North and South

 Here is a snowman we found in northern Utah on February 5, 2022, flanked by my two oldest sons who are each 6' 7",

and here is a "snowman" from southern Utah on February 17, 2022, which is a little shorter than my own 5' 11.5" height, but has more potential lasting power than its northern cousin.

This shows that even though Utah isn't the largest state, it's a diverse one. Bob's parents are natives of the Netherlands, and one summer when his grandmother visited from the old country, the family drove from Salt Lake City to a National Park in southern Utah. Along the way, Grandma asked a time or two, "What country are we in now?" The Netherlands do, after all, take up much less space than Utah.

Now I'm wondering, which snowman's territory do you prefer?

Tall Bahlmenn and Big Fish!

I know my boys are tall, but sheesh, Andy, you're gonna take your head off if you run through any doorways in that get-up for playing the giant in BIG FISH at the Snow College theater! 

(I know, who's "playing," right?)

I was warned to take tissues, so I did. Afterward, I asked Bob if I should have handed him a tissue. He just looked at me with a half grin. Michael said he would have cried if he was a social cryer. Andy did his crying on stage.

We really liked the play. It was worth our time.

Do you like plays that make you cry? Or do you prefer to laugh? (This one offered both!) Do you like slapstick? Musicals? (This was also one of those.) Or drama? (Yeah, that too.)

What kind of play would you like to see? 

A Dragon on my Head from LTUE!

LTUE stands for "Life, the Universe, and Everything,"

a funderful writing/art/textile conference, with fun and interesting things and people to see and do!

Here is Terra Luft, who in spite of the sparkly crown, doesn't write princess stories. Oh, no, she writes suspense with perhaps a trace of horror. The reason she wears the tiara while working is because it makes her feel so good that she writes better. (I must say, she looks pretty good in it, too!)

And here are half of my sons with J. Scott Savage's steampunk dragon introducing his brand new, exciting "Cove" series. L-R: Bron, Michael, Andy, the dragon, Shirley Bahlmann, and the one-and-only J. Scott Savage.

Why didn't I write down this guy's name? I thought I would remember it since both of his names started with the same letter. Hm. I don't recall it at the moment, but whoever he is, he said that he helped start the LTUE conference when he was a FRESHMAN at BYU! (I'm so glad he did.)

Here is my oldest son, Andy, participating on a panel. Not only did he have 4 panels and 1 solo presentation, but he made an impression on attendees with the news that he has a PhD in Super Heroes. (Really! He does! His dissertation was on Super Hero mythology.)

Here I am on my chocolate panel. Yep, the History of Chocolate. (It was delicious.)

I even had help putting out chocolate for the class members to share. (They wouldn't have come to a chocolate class if they didn't like it, would they?)

 I had this picture taken before all my boys assembled for the dragon shoot, where I'm dwarfed by my 6'3" 15-year-old, and the ever-manly Jeff Scott Savage.

And then there's the obligatory dragon head photo. A nice way to end the day.

Do you love writing conferences? (I'd love to live in a hotel with someone else cleaning up after me no matter what kind of conference was going on!) What kind of conference or presentation would you love to go to?

Melting socks and brilliant sons

by Shirley Bahlmann
I got to go to the LTUE writing conference at BYU last weekend! WooHoo! "Life the Universe and Everything" was smart enough to invite my oldest son, Andy, (Andrew on the program) as a presenter on Tolkein and the Wanderer. I dropped off three of my other sons to listen to their brother, but then I couldn't find a parking space to save my life! (They REALLY should have a "mother of presenters" private lot.) Finally I had to park off campus and run like a maniac to get there 10 minutes late. Andy was so professorial that he even read some Old English. The audience seemed to understand his lecture, even though most of it went over my head until the question and answer section. Then it got fun and laughing, so I could follow that! Take my word for it, he did a GREAT job!
To my chagrin, I'd only packed one pair of pink fuzzy socks for the 3-day trip. Well, I didn't pack them, they were on my feet. No worries! I washed them at night and hung them up to dry. But by morning, they were still damp. I could fix that. I stuck a hair dryer in the sock opening and turned it on. First steam came out, then a stinky smell. "Hey, what's up?" I thought. "Didn't I use enough soap?" I left the dryer drying and went to get my perfume to spray on my socks. By then it seemed the sock was dry enough, so I pulled it off the dryer nozzle and put the other sock on. Then I noticed crusty patches inside the dry sock. What the HEY? I turned the sock inside out and saw that the furries on my sock had melted together in patches! Ahhh! The stinky smell wasn't dirty sock, it was melting sock!
I pulled the socks on anyway, but the melted parts scratched my skin. I thought for sure that my favorite socks were ruined. But wait... no! They weren't, not when I turned them inside out! My feet were happy, I was happy, and I hope you're happy to know that you should never give up. Take courage! There's always a way to get past the trials of melted socks in your life.