing at Spring Gardens

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree

We performed in ten places this year.

Our concert at the tabernacle:

The Daffodils

Beautiful Rain solos

Concert Welcome

A friend that I serve with on Tuesday evenings at the temple, YVonne came to our concert and brought me these beautiful roses.

Pamper the Pink Luncheon

 I recently attended a Pamper the Pink luncheon.  This is a special event for women who have had or have breast cancer.

The event was put on by my friend Karen Esplin.  I have known Karen since they moved into this area shortly after us 40 years ago. She has had breast cancer twice since.  She is a ball of fire, spunky, cute, friendly, loving and SO full of energy.  I love her.

My profile picture.

The room was decorated so beautifully in pink.  This is Karen welcoming everyone.

The keynote speaker told her amazing story of her breast cancer journey.  She was diagnosed with incurable cancer.  But here she is 10 years later, inspiring others to fight.

Every attendee was showered with gifts, donated by generous business owners.

I didn't take a picture of the delicious meal.  Everything was so nice.  

It was lovely to meet so many wonderful women who are fighting or who have fought this battle.

The Shell Seekers

 

Historical fiction Physical Book I loved this book! The character development was fabulous. I loved Penelope. I loved her strength, wisdom, and personality. The book was long (670 pages) but never boring. Each chapter highlighted one of the characters and was titled by that character’s name. I marveled that the author could tell the story so beautifully in that format! Talent! I have found a new (though technically, old) favorite author to read. I have been searching for other books by her and was so very lucky to find a beautiful copy of one in a little free library! I give this book 5+ stars.

The Frozen River

 

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Historical Fiction Audiobook
Set in Maine in the winter of 1785, this is the story of Martha Ballard, a midwife. It is based on true events taken from her personal journal. It is a powerful story of a strong female heroine. She is courageous, strong, compassionate, full of integrity and inspiring. I highly recommend this one! 5 stars


View all my reviews

Ken Travels to the Philippines

 Our temple was closed for two weeks for cleaning, so Ken went to visit Don and Ada in the Philippines.  I chose not to go because I would miss several Keynote performances as we started our spring "tour" (we jokingly call it) where we visit and sing for assisted living centers and rest homes.

 Plus, I knew that he would want to do a lot of birding.  He had a wonderful time and added 111 new life lister birds to his list.  

Ken will now tell about his trip.  Yea!  A man post.

A selfie with Don & Ada at the Manila Temple. We had a delightful evening doing an endowment session there.

Don & Ada arranged for me to rent a studio Airbnb on the top (51st) floor of their apartment building known as the "Olive Place". The outside wall of my apartment included a floor-to-ceiling window. During the few minutes I was in my apartment each day, I sat on the corner of the bed and looked out over Metro Manila City. My view was westward. On a clear day, I could actually see Corregidor Island and the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula. I found the view captivating. 

Daytime view out my window.

Nighttime view out my window.

A selfie of Ken, with Don & Ada, at a Jollybee's chicken franchise restaurant near our apartment building. Jollybee's is the Philippine version of America's Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was an interesting culinary and cultural experience, but I think I prefer good ole KFC.

I saw this sign ALL over. English is the second language of the Filipino People. They have spelled our word "police" just the way we pronounce that word. I found it interesting and a bit amusing.

Don & Ada at the Manila Temple, after our endowment session.

Selfie with Ken, Don & Ada in front of the Manila Temple after our endowment session.

View to the west from the Olive Place's 17th floor. Don & Ada would meet up with me on this floor

as we started each day.

Selfie at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Metro Manila.

Retiring the Philippine & U.S. flags at the U.S. Military Cemetery in Metro Manila.

A park in the center of Manila's U.S. Military Cemetery, with the graves in the background, surrounding the park.

View from my apartment window of a sun setting over the Bataan Peninsula.

Closeup of the sunset.

Upon arriving at the airport in Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island, I found these youth performing traditional dances for some arriving guests (no, they were NOT performing for me.).

Selfie of Don & Ken at lunch on our first day of birdwatching. Our dining cabana was built above the water, just offshore. It made for a delightful lunch setting. You can see the main restaurant in the background.

Ken's selfie with our birding guide, Totic Failana, and our driver, June, in our lunch cabana.

Ready to chow down on lunch. LtoR: Don, Ken, Totic & June

Selfie of Ken, Don & Totic, while birding in the Palawan jungle.

Ken, Totic & Don, searching for birds along the roadside on Zigzag Road. Note our birding van in the background.

Selfie of Ken & Don at lunch on our second day of birding.

Having fun while visiting the Iwahig Prison. Unfortunately, the birdwatching at this site was a bust because the rice paddies had all been drained.

The Iwahig Prison was initially established by the American military in the early 1900's, after we won the Spanish American conflict. It was used to rehabilitate uncooperative Filipino citizens. It is still a working rehabilitative prison.

The endemic Palawan Flycatcher, at the birding hide at Irawan Ecopark.

Palawan Flycatcher.

Don & our Taiwanese & German fellow bird photographers at the birding hide at the Irawan Ecopark.

Ken's selfie at the birding hide in Irawan Eco park.

Ken's selfie with our German (Gabriel) bird photographer behind Ken, and Don & Totic on the right. We are waiting for the boat to arrive, which will take us out to the nearby island to see the Mantanani Scops-Owls.

Waiting along the shore for our boat.

Ken, noting the bird species just seen.

Don & Ken at "Randy's Garden" birding hide in Puerto Princesa. It provided some awesome views of some very special bird species.

Ken, trying to point out where the bird is that Don is trying to photograph.

Don & Ken birding at the "Birdwing" site in the Napsan Mountains Area.

Ken, birding along Zigzag Road.

Looking out to the small island we will go to in order to see the Mantanani Scops-Owls.

And here comes our boat!

Ken's selfie on the boat, with two of our Taiwanese, and our German (Gabriel) birding friends behind.

Ken & Don sitting under the tree in which we will photograph the Mantanani Scops-Owls. Just waiting for it to get dark enough for the owls to emerge.

My Vegan lunch, consisting of fresh mango, tofu katsu, rice and lettuce.

Sunset at "Birdwing" in top of the mountains in the Napsan Area.

"Birdwing" is a site established by the local birdwatching enthusiasts to protect the environment for various local endemic bird species, such as the Palawan Peacock Pheasant.

Each day, as we left town for our birding expedition, Totic would have the driver pull over at a roadside "mom-and-pop retail shop", where he would buy us some treats and sweet bread/rolls. This is a popular local pastry. I thought they were yummy.

This is a Chestnut-cheeked Starling. It was a totally unexpected and unusual vagrant. When I pointed it out to Totic while we were watching the sunbirds, he got really excited and took this picture, among a number of other shots. He excitedly explained that these pictures would assure that this site would soon be flooded with local birdwatchers trying to get a look at this unusual vagrant. This was not one of my new life-lister species on this trip. I had already seen this species on our mission in Tsuruoka, Japan.

Copper-throated Sunbird.

This is a Taiga Flycatcher. It had never been seen in Palawan before. Totic got very excited about seeing this bird. It had been reported at this site (a crocodile farm in Puerto Princesa) a day or two before I arrived. We visited this site twice, and spent several hours hunting before we found it. Totic couldn't quit taking pictures of it.

Palawan Hornbill

Falcated Wren-Babbler

Pale Spiderhunter

Palawan Flycatcher

Brown-throated Sunbird

Taiga Flycatcher