Idaho Lily Quilt Top

Josh Cox is the owner of Mirage Lawn Painting in Fresno, California. That’s right – lawn PAINTING. His specialty is spraying dead, brown lawns a fresh, green hue. Before you dismiss the whole idea as vanity, many of his clients have a specific reason for wanting a verdant lawn in the middle of a drought, such as a house for sale, or a daughter getting married. Josh’s first job, straight out of high school, was as a house painter. As a lawn painter, he sets up much the way a house painter does, using drop cloths and masking tape. Josh’s “paint” is a plant-based solution, completely safe for the landscaping, for pets and for children. After Josh finishes the job, the lawn will stay green for two to three months, until it grows out naturally; much like a Grecian Formula for prematurely graying grass.

Four Cross Roads

I ran across this story a few days ago, and I thought I’d share: in 1973 Anthony Hopkins was preparing to film the movie The Girl from Petrovka about a Russian ballerina who falls in love with an American news correspondent. He decided to read George Feifer's novel that was the basis for the movie. He scoured the bookshops of London’s Charing Cross Road for the book, but came up empty-handed. As he waited at the station for his train home, Hopkins noticed a book lying forgotten on a bench. It was a dog-eared copy of The Girl from Petrovka, with notes scrawled in pencil in the margins. Wait, the story gets even better. When Hopkins and the author met sometime later, Feifer said a friend had borrowed his copy of the novel and then lost it somewhere in London. You guessed it; it was the very same book that Hopkins had found at Charing Cross station.

Idaho Lily Block

One night I had a wondrous dream: one set of footprints there were seen,

The footprints of my precious Lord, but mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared, and I asked the Lord, “What have we here?

Those prints are large and round and neat, but Lord, they are too big for feet.”

“My child,” He said in somber tones, “For miles I carried you alone.

 I challenged you to walk in faith, but you refused and made me wait.

“You disobeyed. You would not grow. The walk of faith you would not know,

So I got tired. I got fed up and there I dropped you on your butt.

Because in life, there comes a time when one must fight and one must climb,

When one must rise and take a stand, or leave their butt prints in the sand.” – Author Unknown

Evening Sonata

“When problems come and questions arise, do not start your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have, leading as it were with your ‘unbelief.’ That is like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak! Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have. Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith. It is not! So let us all remember the clear message of this scriptural account: Be as candid about your questions as you need to be; life is full of them on one subject or another. But if you and your family want to be healed, don’t let those questions stand in the way of faith working its miracle.” – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Chemo Snuggie Quilt

At the Quilts Etc. block-of-the-month class last week volunteers were sent home with kits to make Chemo Snuggie Quilts. Each kit contained instructions, 12 fat quarters for the top and 3 1/2 yards of fabric for the back and binding. We each promised to piece a 55x64” top, quilt and bind it (I must remember to pick up enough batting to finish this) and return it by the third of August. The directions are simple, but don’t leave much room for error. Once the 12 fat quarters are reduced to 10x8.5 and 5x8.5 rectangles, there’s nothing left but little strips. Most of the fabric is from Riley Blake’s Think Pink line. Because there were only 11 prints in my kit, I added a fat quarter from my stash. Now that the top is finished, I find myself hoping that whoever receives it doesn’t feel the way I do about the color of Pepto Bismol.

More Clear Skies

Another young man came to my door a few days ago – the third in as many weeks – offering to rid my home and my yard of spiders, wasps and ants. Maybe it was the cold, wet spring we had this year, or the intense dry heat that followed it, but the bugs have been unusually persistent. I’ve had tiny little sugar ants doing maneuvers by the front and back doors. The cat’s been busy keeping the house spider-free, and we’ve already taken down one wasp nest. We really could use a good pest control technician this year. But I turned him down, just as I did his predecessors. It wasn’t the expense, although none of them were cheap. I just don’t trust them to carefully read and follow the directions on their pesticides when they obviously missed our big “No Soliciting” sign.