Speaking of showing what you're feeling

This young man seemed to take exception to the music of the Spanish troupe performing at Bountiful's Summerfest International.

Perhaps he thought his father felt the same way.

Center of attention

For a couple of weeks this summer, all our entertainment revolved around one 13-pound bundle of life, our six-month-old grandbaby. It wasn't necessary to go to movies or play games or watch TV or read books. We only sat and watched and photographed her expressions, her reactions, her frustrations, her celebrations.

This is a good way to spend an evening.

Babies are different from older people because they haven't yet learned what we need to teach them. They haven't yet learned that you're not supposed to cry when you get hungry, you're not supposed to get fussy when you're tired and you're not supposed to pull away from someone you don't yet like.

Everything they are thinking and feeling shows on their face and in their actions.

And it's entertainment at best, education at even better.

You know if she likes you, or if she hasn't decided yet.

You know what she thinks of green beans.

You know when she's curious. And you know when she's unsure of what to think.

She'll learn to keep a straight face when served a food she doesn't like. She'll learn to keep her frustrations in check and her smiles polite. But until then, she sure is fun to watch.

Does anyone else find it odd...

...that it took $5.7 billion-with-a-B to support volunteerism in America?

It was hailed as a bipartisan success because both senators Edward Kennedy and Orrin Hatch supported it. And then President Obama signed it.

And while I can understand the need to give banks money to keep the financial system from collapsing and I can hope that the money given car makers will keep car dealers and car-part makers in jobs, and while I am willing to allow that money given to first-time home buyers and old-clunky car drivers might help things along in the flailing economy, this is one I don't get.

It seems to me, if I understand the definition correctly, and I think I do because it pretty much describes a major part of the last 28 years of my life, that a program to support volunteerism should cost ... $0.0 billion.

Or at least -- even with government supervision -- $5.7 million-with-an-M.

In the sand

Somebody was trying to send a message to God and thought the beach would be a good place to do it.


I can see their logic. Vast, open space where anything new garners attention, easy writing utinsel in a stick, good writing surface in the sand, and a finished message that faces directly to heaven.


You somehow, at some point, start thinking about God when you're at the beach anyway. Its vastness brings eternity to mind, its perfection makes you wonder about creation, its magnificence helps you know somebody put it there for you.


And so instead of writing John loves Jane, or building a sandcastle, someone wrote a short little note to God.


Here's what it said:


God,
Thanks for everything.
Please don't give up on us.
Love...