Pinwheel Star

 

Elias Howe was born in Massachusetts in 1819. He was apprenticed at a textile factory, and later worked as a mechanic with carding machinery. For years he wrestled with the idea of a machine that could relieve tailors and seamstresses of the drudgery of hand stitching. One night, he dreamed he was about to be executed by primitive tribe for his inability to invent the sewing machine. The “savages” came at him with spears – spears with piercings near their tips. His dream led to the invention of the lockstitch sewing machine, which uses a needle pierced near the tip. In 1851, Elias received a patent for another invention, which he called the “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure.” The popularity of the sewing machine kept Elias so busy, he never really marketed his other invention, which you’ve probably already used at least twice today. Today is National Zipper Day, something you may want to remember next time you zip up.

Cheerful Churn Dash

 

While planning my entry for the 2015 State Fair Quilt Challenge, I bought a fat quarter bundle in jewel tones to compliment the bold, bright challenge fabric. The leftovers became a bed quilt when my grandson graduated from his crib. In 2016, my challenge quilt showed off orange prints from several different fabric lines. The scraps became pumpkins in four autumn quilts. In 2017, I used 5” squares imported from Japan; there were no leftovers at all. I cannibalized two different quilt kits in 2018. I have fun plans for the Lori Holt 30’s prints I used in 2019. The red, grey and blue scraps from my 2020/2021 entry became a full-size quilt for my son's brother-in-law. I bought another fat quarter bundle to make last year’s quilt, but didn’t end up using any of it. These black, pink and green prints will make a fun queen-sized sampler quilt. What’ll I do with this year’s leftovers? I have no idea.  

Thirty Log Cabins

 

If she’d been born only a generation or two earlier, Katherine Johnson probably wouldn’t have been taught to read or write, much less to multiply and divide. Even in the 1920’s in Greenbriar County, West Virginia, African Americans like Katherine could only receive an eighth-grade education. When she was ten years old, her family moved to Institute, West Virginia so Katherine and her three siblings could continue learning. She finished high school at age fourteen. Katherine graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia State College (a historically black school) with degrees in mathematics and French, at eighteen. Katherine began working for NASA in 1952, in a pool of African American female mathematicians. In 1961, she calculated the trajectory of man’s first trip into space. She helped the crew of Apollo 13 find their way home. Her work was so consistent when NASA began to use computers, they had Katherine double-check their results for accuracy. 

Moab

 

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

 

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

 

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

 

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Twenty-five Log Cabins

 

It probably happens a few times every year. A kid – maybe it’s my imagination, but it seems like it’s usually a boy – is fascinated with the arcade claw machine. He decides there’s an easier way to get the toy he wants, and he crawls through the door meant to dispense said toy. Then he discovers getting into the machine is easier than getting back out, and someone has to call the fire department. The average age of the kids rescued from claw machines is probably between three and five. Last week an event in North Carolina proved you don’t have to be a preschooler to be really stupid. A thirteen-year-old was discovered inside a Cosmic XL Bonus Game in Carowinds, trying to steal a plush toy. He’s been banned from returning to the amusement park for a year. But his family and friends will NEVER let him forget this.

Five Inch Sawtooth Star

 

“Followers of Jesus Christ minister one to another, rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep, remember the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted. Let His name be known through our ministry. We may tire physically. But in His service, we do not weary in well-doing. We diligently do our best, do not run faster than we have strength, but trust, as the Apostle Paul teaches, that God loveth a cheerful giver. God enriches everything to all bountifulness. They which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Wherever we are, let us reach out and care as our Savior would, especially to those whom we are privileged by love and assignment to minister. In so doing, may we draw closer to Jesus Christ and each other, becoming more like Him and the followers of Jesus Christ He would have us each be.” – Elder Gerrit W. Gong

Sixteen Log Cabins

 

Spring came late this year, but it’s here now. My crocuses are spent, and there are pear and cherry buds EVERYWHERE. Before you know it, there will be nests full of hungry birdlings. What should you do if you find a lost baby bird? That depends. If the “baby” has feathers, it isn’t lost, and it’s no baby. It’s a fledgling learning to fly. Mom and Dad are nearby, watching and feeding until it’s airborne. If it’s naked, pick it up and return it to the nest. Don’t worry. Most birds don’t have a good sense of smell. Your help won’t cause them to reject their baby. If you can’t find the nest, put Junior on a tree branch. It will holler until help arrives. Don’t try to feed it. Don’t take it home. If it’s a duckling or gosling, don’t put it in the water. Unless it’s stuck down a storm drain, it’s better off where it is. 

Sparkle and Shine

 

Whenever you clean a thing, you’re really just making something else dirty. It’s something to think about the next time you switch on the vacuum or load your washing machine. The machines that clean our stuff need to be cleaned themselves from time to time. Even your trusty dishwasher needs a bit of TLC now and then. First, take out the racks, filter and utensil holders. Soak them in a tub of warm water and a cup of white vinegar. Remove all loose gunk with paper towels; clear corners and spray holes with toothpicks or an old toothbrush. Pay special attention to the door seals. Run through a cycle with just a cup of vinegar in a glass bowl. Sprinkle a cup of baking soda and cycle again before replacing the racks, utensil holders and filter. You’ll want to repeat this about once a month to keep the dishwasher looking (and working) in top condition. 

Nine Log Cabins

 

We just learned a property near here is about to be rezoned to become a large self-storage facility. My first thought is they’ll want to level and pave the area before building storage units. I wonder if this may cause some basements nearby to flood. I wonder if a storage facility attracts thieves, and if theft deterrents – bright lights, razor wire, etc. – may make life here unpleasant. Beyond the “not in my backyard” objections, I think storage units are a bad idea. Most, if not all, the things we stick in storage depreciate in value while they’re stored. Then there’s the “out of sight, out of mind” issue. If it’s not in your way, you can put off dealing with it. Instead of moving on, you can acquire and hoard even more. The truth is, if you can stick it in a storage unit for a year or more, you don’t really need it, or the monthly bill.

Another Pinwheel

 

The phrase “the shot heard ‘round the world” comes from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1837 poem "Concord Hymn". It refers to the opening shot of the battles of Lexington and Concord April 19, 1775 – which, in Emerson’s opinion – started the American Revolutionary War and led to the creation of the United States. Most people consider the Revolution’s first victim to be Crispus Attucks, a sailor of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry. Crispus was in a crowd of sailors hurling snowballs and insults at a small group of British soldiers March 5, 1770. The soldiers fired their muskets into the crowd, killing Crispus and four others. The event is known as the “Boston Massacre.” It’s easy, in retrospect, to say the US came about because of war, the war was started by a battle, and the battle happened because five people were shot five years earlier. But you know, it’s never just ONE thing.

Four Log Cabins

 

Heather wears her hair braided, because if she doesn’t, she ends up sitting on it. She’s proud of the length. The only time she’s been willing to have it cut is when there’s enough to donate to Locks of Love or Wigs for Kids. My hair gets cut every five or six weeks, so there’s never enough to help someone with cancer or alopecia. That doesn’t mean my clippings have to go to the landfill. Matter of Trust, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, collects hair trimmings from individuals and salons, along with fur, wool and fleece from groomers and farmers. Donated clippings become felt mats to soak up oil spills in wells, rivers and even oceans. Hair, as it happens, can absorb five times its weight in oil. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are thousands of oil spills – large and small – in US waters every year. The solution might be right on your head.

Five Geese Flying

 

“By making and keeping temple covenants, we learn more about the Lord’s purposes and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost. We receive direction for our lives. We mature in our discipleship so we do not remain perpetual, unknowing children. Rather, we live with an eternal perspective and are more motivated to serve God and others. We receive increased capacity to fulfill our purposes in mortality. We are protected from evil, and we gain greater power to resist temptation and to repent when we stumble. When we falter, the memory of our covenants with God helps us return to the path. By connecting to God’s power, we become able to go against the flow of the world, throughout our lives and into the eternities. Keeping covenants made in baptismal fonts and in temples also provides us with strength to withstand mortality’s trials and heartaches. The doctrine associated with these covenants eases our way and provides hope, comfort, and peace.” – Elder Dale G. Renlund

Log Cabin

 

We found ourselves downtown around lunchtime earlier this week, so we dropped by a favorite sandwich place we haven’t visited in a long while. We ordered what used to be the best item on the menu: Cuban pork sandwiches. Their bread hasn’t changed – it’s still made in-house from Caputo Italian Double Zero flour (the kind you find in the very best pizzarias). The pork is still rubbed with cumin and orange zest and slow-roasted in orange juice and sherry vinegar. But everything else about the sandwich has changed. There was no thin-sliced honey ham or Swiss cheese, no butter, mustard or pickle. Instead, it had red onion, aioli and a LOT of jalapeno. It was a fine sandwich; it just wasn’t the sandwich we’d come for. I have no idea why they changed the recipe, but I do know this: if I want the Cuban pork sandwich I'm craving, I’m going to have to make it myself.

Butterfly

 

April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. The president died the following morning. General Lee had surrendered only five days earlier. Booth believed if he killed Lincoln, the Union would fall into disarray and the Confederacy could be restored. If the one thing you know about Lincoln is he was an abolitionist, think again. Lincoln was opposed to slavery on moral and economic grounds, but knew the institution was sanctioned by the Constitution. He felt impoverishing slave owners by emancipating slaves was unfair. Lincoln was opposed to people of color having the right to vote, serve on juries, hold office and intermarry with white people. He didn’t believe different “races” could live together in peace, and he tried to ship free black citizens to the Caribbean. Does this sound like the hero you learned about in grade school? My point? Humans are very complex creatures. And we’re ALL shaped by the times in which we live.

Grandma's Star

 

I shared Jeff Reitz’ story here in 2013, when he’d visited Disneyland every day for a year. I shared it again in 2017, when Jeff was still making a daily pilgrimage to the happiest place on earth. In 2020, the pandemic put an abrupt end to Jeff’s pastime, but not before he’d broken a world record. Jeff isn’t in the park on a daily basis anymore; the new reservation system makes dropping by a thing of the past. But he’s still what you’d call a regular. Using an annual pass keeps his admission costs down to a few bucks a day. Eating at Disneyland isn’t cheap or easy, but Jeff’s favorite meal was pasta at Redd Rockett's Pizza Port in Tomorrowland. (Pizza Port is Alien Pizza Planet now, but the menu looks similar.) Jeff loves riding Matterhorn Bobsleds and Rise of the Resistance. But his favorite thing to do in the parks – chatting with cast members – is absolutely free.

Double Pinwheel

 

Walt Disney built the tiny apartment above the Main Street fire house primarily because he needed a home away from home while Disneyland was under construction. There wasn’t space for a bedroom, but there was a small sofa for naps. Once the park opened, Walt thought the apartment would make a good base of operations for his family. But families get bigger and tiny apartments don’t. Walt planned a more comfortable space above Pirates of the Caribbean. It would have two beds, two baths, a living room and patio, with a view of the Rivers of America. He hired Dorothea Redmond (set designer for Gone with the Wind) to give it a French Provincial feel. The new apartment was nearly finished when Walt passed. For a while, the “Dream Suite” was an art gallery. In 2007, it was redecorated following Redmond's original plans. You can stay there – for free – as long as you’re an American president or visiting dignitary. 

Flying Dutchman

 

When we lived in England, one of our favorite places to visit was the Leeds Costco. Our house was less than 20 miles away, but it was a forty-minute trip one way, in good traffic. We’d make a day of it, and plan for lunch or dinner at the Costco café. John usually ordered the 3£ cottage pie, while Heather and I would have jacket potatoes at 2£ each. I’m told you can get an Aussie beef pie at the Costco cafes in Australia, and they have persimmon smoothies, Greek yogurt parfaits and sweet pumpkin soup in Korea. There are cinnamon churros and mango smoothies at Mexican Costco cafes. Costco in Spain carries croquetas and barbacoa chicken wings. I don’t imagine it would surprise anyone to see poutine at the Costco cafes in Canada. Our local café carries chicken bakes, hot dogs and pizza. And they’re fine, really. Until you think about what you’re missing.

Follow the Leader

 

“I observe a growing effort among Latter-day Saints toward a more Christ-centered Easter. This includes a greater and more thoughtful recognition of Palm Sunday and Good Friday as practiced by some of our Christian cousins. We might also adopt appropriate Christ-centered Easter traditions found in the cultures and practices of countries worldwide. New Testament scholar N. T. Wright suggested: ‘We should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: in art, literature, children’s games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts. This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity.’” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Winding Ways

 

Stuff my brain thinks about when I should be doing something useful:

The word “swims” upside-down is still “swims.”

When the snow melts, where does all the white go?

Every time you clean something, you’re just making something else dirty.

If a poison is past its expiration date, does it become more poisonous, or less?

Why is the letter w in English called a double-U? Shouldn’t it be a double-V?

Maybe oxygen’s slowly killing us all. It just takes eighty or ninety years to get the job done.

Do twins ever wonder which of them was unplanned?

Why is MLB’s championship called “World Series” if it only happens in the U.S.?

What if my dog only brings the ball back because she thinks I like throwing it?

Which letter in the word “scent” is silent? Is it the S or the C?

Intentionally losing a game of rock, paper, scissors is just as hard as winning.

Third Star Blossom

I discovered Berry Hibiscus Honest Tea when our local cinema and a couple of our favorite eateries started carrying it. I loved it, not for what it was, but for what it wasn’t. An herbal tea, it had no caffeine. It wasn’t carbonated. It had no artificial sweeteners, artificial colors or flavors. There was no corn syrup on the ingredient list, and it had just enough cane sugar to keep it from tasting bitter or sour. It was difficult to find in stores, but not impossible. Then the pandemic hit. When the movie theater reopened, their wide assortment of snacks was reduced to popcorn, fountain drinks and not much else. Three years later, that still hasn’t changed. I arranged for Amazon to send me a dozen bottles every month, but they stopped in December. Now I read Coca-Cola has discontinued Honest Tea, replacing it with Peace Tea – which has ALL the ingredients I try to avoid.

Old Fashioned Star

 

The older I get, the more I worry about falling. I’m probably closer to the ground than most of the adults you know, but I’ve already taken a few falls that took months (sometimes even years) of recovery. I’ve noticed the sidewalks in our subdivision have cracked and become displaced, creating a significant tripping hazard. The HOA was supposed to begin replacing the sidewalks a decade ago, but nothing has happened yet. I’m out walking the dogs every day. What if I fall again and do even more serious damage? What if a visitor falls and sues our HOA for neglecting this issue? Before the next meeting, someone should really document and photograph all the pavement breaks and cracks with more than 1/4" variants in surface height (a tripping hazard as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act) and present them to the board. The really sad thing is, I’m beginning to suspect this someone has got to be me. 

Another Star Blossom

 

I’m not a huge fan of Shel Silverstein or his works, but he did write a few poems that strike a resonant chord with me. One of these is called “Merry:”

No one's hangin' stockin's up,

No one's bakin' pie,

No one's lookin' up to see

A new star in the sky.

No one's talkin' brotherhood,

No one's givin' gifts,

And no one loves a Christmas tree

On March the twenty-fifth.

Christmas trees aren’t the only things that lose their charm after three or four months. It’s well past March 25, but it still looks like a winter wonderland here. The snow in the yard is taller than my dogs, so they’ve taken to relieving themselves indoors. John shoveled several times yesterday, but I’m not sure the letter carrier can reach our mailbox today. And Easter is four days away! Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can hunt for eggs on Mother’s Day.

Century

 

My grandkids love pasta, especially if they can choose whether or not to top it with marinara, Bolognese, Alfredo, etc. We usually pair pasta dishes with a tossed salad and garlic bread. It starts with a store-bought loaf of French or Italian bread – the chubby kind, not the long skinny baguettes. With a long serrated knife, I slice the loaf in half lengthwise. In a small bowl, I beat together half a cup of room-temperature butter, 4 minced cloves of garlic, and half a teaspoon dried parsley. Sometimes I stir in half a cup of grated parmesan. This mixture gets spread over each cut side of the loaf. Both halves are popped in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes, until the butter (and cheese) are melted and the bread is a toasty golden-brown. Then they’re sliced into generous hunks and served while they’re still hot.

Star Blossom

 

“There is reason for optimism: It is that the light of Christ is placed in every newborn child. With that universal gift comes a sense of what is right, a desire to love and be loved," – President Henry B. Eyring

“Wherever we are in this Easter season, let us reach out and care as our Savior would, especially to those whom we are privileged by love and assignment to minister.” – Elder Gerrit W. Gong

“The God of heaven and earth will help us overcome discouragement and whatever obstacles we encounter if we look to Him, follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and just keep going with faith.” – Elder Carl B. Cook

“In reality, the Book of Mormon shares the greatest Easter story ever told. Let it not be the greatest Easter story NEVER told.” – Elder Gary E. Stevenson

Friendship Chain

 

My grandpa used to say it was better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. I suspect it was something he memorized in grade school, along with “How We Tried to Whip the Teacher” by Eugene Hall and a few of Edgar A. Guest’s poems. I’ve tried to find a source for his adage, but while it’s frequently attributed to famous wits like Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln, the origin is still murky. It may have some connection with Proverbs 17:28, which says (in the King James version) “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: And he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” As today is April Fool’s Day, I’m sure you’ll see a lot of hoaxes and misinformation on the Internet masquerading as news. Please take it all with a grain of salt, and avoid resharing without verification. Just like every other day.