Footle and Grok

Happy Star Wars Day.

I have talked before about celebrities reading picture books to children on YouTube. This is one of the positives of this weird time. In honor of Star Wars Day, I’m sharing two Star Wars stories.

Daisy Ridley (Rey) reads BB8 on the Run. She is the perfect person to read this story because it explains what happened to BB8 between leaving Po and being rescued by Rey in The Force Awakens. Daisy does such a marvelous job reading that I tear up every time it ends. This story makes me love BB8 and Rey all the more.

Most Star Wars fans know that Anthony Daniels has played C-3PO since Star Wars: A New Hope, so it is only appropriate that he reads a story about droids. In this short story, from Star Wars: Galactic Adventures Storybook Collection, R2-D2 has to rescue C-3PO from a bunch of stormtroopers on a star destroyer. It is fun hearing this story told in the golden droid’s voice.

Celebrate Star Wars Day by watching the movies and then enjoy a good story. The best part about the Star Wars universe is that the adventure never ends.

May the Fourth be with you.

May is here and no matter what happens in society, nature is bursting. I see it every day when I go for a run; the grass is growing, the birds are chattering, and the bunnies are cavorting. It sounds like a poem.

As to be expected, most May poems have nothing to do with the month. However, I found a wonderful poem by John Milton that expresses this precursor to summer perfectly. And it even rhymes.

Song On May Morning

by John Milton

Now the bright morning-star, Day’s harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

Today should be Kentucky Derby Day.

Like everything else, it has been postponed, and will now happen on September 5, 2020. I’m not a fan of horses or horse racing, but I love hats, especially big ones and the Kentucky Derby is full of them.

Why are big hats a tradition at the Kentucky Derby?

Status.

When the race was first run at Churchill Downs, the organizers wanted it to be a social event (as opposed to just a race to gamble on.) Women wore their finest outfits, and in the 1800s, that included a hat. The wealthier the woman, the more ostentatious a hat she wore. This tradition continued even as hats fell out of fashion.

I hope to someday go to the Kentucky Derby just so I can wear an awesome hat. I might even wear an outfit to match. Oh yeah, and I’ll watch the horses too — I mean, when in Rome.

Today is Mother Goose Day.

Most children have a book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes on their shelf. I wore mine out, and I have bought at least one copy for my brother’s children. The origin of Mother Goose is murky, and the term “Mother Goose nursery rhymes” is inaccurate. Whoever Mother Goose was, she didn’t invent a lot of these rhymes, but they are all gathered under her name, which is convenient.

Do you have a favorite nursery rhyme? Two favorites of mine (not my number one though) are historical, morbid, and count as exercise.

Here is one of them.

Ring-a-ring-a-roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down.

(The above version is what I found printed everywhere. However, it is not how I sang it. Below is my version.)

Ring-a-round the rosies,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.

Here is another favorite of mine.

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair Lady.

Both Ring Around the Rosies and London Bridge Is Falling Down are sung while moving around in a circle and then falling down. I like the last part. From a young age, thanks in part to Disney cartoons, I knew that London Bridge Is Falling Down had to do with the Great London Fire, and that Ring Around the Rosies was about the Black Death. That only made the rhymes more fun.

My favorite nursery rhyme did not originate with Mother Goose but is found in her collection.

PETER PIPER
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Peter Piper, a common tongue twister, was first published in John Harris’s Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation in 1813. I could say this poem perfectly from a young age and probably drove my family crazy by repeating it often.

Do you have a favorite Mother Goose nursery rhyme? Have you shared these poems with the new generation? I hope they last for centuries to come.

April is over. It’s time to make new goals.

I discovered a new writing challenge site. Those who know me know that I love National Novel Writing Month in November. Writing 50,000 words is a lot of fun. StoryADay in May is similar but easier. All you have to do is write a 1,000 word or shorter story each day in May. That is only 31,000 words at most. Every day the organizers will send out an email with writing prompts to help you find a story spark.

The best part about this challenge is you get to make the rules. A complete story may be overwhelming, so instead, you could do a character study. Or you could practice beginnings. The only rule is to write every day. Easy.

This is an excellent time to be creative because downtime can be depressing. If writing isn’t your bag, why not choose a different project you can work on every day in May. Perhaps you could quilt, scrapbook, try a new recipe, or create homemade cards. Pick something that excites you, and you have a better chance of sticking with it.

I’m going to write a story a day. Nothing is supposed to be edited yet, but I might share a few of them here, so some editing might get done. If you sign up for StoryADay, let me know. We can cheer each other on.

Happy May!

Yep, I want to talk about space again.

When I was looking for videos on parsec for yesterday’s post, I found a cool video that Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield* did for Wired magazine. Chris is my favorite astronaut (his Masterclass is one of the best), so I wanted to share this video with you.

I’ve been watching a lot of videos during my time at home. Usually, I do so while I eat lunch. I don’t have to worry about spilling soup on my book, and I learn something awesome in a short amount of time.

Check out this Wired video and never travel into space without your suit.

*Chris recorded an amazing version of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” while on the International Space Station (yes, he changed the lyrics.) Check it out here.

Happy International Astronomy Day.

It has been cloudy here in the northwest, so it is hard to do astronomy outside. Instead, I thought I would define two astronomical words that often confuse people, and with good reason. These words are “light-year” and “parsec.”

Both of these words have a time word in them, so logic would say they measure time. However, they are actually measurements of distance. Yep, Han Solo got it wrong (more accurately, George Lucas got it wrong), and no amount of explaining is going to fix it. However, as I just said, it’s an innocent mistake. Anyone could think the same thing.

So what do these words mean? A light-year is easy. It is the DISTANCE that light travels in one Earth year, and it is a constant (5.879 trillion miles.) You know it is a measurement of distance because it is defined in miles or kilometers.

A parsec is harder. In a nutshell, a parsec is about 3.26 light-years. It is used to measure the distance to stars and other faraway objects. The cool part is that not only is a parsec a measurement of distance, but its name also explains how that measurement is made. A parsec is the distance to an object having a parallax of one second, as seen from points separated by one astronomical unit. Get it? A parallax of one second – a parsec.

Defining a parsec is easy, understanding that definition is harder. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I found a cool video by a science blogger I follow. He does a good job of explaining a parsec without requiring you have a physics Ph.D. If you like illustrations, you can check out this video, too.

In honor of International Astronomy Day, do some stargazing if you have clear skies. If you don’t, spread the word that light-year and parsec are measurements of distance, and Han shot first.

I’m trying to write this post with a cat on my lap.

I have three cats (technically really big kittens), and they love to sit on me, often two or three at a time. Right now, Hela is gracing me with her presence, and she is my smallest kitty, so I am working around her.

My cats live indoors only, and they are thrilled that their humans are always home and have laps they can sit on. I asked them how they handle staying at home, and here is what they said.

Advice from my cats:

• Vary your view by sitting in different places and on different objects around the house
• Sleep often
• Exercise often. Run up and down the hallway if you have no other option. Bang into the wall to stop yourself
• Play with your favorite toys to keep your mind sharp. Don’t bother putting them away. You never know when you will want to play again
• Spend time with the people you live with – a lot of time. They might leave at any moment
• Show love often. Meowing in the middle of TV shows and standing in front of the TV is one way to do this. Sitting on laps is another.

There you have it. Advice from three nine-month-old kittens who stay at home all the time. I know I won’t be home forever, so I’m following this advice and not complaining that Hela is still sitting on my lap. I’ll have lots of time to fix all the typos.

I can’t believe I wasn’t following this Facebook page before now.

My favorite art museum in the country is the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. My dear friend, John Siler, lived in Oklahoma City, and he took us there when we visited him. At first, I thought this would be boring. Art museums are not my thing. But this one is amazing.

There is a style of art for everyone and I like my art to look like what it is supposed to be. This museum is filled with sculptures and paintings that showcase the western United States. They tease all five senses and bring the scenery to life. A favorite of mine showed a tall cowboy leaning in a doorway with a cup of coffee and a dog. You could feel him thinking of the day ahead while enjoying a moment of morning beauty.

Even though I have never been back, I often think about how much I loved that museum. So when my hubby emailed me an NPR article about it, I couldn’t wait to read it. It turns out that the employees are as wonderful as the art they protect.

Tim Tiller is the head of security, and due to the pandemic, he is the only employee still going to work at the museum. He has also been put in charge of their social media. This is not something Tim knows much about, but he is doing his best.

His best is not only charming and funny but showcases the museum perfectly. I liked the museum on Facebook (the other links are in the article) and now relieve that day with John every time Tim shares his unique style of posting. (They have circles on the floor called Selfie Stations where you can stand and take a picture with a statue or something. Tim took a picture of himself with the circle. Too funny!)

If you want to see some wonderful American art and enjoy a dose of cowboy humor and wisdom, follow Tim and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. I no longer have a reason to visit Oklahoma City, but I want to visit the museum again when everything is open.

I must be talking about the Smothers Brothers* again.

The Smothers Brothers song I added to my Arbor Day post was popular, so I decided to share my favorite (“Chocolate“) and an honorable mention (“Crabs Walk Sideways.”) I hope these make you laugh because laughter is good medicine and it’s Saturday.

*It won’t be the last time.