Four More French Chains

In the fall of 2012 I discovered several block kits in a bargain bin at a favorite quilt shop. They were a steal because they were missing their instructions. I found pictures online of the corresponding blocks and was able to reverse engineer their construction. A few months later I found a finishing kit for the same quilt and happily snapped it up. I’d completed all the setting blocks before I realized that their background print had red pin dots on a cream field while the blocks I’d made the previous fall had tan pin dots on cream. I hoped it wouldn’t matter much, but when I arranged the two sets of blocks together on my design wall, I knew they could never share the same quilt. It took me nearly a year to dig up more of the tan pin dots, but I succeeded. Victory belongs to she who perseveres.

A Work in Progress

“Each of us has had times in our lives when we have made poor choices. We are all in desperate need of the redemptive power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Each of us must repent of any rebellion. ‘For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.’ He cannot because He knows what it takes to become like Him. Many of us have allowed weakness to develop in our character. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can build spiritual fortifications between ourselves and any past mistakes that Satan attempts to exploit. How do we build these eternal fortifications? The first step must be sincere, thorough, and complete repentance. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, each of us can become clean and the burden of our rebellion will be lifted. Remember, repentance is not punishment. It is the hope-filled path to a more glorious future.” – Richard G. Scott.

Ahoy Mateys

Being organized doesn’t come naturally to me; I have to work at it. The biggest help I’ve found is my Franklin planner. I’ve used it to keep track of lessons, meetings, appointments, recital plans, rehearsal schedules, performance dates, recipes, you name it. I consult it to see whose turn it is to play the organ next Sunday and whether I should put the rubbish or the recycling on the curb Wednesday. I keep old volumes on hand in case I need to know when bought my car or what year we visited Germany. Most everyone I know has switched to electronic planners, but I’m not sure I’ll ever completely leave my binder behind. I like the feel of the pages, and the fact that it can’t contract a computer virus. I even love the quotes at the top of each page. Yesterday’s was Schopenhauer: “The most beautiful thought runs the risk of being irrevocably forgotten if it is not written down.”

Another French Chain

In my bathroom is a plaque with one of my favorite Walt Disney quotes, “The most important thing is FAMILY.” Here are a few more quotes from Walt:

“I have long felt that the way to keep children out of trouble is to keep them interested in things.”

“Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it.”

“I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible because dreams offer too little collateral.”

“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”

“Laughter is America's most important export.”

“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

Wheel

Between the blue line, the red line and the green line, there are 58 miles of Trax (which stands for Transit Express) in Salt Lake Valley - though the tracks actually overlap a good deal in the middle. Even if you could lay them end to end it would be a fraction of the 146 miles of rail our public transit system once had. Salt Lake’s first streetcars were pulled by mules. In 1881 they were powered by electricity. By the turn of the century, the Utah Light and Traction Company was a convenient, efficient and inexpensive way to travel from Centerville to Holladay and anywhere in between. Buses began to replace trolleys in the 1920s, and Salt Lake's streetcars made their last run in 1946. The Sugar House Streetcar, now called the S Line, has been running since last December. I haven’t ridden it yet, but I plan to the next time the weather and my schedule permit.

Rising Sun

I was pulling dandelions in the garden yesterday (Again! Is there no end to them?) when I suddenly remembered a family outing a few years ago to Roundhay Park near Leeds. We took a break from our rambling to visit the little café by Waterloo Lake. Heather ordered a spotty-dotty biscuit (a cookie with M&Ms) and John had a dandelion and burdock soda. The label on the bottle claimed it was a popular drink with temperance bars in the late 1890’s. After I tossed the last dandelion (until tomorrow) into the rubbish, I went online to see if there were other recipes that use these horrid weeds. I found dozens, including dandelion pesto, linguine with dandelions and mussels, and curried lentil/dandelion soup. Essentially you can use fresh dandelion greens anywhere you’d use kale or spinach. You just need to pick them while they’re tender, before flowers appear. And, of course, you mustn’t use pesticides or herbicides.