Four Patience 9-Patches

If you are at least 12 (and can talk dad into signing the waver) you can go skydiving. There’s no upper age limit, but the average age for skydivers is 33. You don’t see a lot of 60-somethings jumping out of airplanes. Patrick Wiggins is a notable exception to that rule. Patrick is 69 years old, and has completed 994 jumps to date. He has plenty of stories to tell, but his best might be what happened a few weeks ago. He’d just jumped and was in free fall when he saw something slip out of his pocket. After he landed he reached for his cell phone and realized it had fallen without him. He used a computer to turn on the “find my phone” feature. His phone had dropped 13,200 feet and landed in the grass without a scratch! “It doesn’t have a high terminal velocity,” Patrick explains. “Or maybe it came from Hogwarts. They put a protection spell on it.”

Four Buckeye Beauties

“As you and I develop additional love, patience, and meekness, the more we have to give God and humanity. Moreover, no one else is placed exactly as we are in our opportune human orbits. Granted, the stepping-stones take us into new territory which we may be very reluctant to explore. Hence, the successful users of the stepping-stones are powerful motivators for the rest of us. We usually pay more attention to those we quietly admire. The hungry prodigal son remembered the menus in his home, but he was also drawn by other memories, declaring, ‘I will arise and go to my father.’ In striving for ultimate submission, our wills constitute all we really have to give God anyway. The usual gifts and their derivatives we give to Him could be stamped justifiably ‘Return to Sender’ with a capital S. Even when God receives this one gift in return, the fully faithful will receive all that he hath. What an exchange rate!” – Neal A. Maxwell

Patience 9-Patch

Okra is not the world’s most popular vegetable (that’s probably something really boring, like a potato). So when a handful of the slimy little seed pods showed up in my weekly veg box, I briefly considered binning them. Instead, we made:

Shrimp Okra Skillet

1/2 pound fresh okra, halved lengthwise

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 pound peeled raw shrimp

1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Saute okra in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Transfer to a large bowl. Add tomatoes and another tablespoon of oil to skillet; sauté 3 minutes or until skins begin to burst. Add tomatoes to bowl of okra. Add garlic, shrimp and remaining oil to skillet; sprinkle with pepper flakes. Sauté just until shrimp turn pink. Stir in okra mixture, and sauté until warmed through. Stir in salt and pepper and serve immediately over fresh greens.

Buckeye Beauty

Last night “Into the Woods” opened at the Murray Amphitheater. My middle son and I are in the orchestra pit on cello and keyboard. This is the first musical I’ve helped to stage since my accident last fall. My wrist and hand are completely functional, but reading is still a challenge. So I deliberately chose a play I’ve done before to ease back into this. Maybe I should have picked a nice Rogers and Hammerstein. The atonal dissonance that makes Sondheim so delicious also makes it excruciating to read. At least I’m not the only musician looking like a deer caught in headlights. We’re all in a mild state of panic, but it sounds amazing. If you go, let me make one suggestion: take your wee ones home at intermission when Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and Red Riding Hood get their happily ever afters. The difference between a cheerful story and a sad one is where you stop telling it.   

Pinwheel Roundabout - Without Borders

If you’ve ever eaten at an authentic Mexican restaurant, you’ve probably seen Horchata on the menu or at a self-serve beverage station. This is a Latin American version of the Spanish tigernut drink of the same name. As beverages go, this one is a bit healthier than most. It’s non-carbonated, low in sodium, gluten free and without artificial ingredients. And it’s surprisingly easy to make at home:

Mexican Horchata

1 cup UNCOOKED white long-grain rice

5 cups water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup cane sugar

Pour uncooked rice and water into blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 60 seconds. You don’t want to pulverize it. Let rice and water stand at room temperature for at least three hours. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice. Stir milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar into rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Stormy Weather

Some of the best American TV shows were English first. Shows like The Office, House of Cards, Hell’s Kitchen, American Idol, Trading Spaces and Who Do You Think You Are? were based on successful British shows. Antiques Roadshow aired in England nearly two decades before it appeared here. It’s a traveling affair; they filmed in Salt Lake last year. People arrive with stuff they found in the attic, stuff they bought at a yard sale, and stuff their grandmas left them. Appraisers give them an estimate of their item’s worth, and they either leave happy or depressed. In 2011 Ted Koehler’s grandson went on the show with a bit of Cotton Club stationery which his grandfather had used as a scratch pad while writing the lyrics to the torch song “Stormy Weather” in 1933. Their expert placed its value between $50,000 and $100,000. Be careful what you throw away. You never know what it might be worth.

Nine Green Butterflies

I read earlier this month about three rhino poachers who sneaked onto a South African game preserve and were eaten by lions. It made me wonder just how often this sort of thing happens. Are lions the most deadly animal? Not even close. Lions are responsible for about 22 (human) deaths every year. Hippos are cute, but they account for 500 deaths annually. I’m more scared of sharks than of lions and hippos, but sharks only kill five or six people a year. People commit 437,000 homicides a year, but the most deadly animal is the mosquito. Because they transmit diseases like malaria, dengue fever, Zika and West Nile viruses, mosquitoes cause 570,000 deaths every year. We have the technology to make mosquitoes extinct. Lions and hippos aren’t listed as endangered – yet. If someday they or even sharks should disappear, the world would be a sadder place. But a world without mosquitoes? Is there a downside to this?

Nine Maritime Blocks

“To paraphrase the Psalmist of old, if we wait patiently for the Lord, He will incline unto us. He will hear our cries. He will bring us out of a horrible pit and set our feet upon a solid rock. He will put a new song in our mouths, and we will praise our God. Many around us will see it, and they will trust in the Lord. My dear brethren, the work of patience boils down to this: keep the commandments; trust in God, our Heavenly Father; serve Him with meekness and Christlike love; exercise faith and hope in the Savior; and never give up. The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness. They will help us to become worthy priesthood bearers and faithful disciples of our Master, Jesus Christ.” - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Somewhere My Love

David Lean, the director of the 1965 movie Dr. Zhavago, was originally going to use a popular Russian song as a theme for Julie Christie’s character Lara, but was never able to discover who owned the rights to the tune he wanted. Instead, he asked composer Maurice Jarre to produce an original theme. After several unsatisfactory attempts, Lean suggested that Jarre take his girlfriend to the mountains and not return until he’d written a love theme. Lean liked the resulting melody so much, he used it to replace much of the rest of the music Jarre had already written for the movie. Two years later Connie Francis commissioned Paul Francis Webster to write words to the tune, but once they were finished she decided they were too corny. By the time she changed her mind (again), Ray Coniff had already recorded his own version of “Somewhere My Love.”

Four Twin Sister Blocks

I’ve been trying to convince myself to reread Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. The last time I read this book I found it dreadfully dull. I had nothing in common with the petty characters, who seemed only interested in what was “in fashion.” But I’ve found letting a book sit for ten years or more before reading it again can produce a change – most likely in the reader rather than in the book itself. Then early in the book I found this passage: “Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.” And somehow it struck a chord. We’re always scrambling at the end of a play or a concert to be the first out of the door. We dread to be stuck in a traffic jam on the way home, especially when the curtain falls well past bedtime. Maybe I have something in common with these people after all.

Four Green Butterflies

"There was not one lord in the neighbourhood; no, not even a baronet. There was not one family among their acquaintance who had reared and supported a boy accidentally found at their door--not one young man whose origin was unknown. Her father had no ward, and the squire of the parish no children. But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way. Mr. Allen, who owned the chief of the property about Fullerton, the village in Wiltshire where the Morlands lived, was ordered to Bath for the benefit of a gouty constitution--and his lady, a good-humoured woman, fond of Miss Morland, and probably aware that if adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad, invited her to go with them. Mr. and Mrs. Morland were all compliance, and Catherine all happiness." - Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Four Maritime Blocks

Ten Reasons for Buying Fabric

1.       It insulates the cupboards where it's kept.

2.       It keeps the economy moving. It's my duty to support cotton farmers, textile mills and fabric shops.

3.       It's less expensive and more fun than psychiatric care.

4.       I'm participating in a contest - the one who dies with the most fabric wins.

5.       It keeps without refrigeration. You don't have to cook it to enjoy it. You'll never have to feed it, change it, wipe its nose or walk it.

6.       Because I'm worth it.

7.       Like dust, it's good for protecting previously empty spaces in the house, like the ironing board, laundry basket or dining room table.

8.       It's not immoral, illegal or fattening. It calms the nerves, gratifies the soul and makes me feel good.

9.       Because it's on sale.

10.   Buy it now, before your husband retires and goes with you on all your shopping expeditions!

Star Shine

It’s long been a dream of mine to stay a week at Disney’s Grand Californian, with a balcony facing the Boudin Bakery. Aside from being a short walk from Disney’s California Adventure, Downtown Disney and Disneyland, I could grow my own sourdough starter with the lactobacillus sanfranciscensis permeating the air. A dear friend who knows this – and who happens to live in San Francisco – presented me with a bowl of starter she and her roommates had grown for my birthday. So far I’ve used it for at least a dozen batches of sourdough pancakes and two loaves of:

Bread Machine Sourdough Bread

1 cup sourdough starter

1/2 cup water

3 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in baking pan in the order listed. Place baking pan in bread machine and set to “bread” and “medium crust.” Cool before removing from pan and slicing.

Twin Sisters

“I’m confident it’s the intention of each member of the Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light. How many times has your heart been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you’ve left it for others to help, feeling that ‘oh, surely someone will take care of that need.’ We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we’ve immersed ourselves in the ‘thick of thin things.’ In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which don’t really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things.” – President Thomas S. Monson

Christmas Star

I got another “Christmas in July” mailer yesterday, this time for a hot stone massage. Christmas in July generally refers to a sales push by desperate retailers hoping for the kind of reckless abandon many of us are guilty of in November and December. Or it’s a kitschy attempt by camp directors to entertain summer campers who’d rather be at home playing video games. “Christmas in July” is also the name of a 1940 movie. It features Dick Powell as an advertising agency employee whose coworkers trick him into thinking he’s won a big cash prize for a new slogan. He goes on a shopping spree, buying gifts for family and friends, and an engagement ring for his sweetheart. The Hallmark channel always airs its original Christmas movies during the month of July, to coincide with the annual release – today, in fact – of their new Keepsake Christmas ornaments in Hallmark stores. Suddenly I feel the need to buy new Star Wars ornaments.

Green Butterfly

Ishu and Laura Rao were married eight months ago. Until a little more than a week ago, they shared a home in Goleta, California with Ishu’s 12-year-old and 14-year-old daughters, three dogs and one cat. When a fast moving wildfire swept through their neighborhood just after bedtime, it reduced their home and nine others to ashes. The Raos only just managed to escape with the girls and their pets. Laura was in the habit of taking her rings off before settling in for the night, so her engagement and wedding rings were lost along with everything else. Later, as they sifted through the rubble, Ishu found what was left of his wife’s rings. He dropped to one knee and proposed again. “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. She's the glue in our family, and I adore her to pieces. If I can put a smile on her face I’m going to do it,” he said.

Starburst

Near the end of the movie, Darkest Hour, Mrs. Churchill mutters softly, “Here lies a woman who was always tired because she lived in a world where too much was required.” It sounded familiar, so I've been searching for the rest of the poem. It seems to have been taken from “A Tired Woman’s Epitaph.” I don’t know who wrote it, or if it ever appeared on anyone’s headstone. But there are definitely days when I can sympathize:

Here lies a poor woman who was always tired;

She lived in a house where help was not hired.

Her last words on earth were: “Dear friends, I am going

Where washing ain’t done, nor sweeping, nor sewing:

But everything there is exact to my wishes;

For where they don’t eat there’s no washing of dishes…

Don’t mourn for me now; don’t mourn for me never –

I’m going to do nothing for ever and ever."

Maritime Block

It’s far too hot to want to fire up my oven, even for a 20-minute recipe like dinner rolls or muffins. My regular banana bread bakes for over an hour. So last weekend I tried this recipe:

Bread Machine Banana Bread

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup ripe, mashed banana (I didn’t mash mine thoroughly and ended up with a few lumps.)

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients in bread machine baking pan in the order listed. Put baking pan in bread machine. Select “cake” setting, “medium” crust. Allow loaf to cool before removing from pan and slicing. My bread machine is a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme with a generous horizontal loaf pan. If yours is smaller or more vertical, you may have to modify this recipe.

Four Prizes

Last Memorial Day weekend a family campout went horribly wrong. The Caballeros were at a campsite about an hour’s drive up Blacksmith Fork Canyon in Cache County. A stranger showed up and started swearing at them, telling them the campsite was his and demanding they move their trailer out of his way. The Caballeros patiently explained their truck’s power steering wasn’t working, but the man just got angrier. At some point a family member recorded 12 minutes of his harangue and posted it on YouTube. An awful lot of people watched it, including the angry man’s employer and Dave Sparks, star of Discovery Channel’s Diesel Brothers. Just like he does on his TV show, “Heavy D” tricked out the Caballero’s truck. He and several other generous people donated a new trailer, kayaks and an off-road buggy. And the angry man is now unemployed. Who says there’s no such thing as karma?

Chicken Scratch Patch (My Way)

“I picture you excitedly finding time and a quiet place to read the Book of Mormon. I see you discovering answers, feeling guidance, and gaining your own testimony of the Book of Mormon and a testimony of Jesus Christ. As you look to the book, you look to the Lord. I bear testimony of the Restoration of the gospel in these latter days and of the Book of Mormon as tangible evidence of that Restoration. The truths you will find there will uplift and inspire you. They will strengthen your faith, fill your soul with light, and prepare you for a future you scarcely have the ability to comprehend. You will discover the infinite love and incomprehensible grace of God. As you strive to follow the teachings you find there, your joy will expand, your understanding will increase, and the answers you seek to the many challenges mortality presents will be opened to you. As you look to the book, you look to the Lord.” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Cracker Jax Prize

This is the ninth block in Marti Michell’s block-of-the-month quilt, Pinwheel Roundabout. The prints are lovely and I’ve enjoyed piecing the blocks, but they’ve given me this odd sense of déjà vu. I finally figured out why. I’ve actually made every one of these – twice – in the autumn of 2012 when I participated in that year’s Patchwork Party. The prints were very different then: paisleys and near-solids in green, purple, magenta and rust from the Arabella Rose collection by Marianne Elizabeth for RJR fabrics. This year’s prints are Roses on the Vine by Marti Michell for Maywood Studios: blues, green, pink and red. The blocks six years ago had square-in-a-square centers, while these have fussy-cut floral centers. Their names have been slightly altered, too. But aside from that they’re the same blocks. I don’t know whether to be pleased with myself that I recognized them, or to be embarrassed that it took me nearly nine months.

Nine Eight-Pointed Stars

When I was a little girl it was Kentucky Fried Chicken, but somewhere along the line it changed to KFC. I guess a lot of us are okay with eating fried food just so long as we don’t call it “fried.” Before it had either of these names, it was Sanders Court and Buffet. The first KFC franchise was opened in Salt Lake City in 1952 by “Colonel” Harlan Sanders. But Sanders had been selling his “secret recipe” chicken at a roadside stand in North Corbin, Kentucky since the Great Depression. According to rumors, the 17 herbs and spices include sage, savory, thyme, basil, oregano, black pepper, white pepper, mustard, paprika, ginger, garlic salt, celery salt and table salt. Even if MSG is in there, we’re still missing a few. July 6 is National Fried Chicken Day; a good day to plan a picnic with biscuits, baked beans, slaw, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a bucket of finger-licking goodness.

Poppie

“Anyone who has ever been able to sustain a good work has had at least one person – and often many – who believed in him or her. We just don’t get to be competent human beings without many different investments from others. In fact, from the time you were very little, you’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling, people who have talked you into talking, sung you into singing, loved you into loving. So on this extra special day, let’s take some time to think of those extra special people. Some of them may be right here. Some may be far away. Some may even be in Heaven. No matter where they are, deep down you know they’ve always wanted what was best for you. They’ve always cared about you beyond measure and have encouraged you to be true to the best within you. Let’s just take a minute of silence to think about those people now.” – Fred Rogers

Old Glory

I realized the other day in just eight years our country will celebrate its 250th birthday. As I write this I can hear my high school history teacher, Frank Gallucci, laughing. Mr. Gallucci passed away in April of this year at the age of 86. I was his student when the US celebrated its bicentennial. He thought crowing about 200 years was silly, given that Rome has been around for 28 centuries. But honestly, how many nations have had the same form of government for more than 200 years? Our founding fathers were willing to risk their lives, their fortunes and their honor to create what they felt would be the greatest nation the world had ever known – where individual freedom would be fiercely protected and federal government strictly limited. We should celebrate their vision, not with parades, fireworks and flags, but by being informed and involved in our political process. Our founding fathers – and Mr. Gallucci – would be so proud.

Twenty-five Cotton Reels

“It all matters. That someone turns out the lamp, picks up the windblown wrapper, says hello to the invalid, pays at the unattended lot, listens to the repeated tale, folds the abandoned laundry, plays the game fairly, tells the story honestly, acknowledges help, gives credit, says good night, resists temptation, wipes the counter, waits at the yellow, makes the bed, tips the maid, remembers the illness, congratulates the victor, accepts the consequences, takes a stand, steps up, offers a hand, goes first, goes last, chooses the small portion, teaches the child, tends to the dying, comforts the grieving, removes the splinter, wipes the tear, directs the lost, touches the lonely, is the whole thing. What is most beautiful is least acknowledged. What is worth dying for is barely noticed.” - Laura McBride, We Are Called to Rise

Four Eight-Point Stars

“God will strengthen, help, and uphold us; and He will sanctify to us our deepest distress. When we gather our family histories and go to the temple on behalf of our ancestors, God fulfills many of these promised blessings simultaneously on both sides of the veil. Similarly, we are blessed when we help others in our wards and stakes do the same. Members who do not live close to a temple also receive these blessings by participating in family history work, collecting the names of their ancestors for temple ordinances to be performed. President Russell M. Nelson cautioned: ‘We can be inspired all day long about temple and family history experiences others have had. But we must do something to actually experience the joy ourselves.’ I invite you to prayerfully consider what kind of sacrifice—preferably a sacrifice of time—you can make to do more temple and family history work.” – Elder Dale G. Renlund