Cardinal

I’ve already shared this quote from Fred Rogers, but it might be time to visit it again: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You’ll always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”  I have friends who are doctors or nurses, and friends who are EMTs. My hair dresser's husband is a fireman, as are a few of my theater friends. It would take the fingers of both hands to count friends who work in grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants. One of my dearest friends celebrated her birthday last week by donating blood. They’re all finding ways – big ways and small – to help us get safely through a pretty scary time.

English Rose

“Parenthood imposes a singular responsibility. Not only must parents put good things into the minds of children, we must keep bad things out. Parental vigilance should be constant. Safeguard your children against those who seek to destroy them. How would you pass the test, parents, if your family was isolated from the Church and you had to supply all religious training? Have you become so dependent on others that you do little or nothing at home? Tell me, how much of the gospel would your children know, if all they knew is what they had been taught at home? Ponder that. I repeat, how much of the gospel would your children know if all they knew is what they had been taught at home? Remember, the Church exists to help the home. Parents, the divine charge to teach has never been changed. Do not abdicate your duty.” – A. Theodore Tuttle, October 1979

Taos

This is certainly nothing new, but it was news to me. I only just discovered Huevos Divorciados – divorced eggs. It’s a traditional Mexican dish that somehow – until very recently – escaped my attention. First, you take a bowl or plate deep enough to hold some salsa. Place two cooked eggs on opposite sides of the plate/bowl. The eggs can be poached, over easy, or sunny side up; whichever you like best. Between the eggs, build a small dam or wall out of hot refried beans (I like black refritos best). Then douse one egg with red tomato salsa and the other with salsa verde. Garnish with chopped avocado, crema, shredded cheddar, cilantro, sliced limes or queso fresco. Serve with warm tortillas or tortilla chips. This is a fun, easy, colorful and relatively healthy dish. It can be served for any meal, but it would be especially well suited for breakfast or brunch.

Red, Blue and Grey Puddle

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace." - C. S. Lewis

Hawthorne Stars

This is my twenty-sixth hospital quilt, made almost entirely from donated fabric and scraps from my own stash. (I purchased six yards of a red polka-dot print for the back, plus a yard of the cream/gold for setting triangles.) Just a few hours after my mother and I presented it to the hospital quilters to be quilted, we received emails telling us the hospital volunteer program has been temporarily suspended, until “the risk of the virus spreading is no longer a concern in our communities.” It wasn’t a surprise - I’d actually come to the decision on my own that I wouldn’t be coming in - but it’s sad nonetheless. The piano in the lobby is perfectly capable of playing itself. But without the army of volunteers to man information desks, to run the gift shop, to comfort babies, give directions, deliver flowers and even shuttle visitors in a golf cart, the hospital must be a very different place.

Red and Grey Garden

The angel atop the Salt Lake Temple was sculpted by Cyrus Edwin Dallin in 1892. Dallin wasn’t a church member, but he studied the Book of Mormon for inspiration in planning his design. The Moroni statue weighs between one and two tons; made of hammered copper and covered in gold leaf. He faces east because of scriptures like Matthew 24:27 that tell of Christ’s second coming. He held a long trumpet to his lips as a symbol of the effort to spread Christ’s gospel. At least, he did until a week ago today. During Wednesday morning’s earthquake the trumpet slipped from Moroni’s grasp and fell to the temple roof below. Ironically, the temple was already closed for a major renovation, which includes a new base to make the 127-year-old structure better able to withstand earthquakes. It’s not even the first time this trumpet has been disturbed. In 1910, striking steel workers set off a bomb next door that knocked it askew.

Toad in the Puddle

I’ve been reading about ways creative people are dealing with the changes the COVID-19 outbreak has brought. Schmidt’s Pastry Cottage in Sugar House, Taylorsville, and South Jordan is giving away two loaves of French bread to each customer every day “for the foreseeable future.” That’s one loaf for you, one for your neighbor.  Can't find hand sanitizer in the store? Several local distilleries are making their own. Zoos and museums are providing virtual “field trips” for families stuck at home. Guerrilla Tacos in Los Angeles is offering “Emergency Taco Kits.” For $150, you get five pounds each of roast chicken and carne asada, red and green salsas, onions, cilantro, beans, and rice, plus four rolls of toilet paper and 30 eggs. Guerrilla Tacos reports the kits are selling like hotcakes. They’ll use the proceeds to fund employees’ health and dental plans, whether those employees can come to work or not.

Joanna's House

“When I visit converts in their homes, one of the questions I like to ask is how they and their families learned about the church and how they came to be baptized. It doesn’t matter if the person in that moment is an active member or hasn’t attended church for many years. The answer is always the same: with a smile and their countenance glowing, they begin to tell the story of how they were found. In fact, it seems that the story of conversion is always the story of how we are found. Jesus Christ Himself is the Lord of lost things. He cares for lost things. That is surely why He taught the three parables that we find in the 15th chapter of Luke: the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and, finally, the prodigal son. There reigns supreme a feeling of joy that exclaims, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found that which was lost.’” – Elder Rubén V. Alliaud

Rock Garden

There are nine minutes during the day that have the greatest impact on a child: the first three minutes right after they wake up, the first three minutes after they come home from school, and the last three minutes of the day before they go to sleep. Make those minutes special and help your children feel special, loved, and accepted. Each day children need meaningful, eye-to-eye conversations with their parents. It’s especially important to slow down and look them in the eye. Listen and respond with love. Hug your children, pat them on the back and tell them how proud you are of them every single day. A simple touch can make them feel connected to their parents in ways that words never will. Remember, actions speak so much louder than words. – Source unknown

Checkerboard

We bought tickets over a week ago, and when we got to the cinema, it was actually open (they were just a few hours from shutting down indefinitely). We grabbed our usual Tuesday night movie treats – popcorn, ice cream, and herbal tea – and went to find our seats. There were only four people in the theater, and they were occupying the seats we’d been assigned. We chose a row further back and settled in. I’ve never seen a theater so clean. Before the film started, two more patrons came in and sat down. We were under the “gatherings of ten or more” limit, with several feet of space between us. We enjoyed seeing Emma. It won’t replace the 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow version, but the scenery, costumes and score were jaw-dropping. I’m told Universal’s already made this movie available for streaming, but I’m glad we saw it in the theater. It’s one of the few “normal” things we’ve done all week.

Nine-Patch Block

“In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: ‘Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year.’ In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things - praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts - not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.” – C. S. Lewis

Six Love Knots

I always seem to have a song running in my head. Sometimes it’s a number I’ve been practicing, but it isn’t always clear why my head chooses to play a particular tune. This one has been rattling around up there for days. I’ve no idea why.

“There are places I'll remember all my life though some have changed.

Some forever not for better. Some have gone and some remain.

All these places had their moments with lovers and friends I still can recall.

Some are dead and some are living. In my life I've loved them all.

But of all these friends and lovers, there is no one compares with you.

And these memories lose their meaning when I think of love as something new.

Though I know I'll never lose affection for people and things that went before,

I know I'll often stop and think about them. In my life I love you more.” 

– John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Picket Fence

Ireland’s Grand Canal opened for business in 1756. From then until 1960, paying passengers and goods of all sorts were shuttled from Kildare to Dublin and back. Like other canals in the UK and in Europe, the Grand Canal is maintained as a recreational spot rather than a working conduit. Narrow boats (imagine long, skinny RVs with hulls instead of wheels) ply its length or rest peacefully along the banks. But there are those who use the canal in more creative ways. Eoghan (an Irish version of Owen) Redmond uses a paddleboard to explore the waterway. Eoghan adopted Ted, a rescued border collie, two years ago. Since then, this unusual pair have been a regular sight along the canal. Eoghan stands, propelling the board, while Ted sits up front with his paws over the edge. "People didn't take photographs of me on my own on the board,” says Eoghan. “But they do when they see Ted!"

Hourglass

“As home teachers, we are healers. As priesthood leaders, we are healers. As fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands, we should be committed and dedicated healers. We carry in one hand a vial of consecrated oil for blessing the sick; in the other we carry a loaf of bread to feed the hungry; and in our hearts we carry the peaceable word of God, ‘which healeth the wounded soul.’ (Jacob 2:8) This is our first and foremost responsibility as priesthood holders—and it applies to both Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood holders. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ blesses lives not just when we believe it—but much more when we live it. It is in the application of gospel principles that individuals are uplifted and families are strengthened. It is our privilege and responsibility not just to talk the talk but also to walk the walk.” - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Four Love Knots

This has been the oddest week. Monday morning my mother and I dropped off a quilt with the hospital quilters. On the way home we talked about the hospital visitor last week who’d been tested positive with COVID-19. We decided it would be safer to avoid volunteer work at the hospital until this whole thing blows over. Just hours later, that decision was made for us. The hospital volunteer program was suspended indefinitely. Over the next few days, nearly everything on my calendar disappeared: sing-alongs at the nursing home, the special needs activity program, Sunday church services, concerts and theatrical performances, even visits to the library. I’d assumed we might be exposed to someone who later tested positive, and then be told to self-quarantine at home for a couple of weeks. It never occurred to me that we might simply run out of other places to go.  

Zest

GARDENING GOD'S WAY

Plant three rows of peas:

  Peas of mind

  Peas of heart

  Peas of soul

Plant four rows of squash:

  Squash gossip

  Squash indifference

  Squash grumbling

  Squash selfishness

And four rows of lettuce:

  Lettuce be faithful

  Lettuce be kind

  Lettuce be obedient

  Lettuce love one another

No garden should be without turnips:

  Turnip for meetings

  Turnip for service

  Turnip to help one another

To conclude, we must have thyme:

  Thyme for God

  Thyme for study

  Thyme for prayer

Salmon Love Knot

It’s that time of year again – several of my friends are sharing on social media that we should all boycott Girl Scout cookies because the proceeds go to Planned Parenthood. Whether you approve of PP or not, you should know there’s absolutely no truth to the rumor that the cookie money ends up there. In fact, 100% of the proceeds from cookie sales stays with the local council and troops. Girl Scout troops set and strive for sales goals and decide how to spend their earnings on program-related activities, such as paying their own way to a community event or a local museum. Girl Scout troops may also choose to use proceeds to purchase materials for a troop project or to fund a service project to benefit the community. The Girl Scouts of the United States of America were founded March 12, 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low to promote compassion, courage, confidence, character, leadership, entrepreneurship, and active citizenship.

L-O-V-E

Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert was born in Hamburg in 1923. He was still very young when he was given the nickname, “Fips,” which he kept for the rest of his life. (Memo to me: ask Matthew if “Fips” means anything in German.) Bert was an adept musician, proficient on several instruments including piano, accordion, clarinet and saxophone. He played in orchestras and bands before and during World War II, and then formed his own big band. You may not recognize his name, but I guarantee you’ve heard his arrangements of songs like “Tenderly” and “Red Roses for a Blue Lady.” You’re probably even familiar with some of his original numbers, like “Spanish Eyes,” “Danke Schoen” and “L-O-V-E.” And if he hadn’t hired a certain group of unknown musicians from Liverpool to back Tony Sheridan for an album called My Bonnie, you might never have heard of the Beatles, either.

Black Love Knot

I usually keep mum about this sort of thing, because I’ve found most people don’t WANT to be told when they’re laboring under a grammatical misconception. But I found this fascinating, and I thought you might, too. If I’m wrong, enjoy the pretty quilt block and move on. The word “abbreviation” applies to any word or phrase that’s been shortened or contracted, such as Dr. for Doctor, and US for United States. Acronyms and initialisms are two ways that phrases might be abbreviated. When an abbreviation is pronounced as if it was a word, it’s called an acronym. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), ASAP (as soon as possible), radar (radio detecting and ranging) and scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) are all acronyms. If the individual letters of an abbreviation are pronounced, it’s an initialism. FBI, CIA, HTML and DVD are all initialisms, not acronyms, because we say them eff-bee-aye, see-aye-ay, aitch-tee-em-el and dee-vee-dee.

Sunshine Star

“Most Americans claim the pursuit of happiness among their inalienable rights, as set forth by their Founding Fathers. This concept was not introduced by them, however, as early philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Locke, Aquinas, and Mill opined that happiness is the most fundamental of all human searches. In Tolstoy’s book War and Peace, the Russian writer had his character Pierre Bezúkhov learn ‘that man is created for happiness, that happiness is within him, in the satisfaction of simple human needs, and that all unhappiness arises not from privation but from superfluity.’ Often, we find ourselves striving for the superfluity. We are not content with what we have and think that happiness comes from having more or acquiring more or being more. We look for happiness but go in the wrong direction to find it. The Savior of the world taught us to seek that inner peace which taps the innate happiness in our souls.” – President James E. Faust

Three Cottages

This may come as a shock to some quilters, but it’s possible to own too much fabric. If you come home from shopping and discover that there’s no room for the lovely new cotton prints you just bought, it might be time for a purge. Sure, you could rush off to Ikea or The Container Store for a new storage solution, but you’re really only postponing the inevitable. Sooner or later everyone needs to go through their stash and decide what stays and what goes. As you look at each piece, ask yourself, “Do I actually have plans for this?” “Am I as happy with this today as the day I bought it?” “Will this work well with other prints I own?” “Might this be useful in a number of different projects?” and most importantly, “Do I really love it?” If the answer is no to too many of these, add the piece to a bag or box to be donated.

Flag Day

David Ayres is forty-two years old, a kidney transplant survivor, and a Zamboni driver at the Toronto Maple Leaf’s practice rink. He’d even occasionally practiced with the hockey team, and he’d signed up as an emergency backup goal tender for their home games. He never imagined – never in his wildest dreams – that he’d end up on the ice during an actual game, but that’s exactly what happened February 22. Both of the Carolina Hurricanes’ goalies were injured, and David suited up. He let in the first two shots he faced but saved the next eight and earned an unlikely victory for the visiting team. Emergency goal tender is an unpaid position (they usually earn free meals and tickets for nights they’re on call), but the Hurricanes have offered David the proceeds from sales of T-shirts bearing his name. David says a portion of that will go to the Kidney Foundation.

Chloe's Cottage

Starting a new project is always exciting. But sometimes it’s hard to keep that enthusiasm going. Unforeseen difficulties can arise that make it hard to finish. Occasionally we’re stopped by our own mistakes; we read instructions wrong, we make a bad cut, or seams must be ripped out. Often, the blockage is caused by monotony rather than frustration. I have a UFO (unfinished fabric object) in my closet that should have been completed years ago. It has three prints: light grey, medium grey and dark grey tone-on-tone. What was I thinking? I asked several quilting friends what they do when a project stalls. One powers through. She rewards herself with a new kit when she finishes an old one. Another puts her project in “time out.” She stuffs the fabric, instructions and notes on what went wrong together in a sack. If a year goes by with no progress, the sack gets donated. A third friend stores orphan blocks for later use in charity quilts.

The First Three Borders

According to a recent Gallup poll, most Americans visit the library twice as often as they visit the cinema. Most reported ten library trips in 2019, compared to five movie outings. On average, they claimed to have attended five sporting events, four musical or live theatre performances, and 3.7 visits to national parks. Museum visits and casino trips were tied at 2.5, theme park outings were 1.5, and zoos were dead last at .9. I can’t think of a single sporting event we saw in 2019. We didn’t set foot in a casino, though we did stop in Vegas. We saw ten musical/theatrical performances, and that doesn’t count the ones we ourselves performed. We took one Disneyland vacation, but it lasted three days. We have (and use) memberships at the zoo, the aquarium and several museums. But we’re at the library and the movie theater almost every single week. Maybe it’s time to schedule a national park trip.

Magic

About halfway between Leicester and Norwich as the crow flies (because of course there are no straight roads anywhere in England) lies the tiny town of Wisbech. There, along the River Nene, is a little road which is also called Nene. On this road are a Chinese takeaway and an insurance agency, with a narrow alleyway between that leads to a pub car park. Above this alleyway is a tiny room that was probably once connected – a long time ago – to one of the first-floor flats above either the restaurant or the insurance office. This 129-square foot “flat” has two windows, but no door and no stairs. It was recently sold at auction for a single pound. It’s part of a terrace of old buildings that are believed to have been built as shops or granaries in the sixteenth century. So, what’s in the tiny room? No one knows. But whatever it is, it’s likely been there a long, long time.  

House with Flag

“When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave. When we understand the character of God, and know how to come to Him, He begins to unfold the heavens to us, and to tell us all about it. When we are ready to come to Him, He is ready to come to us.” – Joseph Smith, Jr.