Pink Heart

 

It seems a little odd to me that February 27 is National Strawberry Day. Where I live, strawberries won’t be in season until June. The big, juicy berries in the stores right now have been shipped from southern California or Mexico. I know it’s not very environmentally conscious of me, but I can’t help myself. I bought several of these beauties just yesterday. There aren’t enough to make jam, but I could make a fresh strawberry pie. Some might get covered in chocolate. A few will decorate my oatmeal or pancakes tomorrow. But most of them are destined to be a frozen treat. I’ll run 4 cups of hulled strawberries through the blender with 2 cups of sour cream, a cup each of cream and sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Half an hour in my ice cream freezer, and a few hours “curing” in the deep freeze, and we’ll have homemade strawberry ice cream. In February!

Shining Star

 

Do you ever read a news article and find yourself wondering about details the author left out? I do, and sometimes it drives me crazy. This all started with a shoe. None of the articles I found mentioned the type of shoe, or whether it belonged to a man, a woman or a child. The shoe fell off the foot of a tourist ziplining over a crocodile habitat in the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park. It was a minor inconvenience for the owner of the shoe, who probably had to buy alligator-themed flip flops at the gift shop later. But for Anuket, a 10 1/2-foot reptile with an appetite for footwear, it meant major surgery. First, a medic in residence tried to remove the shoe by reaching down the crocodile’s throat. Can you picture that? I’m thinking it wasn’t a small shoe, and it wasn’t something easily digestible, like leather. I’m betting it was a Croc. 

Monterrey Medallion, Revisited

 

I set these blocks aside at the end of September last year. I didn’t want them to become a white elephant – too large for a wall hanging, too square for a bedspread. I used up all the white(ish) tone-on-tone pin dot background that I needed to make it a useful size, and it was so far out of print I had no hope of finding a replacement. For several weeks I consoled myself with small Halloween and Christmas quilts. I found some fabric I thought would work, called “cognac dots.” I didn’t know until the package arrived that “cognac” meant “dirty yellow.” Then I discovered some white tone-on-tone polka-dots from the same designer. You can’t tell from the photo, but half these star blocks and one of the chain blocks has a slightly whiter background than the rest. I can’t even tell, unless it’s in full sun. And it’s a bad idea to put any quilt in full sun.

Framed Flower

 

February is when I love gardening most. It’s planning time; time to consider the crops that did well last year, and the ones that didn’t. Time to decide what to try again and what to avoid. The little raised bed on the south side of my house gets too much sun. It’s a challenge to keep it watered, and to avoid scorching tender plants. We might set up drip irrigation there, and maybe a small awning. Root vegetables were happy there, so we'll plant carrots, radishes, beets and onions again. I might even try a little romaine. Potted strawberries, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes thrived on the deck, though the wind frequently knocked over the ones in plastic pots. Maybe this year we should invest in more terra cotta. The biggest decision is of course the walnut tree. I love the shade and the nuts it provides, but it’s definitely killing the lawn. I’m afraid it’s got to go.

Two Dozen Floating Stars

 

I’ve been managing this blog for just over a decade. Nearly every day for ten years and change I’ve stitched a quilt block (or several), taken a photo, and posted it along with whatever was on my mind. I limit myself to roughly 150 words per day – the number the average person can read aloud in a minute. I’ve tried to keep my posts positive, uplifting, amusing or helpful, even when I’m not feeling any of those things. It’s like that old Hindu proverb: “Help thy brother’s boat across and lo! Thine own has reached the shore.” This whole thing started as sort of a dare. I wanted to improve my piecing and writing skills, so I challenged myself to work on both every day for a year. Today’s blog post is number 3000. It will probably only be seen by a handful of people, but I’d like to thank you for being one of them.

Four String Blocks

 

“The institutions of family and religion have been crucial for endowing both individuals and communities with the virtues that sustain an enduring society. These virtues, rooted in scripture, include integrity, responsibility and accountability, compassion, marriage and fidelity in marriage, respect for others and the property of others, service, and the necessity and dignity of work, among others. There is much we can do as neighbors and fellow citizens to contribute to the sustainability and success of the societies we live in, and surely our most fundamental and enduring service will be to teach and live by the truths inherent in God’s great plan of redemption. If enough of us and enough of our neighbors strive to make our decisions and guide our lives by the truth of God, the moral virtues needed in every society will abound.” – Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Twenty Floating Stars

 

Non-runners probably won’t believe this, but running can be very disorienting. It can make you dizzy and nauseated. Sometimes it’s all you can do to breathe in and out and keep your legs beneath you. Top that off with running in a strange country with signs in a foreign language, and you could easily become completely overwhelmed. That’s what happened to Kenyan runner Abel Mutai in December, 2012 in Navarre, Spain. Ten meters before the end of his 3,000-meter race, he pulled up short, thinking he’d won. Spaniard Iván Fernández Anaya – running behind him – realized what was happening and shouted at Abel to keep running. In Spanish. When the Kenyan didn’t respond, Iván pushed his opponent forward. Abel won, and Iván took second place. A reporter asked the Spaniard why he didn’t just take the lead, and he said, “He was the rightful winner. He created a gap I couldn't have closed if he hadn't made a mistake.”