Clear Skies

“The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity. I am so grateful for the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the power of procreation, for the power of redemption, for the Atonement—the Atonement which can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated. The Atonement can put you free again to move forward, cleanly and worthily, to pursue that path that you have chosen in life.” – President Boyd K. Packer

Thistle

No one likes to be fed leftovers that LOOK like leftovers, so I get creative about disguising them. Last week I accidentally cooked lots more rice than I needed. Rice freezes well, but won’t live in the fridge long. If it isn’t sealed it dries out; if it’s airtight it spoils. My favorite solution is fried rice. There’s no real recipe. I throw a little bacon or ham into a hot wok and add whatever’s in the vegetable bin: carrots, scallions, mushrooms, cabbage, peppers, etc. When they’re bright and crunchy/tender, I add cooked rice, scrambled eggs and a dash of soy sauce. My second favorite is rice pudding. I use equal parts cooked rice and milk – say, 3 cups each. Put them in a saucepan and add about half a cup sugar, 1 tablespoon butter and a handful of raisins. Simmer, stirring, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add a teaspoon of vanilla. Serve warm with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Four Appleton Blocks

It’s no secret You’ve Got Mail is my favorite movie. I’ve watched it so many times I’ve probably memorized it. I’ve actually considered taking a trip to New York City to visit the locations where it was filmed. I’m already too late for H & H Bagelry, which closed three years ago. The bookstore “Shop around the Corner” was really a cheese-and-antique store. How cool is that? Alas, it too is gone, replaced by a rather ordinary dry cleaner. Zabar’s Deli, where Meg Ryan gets stuck in the cash-only line, is at 2245 Broadway. Barney Greengrass, where Meg lunches with Jean Stapleton, has served smoked seafood on Amsterdam Avenue since 1929. Café Lalo, where Tom Hanks discovers his pen pal is his rival, is at 201 West 83rd Street. The beautiful garden from the movie’s end is Riverside Park on 91st Street. But the place I MUST see is Gray’s Papaya at 2090 Broadway and 72nd Street.

Crossroad

I was cycling the Porter Rockwell Trail a few weeks ago, and I passed a woman with a T-shirt with “STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY” printed across the front in really large letters. For the past three months I’ve been making a deliberate point of getting up off the sofa. I mow the lawn and mop the floor. I walk the dog. I push strollers, wheelchairs and vacuums. I jog and bike and even swim a little. In twelve weeks I’ve lost almost 7% of myself. Somehow none of it came from my belly – the first place I gain and the last place I lose. I don’t think I look the least bit different. But I do feel good. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently released the results of a study that suggests inactivity may be even more harmful to your health than obesity. My tummy will probably never be flat. But at least I’m still moving.

Hopscotch Quilt

This year I’ve been making the little quilts from the Simple Whatnots Club at Mormon Handicraft. Well, some of them, anyway. I skipped the first one, Widdlytinks, because it had scary appliqued leaves and dozens of 1” yo-yos. Meandering, the second quilt, is completely finished and serving as a table topper. I have fabric for the back and binding of Sunday Supper. It’s just waiting for me to get around to quilting it. I may do Idaho Lily someday. It has the same appliqued leaves as Widdleytinks, just not quite so many of them. Hopscotch was meant to have lots more colors than this. I left out the oranges, greens, teals, pinks, blacks and browns and used only red, gold, navy and a paler background for an Americana look. I chose to make 140 half-square triangles instead of half that many flying geese for the sake of accuracy. Here’s how the quilt might have turned out if I’d followed the original instructions:

Hot Air Balloon

“The best way of travel, if you aren't in any hurry at all, if you don't care where you are going, if you don't like to use your legs, if you don't want to be annoyed at all by any choice of directions, is in a balloon. In a balloon, you can decide only when to start, and usually when to stop. The rest is left entirely to nature.” ― William Pène du Bois, The Twenty-One Balloons

I haven’t crossed “ride in hot air balloon” off my bucket list yet. Sandy City holds a balloon festival in August. Dozens of balloons rise early Saturday morning from a park a mile from my home. If the wind cooperates (it often does) many eventually float over my house. The past few years one balloon has stayed tethered at the park, offering straight up-and-down rides. I could do that this year, I suppose. But I don’t think that’s what I meant when I wrote it in the bucket list.