Birthday Cake

Today is my birthday! It may seem morbid, but with each year I'm more preoccupied with my own mortality. Like one of my favorite fictional characters, I’ve become aware that there are probably “fewer days ahead than behind.” There’s a chance that several items on my bucket list will go unfinished. I suppose I should go through the list and weed out less important items. “Climb Mt. Everest” is expendable. “Walk the Great Wall of China” might be overrated. I don’t think of myself as old, but I already have several friends who never got to blow out as many candles as I should today. Several more were much older when they passed; and yet I felt they left this earth too soon. To quote that same fictional character, “What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived. After all . . . we’re only mortal.” 

King's Crown

While piecing this block I had a song running in my head. I know I haven’t heard it in ages. The Bee Gees wrote it the year I was baptized:

“In the event of something happening to me, there is something I would like you all to see.

It's just a photograph of someone that I knew.

Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones? Do you know what it's like on the outside?

Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones.

I keep straining my ears to hear a sound. Maybe someone is digging underground,

Or have they given up and all gone home to bed, thinking those who once existed must be dead.”

I’ve a feeling my head is filled with stuff like this. Every song I ever heard, every picture I ever saw, and every story I ever read is sitting on shelves in there, waiting for my very random filing system to dredge up.

The First Stone

“Let each man learn to know himself; to gain that knowledge let him labor,

Improve those failings in himself which he condemns so in his neighbor.

How lenient our own faults we view, and conscience’s voice adeptly smother;

Yet, oh, how harshly we review the selfsame failings in another!

So first improve yourself today and then improve your friends tomorrow.”

This was part of our hymnal when I was a little girl, but it isn’t any more. I’m not really sure why it wasn’t retained when the book was revised. Maybe it’s because the tune is a little cumbersome. The following hymn has a similar message and a much nicer tune:

“Should you feel inclined to censure faults you may in others view,

Ask your own heart, ere you venture, if you have not failings, too.

Let not friendly vows be broken; rather strive a friend to gain.

Many words in anger spoken find their passage home again.”

July Fourth

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she got the title of her 1996 book “It Takes a Village” from an ancient Nigerian proverb. That claim (and several others in the book) may be fictional, but the idea is sound. Many cultures acknowledge that helping children to become mature, responsible adults is a daunting task; one not to be undertaken alone. As a stay-at-home mom, I shouldered the lion’s share when it came to raising my family. I couldn’t have managed it without a supportive husband working tirelessly to keep a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food on our table. I’d never have lived through the ordeal without the help of my extended family. We were blessed with several wonderful teachers over the years helping to shape their minds. And there was an army of primary teachers, home teachers and priesthood leaders who served as prime examples to my boys. Good work, everyone!

Triangle Tiles

Need a side dish to go with your Mexican entree; one that doesn’t involve rice or beans? I'll bet you haven't tried this one:

Calabacitas

1 tablespoon canola oil
4 cups zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups corn
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (depending on how hot you like it)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small can diced canned tomato (don’t drain)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

Lightly saute onion in oil in a large skillet until it begins to become clear. Add zucchini and onions, stirring another 5 minutes so that the zucchini just begins to soften. Add the garlic and cumin and stir, being careful not to burn the garlic. Finally add the tomato with its juice, the salt and the cilantro. Simmer on medium heat uncovered for about 5 minutes.

Flying Fish

We live literally a stone’s throw from a series of small ponds that are home to trout, bluegill, carp and catfish. In addition to the humans these attract, there are several birds that visit hoping for the taste of seafood. They each go fishing in their own way. Blue heron stand on the bank as still as statues, watching the water. Cormorants swim just under the water in search of dinner. They almost always come up with impossibly large fish in their beaks, which they somehow swallow whole. Terns hover above the water until they see something they like. Then they drop like stones to catch it. My favorites are the white pelicans. They come early in the morning in groups of five or more. They swim in ever narrowing circles, herding the fish below them until they come together. Then, on some inaudible cue, they all dip into the water. Voilà! Breakfast ballet!