Susan Beckett

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uivervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny imrmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat lteter be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitil raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Many decades ago, when my husband and I were contemplating adding another little person to our family, I voted yes while he was an emphatic no! As in many families, it was an ongoing topic for quite some time. One day, Bob was coming home late so I planned a surprise dinner for him complete with candles, flowers, delicious food, etc. I had found a cute stuffed flamingo with a top hat and bow tie and thought that would make a fun maitre d’. I sat him on the edge of the table with the menu penned to his lapel.

Did you happen this past week to catch the latest cancel culture casualty? The newly hired editor of Teen Vogue (a young woman of color) was forced to resign due to insensitive racist remarks she wrote when she was a teenager ten years ago at the naive age of 17. She has since apologized for those remarks but that didn’t matter to the cancel culture crowd - those awful words should never have been uttered and she was booted out of her job.

Once upon a time there was a fellow who attended a basketball game at a local high school. He walked into the dingy gym to watch one of the nation’s top ranked teams play. He was amazed by the skill of these young athletes - flying through the air with lay-ups and slam-dunks - not to mention their incredible running and shooting skills.

Once upon a time, the US space program faced a major challenge in their Atlas rocket program. It seems they had a corrosion problem caused by moisture that needed to be fixed. The challenge was to create a formula capable of displacing water and thus preventing corrosion. So, one Norm Larsen went to work, concocting formula after formula until finally - after 39 failed attempts - he hit on a successful mixture on trial number 40 and - da-da - Water Displacement formula #40 was born - better known today as WD-40. It’s now estimated that up to eighty percent of us have a can of the stuff in our homes.