Kessel Run < 12 Parsecs

Best. Lego set. Ever.

Santa brought the Millennium Falcon for Christmas 2012 ... and a year and a half later it's finally built. It's a giant set we finally began building this year, and it took several weekends.

That's not to say we haven't been playing with the minifigures the whole time; the Princess Leia earmuff-do minifigure is one of the rarest.

Look at how huge this thing is! It's 1,200 pieces and pretty complex with all the round shapes involved. That Lego ever figured out how to make this into a mass-produced set is genius. This never could have been released with Star Wars in 1977 (during my Lego playing days) when draftsmen illustrated building instructions by hand — it's just too complex.

Flowered Front

April spring in bloom in front of the Kansas City, Missouri Temple.

Junk Drive

Rescued window frames repurposed as wall decor transformed a gym at my niece Amber's wedding reception.

This week is my town's junk drive, and I'm rubbernecking as I drive by all kinds of potential photo props. I keep telling myself I don't need it, I've got nowhere to store it.

Last year our town passed an ordinance making it illegal to go through people's curbside junk. In past years during spring cleaning week I'd put out stuff and see it disappear an hour or two later. You'd see junk dealers drive through neighborhoods with their pickup beds filled to overflowing, ropes tying it all down. It was kind of fun to watch, like a community treasure hunt. I'll bet our town's costs have gone way up now that they're picking up 100%.

Niagara Falls

Back in March I had a couple days of meetings in Buffalo. Niagara Falls is really close, so before meeting up with work people for dinner I ran over for some pictures at sunset.


I was wondering why all the souvenir shops were closed? March is definitely the off-season at Niagara Falls. As you approach the falls the breeze and the damp makes it feel 10° colder — the floating mist would freeze just as soon as it hit you. My camera was coated with a thin crust of ice, and the sidewalks were like a skating rink.



Niagara Falls gives me the willies each time, because of the sheer power plowing past you just a few feet away. I've been a homeowner with roof leaks — I understand how water plus gravity is one of the most destructive forces on earth. Standing at the edge of Niagara Falls I can't help but wonder how the ground I'm standing on isn't washed away with all that rumbling just past the safety gate.

One Kill, Two Falls

In Glenville, New York where I live we have some amazingly beautiful scenery, literally in our backyards.

I took this photo today of the third falls of the Indian Kill, a stream that runs through the gulleys behind the neighborhoods of our town. (The word kill is Dutch for stream.) It's no big deal to go out the back door of your house and explore hiking trails through forests, streams and waterfalls. A topo map of our neighborhood reveals elevation shifts of 100' within a short jog.

When you see Calvin and Hobbes sledding off cliffs into a riverbed below, that's the kind of terrain we have here. We live in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains.

I visit the Indian Kill a few times each year, but always at the same waterfall. Today I visited twice, both times using new entry points.

The first visit was a picnic lunch with Carter and Claire at the second falls where we usually go. This time we entered through Hemlock Hollow, which looks like an empty wooded lot between houses in their mom's new neighborhood. Walk behind the trees and the path drops steeply into a ravine that leads to our favorite waterfall below — a shortcut! We sat on a rocky outcrop with our feet at the waterfall for a cheese & crackers lunch. After all the rain this weekend the sound was deafening.

On my second visit tonight I went to the Indian Kill Nature Preserve to prep for a Webelos hike this week — my second time there, but I went deeper in this time. I discovered fifty-foot plateaus overlooking the kill below, water-carved gullies, wildflowers, ferns, squishy mud from this weekend's rain, and the beautiful third falls.

I am constantly amazed at how lucky I am to live on top of this amazing terrain.

The Dance

Every time I visit Missouri my mom asks if there’s anything I want to take home with me. In her earlier days she was an artist, and there are a few of her pieces that are special to me because I've known them since I was little.

This is one of my mother’s sculptures from her college years called, “The Dance.”

The process she describes to create it is fascinating. She carved the original sculpture out of wax. After encasing the wax in concrete, she fired it to melt out the wax and create a mold. She found a block of aluminum in a scrap yard, melted it down in a furnace, then poured it into the mold. When the concrete was broken away, she was left with a very rough aluminum form which she then polished in spots, and left rough from the concrete finish in others.

This is a fun piece to have on display. The sculpture spins on its base and you can examine it from different angles. It’s got heft and texture; it’s meant to be touched. The Easter Bunny has a tradition each year to hide an egg in the round loop at the top.

The best part of this piece to me? That it came from my mom.

May the Fourth Be With You

I don't appear on my blog that often, but it's Star Wars Day. Star Wars came out 37 years ago today on May 4, 1977, and as I wrote in a previous post, it has pretty much ruled my world since.

Here are some of my original 1978 Star Wars figures. Amazing I could dig up this many from the toy box, my kids like playing with them and they get scattered around the house. Boba Fett you could only get by mailing in several proof of purchases, although we didn't yet know who he was.

A couple days ago a friend said on Facebook she had never seen Star Wars. Think of the hundreds of cultural references she's missed through the years. A new person moved into my building last week; I haven't met him yet, but I can tell he's the decent sort. How do I know? From the Rebel Alliance sticker in his rear windshield. (Check out Luke's helmet whenever he's dressed in pilot orange.)

I watched Empire Strikes Back last night with my younger kids to commemorate our new Lego Wampa we got a couple weeks ago. It's been 37 years and George Lucas is still making money off me.

Wet Paint

Grandma sent me home from Missouri with a present for the kids. Our Saturday afternoon-turned-rainy was perfect weather for cracking open a new craft paint set. Once we clear the kitchen floor (our drying rack) we'll be updating our refrigerator door content. And maybe yours, too.

Magnificent Seven

Claire is 7 and says some far-out stuff.

Studying me intensely: "Dad, you have Luke Skywalker eyes."

To Carter: "I feel like playing by myself. Do you want to play with me?"

"We’re up all night for good fun, we’re up all Mexican lucky."

Randomly rolls down the window and yells into heavy traffic: "This is not an urban community!!!"

Independence Day

When I tell other Mormons I'm from Missouri I inevitably get asked if I've been to Independence. All these years I've answered no ... until now. While I was in Kansas City last week, my brother James took me to finally visit nearby Independence, Mo.

Independence is important to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it is foretold as the future site of the temple where Christ will return at his second coming. After this prophecy was received in the 1830s, early Saints made great efforts to purchase land and gather in Missouri.


In 1831 Bishop Edward Partridge purchased for $130 the 63 acres which Joseph Smith, Jr. identified and dedicated earlier in the year as the temple site. Religious persecution from their neighbors, the imprisonment of Joseph and other early church leaders at Liberty, Mo., and the infamous Extermination Order from the state's governor forced the Saints' exodus from Missouri in 1838. They moved across the state line to found the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, where they eventually encountered further persecution and left the United States to found Salt Lake City.

What's in Independence now?

Standing on the temple lot is a white building that is the headquarters for the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). This is a spinoff group formed in 1852 that denies changes to LDS church doctrine or organization after 1830. In 1877 they purchased the temple lot and have been there since. You can go inside and pick up some of their photocopied tracts and see the original stone markers for the temple lot excavated in 1929.

We think the nice old gentleman we met there authored many of the pamphlets and is one of the COCTL apostles. One interesting fact we learned: there were Civil War battles fought in 1864 on the temple property.

Across the street from the temple lot is the 1926 auditorium of the Community of Christ, formerly called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, another splinter group from 1860.

Across the street in the other direction is the 1992 Community of Christ temple. It's patterned after a seashell, but people also call it the ice cream cone. We went inside to find a beautiful chapel, a museum and gift shop.


Kitty-corner from the temple site there's the LDS Independence Visitors' Center with sister and couple missionaries that tell the history of the lives and persecution of the Saints in the 1830s, along with the message of Christ's gospel and church today.

Kansas City Temple

This is the gorgeous new temple in Kansas City. I am here tonight and tomorrow for my niece Amber's wedding.

This is one of the most beautiful temples I've been to, the details inside and outside are incredible. There is stained glass everywhere, most notably when you walk in, where there's a large stained glass "tree of life" backdrop behind the front desk. There are fountains shooting upward at the east entrance, and the woodworking and granite baseboards are so lovely.

"... The high standards of temple building employed by this Church are a type and even a symbol of how we should be living our own lives.

... We are each made of the finest materials, and we are the miraculous result of divine craftsmanship."

— Scott D. Whiting

In October 2012 church president Thomas S. Monson told a story about the Kansas City Temple. Prior to the dedication of the temple there was a cultural celebration put on by 3,000 youth from the surrounding states. There was a problem with the Jumbotron in the civic center where they were performing, which was crucial to the success of the night. My nieces and nephews were among the 3,000 that knelt in the civic center to pray for it to get fixed. It is a beautiful story, and if you don't know the ending, here's how it turns out.

There's not a lot built yet around the temple to block its view from the Interstate, so lit up at night it's like a giant billboard for the Mormons.

Extinction Through Achievement

Every day that I take Carter & Claire to school, they get a note in the bag with their snack.

The night before her spelling test, Claire was getting frustrated with three words: "achievement," "extinction," and "through." She didn't want to, but we practiced again the next morning after breakfast. She eventually got them figured out, and I was super-proud of her.

This was the snack note she got that day. Usually the note is a secret, but I showed this one to her in advance as motivation to get the words right on her test.

After school she beamed showing me the 105% on her spelling test.

Oh How Lovely Was the Morning

Saturday started out foggy and gorgeous, perfect for a birthday road trip to Palmyra, NY.

Knowing I'd be away on Saturday, Malcolm, Carter and Claire gave me presents on Friday. They know exactly how to shop for me: York Peppermint Patties, gum, pretzel M&Ms and Post-It Notes. Anything from the candy or office supplies aisles and I'm a satisfied customer.

Here's the part that made my week, I'm still laughing about it. Claire asked me how old I would be on my birthday. I told her, then she looked at me for a few seconds and said, "You look good."

Aunt Denise

My mother is an identical twin. Today her sister Denise passed away. Earlier this week as we were anticipating losing her I realized my mom has known her sister longer than anybody in this world, even her own mother.

When Dawn and Denise got together they were hard to tell apart. Once when I was 11 or 12 we were visiting my aunt's home I went to my mom upset and crying. I was aghast to realize I was breaking down in front of my aunt. You had to really pay attention. We got a great double-take out of the mailman one day when my mom met him at the mailbox and said hello, and then my aunt beckoned and waved from the porch. The stories of them trading classes (and dates) in high school are famous.

In personality they were also very much alike, even if they were separated for months or years. When my mom really got into health food, we would visit my aunt in Wisconsin and she'd be into the same stuff. My cousins and I would compare notes and just shake our heads at the similarities.

My aunt was always so loving and encouraging to me. I spent a couple summers with Denise & Denny and their three boys during my middle school years. She taught me how to ride a horse and care for it, helped me get rid of poison ivy after picking raspberries, took us swimming at the quarry, tolerated our hay bale forts in the barn, enrolled me in a youth astronomy course at University of Wisconsin, took me to a Billy Graham revival at the old Milwaukee County Stadium. Those were defining summers. The original Jeff Grandon Fan Club was invented in her home.

In the last few years I've been able to visit Denise in Florida a couple times for dinner at her winter home as I was down for business trips. I loved these times reconnecting with my family. Once as I left she filled my suitcase full of grapefruit from the backyard tree, it was the best gift ever.

Today's news hits close to home. It's hard to ignore that my mom is genetically identical to her sister; maybe her body will turn against her as sister's did. One of Denise's defining characteristics is that she was a solid Christian. She spoke of her faith confidently in regular conversation. What a great example of being a Believer.

Mothers are the most special people. I realize now what a unique situation it's been for me to have a duplicate of that person in my life. It goes beyond how identical they appeared to be on the outside — I've always felt the same care, love, concern, and pride in me from my aunt as I do from my mother. If I had been raised by my aunt instead, I would have turned out just the same. In some ways they are interchangeable. So for now, my Aunt Denise is not far away.

Pathway Home

Heading out of the Sacred Grove at Palmyra. New York is finally starting to thaw.

Faulty Towers

Oops.

Goldilocks on Porridge: "Just Right"

Today Claire proclaimed oatmeal as her favorite food. Which is quite a marketing accomplishment considering the rest of my kids' disdain for the stuff.

February's proclamation (by partisan charcutier Jimmy Dean) as National Hot Breakfast Month played a contributing role, but my reverse psychology and feigned hardship were probably the biggest factors.

• "You wouldn't like it."
• "Only grown-ups eat this."
• "It takes too long ..." [WHINGING] "... Oh, OK, I'll make it."

Claire asks for oatmeal every morning, but I usually only have time on the weekends, which makes it feel special. The big blob of honey mixed in, along with raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, bananas, strawberries, and blueberries don't hurt either.

Sleetstorm

Pearls of ice glistening in the sun after last night's sleetstorm. Deicing the car this morning I took a corner too quickly and went down fast.

I[ntrovert] Before E[xtrovert], Except After C[ostumes]

A few weeks ago we had parent conferences with the elementary kids’ teachers. Claire’s second grade teacher said she wished Claire would speak up more in class, she was so quiet and introverted. Complete shock: are we talking about the same kid?


At home Claire is constantly talking, asking questions, singing, or making random noise — just for the sake of making noise. Late at night as I check her in bed before I go to sleep, she often starts talking in jumbled sentences. She laughs when I recount her conversation from the previous night. When she’s not talking nonstop, she’s tackling Carter, thumping around making even more racket. I don't see how this could be the same kid.


This weekend I ran a dress-up costume photo booth for kids and families at our church carnival, and Claire's true personality went public. I have the photo set on Flickr to prove it.


This reminds me of my old work friend, Carol. She used to be pretty reserved. That is, until the time we dressed her in an Easter Bunny costume at a meeting of 100 business and community leaders from our city. With her identity concealed she started skipping around, handing out candy, shaking everybody's hands ... along with her cotton tail. Something about a costume inspires transformation.

Short Days, Long Shadows

I took off early from work yesterday to take the kids to the doctor. It was weird driving away from work in broad daylight, having to wear sunglasses.

Getting past the winter solstice is always encouraging. I love the feeling of gaining a couple minutes of daylight every day. It's like a gift.