One Dozen Log Cabins

 

Names are important. Kiwi fruit was less popular when everyone called it the Chinese gooseberry. There’s actually evidence we’d eat far fewer raisins if they were labelled “dried grapes.” And, you’d probably never order sea bass if the menu said, “Patagonian toothfish.” In 1915, a group of California farmers met at the Hotel Alexandria in Los Angeles to discuss a crop they hoped to introduce to the American market. Their problem: its name – ahuacate – was difficult for Americans to pronounce. Worse, this name was the Aztec word for “testicle,” which their fruit strongly resembled. The name “alligator pear” seemed too slight an improvement. In the end, they settled on the name “avocado.” The avocado is one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. It is among the richest in fiber, potassium, vitamin E and magnesium. If that doesn’t convince you to try avocados, consider this: the Aztecs believed them to be an aphrodisiac.

Quarter-Square Triangle Star

 

Valentine’s is a week away. We won’t be exchanging over-priced heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, jewelry, perfume, or long-stemmed red roses. But that doesn’t mean we won’t be celebrating. We’ll probably dine in – homemade Zuppa Toscana, a big tossed salad, bread sticks and maybe little chocolate lava cakes for dessert. Or I could make these:

Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies

 

1 box strawberry cake mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoon flour

Valentine sprinkles

12 Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped

 

Preheat the oven to 350F and use a silicone baking mat. Combine cake mix, oil, eggs and flour. Fold in Valentine sprinkles. Use a small cookie scoop to roll the cookie dough into 2" balls and place on the baking sheet 2 to 3 inches apart. Bake about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven; gently press one chocolate kiss on top of each cookie.

Nine Log Cabins

 

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. – William Butler Yeats

Green Color Wash

 

“When we believe or say we’ve been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person has offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else. In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon. As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon.” – Elder David A. Bednar

Four Log Cabins

 

Julius Caesar brought a giraffe back from Alexandria in 46 B.C. Romans thought it was a leopard/camel hybrid, so they called it camelopardalis. Giraffes are the tallest mammals on Earth. Their legs alone are about six feet tall. Their necks are about six feet, too. But giraffes have only seven neck bones, just like you do. Those long giraffe necks are still too short to reach the ground. To drink, they have to spread their front legs or kneel. Luckily, giraffes only need to drink every two or three days. They get most of their water from eating leaves. Giraffes spend most of their lives standing up. They even sleep and give birth on their feet. Newborn giraffes can usually stand and walk in the first hour. Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. The hair-covered nubs on their heads are mostly cartilage, and they’re called ossicones. At birth, ossicones lie flat to avoid injury. 

Two More Bright Hopes

 

I’ve known for months our hall bathroom needed a wall hanging. None of the little quilts I’ve made so far seemed to belong there. So, I set to work making a new one. I pulled every bit of green cotton I could find out of my stash – civil war prints, 1930’s feed sacks, solids and batiks – and started hacking away. I meant to use 100 different scraps, but once I lined everything up on the design wall, I discovered two sets of matching blocks. I refused to head back to the quilt store over a pair of 3” blocks, but I knew if I finished the top as is, those matching sets would bug me FOREVER. I was at an impasse. Then my 2024 Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge kit arrived in the mail, with two colors I didn’t yet own: Lime and Emerald City. Just like that, I’m back in business.

Pink Log Cabin

 

A few weeks ago, our youngest son spent the weekend helping us to improve our Internet coverage. He cut some holes in the walls of our “new” home and ran cable through the attic. As he worked, he began pulling out wads of yellowed, crumpled-up newspaper. Why would anyone shove paper in a wall? I almost tossed the filthy mess into the trash, but my curiosity got the better of me. I laid the largest chunk on the ironing matt and flattened it. It was the Deseret News food section from July 1, 1987. We entertained ourselves comparing 80’s grocery prices with today’s. Then Grandson #2 spotted my birth name in one of the articles. Nabisco had just added a new flavor of Cheese Nips, and my dad’s uncle let them print his opinion. Then, someone wadded up the page and pushed it into the wall, where it waited nearly 37 years for us to find it!