Scattered Thoughts . . .

L ukey had asked for only one gift this Christmas which, on the one hand, made things easier for us but, on the other hand, created a need for some research on our part.  I knew that the specific item he requested for Christmas was junk and we're not going to buy junk. Lukey wanted his own drum kit and he knows this would be a big gift so he chose perhaps the least expensive kit he could find on Amazon and sent us the link.  Being a musician myself, I know that introducing a new student to a cheap, junky instrument almost always ends in failure and long-lasting disinterest.  I needed to do some research to find a better drum kit for a beginner. This really applies to anything though.  If you buy a kid junk, they are sure to lose interest quickly and it will leave a bad taste in their mouth for any future interest in that thing because they tell themselves, "oh man...  that really sucked" .  What really sucked was the tool and not the activity but their feel...

Way back in 1784 through 1789, when Thomas Jefferson was our US Ambassador assigned to France, he devised a decoder wheel to use for encrypting and decrypting letters sent between the US and his office in France. Being able to encrypt letters being sent between Thomas Jefferson and the US President became an urgent necessity because the European Postmasters opened and read all diplomatic letters passing through their command.  When I was a child, we would sometimes play a "Da Vinci Code" type of scavenger hunt game that consisted of written clues leading us to the following clue which eventually leads to the prize or solving the mystery. This was definitely an educational game and sometimes required some research in order to figure out various clues. I certainly enjoyed this game and have been thinking about sharing this game with the grandchildren as they get older. The grandchildren are now beginning to read so I've been thinking about this game again and wonderi...