Pepped with Polyphenol Produce
I am proud of my dad. He is a scientist (not student of editing or writing like Mom) and, like our still sixteen-year-old, has assessed that “writing can be hard!” Nonetheless, consistently, he chronicles a one-page illustrated periodical “Kaysville Capers” to send to faraway family and friends. Even those of us not-so-far-away enjoy his recent photos of great grandson in a frog-like pose maneuvering on Grandma Gee’s rock-patterned linoleum,
pictures of Grandpa’s backyard vineyard prizes,
(pictured here in her element, teaching a grand-nephew)
as she helped to launch her son Michael from embassy in Peru to Rexburg dorm room.
His local daughter Laurene, novice at the Friday morning canning session (evidenced by an incredulous, “Mom, did YOU do this?)
has gladly added something to validate the hypothesis that large produce may be contagious.
Rushing to catch the canning train (Mom’s kettle of water boiling) a conglomeration of Starkey tomatoes converged upon Grandma’s counter to be scooped up and weighed on the soil science scales: One pound, ten ounces. That nearly two pound tomato became the object of a point and shoot moment to celebrate prodigy with perpetually propagated polyphenol produce. Are we not all sometimes surprised at what our kids will come up with?
Saturday brought an Ogden Family History Fair, chock-full of valuable tips. Mom and I learned some good things about scanning: for archives and important shots-- lean to the higher end of 150 to 400 dpi or dots per inch and use your scanner’s advanced choice buttons to fix the image to a consistent 8 x 10 size [you can print it a different size later, but it is good to scan them all the same size], use “histogram” carrying an eye-drop to make clouds and yellowed obituary pages white and “crop” to make small selections significant and seeable. Auto correct can also be good.
Another teacher helped us imagine games to get grandchildren to discover all of Aunt Ida’s doilies in the dining room
and dispense memorable mementos with monopoly money auctions.
In a personal history class, Emil Hansen shared a memory of his introduction to a new “philosophy” as a five year old when his neighborhood pal had absconded with his personal hatchet.
Detailing the dismay that came to the culprit when Emil arrived upon the scene to reclaim it, Emil recounted the surprise of hearing the little neighbor yell from across the fields, “I stole it from you, and you are not allowed to steal it back!”
Karen Clifford, a favored Salt Lake and California college instructor, gave a keynote speech addressing answers to five or six obstacles of would-be researchers. She introduced a new application to new.Familysearch.org called “Sharing time” which offers an automated research tool coming to local family history centers this week (also found at sharingtime.com) that analyzes a person’s pedigree within new.familysearch.org, to reveal further research by clicking on a tree icon near each branch of pedigree to bring up a box that details free and paid research sites. One or two mouse clicks might generate a census, birth, or military record relevant to the individual in question. The class came unglued with glee when the software engineer of this Sharingtime also explained how another click or three could disconnect a person’s pedigree to erroneous names that other nFS users had inadvertently joined. Applause to competent creators who acknowledge pain and work to alleviate it!
Further lessons lingering on the wings of summer came in physics at Davis High, anthropology and Education Week at BYU, interspersed with reunion revelry. Excerpts of a few of these are pictured below: Father's Day Starkey Reunion
Fourth of July in Paris (Idaho) with a Gathering of Gees
an August Hillman Reunion
A swift summer sweep to Seattle,
happened before our before-school jaunt to Midway and Saddle Creek campgrounds
(without reservations,) complete with flat tire tutorial.
Holding back complaints while changing a punctured tire can offer benefits!
(but beware of train thieves if you Creep in Heber!)
We are actually sailor wannabees
But we can hike
and jump
And slide (some of us!)
Maria and Amber have begun school full swing with Maria shepherding six-year-olds at Spanish Immersion Elementary and accepting the fling of Frisbee into the momentum of AP “everything.” Amber, secretary in her YSA apartment complex ward, can spot on her ward list a new/old friend named Rachelle with winning smile and Bellevue roots. Kristen is baking crayon cakes in preparation for a big birthday number ONE, augmenting her William’s efforts to master “mama” and “papa” with the novel idea of being “big brother” as mommy navigates nausea and naps.
Zach sports a shorter, tamer hairstyle (and schedule) after completing a lively August performance as a principal in Hairspray.
Others about are celebrating a dream-come-true certification of the Boeing Dream Liner
and 747-8 airplane. When Val comes up for air out of his Boeing cubby hole, he digs dandelions, thinks through insulation and irrigation issues.
(Did you know that the Chinese apricot goes by another name? Alias, "Mormon." Now when you look out the window, you might know what you see!)
Val is also valiantly busting through dust, pacing through some 40-year-old treasure boxes recently unearthed after Grandpa and Grandma Gee’s white whirlwind to construct and fill steel shelves for the garage, helping to carve room for a soon-to-be cold Corolla.
Finally, after nine-year-old Riley’s August visit
with fishing pole, Rook, UNO, air hockey, foosball and endless animated, adolescent questions still echoing from the walls, we found a few framed faces to ornament our stairway, adding grandchildren and children pictures to the wall via our infamous 3-M hooks. Some things need to be done once every 18 years whether we like it or not!
As seven happy, mischievous smiles grin at us over lentils and tortilla-concoctions,
we listen to narratives from yesteryear which enrich our “today” and offer hope and promise to those arriving. Even if we blog only once every six months, we have reason to acclaim the grandness of grandparents, the nuance of grandchildren, and the goodness of God who gave us the increase! And as we cram the one pound, ten ounce “wonder” into a jar of September sunshine, we hope that you also choose to capture some sunlight this week. Love, the Starkeys
