Try the Grey Stuff

Today’s my sixtieth birthday. That just seems surreal to me. Aside from a few aches and pains, I don’t feel much older than nine or ten. For five years now I’ve qualified for a senior discount at Arby’s and McDonald’s, though somehow I’ve never thought to ask for one. Maybe sometime this year I’ll get around to it. I have bigger plans for my sixty-first year. I’ve been asked to play in the orchestra for Murray’s “Beauty and the Beast” in July. I’m hoping for a blue ribbon (or a nice red one) for my quilt at the state fair in September. I’m looking forward to seeing Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland – from the inside – sometime in the next twelve months. Or maybe it’s time to plan another cruise or a trip to Walt Disney World. I mean to do a lot of my favorite things: cook for my loved ones, spend time with grandkids, teach piano students, make music, and stitch quilts.

Thirteen Courthouse Steps

Old Ephraim, the last of Utah’s great grizzlies, was killed in Logan Canyon by a sheep rancher in August, 1923. The ten-foot, 1,100-pound bear was skinned and buried where he fell, and a pile of stones erected over the remains. A few months later Boy Scout Troop 43 dug up the bones and sent the skull to the Smithsonian for identification. In 1966 a monolith was erected on the spot, but by then most of Old Ephraim’s remains had been stolen by souvenir-seeking hikers. The skull remained in Washington, DC until 1978, when it was returned to Utah “on loan.” I’m told you can see the skull in the Special Collections Reading Room in Utah State University’s Merrill Library. Or you might visit the statue of Old Ephraim on Washington Street in Montpelier, Idaho. Better yet, order the Old Ephraim at Bear Lake Pizza in Garden City.

Judy's Square

Most people recognize Tippi Hedren from her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 movie The Birds. Some may remember she’s Melanie Griffith’s mom. But I suspect most of us are unaware of what may be her greatest contribution. About forty years ago the actress visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in California, looking for ways to help people who’d lost everything to war. “We were trying to find vocations for them,” she says. “I loved these women so much that I wanted something good to happen for them. I brought in seamstresses and typists - any way for them to learn something.” The women were mesmerized by Tippi’s long, beautiful nails. She flew in her own manicurist to teach them to do Hollywood nails. Today Vietnamese Americans dominate the industry. More than half of America’s nail technicians (80% in California) are of Vietnamese descent. Moral of the story: Never underestimate the butterfly effect of a single act of love.

Hole in the Wall

Robert Leroy Parker was born in Beaver, Utah in 1866. His mother and father joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their teens while they were still living in the British Isles. With their families they followed the pioneers west, but left the church at some point after settling in Utah. Young Robert grew up on his parents’ ranch near Circleville. He had a reputation for politeness and generosity, and he seldom drank to excess. When Robert was 14, he made a visit to a clothier’s shop in a neighboring town, but found the owner absent. He helped himself to a pair of jeans and some pie, and left a note promising to pay on his next visit. The store owner pressed charges, but Robert was acquitted by a jury of his peers. Within a decade he was robbing banks and holding up trains under the pseudonym of Butch Cassidy.

Nine Courthouse Steps

“Our purpose as we seek to learn and to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ must be to increase faith in God and in His divine plan of happiness and in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice and to achieve lasting conversion. Such increased faith and conversion will help us make and keep covenants with God, thus strengthening our desire to follow Jesus and producing a genuine spiritual transformation in us—in other words, transforming us into a new creature, as taught by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians. This transformation will bring us a more happy, productive, and healthy life and help us to maintain an eternal perspective. Isn’t this exactly what happened to the Ethiopian eunuch after he learned about the Savior and was converted to His gospel? The scripture says that ‘he went on his way rejoicing.’” – Elder Ulisses Soares

Picture Frame

Most of us believe the climate is changing. Most of us believe it’s at least partly because we’ve mismanaged our stewardship of the planet. But we want someone else to fix it; namely the government. News flash – the government doesn’t fix things, we do. Here’s what we can do:

Change what we eat. Choose more meat-free meals. Buy locally grown food, or grow our own. Don’t toss leftovers; repurpose them.

Change how we get around. Bike to work, take public transit, ride-share, telecommute, or switch to an electric or hybrid.

Go green at home. Choose energy-efficient appliances. Winterize. Install and use a clothesline. Wash in cold or warm water, not hot.

Invest in renewable energy. Solar panels may not be in the budget, but you can divest from fossil fuels and put money into more sustainable concerns.

Little drops of water, little grains of sand

Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.

Four Courthouse Steps

I discovered Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary mysteries in the early 90’s, when a friend recommended “Dying for Chocolate.” I devoured her novels as soon as they were published – about one per year. She stopped writing altogether about six years ago. I began reading Joanne Fluke’s books in 2002. Her murders were not quite so compelling, and her recipes were almost all cookies and cakes. But there was a new novel every six months. It wasn’t long before my bookshelves began straining under the weight. I wasn’t re-reading them (Who does that, when you already know who done it?) so eventually I gave them all to a thrift shop.  I wish I’d copied my favorite recipes before it did that. Here’s one I haven’t forgotten:

Dill Sauce

Mix 2 tablespoons cream and 1/2 cup mayonnaise till smooth. Stir in 1 teaspoon dill weed. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. Serve with poached salmon or crab cakes.

Churn Dash

England is a lush and fertile place. When I tell my desert-dwelling friends anything there that doesn’t move becomes quickly covered in green mould, they think I’m kidding. I am not. 21-year-old Liam Wildish has his own window-washing business in Retford, Nottinghamshire. That means he tools around the countryside with brushes, rags, buckets, ladders and the like in his car. And he notices the road signs that are so covered in goo they can’t be read, especially at night. In his spare time, Liam uses the tools of his trade to fix the problem. His neighbors have responded by helpfully directing him to all the dirty signs he’s missed. There’s been a response from the county council as well. “Legally,” they say, “We must point out that anyone undertaking such activity does so voluntarily and entirely at their own risk.” Typical.

Courthouse Steps

Long before the Utah State Capitol building stood there, the hill north of Salt Lake’s Temple Square was called Arsenal Hill. Black powder and blasting caps were warehoused in an old slaughterhouse there. In April 1876, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prepared for their spring conference, the magazines accidentally detonated, raining 500 tons of rock and debris on the city. Windows were shattered up to two miles away. Falling boulders killed a pregnant woman and a three-year-old boy. The bodies of two teenagers, Charles Richardson and Frank Hill, were never found. Other boys playing baseball nearby said they saw the two young men shooting at geese near the powder magazines. We can only assume one of their shots, accidentally or not, set off the explosion. One Civil War veteran, viewing the destruction, said Salt Lake looked worse than Fredericksburg, Virginia after several days of shelling.

Gingerbread Houses

We had tickets at Pioneer Theater for years, and enjoyed wonderful shows there: Sweeny Todd, Noises Off, Twelfth Night, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dancing at Lughnasa, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Into the Woods, Arcadia, O Pioneers, Born Yesterday and so many more. We looked forward to intermissions as much as the plays, because they used to sell huge, chewy macaroons dipped in dark chocolate. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that shortly after the macaroons disappeared, we stopped buying season tickets.

Coconut Macaroons

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325F. Combine coconut, milk and vanilla in bowl. Whip egg whites and salt on high speed with whisk attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold egg whites into coconut mixture. Drop batter by tablespoons onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Christmas Maize

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.” – Orson F. Whitney

Indian Maize

Crustless Quiche

8 thick slices bacon

1 cup shredded Swiss

1/2 cup minced onion

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups cream

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Heat oven to 325F. Butter four oven-ready bowls. (I use 10-ounce crockery bowls that were meant for French onion soup.) Cook bacon until crispy; remove to a paper towel-covered plate. Drain all but a bit (maybe a tablespoon) of the bacon grease. Gently sauté onion in remaining grease until tender. Whisk together eggs, cream, salt and cayenne. Divide bacon, onion and Swiss equally between four prepared bowls. Cover with egg mixture. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve while still warm.

Christmas Diamond

Lady and the Tramp has always been my favorite movie. It’s funny, sweet, and charming. And offensive, at least by today’s standards. I wasn’t surprised to hear when a “live action” version of the cartoon classic appears on Disney+ this fall, it won’t feature Siamese cats. In the 1955 movie, Si and Am were two-faced sneaks with buck teeth, squinting eyes and broken English – pretty much the only way Asians were portrayed in the 50’s. Now I think of it, nearly every character in that movie was some sort of slur: the Italians who serve the dogs spaghetti and meatballs, the beaver with a serious speech impediment, the miserly Scottie and slow-drawling bloodhound next door, the Russian, German, British and Mexican dogs at the pound, even the Irish beat cop. I checked. Almost NONE of these characters will be in the new movie. I’ll watch Lady and the Tramp 2019 when it comes out. But I probably won’t recognize it.

Diamond Star

It’s been described as “the world’s highest garbage dump.” The people who climb Earth’s highest mountain leave behind a staggering amount of leftover camping meals, plastic and metal food and drink containers, empty fuel and oxygen canisters, and even human poop. In mid-April, as part of their twenty-fourth annual “Wildlife Week,” the Nepalese Army removed at least two tons of trash from the slopes of Mt. Everest. Half of the non-biodegradable waste was transported by helicopter to a nearby garbage facility. The other half will be treated at the army barracks in Okhaldhunga. And they’re not done yet. The Nepalese Army has pledged to provide the manpower and machinery needed for the Clean Mountains Campaign through May 19. I’m rather proud of myself for picking up rubbish in the park near my home. But filling trash bags at 29,000 feet? That’s impressive!

Mosaic #13

The Ladies Art Company was established in 1889 by Emma Mildred Zimmer Brockstedt, owner of a St. Louis dry goods store and her husband Henry, an experienced printer. Their catalog offered hundreds of quilt blocks and quilt patterns (10 cents apiece), templates, fabric and even quilt kits (no more than $6.00) that could be ordered by mail. At the height of its popularity, the Ladies Art Company had more than fifty employees, but at first the Brockstedt’s workers were their own children. Each block pattern would arrive with a 3” square card showing how the finished block should look. The cards were printed in black and white, and the Brockstedt children hand painted them with watercolors around the kitchen table after school. Most of the blocks came with names attached, but those that didn’t were simply numbered. This is one of the numbered blocks; a simple but elegant arrangement of sixteen half-square triangles.

Connecticut

In Cloverdale, Sonoma County California, lumberyard employees showed up for work on a Monday morning in April and saw the glint of something metallic atop a pile of sawdust. Thinking it was a discarded soft drink can, they went to retrieve it. That’s when they discovered the shining metal was an intact artificial leg worth $15,000. Everyone scratched their heads over the find. It seemed to them the leg had just “dropped out of the sky.” Then they called the sheriff’s office, and the mystery was solved. Skydiver Dion Calloway was quickly reunited with the prosthetic he’d lost from 10,000 feet. Calloway was happy to get his leg back. He’s also eager to be skydiving again, though he’s promised to secure his leg more carefully in the future. Calloway says a skydiving accident is the reason he’s an amputee in the first place. He’s clearly not the kind of guy who’s easily deterred.

Devil's Dark Horse

I like to revisit books a decade or more after reading them. The books themselves haven’t changed, but I have. The new me sees gems I hadn’t noticed before. We listened to The Last Battle as we drove home from California earlier this month. We chose this audio book because it’s read by Patrick Stewart, who could make a phone book entertaining. The Last Battle was my least favorite of the Narnia books. It repeats itself – a lot – and there’s just something unappealing about Narnia coming to an end. I’d never paid much attention to Emeth, who discovers his life was spent serving a false god. He meets Aslan, who accepts his good works. C.S. Lewis said, “I think every prayer sincerely made even to a false god, or to an imperfectly conceived true God, is accepted by the true God. In the parable of the Sheep and Goats those who are saved don't seem to know they’ve served Christ.”

Thrifty

We returned from a three-day Disneyland trip a week ago Thursday. Galaxy’s Edge, which opens on the last day of this month, is nearly finished. We were delighted to catch glimpses of the new Star Wars-themed venue from the Hungry Bear Restaurant, the Disneyland Train, and atop Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The Sleeping Beauty Castle has been closed for refurbishment since early January, but the scrim covering it is decorated to look like the castle - complete with dragon. Redd Rockett's Pizza Port is in the process of becoming Alien Pizza Planet in honor of the restaurant in Toy Story. The Enchanted Tiki Room now has a wheelchair ramp in front (Yay!) and an eatery in back named the Tropical Hideaway. (The long Dole Whip line is history!) The most exciting changes we saw were bans on huge strollers and wagons (When it gets crowded, these are such a menace!) and on smoking in the park. Disneyland has NEVER smelled this good!

My First Sashay

I made this block early in 2011 as part of the Autumn 2010 Patchwork Party. I cut the pieces using the Marti Michell M set of templates, and I stitched the block with my British Janome Jem Platinum machine. I mounted it on my kitchen wall using Scotch tape (my design wall was fully occupied at the time with another project) and took a photo with my very primitive Fuji camera. Later, this block joined twenty-nine siblings in the ninth quilt top I made for the IMC hospital quilters. Somehow, though, it looks as if I never posted a photo of it in my blog. If inanimate objects had feelings, I imagine this block might feel slighted. Maybe its seven-patch and five-patch brothers and sisters have looked down on it for not having a blog post of its very own. Well, I’ve finally remedied the situation. My heartfelt apology for neglecting it so long.

Ladies Sashay

I’ve been a fan of Egg Drop Soup for years, but I’m married to a man who prefers Hot and Sour. It’s taken me a while, but I’m gradually coming around to his way of thinking. On this issue, at least.

Hot and Sour Soup

6 cups beef broth

1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (this is the sour)

1 tablespoon sriracha sauce (that’s the hot)

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

3 tablespoons corn starch

3 tablespoons cold water

2 eggs, beaten

6 ounces firm tofu, cut into spoon-size strips

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Bring broth to boil over medium high heat. Add mushrooms, soy sauce, vinegar, sriracha and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together corn starch and cold water. Add to the soup and stir well. Simmer 5 more minutes. Pour eggs into soup while gently stirring. Remove from heat and add tofu and onions.

Lincoln's Platform

Wondrous

I’m driving home from school when the radio talk

turns to E.B. White, his birthday, and I exit

the here and now of the freeway at rush hour,

travel back into the past, where my mother is reading

to my sister and me the part about Charlotte laying her eggs

and dying, and though this is the fifth time Charlotte

has died, my mother is crying again, and we’re laughing

at her because we know nothing of loss and its sad math,

how every subtraction is exponential, how each grief

multiplies the one preceding it, how the author tried

seventeen times to record the words She died alone

without crying, seventeen takes and a short walk during

which he called himself ridiculous, a grown man crying

for a spider he’d spun out of the silk thread of invention—

wondrous how those words would come back and make

him cry, and, yes, wondrous to hear my mother’s voice

ten years after the day she died—the catch, the rasp,

the gathering up before she could say to us, I’m OK.

- Sarah Freligh

Autry Square

I live beside a wetlands park that most of the year is anything but wet. We’ve had a damp spring, which just means there’s more brush to burn later. Fires and fireworks are never permitted here, but I frequently run across evidence that someone thinks rules like that are for other people. I take comfort in stories like the one about the bobcat that was tagged and re-released just before the Woolsey fire last November. Her habitat was destroyed but she managed to relocate and give birth this spring to four (!) healthy kittens. I also liked the story of the beehives atop Notre Dame. When the fire in April took out the cathedral roof, the bees laid low, gorged on honey. After it was all over, miraculously the hives were untouched and the bees were back in business. Somehow, life finds a way. And if you’re the culprit playing with matches near my house, trust me. I’ll find you, too.

Stephanie's Sampler

“May I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you. He knows giving birth to a child doesn’t immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient. If you strive to love God and live the gospel; if you plead for that guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit promised to the faithful; if you go to the temple to both make and claim the promises of the most sacred covenants you can make in this world; if you show others, including your children, the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.” – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

James River Crossing

As we watched news coverage of Notre Dame in flames April 15, one of my friends lamented that this fire received so much more attention than the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London two summers ago, where 72 people died. Thankfully, not one life was lost as the cathedral burned. It’s not that those 72 lives don’t matter. Every single life is important. But in the grand scheme of things, a human lifespan is very brief. As humans, we find comfort in the things we expect to outlast us. These are the things we cherish and protect – things we hope to be able to hand down to our great-grandchildren and that they’ll want to hand down to theirs. Notre Dame and the treasures it houses represent centuries of work by devoted, faithful artists and craftsmen. I think all of us – whether we’re French or not, whether we’re Christian or not, and even if we’ll never visit Paris – hope it still stands long after we’re gone.

Sixteen Crayon Stars

I’m a fan of convenience, especially in the kitchen. Quite often when I plan a complicated and difficult meal, something goes wrong and we end up eating out. There are times, though, when the end product is more than worth the extra effort. I know I could easily buy a taco seasoning packet at the grocer, and it wouldn’t cost much. But tacos taste so much better when I make the seasoning myself. I start with a tablespoon of chili powder, then add a quarter teaspoon EACH of garlic powder, onion power and dried oregano. Stir in half a teaspoon paprika, a teaspoon EACH of salt and pepper, an up to a teaspoon and a half of cumin. Skip the salt if you have garlic and onion salt instead of powder. This recipe will season 2 pounds of ground beef, ground turkey or pulled chicken. But I usually double or triple it and keep the leftover seasoning in an airtight container.

Rocky Mountain Chain

Gluten-Free Blueberry Banana Bread

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free flour

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened 

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Grease a 9x5” loaf pan and preheat oven to 375F. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) in a bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together wet ingredients (sugar, butter, bananas, eggs, milk and vanilla). Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture, stirring by hand just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Wait 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing.

Strawberry Sawtooth Star

“Let’s say I offer to buy you the car of your dreams. You can pick out any car that you want. When you get out of class this afternoon that car will be waiting for you at home. There’s just one catch: it’s the only car you’re going to get your entire life. Knowing that, how are you going to treat that car? You’re going to read the owner’s manual four times before you drive it. You’re going to keep it in the garage, change the oil twice as often as necessary. If there’s the least little bit of rust, you’re going to get that fixed immediately so it doesn’t spread — because you know it has to last as long as you live. You have only one mind and one body for the rest of your life. If you don’t take care now, by the time you’re 40 or 50, you’ll be like a car that can’t go anywhere.” – Warren Buffett