Woven Heart

 

The butterfly effect is a way to describe how small events can have far-reaching and unexpected consequences. It was made popular by Edward Norton Lorenz, a meteorologist who discovered rounding a single variable in a weather simulation (like from 0.506127 to 0.506) produces a completely different forecast. In 1990, the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed because one NASA team used imperial calculations while another team used metric. Why is the US not on board with the metric system? Blame it on pirates. In 1779, the newly United States used different weights and measures, complicating interstate trade. Thomas Jefferson arranged for scientist Joseph Dombrey to bring examples of the new metric system from France. A storm blew Dombrey’s ship off course and into the hands of privateers in the Caribbean, where he died. Without this precious cargo, Congress refused to adopt the new system. Was the storm that doomed Dombrey caused by a butterfly’s flapping wings? I guess we’ll never know.

Square Knot

 

“The Savior invites all to serve him with all your heart. When we choose to do each thing the Lord has asked us to do—such as keeping the commandments, partaking of the sacrament, worshipping in the temple, and serving others—with a sincere heart and with real intent, each act of service and worship becomes a powerful spiritual experience that strengthens our faith and testimony and fills our hearts with joy and love for God and our fellow man. The prophet Alma’s question still echoes today: ‘Have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?’ Brothers and sisters, I invite you to give your whole heart to the Savior today. Let each act of worship and service be sincere and intentional. Set aside the distractions of the world and strive to have meaningful time for the Lord every day of your lives.” – Elder Ronald M. Barcellos

Five Dancing Stars

Just before he was hanged, French aristocrat and Royalist Marquis de Favras read his death warrant. According to Victor Hugo, his last words were, “Permit me to point out that you have made three mistakes in spelling.” François-Marie Arouet was a French Enlightenment writer who went by the nom de plume Voltaire. He was often critical of religious dogma. As he lay on his death bed, his priest asked if he rejected Satan. “My good man,” Voltaire exclaimed, “now is not the time to make new enemies.” As Spanish Prime Minister Ramón María Narváez lay dying, he was asked if he forgave his enemies. “I don’t need to forgive them,” he replied, “I’ve had them all shot.” In November, 1900, Oscar Wilde was ill and impoverished in a hotel in Paris. Unhappy with his surroundings, he declared, “This wallpaper is killing me. Decidedly one of us will have to go.” 

 

Four Flags

 

The first week in January, I saw an article about the Quilts of Valor 2026 National Block Drive, and the block they chose for this year: the Echo block. I read about the blocks they hope to receive and thought, “I can do that.” Within days, I was tearing into my stash for red, white (or off-white) and blue prints. I love scrappy quilting projects. Rediscovering prints I used years (or even decades) ago brings back lovely memories. They do tend to make my sewing room look like the aftermath of a hurricane, but the results are just dazzling. I was midway through this indoor storm when our quilt guild announced this year’s project: a scrappy top filled with these red, white and blue American flags; one for each state in the union. The QOV project will be donated to a veteran, and the flag quilt will commemorate the semiquincentennial. I can do that.

Four Small Stars

 

Thoughts on motherhood:

“When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so someone in the house is happy to see you.” – Nora Ephron

“It’s not easy being a mom. If it were, fathers would do it.” – Betty White

“It just occurred to me the majority of my diet is food my kid didn’t finish.” – Carrie Underwood

“No one told me I’d be coming home in diapers, too.” – Chrissy Teigen

“If you aren’t yelling at your kids, you’re not spending enough time with them.” – Reese Witherspoon

“My sister said once, ‘Anything I don’t want Mother to know, I don’t even think of, if she’s in the room.’” – Agatha Christie

“I’ve been married fourteen years and I have three kids. Obviously, I breed well in captivity.” – Roseanne Barr

“Like all parents, my husband and I do the best we can, hold our breath, and hope we set aside enough money to pay for our kids’ therapy.” – Michelle Pfeiffer

Three Dozen Echoes

 

Squash Alfredo

 

1 large spaghetti squash

2 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons cream cheese

1 cup mozzarella

1 cup baby spinach

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Fill a baking sheet with about an inch of water. Cut spaghetti squash in half crosswise, scoop out the seeds. Place cut side down in the prepared baking sheet and bake until tender, about 45 minutes. Use a fork to pull apart the strands of squash and set half of them aside. Season squash halves with salt and pepper, and then add butter, cream cheese and half the mozzarella. Stir to combine. Add spinach and reserved spaghetti squash; top with remaining mozzarella. Broil for 3-4 minutes until the cheese is bubbly. Makes 2 generous servings.

Tiny Green Nine-Patch

 

I’ve been a quilter since 2004. My first quilt was a sampler made with civil war reproduction prints. I keep it near my front door, to remind me of how far I’ve come. As with any endeavor, there are inherent risks. I have several friends who’ve sliced themselves badly with rotary cutters. I haven’t done that, at least not yet. I know more than a few quilters who’ve machine-stitched right through their own fingers – another experience I hope to avoid altogether. On occasion, I’ve mishandled hot irons, but never so badly to need anything more than an ice cube and a little aloe vera. For me the real danger is needles and pins. I don’t seem capable of handling either without repeatedly stabbing myself. It happens frequently while I’m piecing tops, and every single time when I hand stitch binding. I guess you could say blood sweat and tears have gone into every quilt I’ve made.

Ombré Dash

 

“Listening to and acting on the words and invitations of the prophets and apostles can fill us with hope, confidence, and strength, resulting in our faith becoming unshaken. I have learned that a desire to be reconciled to God must be accompanied by a desire to repent. Repenting and experiencing the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ lead to unshaken faith. Unshaken faith leads to a desire to always be reconciled to God. This is a circular, or iterative, pattern. Brothers and sisters, I invite you to be reconciled to God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testify that making and keeping covenants makes our connection to the Savior strong, thereby avoiding becoming ripe for destruction. I testify that this reconciliation to God, through Jesus Christ’s Atonement, leads to unshakable faith.” - Elder Kelly R. Johnson

Tender Heart

 

"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides." —David Viscott

"I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you." —Roy Croft

"Where there is love there is life." —Mahatma Gandhi

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." —Dr. Seuss

"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." —Audrey Hepburn

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." —Emily Brontë

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." —Lao Tzu

"I have, for the first time, found what I can truly love. I have found you." —Charlotte Bronte

"Love is friendship set to music." —Joseph Campbell

"My soul and your soul are forever tangled." —N.R. Hart

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." —Aristotle

Flag Block

 

The first Friday of the year that falls on the thirteenth day of the month is “National Blame Someone Else Day.” This is a holiday you can really get behind. If anything goes wrong today – and let’s face it; something ALWAYS goes wrong – all you have to do is point the finger of blame at someone else. No matter what brainless thing you did today, you can find someone to take the fall. This holiday was created in 1982 by Anne Moeller from Clio, Michigan. Anne’s alarm clock failed on the morning of the first Friday the 13^th of the year, setting off a domino effect of bad luck. If you’re having trouble finding a suitable target for your blame, typical scapegoats include your children, your siblings, your spouse, your neighbors, your co-workers, the weather, or faulty technology. The only downside of this holiday is while you’re laying the blame elsewhere, someone else might also blame you.  

Four Tilting Valentines

 

The average steam iron lasts about seven years. If you buy a reliable brand, empty the reservoir after use and periodically descale it, your iron might work a bit longer. If you use it daily (as I do) you can expect it to fail sooner. I’ve run through my fair share of irons. They all serve me well, and then one day they just stop heating up. Until this week. My seven-year-and-one-month-old Rowenta iron, which used to make a soft “bink” sound when it turned on and a “pop” when it turned off, suddenly began saying “bink-pop-bink-pop-bink-pop” until I unplugged it. I waited a few minutes, plugged it in again, and the same thing happened. I replaced it with an identical model, but it cost almost exactly twice what I paid for the old one. Rowentas are made in Germany, so it could be tariffs. Or inflation. Probably both.

Thirty-Five Echoes

 

When Edgar McGregor was a teenager, he joined in the Fridays for Future school strikes inspired by Greta Thunberg. He looked for ways to make a difference in his own community. In May 2019, Edgar toted a five-gallon bucket and a pair of gloves into Eaton Canyon, a popular hiking spot near his home. He figured he could single-handedly clean up the canyon in a week or two. He pulled out bottles, cans, old tires, cell phones, and cigarette lighters. After two weeks, he’d only scratched the surface. Edgar kept at it every day for nearly two years, through 117-degree summer days, snowstorms and a pandemic. Edgar, who has autism, found satisfaction in the rhythm of the work and the beauty of his surroundings. He intended to return and continue keeping the park clean on a weekly basis, but the 2025 Eaton Fire and the subsequent closure of the park may have interfered with his plans.

Ribbon Star

 

Greek Orzo Salad

 

1 1/4 cup orzo pasta

15 ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 1/2 cups cucumber, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted

4 ounces feta, crumbled

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice + lemon zest

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon Dijon

1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

 

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice with zest, honey, Dijon and seasoning. Stir in drained garbanzo beans. Marinate at least 10 minutes. Cook orzo according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water; shake dry. Toss with vegetables, feta and garbanzo mixture; serve.

Tilting Heart

 

“Your proving and strengthening may not look like Moroni’s or Jacob’s or the Prophet Joseph’s. But it will come. It may come quietly, through the trials of family life. It may come through illness or disappointment or grief or loneliness. I bear witness that these moments are not evidence the Lord has abandoned you. Rather, they are evidence He loves you enough to refine and strengthen you. If we remain faithful in our service, the Lord will refine us. He will strengthen us. And one day we will look back and see that those very trials were evidence of His love. We will see that He was shaping us to be able to stand with Him in glory. As the Lord’s Apostle Paul stated at the end of his own life, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’” - Elder Henry B. Eyring

Thirty Echoes

 

We’re warned by those who work with the homeless not to give cash to panhandlers. They say the money won’t go to food or shelter. It just fuels whatever addiction put them there in the first place. But what if you donated a lot of money – enough to really make a difference? That’s the question the documentary “Reversal of Fortune” tried to answer in 2005. They handed $100,000 to Ted Rodrigue, a man who lived under a bridge and recycled beverage containers to buy food, beer and cigarettes. His first purchases were a new bicycle and an amusement park trip. Then he rented a motel room. Ted’s family learned about his windfall and invited him to come for a visit. They encouraged him to find a job and invest his money, but he was only concerned about the NOW. Within six months, the money was all gone and Ted was back under the bridge, dumpster diving for bottles and cans.  

Four Valentines

 

Two weeks ago, Heather and I watched Lady and the Tramp as we drove to the hospital and back. At the end of the film Jock (a Scottish terrier) and Trusty (a bloodhound) chase the dogcatcher’s wagon through a thunderstorm. The horses are spooked and the wagon overturns, injuring Trusty. Jock finds his wounded friend and howls. I’ve seen the movie dozens, maybe hundreds of times. But this time I thought, “That’s dumb. Scotties don’t howl.” A day or two later, I heard an odd, melodic sound in the back garden. I opened the door and caught Lassie howling. There was an emergency vehicle passing by two blocks away, and she was singing along with the siren. I’ve since been told Lassie sometimes howls when she thinks she’s home alone. I looked it up. According to Google, some Scotties may howl when they’re excited, when they hear a high-pitched sound, or to express separation anxiety. 

Starry Bloom

 

This is not the future Saturday morning cartoons prepared me for. I really expected by this point in my life, I’d be living – or at least vacationing – on the moon. Or maybe Mars. I’d have an ultra-modern home with 360-degree views, like the space needle. I thought I’d be zipping here and there in my own personal rocket ship. And I KNEW I’d own a robot: like Rosie on the Jetsons. She’d keep my house clean and tidy, do the dishes and laundry, and maybe remind me of tomorrow’s haircut appointment. Well, I DO own a robot vacuum. It’s a tossup whether he’s working for me or I’m working for him. And maybe he's sharing my data with China. Ten-year-old me would have thought robots calling me on my phone would be cool. It isn’t. Now we have artificial intelligence eliminating human jobs, making us doubt EVERYTHING, and making the price of electricity skyrocket. Not what I signed up for.

Twenty-Five Echoes

 

A 90-year-old couple are having trouble remembering things, so they visit their doctor. After a check-up, the doctor says they’re physically fine. He suggests they may want to start writing important things down so they won’t forget them. Later that evening, they’re both watching television. The husband gets up, and his wife says, “Where are you going?” “To the kitchen,” he replies. “I thought I’d like some ice cream.” “Could you bring me some, too?” says his wife. “Sure,” he answers. “I’d like strawberries and whipped cream on top,” she says. “Maybe you should write it down so you won’t forget.” “I don’t need to write it down!” he barks back, and he leaves. A few minutes later, he returns with a plate of fried eggs and bacon. His wife looks at the plate and exclaims, “See? I SAID you should have written it down! You’ve forgotten my toast!”

Valentine Heart

 

Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t like our weather, just wait a few minutes.” I actually prefer George Carlin’s quote, “The weather will continue to change on and off for a long, long time.” So far, our winter has been remarkably mild. But that could change on a dime. If you hear the words “winter storm warning,” make sure all your devices are charged and your gas tank is full. Check flashlights and spare batteries. See that you have at least three days of non-perishable food that doesn’t need cooking. Fill bottles and tubs with water. Fill your freezer with ice. Bring pets indoors. If the power goes out, use flashlights, not candles. Unplug sensitive electronics. Close curtains to retain heat. Make sure your neighbors are okay. When the power comes back on, check for frozen pipes. Toss any spoiled food, and gradually plug your devices in again.

February Door Banner

 

“Our Savior Jesus Christ is our ultimate role model. We’ll be blessed if we model our lives after His teachings and self-sacrifice. Following Christ and giving ourselves in service to one another is the best remedy for the selfishness and individualism that now seem to be so common. Parents also have a duty to teach children practical knowledge apart from gospel principles. Families unite when they do meaningful things together. Family gardens build family relationships. Happy family experiences strengthen family ties. Camping, sports activities, and other recreation are especially valuable to bond families. Families should organize family reunions to remember ancestors, which lead to the temple. Parents should educate children in the basic skills of living, including working in the yard and home. Learning languages is useful preparation for missionary service and modern life. Families flourish when they learn as a group and counsel together on all matters of concern to the family and its members.” – President Dallin H. Oaks