He Plays with a Feeling

In our family, music is a big part of life.  The gift of playing the piano with both hands comes through Grandma zucc's side.  I can play with either the right or the left hand, but when it comes to playing with both, I am as clumsy as a Bozo (namely a dunce or a fool) on a bus.  Brendan, on the other hand, seems to have a natural talent for piano playing.  Even though he is just beginning, he plays with a feeling beyond his years.  

Dancing seems to be natural talent, especially when the girls are prompted by the X-box.  Not to long ago, Mike brought his Wii to our home and hooked it up to the 40" LCD screen.  You should have seen how his 4 preteens danced - pretty impressive, to say the least.  

  

When I was a youngster, I did the bebop.  These young adults are 40 times the dancer I was; however, in college, I took a ballroom dance class and really enjoyed it.  In looking back, I was more interested in playing the string bass in dance bands than I was in dancing.  I played for stake Gold and Green balls and school dances.  The most memorable stake dance was in a place called Dragerton (now East Carbon), about 60 miles south of Provo.  I asked Bev come with me and my string bass, and somehow the 3 of us  were able to all fit into my VW Beetle.  We must have looked like Bozos in a Beetle, ha ha.    

The most memorable school dance I played for was a formal occasion held in the Sky Room of the Y Center, now the Wilkinson Center.  In those days, only basic rhythms could be used at BYU.  We started with the waltzes, fox trots etc.  moving to Latin rhythms.  Bossa Nova was the rage of the time, so we did one.  During the piece, we were politely asked to play more modest music, so we moved back to the basics. 

On this occasion, Tammy got the feel of the music and joined in the fun.

Julie and Belana and not only good dancers, but both are becoming quality singers.  This is evidenced by Julie winning a local contest for a music scholarship, and Belana singing in the Symphonic Choir.  

"Frog and Toad."

Grandma Zucc was invited to do a reading in Brendan's 4th grade class.  This is one of the cool things that happened during our little trip.  She read, for perhaps a half an hour,  several short stories from a most entertaining book called "Frog and Toad."

I was impressed with how respectful and attentive the class member's were.  Of course, not only does Grandma Z's natural demeanor demand attention, but also I could tell, from the moment we entered the classroom, that the kids were well disciplined by their teacher.

The book, "Frog and Toad" is loaded with stories that have sort of a mature humor.  This humor is subtle, and requires an imagination to catch it.

The kids, I believe, did just that, as many times laughter rang through the group.

Bev did a fantastic job of holding everyone's attention, and at the end of the reading, the teacher said that she could tell, Bev was a former teacher.

At the end of the session, Brendan was asked to come and sit with his Grandma.  This was a great honor to him.

I really have to respect and compliment the students at Horizons Elementary.  These kids must be a special group.  Brendan is lucky to be counted among them.

Geologist Activity Badge

A few days before our trip to the Northwest, Dayle invited me to teach the Geologist Activity Badge class for his Webelo den.  I quickly told him I would, as I had already prepared a Open Office presentation for use in teaching geology to Patty B's 4th grade class in South Jordan.

I knew the Northwest was covered with nothing but volcanic rock, so I decided to pack small samples of Utah sedimentary rock into my suitcase.  The rocks made my suitcase rather heavy, but the airline people took my luggage and loaded it onto the 737, without question.

A time to remember, for sure, was of the Webelo's meeting.  During my introduction , I mentioned to the scouts, that in the near future they would be camping in the "boonies," and that they could always make use of rock collecting skills. Well, several hands went up and the question was raised, "What are the boonies?"

Well now, this question sort of surprised me, and I quickly realized that these kids really had never heard this term before.  My mind searched frantically, in the period of a millisecond, for an appropriate response.  I told them that the "boonies," is anyplace that is away from civilization, in the great outdoors.

I would like to think that the word "boonies" maybe originated during the time of Daniel Boone, the great outdoorsman; but I don't know for sure.

If "boonies" is typed into Wikipedia, one is directed to "Boondocks," with the following explanation:  "The expression was introduced to English by American military personnel serving in the Philippines during the early years of the 20th century.  It derives from the Tagalog word "bundok", meaning "mountain".


I remember in the mid-60s, a popular song called, "Down in the Boondocks."  


Well, so what?  Now, back to the Webelo's den meeting!  I had also brought with me cardboard squares, about a foot square or so, to be used for individual rock displays.  Dayle, Jr. had the hot glue guns all ready to go, and when the kids were getting tired of listening to my geology lecture, I told them we were going to go rock hunting.  Their interest was all of a sudden revitalized.  


I emptied my sample bag of about 8 kinds of  sedimentary rocks, and told the kids to start collecting and identifying.  For the next 20 minutes or so, the two Dayles' were kept busy gluing rocks to cardboard.  At the end of the meeting the proud scouts left with collections in hands.  

An alien from outer space

Only last week, Grandma and I were in the "land of sky blue waters."  Hams brewery has long shut it's doors, and we do not use prescription drugs bought from street vendors; but what we saw, upon entering in the great room of my daughter's house, was an alien from outer space. 

That was our first impression!  Then when he spoke, we realized he was only Dayle Jr. 

He was exhausted as he and his sister, Belana, had been at a high school leadership training seminar, in Seattle I think!  Anyway, he was soon very relaxed on the sofa.

 
I was wondering how long it would take him to get tired of the face paint, and wash it off; but then his mother announced that he would be wearing it to a basketball game that evening, and Grandma Zucc and I were invited to attend. Now, Dayle plays trombone in the pep band, and he was very desirous for us to hear their music.

To my surprise, just before we left the house, Dayle popped into the great room with a green cape gracefully hanging down his back; and we were on our way. 

By the way, I was impressed with the pep band, as they were really very good.  I guess it maybe it consisted of about 40 students.  A platform was set up for the drummer who played a trap set.  The group even had a guy that played an electric bass guitar. 

Now, Dayle really could produce some cool sounds, in fact, at one point he was really making that slide trombone do it's stuff.

This grand performance was a highlight of our trip.  "Keep up the good work, Dayle."

The flight was one of extremes

The flight from Seattle to Salt Lake was one of extremes.

The scary extreme occurred upon landing. The wheels went down, the flaps went down, and so did we!  The landing at SL was hard; in fact, the roughest one I had ever experienced.  One lady gave out an involuntary scream, and I also heard several gasps from other passengers.  Finally, the 737 began to slow down, and I mentioned to Bev that our approach seemed to be a little faster than usual. She in turn, said that she was surprised that the left wheel didn't pop, when we hit the ground.

The funny extreme featured really humorous announcements over the intercom bay a very jolly steward.  After the hard landing he said that he hoped we all enjoyed the landing.  This comment brought a lot of laughter.  Then after making some exit announcements, he said "Now get out of here."

The pre-flight announcements were great also.  I can't remember them all, but he mentioned that cameras, recording devices including web cams were not allowed in the restroom.  Any violators would be posted on U-TUBE. 

During the oxygen demonstration, he said that if you are holding 2 kids, and only 2 masks came down, use one for yourself, then decide which kid you dislike the most, before using the second.

As we slowly taxed down the runway, he actually sang his version of "Rollin Down the River (runway)."  He was really pretty good. 

In Salt Lake City (Ute territory), I was surprised to see baggage being loaded from a BYU transport vehicle.  This scene really made my day. 

     You've got to love those pesky, independent cougars!

Quite an occasion!

Today's Super Bowl turned out to be quite an occasion, here at Grandpa Zucc's house.  After attending early church, we fired up the TV and made ourselves comfortable around lots of food.

Mike and Katie brought over sub sandwiches and Buffalo balls.  We provided the drink, chips, brownies and some of the condiments.  Jenna made delicious football coco puff rice crispy treats. 

The Lego's got put to good use, and Rachael served play snacks. 








Grandma played a homemade football board game with the kids, and all of us got to watch at least some of the bowl game.

All-in-all, it was a very relaxing occasion. 

"I am your little princess"



True love



"My nap is more important than the game"



"Please hurry up and take the photo"



"I can't believe you want to take my picture"



Avoid the "Stinger Bee"

Wow!  2012 was ushered in with kind of a sour note of health for poor ol' Grandpa Zucc.  Because of all the medical baloney that has been happening to me the last few weeks, I have taken a 2 month leave-of-absence from my duties at the temple.

One must not think that I have totally given up on life, the past several weeks, as I was able to compile, print, and submit the final copy of the ward historical report. Luckily, I had done most of the work before the holidays.

Another thing I did was to attend a retirement party at Sizzler. A friend, Mike (not my son), invited me to attend with him. It was good to see many of the people I had worked with at the post office. It is interesting that old memories are regenerated during occasions such as this.

I wonder if and when we pass from this life, we will be confronted with not only friends from this existence, but also with acquaintances from the premortal life? Will old memories be regenerated then?

I hope the mercies of God will be on all of us, no matter what our faith may be, and that the final judgment will find in us, a repentant generation of believers.

Are the words above a little heavy for you, in this new year?

  Well, the following photo will cheer you up, for sure!



Matthew is a "chip off the old block."

If there is one sure prediction that I can give for 2012, it would be that all of my grandkids will be successful and happy!  How can I know that?  Perhaps you have heard the expression, "the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree?"

The key to being successful is to set the example.  Be happy, kind, honest, loyal, helpful, brave, reverent, and by all means;
Avoid the "Stinger Bee."