Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Piano, and music lessons in childhood develop many abilities!  I have read before several articles on the benefits of musical training to a person's life in many ways.  This is important reading for any parent!   Science Just Discovered Something Amazing About What Childhood Piano Lessons Did to You This is a photo of our living room years ago, which has always included a piano.  When my parents were married, my mother had a piano already, and as a baby she put me in front of it in my high chair, to plunk on the keys to amuse me.  Later I took lessons 12 years. If your parents forced you to practice your scales by saying it would "build character," they were onto something. The Washington Post reports that one of the largest scientific studies into music's effect on the brain has found something striking: Musical training doesn't just affect your musical ability — it provides tremendous benefits to children's emotional and behavioral maturatio

Wayne D Eckman, and his 9 lives!  He will be 85 this September 18th, and on September 24th we will have been married 60 years.  I want to record our latest adventure with my husband Wayne D Eckman, and add updates often.   He started radiation for esophageal cancer just yesterday, and had a treatment again today, and also today will have a dialysis treatment.  This entry below was only the 3rd entry I put in my new blog, which I started Nov. 14, 2013.  Then I will add some recent history. ------------------ Wayne and Blaine were born  identical twins on September 18, 1930 in Murray, Utah.  I was born October 6, 1934, in St. George, Utah.  The twins were not expected to live the night and so were given a name and a special Priesthood blessing that night.  They were blessed then to live a mature life, and fulfill their missions on this earth.  Blaine fulfilled his and has passed on to a better place.  Wayne has had open heart surgery, a hip replacement, cancer, and a 12 day stay in

This is something we all should be aware of, and educate ourselves on how to help combat this growing evil.  Yes, the conference will be here in St. George, and many live far from here.  I may not be able to go, but I'll try and be able to put some notes about it in future columns after it happens. Southern Utah Conference on Protecting Families from Pornography and Harmful Media By Geoff Steurer, MS, LMFT  · August 27, 2015 If you’ve ever struggled to know how to talk with your children about pornography, harmful media, body image, and other difficult topics, you are not alone. In fact, many parents wonder how they can talk about these unsavory issues with their children without harming their children or creating unhealthy curiosity. As much as we’d all like to protect our children from the daily tsunami of trash flowing out of screens small and large, we must develop better approaches to navigate these rising waters. Instead of wringing our hands in despa

They Call It 1000 Islands Just Take a Look What is There Aerial view showing some of the many islands of the Thousand Islands. The Thousand Islands is an archipelago consisting of exactly 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 80 km on St. Lawrence Seaway, but the largest clustering of islands falls between Cape Vincent and Alexandria Bay in the United States and Kingston and Rockport in Canada. The islands range in size from over 40 square miles to smaller islands occupied by a single residence, to even smaller uninhabited outcroppings of rocks that are home to migratory waterfowl. The number of islands was determined using the criteria that any island must be above water level all year round, have an area greater than 1 square foot, and support at least one living tree. The largest of these islands is Wolfe Island which is about 29 km long and 9