The Slice: A few gift ideas for the 122-year-old

As you know, the anniversary of Washington becoming a state in 1889 is Nov. 11.

That’s coming right up.

As it happens, there are five other states that joined the union in the month of November (not all in the same year).

Anyway, it seems to me like we ought to have something akin to a Sister Cities program linking Washington to the rest of the November half-dozen.

A blue-ribbon panel could discuss what we might offer our fellow Novemberists. Lentils maybe. But here’s what I’d like from them – for starters anyway.

North Carolina: 1. A few cardinals. Maybe the striking red birds could visit for a few weeks and then go home. 2. A couple of lighthouses. 3. Touring bluegrass groups. (They would just have to pick. They wouldn’t be required to grin.) 4. The nerve to say something like “First in Flight” when the Wright brothers were from Ohio. 5. Mayberry memorabilia.

North Dakota: 1. Team of consultants who could counsel Washington residents on how to not whine about winter. 2. A few good Lutherans. 3. Lawrence Welk memorabilia. 4. Casserole dishes. 5. Sunflowers.

South Dakota: 1. Mount Rushmore. Just on loan, mind you. 2. Deadwood memorabilia. 3. Wind Cave National Park T-shirts. 4. A few more Lutherans. 5. Someone who can answer a question: What exactly is the appeal of that Sturgis motorcycle rally?

Montana: 1. A few more transplants like the ones who already help make Spokane a good place to live. 2. The right to borrow some of America’s best place names. 3. A little of that whole mytho-poetic fly-fishing/literature thing. But just a little. Maybe leavened with an appreciation for cheap beer. 4. Grizzly bears. On second thought, leave ’em be. Too many people over here. 5. The talent for looking really, really good in blue jeans.

Oklahoma: Let me give this one a bit more thought. But perhaps in exchange for providing sanctuary for those six or seven Oklahomans who do not believe college football is that important, Washington could accept a few nondestructive but booming thunderstorms.

Today’s Slice question: In how many different kinds of aircraft have you flown?