They fished
and they fished
all across the sea,
And down in the depths a mile.
They fished among all the fish in the sea,
For the fish with the deep sea smile.
                                  from The Fish With a Deep Sea Smile
                                      written by Margaret Wise Brown
                                              illustrated by Henry Fisher
                                    e-edition Parragon Books Ltd., 2015
                                        www.libraryvisit.org (7/12/2020) 
    Human beings have universal emotions. We all feel sad, angry, frightened, happy, grouchy, pensive. Different cultures show these emotions differently. But smiles are universal. We all smile when we are happy. Even monkeys grin to express friendliness. Here's an article about primate smiles, including human.    
    Depending on the circumstances, though, not all smiles reflect happiness or joy. Smiles convey nervousness, a need to please, submission, amusement, attraction and according to modern psychology, much more. 
    Duchenne de Boulogne (1806-1875), was a French physician and neurologist who introduced studies on electrical stimulation of muscles. He used the results of his experiments as a tool to learn about human anatomy in living people. He mapped all the human facial muscles.
    In one of Duchenne’s most famous experiments, he tested the facial muscles of a man who could not feel pain. Duchenne stimulated the man’s muscles to make him smile then photographed his many expressions. The man’s smiles never looked happy. But when Duchenne told the same man a funny joke, his mouth smiled broadly in reaction as expected, but he also involuntarily contracted the muscles around his eyes. That was the smile Duchenne was looking for, one of pure enjoyment. 
    A genuine smile, one that conveys happiness, friendliness, joy, one that is sincere, is called a Duchenne smile. https://practicalpie.com/duchenne-smile/. 
    Controversy surrounds whether or not you can fake a Duchenne smile. While our mouth muscles are pretty easy to voluntarily manipulate, it’s really difficult to work the ones that produce “crows-feet.” So, some say no. But a study from 2012 showed some participants could actually manipulate all the muscles needed to produce a Duchenne smile. Good actors can do it. You can, too. Train yourself in this skill by thinking up happy memories. The orbicularis oculi muscles, the ones at the corners of our eyes, are tied to the part of our brain where we process emotions. So, some say you can fake a Duchenne. I’m in that camp.
​    The first gummy ear-to-ear grin that lights up the precious face of a two-month old baby is a great example of a Duchenne smile. I remember my babies’ first smiles. Huge, gummy grins they were, that took up at least half their little faces. I worked hard for those grins and was immensely rewarded. Scientists believe babies are born with the ability to smile. Even blind babies smile. Actually, I’m smiling at my baby-memory right now. Not a Duchenne smile, more wistful, Mona Lisa-ish. Maybe you are, too. 
    Smiles are the spontaneous expression of joy. And smiles are contagious.
    By now we all (I hope) are covering our mouths and noses with masks. Made of cloth or synthetic polymer fibers, decorated or plain, they trap germs. They protect us when we breathe in and protect everyone else when we breathe out. They are most assuredly necessary.
    But we lose an important piece of non-verbal communication: the smile. 
    Not all smiles are Duchenne smiles, of course. A researcher at The University of California-San Francisco identified 19 different kinds of smiles and divided them into two categories, polite/social smiles, and sincere/felt smiles. The polite smiles use many fewer muscles than the sincere smiles.
    Sincere smiles affect our moods. Even if we “fake it till we make it,” our belief that a genuine smile improves our outlook, well-being, and even health, proves correct. Our bodies are more relaxed when we smile. That contributes to good health and a strong immune system. https://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/fascinating-facts-about-smiling/ 
    About the only place I go anymore is the grocery store. The other day, I was shopping with a list as fast and carefully as I could. When it was my turn to check out, I felt myself smile. Why did I do that? Habit? The store clerk I was acknowledging couldn’t tell I was smiling, unless she noticed my crow's feet! My smile was a spontaneous reaction, the expression of joy I felt greeting another human being. Face to face. I'm sure she smiled back.
    Polite smiles don’t show up behind our masks. We need to practice Duchenne smiles. We’ll feel better and people will notice. Then they’ll smile, too. That’s the kind of contagion I can live with.
                                         -—stay curious! (and keep smiling)

     “I see in you someone who is destined for great things. You’ll find your way, if you’re true to yourself.”
         from: Brambleheart: A Story About Finding Treasure
                         and the Unexpected Magic of Friendship
                             written and illustrated by Henry Cole
                                        2016, Kathrine Tegen Books
       As I thought about this week’s post, I tried hard to think of something I consider myself to excel in or be outstanding at. Not grammar with that sentence!
      I was not very successful with my piano lessons, although I gained a great appreciation for the instrument and a real love of Chopin, especially his preludes, waltzes, and other dances, the simple ones and the complex. 
       Although I can usually spit back a phone number and I add and subtract my checkbook in my head (mostly), numbers are not my thing.
       My daughters are both good cooks. I told my older daughter she must have a tongue in her brain that helps her think of ingredients that go well together. I don’t have that, but I can follow a recipe.
       Common sense is not my forte, either. I do a lot of forehead slapping, you know, when all of a sudden some logical, elusive answer becomes crystal clear. I have lots of ideas, though. 
       I am not a champion athlete. You might remember I taught myself to roller skate with belts and pillows. And that ice-skating fiasco. 
       This week, lots of eyes will be on Rio de Janeiro. Kids, really, are participating for their chances of a lifetime to excel, to perform, to compete.  Athletes, it’s said, love speed: objective, measurable, quantifiable times and distances and weights. Thousands of practice hours culminate in one race, one jump, one lap, one journey to the end of one balance beam, one barbell lift. 
       Did you know that table tennis is an Olympic sport? Go to https://www.olympic.org/sports for the complete list.
       But what about the ones who come in fourth or fifth or merely finish? No medal. No national anthem. No lucrative contract with Nike, UnderArmour, SpecialK.       
       Gym was always my worst subject.  In seventh or eighth grade we were supposed to master lots of equipment. Lucky for me I had friends in the class. Friends who really made themselves useful by holding my hand on the balance beam, giving me a boost over the pummel horse and pushing me over the uneven parallel bars, more than once, to perform my “routine.” If you think it was a hoot, you’re right! Even I was laughing, making it more impossible. My teacher was generous. She gave a D because I showed up. I didn’t chicken out or complain. 
       Maybe I’m a little bit of a champion after all. 
       Maybe all those athletes who come in fourth, fifth or even finish are champions, too.
       Maybe we all are. 
                                               --stay curious! (and active)
2021 update:
The Summer Olympics will begin in Tokyo this Friday (7/23/21) and continue through 8/8/21. The athletes will compete with no fans in the stands. The award ceremonies will be contactless (they will hang their earned medals on their own necks.) Some athletes, coaches, and staff have tested positive for COVID-19. 

And I said, “You can stop, if you want, with the Z
“Because most people stop with the Z
“But not me.”
“In the places I go there are things that I see
“That I never could spell if I stopped with the Z.
“I’m telling you this ’cause you’re one of my friends.
“My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends.”
                                            From: On Beyond Zebra
                                written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
                                                  Random House, 1955

      This morning, the 90th annual National Spelling Bee begins with a written preliminary competition. Hopeful students from all over the country have gathered in Washington, D. C. today, to vie for the $40,000 prize from Scripps and an engraved trophy, a $2,500 savings bond and a complete reference library from Merriam Webster, $400 worth of reference works and a 3-year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica on-line. And of course, the recognition. The student’s school also gets a plaque and prizes are awarded to the finalists. An amazingly big deal! 
       Scripps made the bee tougher after ties in 2014 and 2015. Now the last two spellers need to get through three times as many words as in years past. But, another set of co-champions was crowned in 2016. 
       Oral and written competitions go many, many rounds. Elimination is usually swift at the start.  The final round will be broadcast on ESPN. Here’s how to watch the whole match, beginning tomorrow with the oral competition:
       The ESPN app will carry all preliminary rounds live on May 31, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a break from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. 
       Live coverage of the finals will begin June 1 at 10 a.m. on ESPN2, ESPNU (Play Along Version) and the ESPN app. 
       The competition will conclude on ESPN, ESPNU and WatchESPN at 8:30 p.m.
NOTE: Because the event is in the Washington D. C. area, all times are Eastern Time.

2021 UPDATE: Last Thursday, July 8, 2021, Zalia Avant-garde made history. She is the first speller from Lousiana and the first Black American to win the National Spelling Bee.. It was the 93rd National Spelling Bee and Zalia won in 17 rounds. 
Click here to see her win. Scroll down to “watch the event” then click on Zalia's picture. 
       
       Schools participate on the local level. My grandson was chosen to compete two years in a row, but didn’t make it to Washington. My daughter, his mom, also did not go to Washington. I didn’t qualify for my elementary school’s event, but I like to sing the Jiminy Cricket song E-N-C-Y-C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A. 
       My dad was an excellent speller. He attributed his skill to his high school study of Latin. He liked to trace many English words to their Latin roots. Great dinner table conversations started this way.  We all learned how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism. We knew what it meant, too. At 28 letters, my parents told us it was the longest English word.  Then in 1964, Mary Poppins came out with supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at 34 letters. It was added to the OED in 1986.     
       Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters) though, is recognized as the longest word, according to The National Puzzlers' League at the opening session of their 103rd semi-annual meeting in 1939. So even though they may have the best intentions, parents can sometimes be wrong.  
       Lots of parents are supporting lots of kids in their enthusiastic and optimistic participation at the National Spelling Bee. Also, parents are Little League coaches, Boy and Girl Scouts leaders, and Summer Reading Library Challenge encouragers. 
       Lots of parents are just good general life lesson deliverers. So as Dr. Seuss said at the end of On Beyond Zebra (see quote above), 
      “There's no limit to how much you'll know,
      depending how far beyond zebra you go.”
                         --stay curious! (and look for new possibilities)

Long and graceful, the queen glides across the combs.
Two thousand times a day—the queen stops to drop
a single egg into a single cell.
  Pearly white.
    Half the size of a grain of rice.
      Each will grow into a bee.
                  from Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera
                                           written by Candace Fleming
                                           illustrated by Eric Rohmann
                                                    Holiday House, 2020
    Several summers ago, I was stung by a bee. It was my fault. My thyme was draping itself beyond its square foot of my square-foot garden, flowing into the parsley and tarragon. I like the wild-ish look of a slightly overgrown garden. The plants are showing me they are healthy and strong. 
    But even I have limits. I got my pruners and began snipping away, parting the leaves and tiny flowers as I went. My bees must love thyme flowers, because they were in there buzzing around, doing the work they do. I was an intruder.
    I felt something tickle my neck below my right ear. Silly me for not connecting the tickle with the bees I disturbed. The first bee sting of my life was sharp and fast. The severity of it lasted only a second. I felt a dull pain for the rest of the afternoon. 
    But I was not deterred.
    Last summer, I put up a bee house. I had heard how useful they are for attracting backyard bees. After searching several stores, I found one at my local garden shop. I hung it, well, my husband did that, in a sunny spot on the east side of my house and bees came.
    The bees that come to my bee house are not social. Each only needs space for herself. Social bees, like honeybees build hives. Bumblebees make nests.
    Honeybee hives are home to 20,000 to 100,000 individuals. Each honeybee has a specific task. The queen lays eggs, 1,000 to 2,000 every day. Worker bees are female. They do all the work outside the hive; gathering pollen and nectar and communicating to their sisters where to find the best sources for nectar, and inside; building the hive, cleaning the hive, making the honey, storing the pollen, grooming the queen, caring for the baby bees, watching over and feeding the drones.
    Drones stay in the hive, waiting around for a turn to mate with the queen. That’s it.
    As a honeybee (or other pollinator including butterflies and moths, birds and bats, beetles, and other kinds of bees) travels from flower to flower in her search for nectar, she inadvertently collects pollen. Pollen is is the fine, powdery, yellowish grains necessary for a plant to reproduce. When the bee visits the next flower, she collects more nectar, and inadvertently leaves pollen from the last flower. In this way, plants depend on insects (and birds and bats…) to create their next and next and next generations. 
    Nectar, the sweet liquid secreted by plants to attract bees and other pollinators, is collected by the honeybee and delivered to an indoor worker bee. It is passed mouth-to-mouth from bee to bee until its moisture content is reduced from about 70% to 20%. This changes the nectar into honey. 
    Each bee makes several one to one-and-a-half hour trips per day and visits about 1,000 flowers each trip. Bees visit over 4,000 flowers to make one tablespoon of honey.     
    But bees need pollen, too. They transport the pollen that does not get knocked off when they flit from flower to flower, back to their hives to nourish themselves and their youngsters. Pollen is essential to the bees. It is the principle source of protein, fat, and minerals. Nectar provides necessary energy.
    Pollen is mixed with nectar and is fed to the larvae.
    When it’s not needed right away, worker bees pack pollen tightly into the cells of the hive, add honey, and seal the cells with wax. It is stored in readiness for the arrival of newborn baby bees. Baby bees need protein-rich pollen too, for the bee community to flourish.
    When the summer gathering frenzy is behind them, the hive can rest. The bees who worked so hard during the spring, summer, and fall, have died off. The males have all died off, too. The winter bees are plumper to hold more heat and have much longer lifespans, several months, instead of several weeks. The the whole hive-full of winter worker bees clusters tightly together, holding the queen in their center, the warmest spot. To sustain themselves and their heat, the cluster moves about the hive as one, to reach the stored honey reserves. 
    For a variety of the regular reasons, (climate change, habitat loss, pesticides) bees, especially honeybees, are in decline.
    A newly-created Global Map showing where the more than 20,000 species of bees exist now, will serve as a baseline for populations of bees as they continue to decline around the world. Michael Orr, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Zoology at Chinese Academy of Sciences says, “This is an important first step for [conservation], and in the future we can begin working more on threats to bees such as habitat destruction and climate change, and to better incorporate pollination services into ecosystem service analyses.”
    Our own USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) reminds us “One out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators.” 
    Protecting the pollinators will help secure our own future, too.
https://honeybee.org.au/education/wonderful-world-of-honey/how-bees-make-honey/
https://www.mdbka.com/bee-information/ 
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/plantsanimals/pollinate/ 
                  -—stay curious! (and look for sweetness in your life)