…On the Road to The Little House

May7

Exploring the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder

May 7, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic

Sign at the “little house” that started it all in Pepin, Wisconsin

Perhaps more than any other books I’ve ever read, this series captured my young imagination and inspired me to want to write and record my world.

The first “Little House” book was published in 1932. Six more followed over the next decade and Laura Ingalls Wilder was propelled from a farmer’s wife to one of the most beloved children’s book authors in history.

As a child I was entranced by the thought of living in a cabin in the big woods of Wisconsin, or in a dugout carved into the banks of Plum Creek in Minnesota, or in a claim shanty on the wind swept prairies of South Dakota. What adventures awaited!

I’ve had as a goal to visit the many homestead sites. In September 2013 I, along with my 20 year old daughter, went to Mansfield, Missouri, and toured the museum and also the house where Laura lived as an adult. This past week was round two when the hubby and me meandered from Wisconsin to South Dakota and traced a portion of the Ingalls family pioneer journey.

The Little House in the Big Woods in Pepin, Wisconsin

The takeaway for me as an adult – considering it from the perspective of a wife and mother – is how very difficult it must have been, especially for Laura’s mother, Caroline.

Our first stop was in Wisconsin. Although the Ingalls’ cabin is long gone, those who preserved the sites have erected faithful reproductions of the original structures. The little house in Wisconsin was certainly that: little. The main room was no bigger than a small bedroom by today’s standards. For the pioneers, this room was kitchen, dining room, living room, and laundry room (at least half the year). The entire family slept in a room the size of a closet.

This author standing about where the dugout door was located on Plum Creek, Minnesota.
Plum Creek how it looks now
Excerpt from On The Banks of Plum Creek where Laura describes the ‘house.’

It was the next ‘house’, however, that really gave me pause. Laura’s family purchased a farm near Walnut Grove, Minnesota… but there was no ‘house.’ Instead, the family lived for some months in a ten by twelve ‘room’ dug out of a bank above a creek. The actual dugout collapsed years ago, but a reproduction exists in South Dakota. When I walked in to that room two days later I was struck by two things in particular. The first was the smell. It was a combination of earth, mold, and damp. It was depressing and dark. As Laura describes life in the dugout she shares how her mother whitewashed the dirt walls and floor with a lime mixture. I imagine the lime served several purposes including, foremost, pest control and to brighten the room. How hard it must have been for Caroline Ingalls to cook, clean, and care for her children in that tiny, tiny space.

The author and hubby at DeSmet, South Dakota

In South Dakota the Ingalls family had to, once again, start from scratch. It was not hard to imagine how alone and desolate Caroline must have felt as one of the first pioneers in DeSmet. Their homestead was 160 acres – one quarter mile square – and it was a half mile south of the town. There were no neighbors, just the wildlife which called the prairie home. The Ingalls claim shanty was just that: a shanty. Unlike the cabin in Pepin, this home was a tiny one room shack with the beds for a family of six in every corner, a stove in the center, and a few chairs and a table. The thin walls not much protection against the persistent winds and cold. Over time the shanty was expanded to include 2 small bedrooms and a 12 by 16 living room.

Replica of the ‘shanty’ where the Ingalls family of six lived the first summer so Pa could ‘claim’ his land.

What resilience these people possessed!

When we stopped at the Ingalls homestead near DeSmet, the woman who owns and runs the property came by to speak to us. I said to her I suspected when the Ingalls family arrived there that Caroline told Charles she was done moving and carving out homes in the wilderness. Our hostess confirmed my supposition. Laura’s parents lived the rest of their lives in that community, eventually moving to a proper house in the town eight years after their arrival.

It is impossible to truly capture these places on paper. But Laura Ingalls Wilder’s narrative description of each location comes close. I felt as if her spirit was there with us in South Dakota, especially, as I mapped out some travels to the spots she describes in her books.

The roiling waters of Lake Henry during the spring perch hatch

It was at Lake Henry when the magic occurred. The hubby and I noticed the water in a nearby slough was roiling. Upon closer examination we discovered hundreds of fish flopping and thrashing about! We walked close to the spectacle, mesmerized by the yellow perch which spawn this time of year once the water raises to a certain temperature.

From there we meandered across the back-roads, and observed white tailed deer, a muskrat which waddled across the road, and hundreds of birds: pelicans, herons, eagles, hawks, geese, and all variety of smaller ones.

We were reluctant to leave but how very glad we were to be able to experience a tiny portion of the Ingalls family journey.

So which of the three ‘little houses’ would have been the best ? Probably the cabin in Wisconsin. As we returned from our adventures I found myself thankful, yet again, for modern amenities: electricity, running water, flushing toilets, refrigeration, automobiles, and airplanes. What a blessed era in which I live.

A few links. First is to my blog article from February 7, 2017 about Laura Ingalls Wilder: https://barbaradevore.com/2017/02/07/laura-ingalls-wilder/

And some links to the various historical sites:   

https://www.lauraingallspepin.com/big-woods-cabin.html

http://walnutgrove.org/ingalls-dugout-site.html

https://www.ingallshomestead.com/history

I know everyone would be disappointed if there was not at least one link to the Infallible Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder

A Salute to Red Heads!

Apr30

Less than 2 percent of all hair colors

April 30, 2024

A display in a store window in Edinburgh in support of “Gingers” everywhere

Most humans have some variation of black or brown hair, followed by blonde and white. The least common color, various shades of red, account for only one to two percent of hair colors and is usually found in people who are genetically connected to the west Eurasian populations.

The country of Ireland, with about 10 percent of its population sporting natural red colored hair, is the highest of any on earth. Edinburgh, Scotland – it turns out – is known as the ‘Red Head’ capital of the world.

According to the Infallible Wikipedia:

“In Scotland, around 6% of the population has red hair, with the highest concentration of red head carriers in the world found in Edinburgh, making it the red head capital of the world.”

During a trip to Edinburgh this past week, I started to notice the incredibly high number of people with red hair and that, of course, made me curious about the hair color.

Of course it is VERY easy to get lost in the weeds on a topic as fascinating as genetics. I admit I have a pretty limited understanding of the topic, having never studied it in depth. But once again the Infallible Wikipedia explains it thus:

“The genetics of red hair appear to be associated with the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), which is found on chromosome 16. In 1995, Valverde, et al. identified alleles on MC1R associated with red hair. The number of alleles linked to red hair has since been expanded by other authors, and these variants are now identified as the RHC (Red Hair colour) alleles.”

Apparently the selection of this genetic trait can be traced back to between 20,000 and 100,000 years ago and to regions with limited sunlight. Because the non-tanning skin associated with red hair can absorb more sunlight it was advantageous genetically for the health of the population.

Like blue eyes, the red hair gene is recessive which means that both parents must contribute the MC1R gene to their offspring for the baby to have red hair.

The hubby with his red hair, 1979

I never gave it much thought growing up. My family all had blue eyes with the exception of my sister whose eyes were green. It all seemed normal to me. I can remember one boy in elementary school with vibrant red hair and heavy freckles. It was just who he was. Again, normal to me.

Even when I met my hubby – who was at the time a red head – I thought nothing of it, not understanding how rare his hair color was!

My oldest has brown hair and eyes (getting a brown from his father and blue from me) and our youngest was born quite blonde with blue eyes. So obviously there are some nice recessive genes lurking about between the hubby (whose eyes are brown) and me.

When pregnant with my first child I thought it would be really cool to have a red headed baby. Alas, I do NOT have the MC1R gene and THAT is a requirement.

But the hubby confirmed for me earlier today while we were walking about Edinburgh and discussing the topic that he had, in fact, been teased a lot about his red hair as a kid. Children do have a way of exploiting anything which makes another child different and, for the hubby, it was his red hair.

In looking at his genetics it’s no wonder he got the RHC. His mother was a natural strawberry blonde when she was young (THE rarest of all hair colors) and his paternal grandmother had carrot colored red hair. Of his siblings he is the only one who is a true red head.

But back to our wanderings around Edinburgh. I started randomly snapping photos of the red heads I spied and it really put the camera to work. In about a 10 minute time period, up at the castle entrance, I took photos of 11 red heads! But I also started noticing in my pictures from the week that the red heads were everywhere.

The random redheads I found on a lovely – and apparently somewhat unusual – sunny day in late April in Edinburgh. I especially love the photo in the middle as she revels in the sunshine even while using the large umbrella to protect her skin.

Somehow the sheer number of all those red heads in Edinburgh served to add to the surreal feel of the place. It’s been inhabited for thousands of years and the streets feel as though they are from a movie set. The presence of the red heads, like the city itself, provides a certain vibrance and fiery determination to the Scottish people.

It wasn’t until I started seeing all the red heads that I understood WHY JK Rowling created the Weasley family… all with red hair. Living and writing in Edinburgh, she was surrounded by them and has even sported red hair herself from time to time.

For someone whose ancestors came to America from before its founding until the late 1800’s, there’s a certain pride in knowing that one line of my people once trod the ground in Scotland. According to my Ancestry DNA profile I sport a whopping six percent of Scottish blood, traceable back to 1766 when my fourth great-grandfather, Joseph Simons, was born in Connecticut. His father had been the emigrating ancestor but, alas, his identity and the reasons for emigrating are, for now, lost to history. What we do know is that the first wave of Scottish emigrants came to America beginning in 1763 following defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and the societal upheaval which took place after.

Regarding the hubby, he has a bit more Scot in him than I do with 10 percent. The red hair on his mother’s side is bolstered by her 28 percent Scottish and Irish heritage. From his paternal grandmother, who was fiercely German apparently, came the rest where some 5 percent of the population sports the red.

I suppose what all this does for us melting pot Americans is give us a brief glimpse into what it might be like to be solely identified as Scottish, or Irish, or English. And although I don’t have the red hair or, particularly, Scottish features, it was fun to buy a Fraser tartan scarf as my Simon family is part of that clan.

As always a few wee links:

https://www.eupedia.com/genetics/origins_of_red_hair.shtml

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/25/mapping-redheads-which-country-has-the-most

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Edinburgh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair

World Book & Copyright Day

Apr23

A reason for authors to celebrate

April 23, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

Near and dear to this author’s heart is World Book and Copyright Day – celebrated annually on April 23. Created in 1995 the purpose of the day is to “recognize the scope of books – a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures.”

One of the more interesting aspects of World Book Day, however, is how the date was chosen and why. The Infallible Wikipedia, as it so often does, offers some insight:

Cervantes is considered the most influential Spanish language author. His most famous work depicted here: Don Quixote.

“The original idea was of the Valencian writer Vicente Clavel Andrés as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes, first on 7 October, his birth date, then on 23 April, his death date. In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April, as the date is also the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, as well as that of the birth or death of several other prominent authors. (In a historical coincidence, Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same date — 23 April 1616 — but not on the same day, as at the time, Spain used the Gregorian calendar and England used the Julian calendar; Shakespeare actually died 10 days after Cervantes died, on 3 May of the Gregorian calendar.)”

Shakespeare, perhaps more than any person who has ever lived, was the most impactful of authors. He published 37 plays and 154 sonnets and today, 503 years after his death, his works are still being performed and his written works analyzed and contemplated. Talk about staying power!

William Shakespeare

Several years ago I read a book which made the claim that every plot line ever imagined was written by Shakespeare. Modern writers, it stated, might as well give it up and quit writing stories since they cannot match Shakespeare.

To me, this was a very sad and cynical thought. Plus it misses the point about the human mind, heart, and the individual’s desires – I would argue need – to pursue one’s passions in life.

When I reflect back on my earliest interests, one stands out: the desire to write. What better way to capture one’s thoughts and the emotions of a time and place? I dabbled in fiction writing while in high school and penned a thinly cloaked autobiographical story titled “Another Lunch.” It told the story of Bernice, Deborah, and Cynthia, three friends whose singular focus seemed to be the pursuit of, and interactions with, boys.

I would add to the ‘book’ as new adventures occurred, writing them by hand in a three prong paper keeper over the weekend, then bringing the updated story to school for the ‘real’ Deborah and Cynthia to read. Eventually word of the story got out there and some of the ‘boys’ and other peripheral characters – perhaps recognizing themselves in the story – clamored to read the tome. It was passed around like an annual at graduation for everyone to peruse.

Sadly, “Another Lunch” disappeared in the spring of my Senior year, no doubt carried home and lost in the hovel of some student’s bedroom destined to be discarded by an irritated mother who saw it as worthless. As for me, I kept all my writings from those early years and find them, at times, a somewhat painful reminder of my perspective and (lack of) writing abilities.

Although I dabbled in writing the beginnings of stories a various times over the years, my ‘fiction’ writing mostly lay dormant for years. Then the day came when I walked into a novel writing class at Bellevue Community College.

Author Janet Lee Carey

Taught by published author Janet Lee Carey, it was structured into two parts. The first was a 45 minute lecture on the various elements of writing fiction: plotting, sentence, paragraph, and sentence structure; deciding what sort of book you were going to write; character development; effective dialogue; avoiding cliches. The things one needed to know and learn was extensive. I soaked it up like a teenager getting a tan during summer break.

The second half of each class was an opportunity for all of us aspiring authors to read a scene or two from our current work in progress. It was what happened in the second part of the class that day which confirmed for me that I was a closet novelist who had finally found her home.

I listened to the stories which my classmates shared for critique and a voice inside my own head whispered to me, “You can write just as well…”

Later that day I started on my first novel, determined to find a way to complete a 90,000-word book – standard length. I took inspiration from Janet when she said – and I paraphrase – “If you can write a sentence, then you can write a paragraph… and if you can write a paragraph, then you can write a chapter. After all a novel is just sentences, paragraphs, and chapters all connecting together.”

 There was no better feeling than when, months later, I wrote the words “The End.” I had done it! But it was more than that. Writing provided an outlet for the jumble of thoughts which crowded my brain, a virtual sieve to separate the chaff from the grain.

Now, nearly twenty years later, I am still compelled to write. That class was truly a life changing event.

In addition to fiction, my Tuesday Newsday blog has taken on a life of its own. Now in its eighth year I’ve published 314 articles covering unique topics in categories such as Historical Happenings, My Home Town, Screen Shots, Music Makers, and – a personal favorite – Geeky Musings. I’ve updated a number of articles as I await next year and the opportunity to fill in those 52 dates which have not yet fallen on a Tuesday!

Famous author Snoopy inspires me

But, for me, it doesn’t matter if its novels or short personal essays (such as this one) it’s the writing that matters. I’m truly happiest when I get to spend a portion of the day writing creatively.

Finally, a nod to my fellow ‘Anonymous Authors’, who for the past 20 years have brightened my Tuesday mornings with their stories, critiques, and friendship, especially: Roger, Jette, and Ward my current compadres who meet on Zoom most Tuesday mornings. But also to those who once shared those Tuesdays: Irene, Daphne, Steve S., Steve D. (what she said!), Dee, Joe, and May.

A bit of information about World Book and Copyright day:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Book_Day

https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldbookday

Easter Confusion

Apr16

One never quite remembers year to year when it will be

April 16, 2024

Back on April 16, 2019, I posted an article about Easter which, that year, was on April 21st.

I’ve decided – even though Easter was sixteen days ago – to repost the article since I think people sometimes forget how convoluted a formula it takes to figure it out each year and what they can look forward to next year.

Traditional Easter egg dyeing event with my kids which, based on this 1999 photo, would have likely been on April 3rd since Easter was on April 4th that year.

When I was a child and began to understand the concept of time and dates, I was fascinated with how this one holiday could be on a different day – heck, month even – from year to year.

And so I learned that you could figure out the date of Easter with the following:

“The first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.”

Even this requires that one knows what a vernal and an equinox might be. 

Vernal is a fancy word for things related to ‘spring’ and an ‘equinox,’ according to Dictionary.com, is “the time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth’s equator, making night and day of approximately equal length all over the earth and occurring about March 21 (vernal equinox, or spring equinox ) and September 22 (autumnal equinox ).”

While all of this is, in today’s world, is seemingly straight forward, for Christians throughout the world – and as early as 325 AD with the first council of Nicea – the date on which Easter is celebrated has been disputed.

According to the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts which do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars which follow only the cycle of the sun; rather, its date is offset from the date of Passover and is therefore calculated based on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established two rules, independence of the Jewish calendar and worldwide uniformity, which were the only rules for Easter explicitly laid down by the council. No details for the computation were specified; these were worked out in practice, a process that took centuries and generated a number of controversies. It has come to be the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or soonest after 21 March, but calculations vary.”

The full moon of March 2020 was on the 8th which meant that Easter was on the Sunday after the April full moon, on the 12th. The moonrise that day was spectacular even with using a phone to take this photo.

One might think that setting out a fairly straight forward calculation would end the debate but, over the centuries, it’s become more confusing.

Things really went sideways when, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed that the Julian calendar was way off and introduced his own calendar. The Gregorian calendar is the one we still use today. I wrote about it here: https://barbaradevore.com/2022/10/11/october-1582/

So what does that have to do with Easter and how to calculate the date? There are people in the world who still – over 400 years later – like the Julian calendar and use it to determine the date on which Easter is celebrated.

There’s also the whole question of the equinox. Back in the fourth century there was no modern science used to calculate the exact moment of the equinox. Instead it was determined based on the above mentioned lunisolar calendar. Which is a fancy way of saying that the people who use such calendars needed a way to adjust the dates based on what was happening around them. Think of it as the spring equinox begins 14 days AFTER the new moon or, approximately, with the full moon of the season.

According to religious rules about Easter, then, the holiday is not truly based on it being on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox. No, the calculation is based on it occurring on the first Sunday following the full moon AFTER March 21.

In 2019, Easter fell on April 21. But should it have? The full moon and the vernal equinox both occurred on March 20 – a mere 3 hours and 45 minutes apart – with the equinox crossing the finish line first at 2:58 pm (PDT).  The moon was full at 6:43 p.m. So by scientific calculation, Easter SHOULD have happened on March 24.

Instead, the rule – for those who follow the Gregorian calendar – is to think of March 21 as the hard and fast equinox which places Easter on this coming Sunday. In the Infallible Wikipedia article, there’s an interesting table which shows the calculated dates of Easter for each competing calendar.

Note that in 2019, there is a column for Astronomical Easter giving that year three different dates from which to choose. The chart is also incorrect as we know the scientific full moon occurred on March 20 and not the 21.

And for the record? The most common date for Easter to occur since the inception of the Gregorian calendar through the year 3000 is April 16. You will be happy to note that in four years April 16th is, once again, the date of Easter on both the Gregorian and Julian calendars.

One of these days I’m certain the whole controversy will be settled. In 1997 a movement was afoot to make a change. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

My son, age 1 1/2 at a Timberline neighborhood community Easter egg hunt in 1991. Like this year Easter was on March 31 which explains why everyone is dressed in coats and sweaters for the mid-March hunt.

“At a summit in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997, the World Council of Churches (WCC) proposed a reform in the calculation of Easter which would have replaced the present divergent practices of calculating Easter with modern scientific knowledge taking into account actual astronomical instances of the spring equinox and full moon based on the meridian of Jerusalem, while also following the Council of Nicea position of Easter being on the Sunday following the full moon. The recommended World Council of Churches changes would have sidestepped the calendar issues and eliminated the difference in date between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was proposed for implementation starting in 2001, but it was not ultimately adopted by any member body.”

And so it goes. All I know is that hunting for Easter Eggs is usually much more pleasant the third weekend of April than it is in late March. But what’s stopping us from boiling a pot of eggs, coloring them, and then hiding them among the grass on our likely too long lawns? Nothing. Think of it as second Easter for when the weather is, we hope, nicer.

The links!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

https://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/easter/easter_text2b.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Apr9

A Visual Feast each April

April 9, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

This annual event has come to define Mount Vernon and the surrounding area. Begun in April 1984, the Skagit Valley Tulip festival cemented Mount Vernon and the surrounding area’s identity as the tulip capital of the nation.

Schedule of Events from the 1984 Tulip Festival. Photo taken with permission by the author

The first tulip bulbs were brought to the Skagit Valley from Holland in 1906 by Mary Brown Stewart. Soon she had a mail-order bulb business, selling them to garden clubs in New England.  Her son, Sam, joined the operation 20 years later which coincided with a ban by the Federal government on bulbs imported from Holland.

This event triggered many of the bulb growers to send family members to the United States to establish farms. Through trial, error, and success, the bulb growers discovered that the Skagit Valley was a prime bulb growing region, eclipsing Bellingham and Lynden, Washington, where colder winters were not ideal for the plants.

In the late 1940’s, the embargo was lifted and, once again, the Skagit Valley bulb growers were impacted. Many of the smaller farmers were forced out of business with consumers ability to import bulbs from Europe once again.

Relative late comers William and Helen Roozen, Dutch immigrants, purchased the Washington Bulb Company in 1955.

The Infallible Wikipedia gives a short summation:

Photo taken by the author on her first visit to the tulip fields, April 13, 1998

“In 1946, William Roozen arrived to the United States, leaving behind a successful bulb-growing business spanning six generations in Holland. After working on several different farms, Roozen started his own in Skagit County in 1950, and in 1955 purchased the Washington Bulb Company, making him the leader among the four flower-growing families in the area, and the Washington Bulb Company the leading grower of tulip, daffodil, and iris bulbs in North America. The farm operates a public display garden and gift shop called Roozengaarde, which, alongside the DeGoede family’s Tulip Town, is a major attraction during the Tulip Festival.

Local tulip growers showcased their bulbs through display gardens for decades prior to the formation of an official festival. The Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce established the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival as a 3-day event in 1984 to add festivities during the bloom month. The event has since grown to a month-long event and coincides with street fairs, art shows and sporting events.”

Celebrating its 40th year in 2024, the Tulip Festival has become one of the most popular events in the state. Weekends in April produce Mount Vernon traffic jams which rival a bad morning commute in Seattle. The festival organizers estimate that nearly a million people will trek to see the tulips during April. A look at their website, tulipfestival.org, provides a list of hundreds of events throughout Skagit County, helpful ‘bloom’ maps, and lists of where to eat and stay.

In 2019,the Hubby and I visited the tulip festival offices as I was researching for this article, first published in 2019. We were amazed by the steady stream of people coming in to obtain information. One of the volunteers – a friend we know through a different organization –said there are times when the crowds spill out on the sidewalk.

Having only moved to Mount Vernon one year earlier, we purchased three prints of Tulip Festival posters and then headed out on what has become one of the things the Hubby and I ‘do’ together which is drive around the valley.

The three Tulip Festival posters which we purchased in 2019, had framed ,and now hang on our favorite artworks wall. Our way to honor our new home in Mount Vernon.

It was, as we had experienced several times since moving to the area, another magical day. We found a flock of well over a thousand snow geese (they will be gone by mid-May) in a field on Fir Island and were treated to an aerial display which took my breath away. From there we drove up a hill to the west of the flower fields and could see the ribbons of red, yellow, purple, and white cut across the expansive landscape.

We visited a daffodil field which, two weeks earlier, had been a cheery harbinger of spring but the once vibrant blooms were mostly faded. From there we ventured to ground zero, noting that although there were crowds, they were not yet of the epic proportion expected the next two weekends. The red and yellow tulips were approaching full bloom but the purple, white, pink, and variegated ones were still a week or two away.

April 13, 1998 with my kids, then ages 8 and 5. Along with my friend, Kelly, we drove up from Sammamish on the Monday of spring break. The wind cut through us that day!

We vowed that, for 2020, we would go visit Roozengaarde or the other large player, Tulip Town. When Covid hit, that shut down our plans. Perhaps one of these years we will be ‘tourists’ for a day and visit one or both. But for the most part we just enjoy driving around and seeing how the fields change each year. But not on a weekend. We’re not THAT crazy.

For those who want to come see the tulip fields in bloom, visit the official tulip festival website:

https://tulipfestival.org

For more information on Washington Bulb company and the Roozen family:

https://www.tulips.com

A Seattle Times article:

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/events/skagit-valley-tulip-festival-is-starting-to-show-its-flower-power

And the Infallible Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skagit_Valley_Tulip_Festival

Daffodil Days
The Skagit Valley’s ‘other’ flower…

Rumours Have It

Apr2

The journey of Fleetwood Mac

April 2, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic updated

This album sat atop the Billboard charts for 31 non-consecutive weeks in 1977 and early 1978. Its chart dominance began on April 2, 1977 and, according to one of the principles of the group who recorded it, it was “the most important album we ever made.”

The album was Rumours and the group Fleetwood Mac.

Theirs is a story which shows that finding the right blend of talent, relentless commitment, and a lot of hard work, are necessary to make it in the music industry. The Fleetwood Mac story begins in 1967 as explained in the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Fleetwood Mac was founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Bassist John McVie completed the lineup for their self-titled debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist in 1968. Keyboardist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician from the second album, married McVie and joined in 1970. At this time it was primarily a British blues band, scoring a UK number one with ‘Albatross’ and had lesser hits with the singles ‘Oh Well’ and ‘Black Magic Woman’. All three guitarists left in succession during the early 1970s, to be replaced by guitarists Bob Welch and Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker. By 1974, all three had either departed or been dismissed, leaving the band without a male lead vocalist or guitarist.”

The group was plagued by skullduggery from their manager, drug and alcohol addictions of some band members, departures of multiple guitarists, and an inability to make it big as a British Blues band. Then, in 1974 the band moved to Los Angeles. It was in that moment the magic began to happen. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

“After (Bob) Welch announced that he was leaving the band, Fleetwood began searching for a replacement. While Fleetwood was checking out Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, the house engineer, Keith Olsen, played him a track he had recorded in the studio, ‘Frozen Love’, from the album Buckingham Nicks (1973). Fleetwood liked it and was introduced to the guitarist from the band, Lindsey Buckingham, who was at Sound City that day recording demos. Fleetwood asked him to join Fleetwood Mac and Buckingham agreed, on the condition that his music partner and girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, be included. Buckingham and Nicks joined the band on New Year’s Eve 1974, within four weeks of the previous incarnation splitting.”

With the new members in place, the band took to the studio to record their (second!) self titled album, 1975’s “Fleetwood Mac.” It was a commercial success, selling over 7 million copies and featuring the memorable tracks: Over My Head, Say You Love Me (vocals Christine McVie), Rhiannon,  and Landslide (vocals Stevie Nicks).

In many ways, the two women’s distinctive voices came to define the group’s sound and propel their musical style towards mainstream pop.

With the release of Rumours in January 1977 and its subsequent rise to the top of the Billboard album charts, Fleetwood Mac cemented their spot in the Rock and Roll history books. The Infallible Wikipedia gives the details:

Fleetwood Mac members circa 1975, l to r, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham

“By 1980, 13 million copies of Rumours had been sold worldwide. As of 2013, sales were over 40 million copies. As of May 2016, Rumours has spent 630 weeks in the UK Top 75 album chart and is the 11th best-selling album in UK history and is certified 13× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, the equivalent of 3.9 million units shipped. The record has received a Diamond Award from the Recording Industry Association of America for a 20× platinum certification or 20 million copies shipped, making it, as of 2012, the joint fifth best-selling album in US history (by number of copies shipped).” (Ed note: it is still, as of 2019, one of the top ten best-selling albums of all time)

Although the group has continued to record and perform over the years, with some members leaving, new ones coming in, and then old ones rejoining, those of us of a certain age no doubt think of Fleetwood Mac as the following five individuals who were the group in 1977: Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

During a foray in to Value Village (a Western Washington thrift store) about a year ago I was – as is my habit – perusing the used CD’s when I spied it: Fleetwood Mac – Greatest Hits. I plucked the CD from the shelf and spirited it home. Last fall when the hubby and I were about to embark on a three week, three thousand mile, road trip, to New Mexico and back, I was forced to reduce down my box of ‘hitchhikers.’ This is what I lovingly dubbed the approximately 25 CD’s which traveled with me to Yakima and back every couple of weeks.

A few of the ‘hitchhikers’ who earned a spot in the box

The purge process involved looking at every CD we own (who knows 100? 150? 200?) and determining which of the entire CD deserved a place in the box and which had a cut or two which needed to be recorded onto a thumb drive. One by one I evaluated with the ‘thumb drive pile’ growing ever higher and the box group getting smaller. “Would I,” I asked myself with each CD, “listen to every song on this?”

There were only a handful which met that standard…  Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits was one of them. Although it was not Rumours, it did have most of my favorites of theirs on it.

 It remained in the box of hitchhikers. When we bought our Hyundai Santa Fe in the summer of 2020 it did not have a CD player. To play my favorites I had to completely switch to the thumb drive.

Six months after this article was published, I lost my dad and the frequent trips to Yakima became a thing of the past. The box of hitchhikers now resides in a cupboard but the thumb drive lives in the center console of the Santa Fe. On the occasional longer trip I often plug it in to spend time with my favorite old friends including, Mick, Christine, Lindsey, and Stevie.

And every so often I peruse the CD collections at Goodwill and Value Village in search of the 1975 self-titled ‘Fleetwood Mac’ CD. Why? Because the song “Landslide” is, sadly, not in my collection and is, by far, my favorite of Fleetwood Mac’s songs. There is still plenty of room on the thumb-drive for a couple more song. Rumours have it.

For those not familiar with “Landslide”, here it is. Enjoy!

The FM story is fascinating and far too much to include in my weekly blog. Thankfully Wikipedia provides exhaustive information for those interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Mac

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_200_number-one_albums_of_1977

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumours_(album)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landslide_(Fleetwood_Mac_song)

The Kingdome

Mar26

Years to build… 17 seconds to implode…

March 26, 2024

The era of professional football in the United States was ascendant in the 1950’s and into the early 1960’s. Pretty much every major city in the United States wanted to get in on the action.

On the day of the Mariner’s last game in the building 1999.

But for many cities, weather was a limiting factor. After all, playing in a foot of snow, blistering heat, or constant rain, was not ideal for the players or the fans. In the 1950’s the dream of indoor stadiums took hold. It was in Houston, in the early 1960’s, when the first such venue – the Astrodome – became a reality. Others followed.

Many in Washington State longed to have a pro-football franchise and believed the rainy climate on the west side of the Cascade Mountains called for an indoor stadium. Thus began the quest to build what would eventually be named “The Kingdome.”

It was in 1959 when the idea was first proposed but it took until 1976 for the vision to become a reality. The Infallible Wikipedia tells us:

“The idea of constructing a covered stadium for a major league football or baseball team was first proposed to Seattle officials in 1959. Voters rejected separate measures to approve public funding for such a stadium in 1960 and 1966, but the outcome was different in 1968; King County voters approved the issue of $40 million in municipal bonds to construct the stadium.

Jim Zorn and Steve Largent in the early days of the Seahawks franchise

Construction began in 1972 and the stadium opened in 1976 as the home of the Sounders and Seahawks. The Mariners moved in the following year, and the SuperSonics moved in the year after that, only to move back to the Seattle Center Coliseum in 1985.”

The Kingdome, named as such due to its location in King County, Washington, served the community as a venue not only for the Seahawks and other sports teams, but also as an event center to host large events such as the Seattle Home Show and the Seattle Boat Show as well as many rock concerts over the years.

“In the Seahawks’ heyday, the Kingdome was known as one of the loudest stadiums in the league. Opposing teams were known to practice with jet engine sounds blaring at full blast to prepare for the painfully high decibel levels typical of Seahawks games. It was where Seahawks fans, who were long called “the 12th Man” and led the Seahawks to retire the number 12 in honor of them in 1984, made their reputation as one of the most ravenous fan bases in the NFL, a reputation that has carried over to what is now Lumen Field. The Kingdome’s reputation contributed to the NFL’s 1989 vote in favor of enacting a rule penalizing home teams for excessive crowd noise.”

A view of the Kingdome during one of the Boat Shows

But, if there was one word to describe the Kingdome it would be ‘utilitarian.’ How else to explain the huge gray cement mushroom which lacked any aesthetic appeal? But it did the job and also became infamous among the indoor venues for the noise levels. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

By the 1990’s, the first iteration of domed stadiums had outlived their appeal and useful life. The Kingdome’s roof – problematic from the beginning – had a partial roof collapse in July 1994, and the venue was closed for repairs for nearly four months. But the problems did not end there, threats by then owner, Ken Behring, to move the team out of Seattle – and the Mariners insistence on a new baseball venue – eventually led to the decision to replace the Kingdome.

It was on Sunday, March 26, 2000, when the Kingdome was finally reduced to a pile of rubble, paving the way for the construction of the next generation of a football stadium in Seattle.

The interior of the Kingdome in 1994 during removal of the ceiling tiles.

It was a clear and pleasant day and, of course, all the local TV stations had been covering the story for months as everything from inside the building was removed leaving, at last, the concrete shell. For weeks – who knows maybe it was months – holes were drilled in the walls and a serpentine of detonating cord was laid. Eventually dynamite was inserted into the holes and it was all connected up in anticipation of the implosion which would take down the concrete beast.

At the time, my family was living on the eastside of Lake Sammamish, about 13 miles – as the crow flies – from the Kingdome. We gathered around the TV and watched live as the first sticks of dynamite on the roof sent streaks of sparks down the spines and the chain reaction encircled the building. It was over in a matter of seconds as clouds of dust obliterated the area. Me, the hubby, and our two kids – then ages 10 and 7 – once the main event was over, rushed out to our west facing deck and a few seconds later the sound waves of the Kingdome’s demise reached us.

A recap of King5’s coverage and a bit of history of the Kingdome. We were likely watching this channel that morning.

It was a surreal experience.

In some ways I miss the Kingdome and all it represented. It was Seattle – and Washington States’ – message to the world that we were ready to play with the big boys. The construction of the Kingdome represented a heady era in Seattle as we welcomed the Seahawk celebrities of the era: Jim Zorn, Steve Largent, and Sherman Smith to name a few. We were hometown proud of the Nordstrom family for owning the team and you could find no more loyal fans anywhere.

It was, truly, a bittersweet day when the Kingdome came down. It’s been gone for 24 years now but for those of us who lived in King County in that era, it won’t ever be forgotten.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdome

https://youtu.be/Yt2ekbkDVv4?si=MPgKbrFeS3BCkCtZ – Issued on the 20th anniversary from the Seahawks is this recap of the implosion

https://www.concertarchives.org/venues/kingdome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrodome

https://www.historylink.org/File/2164

Hedonic Escalation

Mar19

What is the magic combination?

March 19, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic updated

I can think of nothing which tastes better and scientific study now backs up my claim.

Salted caramel is the number one food that people can’t seem to stop eating.

Termed ‘hedonic escalation’ the research confirms what people experience when they are unable to stop eating a particular food. This article from the UK Independent – and  not from the Infallible Wikipedia – draws its conclusions from a test conducted at the University of Florida a few years ago:

“Marketing analysts Dr. Cammy Crolic and Professor Chris Janiszewski revealed that eating it actually causes a rare phenomenon called ‘hedonic escalation.’

Here, our instinctive brains keep craving more and more with every mouthful as it detects new flavours with each bite.

By contrast, with other foods we tend to experience ‘hedonic adaptation’ – the point where your appetite says you’ve had enough.

‘Hedonic escalation is more likely to occur when a palatable food consists of a complex combination of flavours, and a person is motivated to taste additional flavours on each successive bite,’ the researchers write. ‘Hedonic escalation can also increase consumption and influence food choice.’”

So what is this mystery food?

Salted Caramel.

Today, March 19th, is National Chocolate Caramel day, the perfect day to enjoy two perfect foods together.

I’ve noticed more and more foods touting the substance in recent years. In December 2018, during a pre-Christmas shopping trip to Costco, I happened upon a jar of Dark Chocolate Sea Salt caramels. Over the past several years I have found that when, given a choice of chocolates, I tended to seek out the dark ones with caramel. So when I saw this large jar AND it was dark chocolate, I had to have them.

A palette of delight awaits at Costco. You can also now buy them online.

Once home, I selected a morsel from the jar and took a bite. The first taste was wonderful, the second was heaven, and by the time the morsel was consumed I was addicted.  Fortunately for me I have pretty good discipline when it comes to eating. So I was good and did not eat the entire jar.

Over the next couple months I showed, in my opinion, amazing restraint.  Each day I would have one; at most. Soon Christmas gave way to January but the jar of deliciousness remained. Committed to the ‘only one a day’ program – and sometimes none – the supply lasted. By the time early March rolled around, however, one day I stared forlornly at the nearly empty vessel

I knew I would miss my Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels because, Costco being Costco they were, no doubt, only available for the holiday season.

Then a couple of days later a miracle occurred. The hubby and I were at Costco (one or the other of us seems to be there at least once a week…) and on a whim I haul him over to the candy and chocolate aisle to see if there was anything else which might fill the void in my life.

 And then I spied them!

A glorious Costco size stack of jar after jar after jar of Sanders Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels beckoned to me. Oh, sweet mysteries of life!

Being that I was obsessed, I shared far and wide – with anyone who would listen about the wonders of this perfect food –  of the joys of hedonic escalation. When I first published this article in March 2019 I imagine I snagged at least a few folks who went in search themselves.

Even so, my biggest fear since 2018 has been that Costco will run out (Regular price is about $18 but you can get your own 36 ounces of wonder for about $14 on sale) or cease to carry this product. Thus far, it has been a perennial selection all seasons of the year. More than a few of my friends and families now also keep it on hand.

My current supply of Sanders Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels. Thanks to the hubby there are two full jars waiting for me when the last of the current jar are gone (sometime this week likely)

But this article is a call to action. What I urge everyone who reads my blog to do is this: go to Costco today and buy at least one jar. It’s the least you can do to properly celebrate National Chocolate Caramel day. Plus, if I know anything about Costco, the more they sell, the higher the likelihood they will keep them on the shelves forever. Do it for you. Do it for me. Do it for all of America.

A couple of important links:

On Hedonic Escalation:

https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/43/3/388/2199201?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/salted-caramel-not-stop-eating-science-university-florida-hedonic-sugar-fat-a8078296.html

You don’t even have to leave home! If Amazon or some other retailer is your preferred dealer, a quick internet search reveals many who now sell this product.

https://www.costco.com/Sanders-Dark-Chocolate-Sea-Salt-Caramels-36-oz.%2c-2-pack.product.100321779.html

p.s. – I considered writing about the history of chocolate and caramel but tossed that out the window. For those who do not know, Chocolate’s origins can be traced to MesoAmerica some 1500 years ago.

And Caramel? It’s simply cooked sugar! What’s not to like?

Anne Frank

Mar12

Diary of A Young Girl

March 12, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

Margot and Anne Frank

Required reading for all junior high students in the 1970’s, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, both inspired and dismayed.

Although the exact date of the 15 year olds death is in question, March 12, 1945, is designated as such.

While I tend to avoid controversial and depressing topics, there is no question that this book ranks within the top tier of the most important works of the 20th century and deserves recognition as such.

Anne Frank lived in the Netherlands on June 12, 1942 – her 13th birthday – along with her parents and sister. It was on that date she was given her first ‘diary.’ From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Anne Frank received a blank diary as one of her presents on June 12, 1942, her 13th birthday. According to the Anne Frank House, the red, checkered autograph book which Anne used as her diary was actually not a surprise, since she had chosen it the day before with her father when browsing a bookstore near her home. She began to write in it on June 14, 1942, two days later.

Anne Frank’s Diary which is preserved at the Anne Frank House museum

On July 5, 1942, Anne’s older sister Margot received an official summons to report to a Nazi work camp in Germany, and on July 6, Margot and Anne went into hiding with their father Otto and mother Edith. They were joined by Hermann van Pels, Otto’s business partner, including his wife Auguste and their teenage son Peter. Their hiding place was in the sealed-off upper rooms of the annex at the back of Otto’s company building in Amsterdam. Otto Frank started his business, named Opekta, in 1933. He was licensed to manufacture and sell pectin, a substance used to make jam. He stopped running his business while everybody was in hiding. But once he returned, he found his employees running it. The rooms that everyone hid in were concealed behind a movable bookcase in the same building as Opekta. Mrs. van Pels’s dentist, Fritz Pfeffer, joined them four months later. In the published version, names were changed: The van Pelses are known as the Van Daans, and Fritz Pfeffer as Albert Dussel. With the assistance of a group of Otto Frank’s trusted colleagues, they remained hidden for two years and one month.”

Interior pages of Anne’s Diary

The family and the others were discovered in August 1944 and taken to concentration camps. It was in the Bergen-Belsan camp where Anne, who contracted Typhus, and her sister both died. Of the hidden group, only Otto Frank survived. Those who concealed the family found and saved her diaries and gave the books to her father. It was he who got them published.

I can’t say exactly when I was first required to read the book, but no doubt it was in junior high (middle school to Americans under the age of 40). The timing of it likely coincided with when I became obsessed with keeping a diary. Perhaps I had visions of my musings being enshrined forever in a similar manner. Young teenage girls are, particularly, susceptible to drama and tragedy. Unlike Anne Frank, however, my diary entries included such riveting entries such as this one:

“March 1 (1972)

Well here we go again another month gone by. I’m 14 years, 7 months today. It was strange today we have had about four inches of snow, oh joy! I felt like I was being watched. We had a meeting at Mrs. Hughey’s this evening. We started Co-education volleyball in P.E. but I didn’t take it because I can’t, doctor’s orders. Yea! It can’t be that bad but if you take a look at last year’s diary today, you’d understand!”

When I look back to that first week of March of 1971, the misery of having to play co-ed volleyball with 14 year old boys screams through the pages. I know for certain those boys wanted to play Co-ed volleyball about as much as the girls did. Which was not at all. I imagine they were frustrated by the experience also.

The five diaries I have saved. One year I switched to writing in a looseleaf notebook and ALWAYS used a green Flair pen. I am not sure what happened to that year. The 1976 diary is the last one I kept but by then I was 18 and the entries are few and far between. In 1971 I decided to write to my diary which I named Karri. Who knows!

For me, playing co-ed volleyball when you have the co-ordination and look of a newborn colt, is about the worse torture you can inflict on a teenage girl. The reason I couldn’t play volleyball in 1972 is that I was still recovering from a nine day case of the hard measles. (We didn’t have a measles vaccination then… get your kids vaccinated. Trust me on this) While I was sick I lost approximately 10 pounds… weight I could not afford to lose since I was, according to the identification pages at the front of my diary, 5’7” and 110 pounds. Yes, the colt reference is accurate. And, apparently, getting snow in early March isn’t that uncommon either.

What I do know is that the keeping of a diary galvanized for me a thing which has been a lifelong passion: to write. My musings are juvenile and without finesse and yet I do a credible job in dutifully recording all that was going on in my life at that time.

I am thankful that my teenage years were during an easier time in history; they will never carry the same weight and warnings of Anne Frank. The five years of books which I still have are a reminder that being a teenager is an awkward time in life regardless of the era. I suspect, also, that every teenager experiences some angst to one degree or another. Well, except maybe the most popular girl in my class… I’m certain HER life was perfect. Or not.

Anne Frank’s diaries – despite being written under the most challenging of circumstances – still ring true as to the thoughts and emotions of a girl on the cusp of becoming a woman. While her story had a tragic ending, I am thankful that her father made it his mission to see her words published and to serve as a reminder that each generation must be vigilant as to the dangers of persecution.

For more about Anne Frank and her diary, a couple of links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank

“God, You May Have Already Won’

Feb27

God shows himself in mysterious ways…

February 27, 2024

A Tuesday Newsday Classic updated

A good editor is the key to making sure whatever is written reads right and, well, doesn’t make ridiculous mistakes. In late February 1997 an American Family Publisher’s Sweepstakes entry was received by the Bushnell Assembly of God Church. It began thus:

“God, we’ve been searching for you”

Apparently when dealing with the topic of God the Infallible Wikipedia is silent. Therefore, I share this brief clip from the Spokesman Review:

Cartoon by Jack Ziegler

“If God were to win, the letter stated, ‘What an incredible fortune there would be for God! Could you imagine the looks you’d get from your neighbors? But don’t just sit there, God.’

Sweepstakes officials did not return several telephone calls for comment Thursday.

(Pastor Bill) Brack said his 140-person congregation is considering whether to mail in the entry. The church could use the money.

And if American Family chooses a different winner?

‘God would be disappointed,’ Brack joked.”

This story reminded me of something similar which I experienced a couple of years ago. Over the course of a ten year period, I made frequent trips from Seattle to Yakima to help with my elderly parents. During that time, I had a 10+ year old Garmin GPS which I liked to turn on and use to give me approximate arrival times, elevation, etc. I would play little games in my brain, estimating what time I would arrive at which city, town or exit along the road.

One da, as I was headed back home, I stopped at the westbound Indian John rest area and, since I hadn’t yet sent my husband an update as to my estimated arrival time (ETA) I tapped out a quick text message just before I backed out of the parking spot and put the car into gear. It wasn’t until I read his reply at my next stop that I realized autocorrect on my phone had done this:

“God says I’ll be home at 4:30”

Apparently the terminology “GPS” didn’t exist in my phone’s spelling brain and switched it to the word “God” instead.

My Garmin GPS on October 29, 2016 somewhere on I-82 between Yakima and Ellensburg

I believe I got back a reply something to the effect of “its good God knows when you’re getting home.”

For several years I sent him messages about my ETA I type in “God” instead of “GPS.” I even referred to my arrival time as “God says” to those who did not know the history. I received more than a few strange looks from time to time. The way I see it is that it’s good to have God giving me travel advice.

If I had any doubt that my GPS truly was God my disbelief was dispelled in late October of 2016. I was on my way back from Yakima and was driving up I-82 towards Ellensburg. I glanced over at the GPS but what I saw left no doubt that some higher power was in charge. Instead of an elevation of about 2700 feet as expected “God” let me know I was at over… 50,000 feet!

As Doc Brown says in Back To The Future “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need… roads!” Although the photo I snapped was a bit fuzzy, you can clearly see the elevation and God’s direction that I continue to an unpaved road. What road, I never did find out. This craziness continued for about 30 miles until I arrived at Thorp when, apparently, I was no longer flying and once again on solid pavement.

Jane Jetson learns to drive a flying car

To be sure, there were many, many times when I wished for the flying car as imagined in the 1960’s cartoon “The Jetsons.” It would have cut down on many hours of driving back and forth to Yakima. In retrospect – now that both my parents are gone – I have come to appreciate those hours in the car. It served, in both directions, as an opportunity to think about whatever challenges I had going on in my life; I listened to a whole lot of music; and sometimes I would simply work out story plots in my head. There were a few trips when I drove east and it was clearly autumn in the mountains only to return five days later and it was winter. Perhaps God was in charge after all.

To read the entire article on God winning the sweepstakes, here’s the link: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/feb/28/god-you-may-have-won-11-million-sweepstakes/

And, of course, the original movie trailer from the 1977 George Burns and John Denver flick “Oh, God.”