May 2026 Movie Quiz Returns

A great showing at the first Movie Quiz at the Cinemagic Theater: 130 points! Ten points more than the 120 I consider the acceptable threshold for our team.

For this new venue, we are going with a new name. This month’s name: Quiz my Bump, a takeoff of a line from Project Hail Mary. Going forward, we will incorporate the word Battleship into other movie titles.

Favorite team names this time:

The Rambo Connection; Lee Cronin’s Michael; Trivia Newton John; the Boerne Colonoscopy; Palm H’or Douveres; The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and Grogu; the Male Gays; Wet for Dreyfuss; I’m Feeling a Little Swoozie Kurtz Here; See You Linklater

Postcard from Capitol Reef National Park and SKS: Good Vibes

Laurie reports that they almost skipped Capitol Reef (a park I’ve not heard of!) but they are glad they didn’t because they ended up really liking it.

Sara sends good vibes from Boise, where she got the postcard (it came in a set) at a Hallmark Store near her mom’s house.

She also remarks that she doesn’t see Hallmark stores as much anymore.

Indeed. I had to google to find out where the closest Hallmark stores to me are. The answer: two in Vancouver, one in Hillsboro, and one at Clackamas Town Center.

There were two within throwing distance growing up in Boise. One at Overland Park Plaza, and one at Hillcrest Plaza. I spent a lot of time in both.

Skirt Pattern Class Module 1

I’ve been interested in the Shapes of Fabric’s pattern drafting information for a year or so now. She offered an async online course for pattern drafting, and I signed up.

Here is the result from modual 1.

In this module, we had to draft our own skirt block so we could make a skirt that fit us, and then draft a basic skirt block. You can see my test basic skirt above, and my pattern below.

Next I will transfer basic block (minus the seam allowances) to some tagboard, and module 1 will be complete.

I’m looking forward to module 2, where we practice pattern drafting by working on half-size skirt blocks.

Postcard from Zion National Park

Burt and Laurie are visiting national parks on their vacation, and this was their first visit.

Laurie reports that they purchased a National Park Passport. “You know how I get about passports!” she says.

I do, as I believe they have completed their third McMenamin’s Passport.

Also, I made this Zentangle.

Fun Squares visit the Happy Hoppers

There has been square dancing drama, and a new square dance group has come into my life: Fun Squares. On this night, we visited the Happy Hoppers in Vancouver for their anniversary dance. We elected to wear polka dots, and, as you can see, look great.

It was a big turnout and a crowded floor and some good dancing.

Finished Grammar Revolution Course

I’ve created a self-study program to better learn grammar and sentence diagramming. One of my tutorials was the Get Smart Grammar Program from the Grammar Revolution Website. I have now completed all 37 lessons, and I am much better at diagramming sentences.

Elizabeth O’Brien is quite good at simplifying and explaining things. If you are looking for more grammar skilz, including the waning art of diagramming sentences, check out her website. There are a lot of free resources.

I Have Now “Walked” the Appalachian Trail

After “walking” the Camino, I was ready to get this done.

As I predicted in my Camino post, it was a long time before I finished. Almost exactly two years. Which is much longer than I would have guessed.

I am, alas, not done walking. I don’t know if I missed one, or if it was added later, but I’m now “walking” to get the Via Transilvanica badge. It’s 870 miles (approximately 1.9M steps).

After that, I will have finished all of the Garmin Expedition badges.