Picto Diary - 01 to 10 April 2026 - Third generation visits Pearl Harbor

Above: Ivins, UT. 02 April 2026.

Don't cry over spilt milk. TIMDT asked me to clean it up. I said that the next rainfall would take care of it. TIMDT repeated, "Clean it up." Guess who won.

Above: Sakura Restaurant, St. George, UT. 03 April 2026.
Good. Steak lunch for less than $20.

Daily Blog - 04 April 2026 - Fear of Falling

Falling. One of my biggest worries.

In 2023, the unintentional fall death rate for adults aged 65 and older was 69.9 per 100,000 population, with more than 41,000 deaths in this group. Rates were higher for men (74.2 per 100,000) than women (66.3 per 100,000) and increased sharply with age. Grok.

I try to be consciously aware when I walk. Several years ago, in Ranthambore, India, I tripped while climbing an otherwise innocuous stair to a train platform. I was shaken up a bit and had a few bruises and scratches. But, otherwise, I picked myself up and went on my way. Since, I have tried to be consciously aware of picking up my feet as I climb a stairway. I try to always use a banister, when available, climbing or descending stairs.

I can cite a half dozen examples of people I have known who died in a fall of some kind. My Uncle Bob (Dad's youngest brother) slipped on ice as he got out of his pick-up at age 71. He hit his head on the ground and died of subdural hematoma.

I was unconscious for several minutes after a ski fall last year. I can't even remember the event. University of Utah neurologists told me that it is very common for memory following such a trauma not to return. I suffered a minor brain bleed, but doctors deemed no intervention was necessary. After six months and three Cat Scans I was deemed to be OK. I don't know if the ski fall was a slip due to poor balance or improper ski maneuver, or whether I might have been clipped by another skier from behind. Notwithstanding, at eighty years of age, I have skied over 40 times this season, falling three or four times, but with no serious consequences. In making a risk assessment, I still figure it's better to be outdoors skiing than sitting in an armchair at home.

Balance. It's a looming problem as we age.

Above: Top ten metro areas by percent growth. 04 April 2026.

Anecdotal evidence of growth in Ivins (five miles northwest of St. George) overwhelms. Home building, subdivision etc. all around us in Ivins. Recently opened Black Desert Resort is in Ivins, less than two miles from our home.

Above: Honolulu, HI. 05 April 2026
Koessler and Portland lead family vacation (selfie).

Above: Map of Humboldt River. Taken off of Facebook. 07 April 2026
Herewith a poem I wrote about the Humboldt:

Humboldt Link
Down the mighty Humboldt to the bottom of the sink.
After Pilot Peak, it's the California link.
Donner left too late; he didn't know about the gold.
Further on the fault, will it hold, or will it fold?
Millions now await the haunting, looming quake.
I'll be in and out...here's hoping, for my sake.

Above: Ivins, UT. 08 April 2026
Weekly session with nutritionist, Jennilyn Griffiths.
Now drinking more water, reducing carbs and increasing protein intake. Also 15 minutes of direct sun in the AM. Two other Zooms today. One with financial advisor and the other watching the LSDM presentation of Martha Macomber, Director, Native Outreach and College Access at the University of Utah. Amazing how Zooms facilitate engagement with the world while sitting at your desk at home.

Daily Blog - 08 April 2026 - Early Childhood Memories

1950. Kindergarten, Wasatch Elementary School, Provo, Utah:

Some older boys took me aside and told me there was no Santa Clause. I have a vivid recollection of the event... outside the school main entrance, the color of the school's bricks being a yellowish tan, the afternoon sun's oblique rays glinting on south facing school windows. On returning home, I told Mom about the sinister revelation of those ignoble kids, and she reluctantly, lovingly, confirmed the unthinkable.

I had to walk about a half mile from home to Wasatch Elementary. Half of that walk was across a field of one to two feet high grass. There was a blazed path through the grass. I would often walk to and from school with neighbor Marilyn L., also kindergartener, five years old. Marilyn's and my parents were also good friends. Once, on the way home from school, beside the trail, in the taller grass, Marilyn and I had an "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" experience. I can't remember who first came up with the idea. But it was likely Marilyn, since we all know that it was Eve who tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, and not the other way around. Wily women. Can they ever be trusted? I wonder where Marilyn is now?

Though my growing up was mainly Utah centered, I can truthfully say that I am a product of NYC public schools. I attended PS31, First Grade, Bayside, Queens during the 1951/52 school year. Dad was completing his PhD at NYU. My memory flashes with images of subways, watching Howdy Doody on a black and white TV at my friend Walter's house, and Dad buying me a New York Yankees baseball cap.

Once, at school, during show and tell, I told the class that our family had visited the Statue of Liberty the previous weekend. The teacher asked for a show of hands of those kids who had also visited the Statue of Liberty. Not one hand was raised. I've seen this phenomenon many times since in my travels to over one hundred thirty countries. There are people who live in Agra who haven't seen the Taj Mahal. As a Mormon missionary in Charente Maritime Department France in 1966, I engaged with elderly rural dwellers who had never been to Paris, less than three hundred miles distant.

At PS 31 we wore dog tags and did "under the desk" drills in case of atomic bomb attack. We said the pledge of allegiance at the start of class and said, in unison, "Good morning Mrs. (teachers name) when she entered the room.

Out of at least more than 25 students, there was a sole black girl in the class... no other blacks, boys or girls, in the class. This is my first memory of knowing, or at least being aware of, a black person. She was slightly built and seemed very shy. Once, before class, or during recess, two or three boys teased her. While she was distracted, I witnessed another boy stealing cookies from her lunch pail. I don't blame myself for not stepping up on the girl's behalf. I was six years old. It was all so strange to me at that age. Still, this memory has troubled me throughout my life.

Margaret and I recently watched 2026 Best Picture Academy Award nominated picture, "Train Dreams." In the WWI era film, set in northern Idaho and Eastern Washington state, three white railroad workers throw a Chinese railroad worker off a bridge for no other reason than racial discrimination. The film's main character, Robert Grainier, a white co-worker, witnessed the act. Grainier, a timid, quiet man, stayed out of it. But, like me witnessing the harassing of the black girl at PS31, Grainier was troubled by the event. Throughout the rest of his life, Grainer had bad dreams about the discriminatory act. Watching this film revived memory of the event at PS 31, Bayside Queens, 1951.

Above: Ivins, UT, 09 April 2026
AM. Enjoying a hot beverage during my required, daily, 15 minutes in the direct sun. Nutritionist Jennilyn tells me direct sun in the AM gets the circadian rhythm started properly.

Above: Meraki Restaurant. Santa Clara, UT. 10 April 2026
A Greek food fast casual restaurant that we like. Stunning view of Snow Canyon State Park from outside table.

Above: Ivins, UT. 10 April 2026.
Blooming Prickly Pear cactus. Walkin' the 'hood.

Above: Ivins, UT. 10 April 2026.
Our back yard.

10 Apr 2026

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