Avoiding Ambiguity

New Year’s resolution 2026: Be specific!

ambiguity: “… open to more than one interpretation”  — Oxford Languages

For example, I texted our daughter 10/28/2025, “Let's plan a fun place to meet on Monday -- just my preferred day.”  Meaning: just because it’s my preferred day.  Not: only on my preferred day.

Since myHometown Ogden South recently moved their Community Resource Center (“CRC”) from 24th Street to 27th Street, I refer to the old center, still serving the community, as “CRC1” to simply avoid ambiguity.  ( I volunteer at both resource centers.)  On 2nd thought, better to clarify: “old CRC on 24th St.”  (Sigh.)

Celebrate the season

What is there about winter that inspires celebration?

Crisp, cold air with sunshine as a welcome change from the hot summer in Ogden Utah.  Freedom from yard work while hoping for snow we need.  Memories of skiing the challenging slopes of Alta, Park West, Solitude, and Powder Mountain.  Fun skating at Neptune and the Ice Sheet, Ogden.  The joy of warming with a loved one by a fireplace.

In mid-January, recalling a warm thaw last year, the anticipation of spring around the corner.  Enjoying a slower pace, now that I’m older, with resolutions made two weeks ago.  Past the holiday rush, now savoring the never-ending spirit of Christmas giving.

nice to know

Christmas celebration was extended again through January 6th for Three Kings Day, reminding us of wise men who gave gifts to the child Jesus.  That tradition my parents brought from Switzerland in 1974 includes gift giving in a family get-together. 

It’s also nice to know, “You can relax now.”  

— WQXR Classical NY 

I can “find comfort and joy in [dark] chocolate.”  — Dove wrapper

“The Spirit knoweth all things …” (Alma 7:13)

I can hit the sack (idiom) when I’m exhausted; and renew my strength. 

After counseling with my friend Julie, visiting from Iowa on Sunday 12/28, I realized I deal with sadness by running, walking, and sleeping.  And I resolve it by serving others — outward focus.  Nice to know.

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  (Philippians 4:13)

Reminding those who watch scary world news, God is in control.

Random Reading

For my history, I had planned to publish in 2024 a selection of my blog posts.  Miraculously, publication of my wife’s biography, the extraordinary history of Kay Hinckley Cannon, became a reality and blessing instead.  In November 2025, I finally published my “random memoir” as planned.

Although careful thought and effort went into each post “back in the day”,  I confess to choosing a lazy-man way of writing my disjointed personal history, avoiding the more thorough, chronological form typically used near the end of one’s life.  A simple timeline is my token effort in that regard.

At this year end, our Kay deserves to have the last word: “Live every day to its fullest. Be adventurous; act on good impressions. Follow the Prophet with love for the Lord.”  And she would cheerily sing a lullaby, “Remember Me.”

Mudroom Memories

Recalling one word (like bedroom & bathroom).

On Second Avenue, Salt Lake City, the east side door, entry from breezeway between the house and garage, led to our regular way through the mudroom to the basement stairway door and (what is now called) the great room — family dining room and kitchen.  (A simple architectural sketch would have helped here.)  Coats were hung and boots were removed; Lassie’s meals were prepared.

Our remodeled home in East Mill Creek, SLC, had the most memorable mudroom — designed and built by my father-in-law.  The entrance by the garage led to a large, white-painted room with an island of spacious closets for hanging coats, etc.  It was the perfect place for the washer, dryer, and wall-mounted ironing board (cabinet) by the inner door.  The far side with a door to the garage had a work counter with shelves above it.  That became an office space for me — a challenge to keep it organized and materially minimized.  Friends still remember being impressed by that large mudroom.  It surpassed the design we had an architect draw for the home we fortunately did not build in Mountain Green, Utah.  (Recall the Great Recession, 2007-2009.)

Memories of family life in those and other mudrooms prompt recollections relating to family history we treasure.  What are your mudroom memories?

Inside Voices

A sign in the Pleasant Valley Library kids area got my attention two weeks ago (of course I took a picture). “Be kind. Use inside voices, play safe, and make the library fun for everyone.”  I welcomed the reminder to subdue (American English quiet, British quieten) talk when visiting a library.  I learned it in my youth at the old library in downtown Salt Lake City, like a sacred space.  Now I practice it in my old age as I frequently visit the main library on Jefferson Ave in Ogden Utah.  Naturally my wife Kay’s angelic voice would be welcome anywhere.  “(of a person) exceptionally beautiful, innocent, or kind”  — definition from Oxford Languages 

Patrons in temples are encouraged to use reverent, “inside voices” appropriate for that sacred space; whispering is sweet.  A UTA recording routinely reminds FrontRunner riders to keep conversation volume low in that “shared space.”  It would also be nice to remember restaurants, theaters, and symphony concert auditoriums are shared with some folks with sensitive hearing like mine (impossible to avoid eavesdropping).  On the other hand, young voices I hear inside public places like the new Marshall N. White Community Center (sport courts, pool, party rooms) are good to hear at high volume.

The world we live in together — it’s small, after all.

Winter Warmth

Up in the night, warmed by my favorite patchwork quilt with yellow highlights. My first thought, “Tuesday with Kay”, always makes me smile.

Memories in a warm stream of consciousness. A time for celebrating the newborn Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and held by His loving mother. Now the warmth of love Jesus offers us.

Winter get-togethers for family and friends needing a warm hug.  Hot cocoa, chocolate chip cookies soft from the oven, and Kay’s famous spiced wassail drink.   The wood-burning stove on a brick “stage” in our cozy antique room in East Mill Creek.

A favorite sweater received on Christmas Day. Keeping warm while caroling at neighbors’ front doors.

Our first daughter, born in mid-winter, who warmed the hearts of three brothers, two parents, and four grandparents.  (“My caregiver”, I call her now, with love.)

Expecting another January thaw with sunshine like last year.  Come February, budding thoughts of spring, renewed life, and fresh starts.

For now, with winter warmth, we can all do something to help Light the World.