Old Wind Mill

The earth doesn’t take exactly 365 days to complete its orbit around the sun. It takes 365 days and about six hours. This is why, for most years divisible by four, there’s an extra day tacked on to the end of February. I say “most years,” because centurial years only get a leap day if they’re divisible by 400. So, 1600 and 2000 had leap days, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 did not. The year 2100 won’t have a leap day, either. But I don’t suppose many of us will be around long enough to worry about it. If today is your birthday, you’re what is called a “leapling.” Leaplings in England, Wales and Hong Kong can (for legal purposes) use February 28 as a birthdate. All the rest must wait until March 1. Famous leaplings include Pope Paul III, Emmeline Wells, Jimmy Dorsey, Joss Ackland, and Dinah Shore. If there were no leap days, today would be July 9, 2025.

Flag House

My grandpa used to say it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and let the truth be known. I wish I had a dollar for every time I opened my mouth when I should have kept it shut. At a quilt guild board meeting earlier this month we were discussing projects for our May retreat. It was suggested we could print project photos to show members at the April meeting. I interrupted and said more of them would be interested if they could see – and touch – the finished project. I’ll stand by that. Quilters like to hold fabric when they’re considering whether to use it. It’s a lot harder to fall in love with a picture. Before I knew it, I’d volunteered to make a sample quilt in time for the April meeting. I don’t regret it, really. The prints and the pattern are fun. And the fabric FEELS so nice.

Crown and Star

I was shopping with my mother some weeks ago when she mentioned that she needed to replace her wool dryer balls. I didn’t say so at the time, but it struck me as rather odd. How does one simply lose four dryer balls? It didn’t take me very long to find out. A week or two later, one of my own dryer balls simply went missing. I’d folded and put away all the laundry, so I knew it wasn’t hiding inside a sleeve or a pant leg. About a week after that, it turned up without an explanation. My robot vacuum was working under the sofa and pushed it into the open. I had no idea how it got there until last week, when I heard an odd noise coming from the laundry room. I investigated and found my Scottie dog INSIDE THE DRYER, with a dryer ball in her mouth and a guilty expression on her face. Mystery solved.

Four Butterflies

If you’d like to attract more butterflies to your garden (and consequently, help these lovely creatures avoid extinction) there are several easy things you can try. First, ditch the pesticides, especially butterfly killers like malathion, Sevin, and diazinon. Find out what flowers are native to your area and incorporate them into your yard. Butterflies really only feed in full sun; keep this in mind as you design your garden. Butterflies love red, yellow, orange, pink and purple. They also prefer flat-topped blooms over long, narrow ones. If you leave some nice, flat rocks or even lawn furniture in a sunny spot, it will give them a pleasant place to rest. Butterflies love puddling (that’s basically chilling in damp sand or mud), so put out a few shallow dishes filled with sand and water. Some of their favorite flowers are phlox, coneflower, black-eyed Susan, liatris, heliotrope, lavender, butterfly weed, butterfly bush, cosmos, aster, allium, hollyhocks, sunflowers, sedum and goldenrod.

Crystal Star

In December, Utah Highway Patrol trooper Jesse Williams was on his way home at the end of a shift when he decided to take one last call. That’s how he met Leslie Martinez and her sister. The two elderly women had hit a deer on a lonely road in Iron County. They were unhurt, but the car was totaled. Jesse drove the sisters to their home and arranged for a tow truck. But he wanted to do so much more. He talked to his wife and children, and the whole family agreed to put the money they’d saved for Christmas toward helping the sisters. Jesse found a used car they could afford, so the sisters will still be able to go for groceries and keep doctors’ appointments. “We’re so thankful for the ability to help somebody else,” Jesse said. “Every day brings the chance to make a difference for somebody. Why wouldn’t I do that when I have the chance?”

Green Butterfly

“Mighty prayers do reach the heavens. In the book of Psalms, King David says, ‘Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.’ One of the meanings of the word pray in Hebrew is ‘to speak.’ That is what we do when we pray to our Heavenly Father: we speak to Him. When we offer a mighty prayer, we have the attention of the most powerful, merciful, loving being in the universe. We spend a moment in the heavens. We all need a moment in the heavens, especially when we are going through difficult times. I know beyond any doubt that there is a God in heaven. He is your Father and my Father. He lives. His name is Love. His name is Mercy. I can kneel down before my Maker, and I can speak to Him. And He, in His infinite mercy, answers back, again and again.” – Elder Juan A. Uceda

Star Chain

When I was a young mother, my own mother gave me two books: “A Family Raised on Rainbows” and “A Family Raised on Sunshine,” both by Beverly K. Nye. These books were treasure troves filled with shopping tips, homemaking ideas, money-saving hints and recipes. So many of the things I do every day I learned from those two books. For the most part, I buy fruits and vegetables when they’re in season. They’re fresher and cost less that way. I make a daily list of things that should be done, and I arrange them in order of importance. Even the recipe for homemade play dough that entertained my kids for years came from those two books. I had home economics teachers in middle school and high school, but I can’t remember a single thing they taught me. The books went out of print years ago and my own copies have fallen apart. But I wish I could pass them along today.