Birthday Cake

 

“While the challenges of mortality will come to all of us in one way or another, let us focus on the goal of our pressing toward the mark, which is the prize of the high calling of God. My humble invitation to all of us is to never give up! We are called to ‘lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.’ It is not so much about what we are going through in life but what we are becoming. There is joy in pressing toward the mark. I testify that He who overcame all will help us as we look up to Him.” – Elder Edward Dube

Split Star Quilt Top

 

I'll turn sixty-two on Monday. I thought this might be a good time to share my favorite Ingrid Bergman quote: "Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!" Here are a few more timely thoughts:

"The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We are always the same age inside." - Gertrude Stein

"It's not how old you are. It's how you are old." - Jules Renard

"Age is something that doesn't matter... unless you are a cheese!" - Billie Burke

"Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been." - Jimmy Buffet

"Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional!" - Walt Disney

This last one is anonymous, but it might just be the best of all: “Age is simply the number of years the world has been enjoying you!"

Four Allison Stars

 

Strawberry Crumble Bars

 

1 1/2 cups butter, cold and cut in cubes

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 cups strawberry jam

 

Grease 9x13” baking pan and line with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar and baking powder. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle in vanilla. Press half the crumb mixture into the bottom of pan, then spread on jam. Top with remaining crumb mixture, scattering them evenly over the jam layer. Bake for 40-50 minutes until light golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or chill and cut into bars.

Traffic Jam

 I had such grand plans. Last summer the neat rows of seeds I’d planted in our little garden fell victim to sudden, heavy rainfall: most of the beets and Swiss chard ended up crowded in a corner. I thought we’d avoid that mess this year with seed tape. After the delicate lines of seeded paper were down and covered with soil, we spread out a drip irrigation hose and turned it on. I hadn’t counted on our scotty dog. She thinks all hoses and sprinklers are for her own personal entertainment. While drip irrigation doesn’t spray like a hose, it does make a hose-like sound. Lassie heard it and dug up the bed looking for the source of the noise. I tried to repair the damage, but I’m sure the carrots will come up among the radishes, and the beets, onions and romaine have been mixed up, too. Maybe instead of five different signs, I should just make one: SALAD.

Allison's Star

 

I love this time of year. Everything is green and growing, blossoming, thriving. Even the weeds. Before you reach for something toxic to get rid of plants you didn’t plant, please consider a safer alternative. My personal favorite is boiling dihydrogen monoxide. That’s right. Water. I wait for a warm (or hot) sunny afternoon, fill my tea kettle and heat it until it whistles. Then I carry it outside and pour it – still boiling hot – right onto the weeds in the cracks of my front steps, sidewalk and driveway. Voila! Precise weed-killing, with no collateral damage. Unless, of course, I’m barefoot. For weeds cropping up in the lawn, I’ve an old-fashioned dandelion puller. You insert it into the soil alongside the root and use it like a lever to pop the weed, root and all, out of the lawn. If you’ve weeds that can’t be defeated with one of these two methods, you should put more thought into mulching.

One Dozen Ten Inch Blocks

 

I accepted the Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge in early February, because I love samplers, I liked the colors involved, and I was desperately homesick for the bock-of-the-month classes I’d enjoyed before the pandemic hit. We were promised a new block pattern every Tuesday between February 2 and June 22, except for the last Tuesday each month, when we’ll “pause and admire our work.” Somehow, I feel we’ve missed a week. There were five Tuesdays in March, but I only remember three blocks. The biggest mystery is how these very different blocks will go together to make one quilt. Some have a 5-patch symmetry, others are 4-patch blocks, and some are irregular. Some have two colors, others have three. Beyond their size and shape, there’s almost nothing to tie them together. There are only a handful of blocks left. Usually by this point I have some idea of the finished project. Maybe I’ve just made a dozen orphans.

Forty-two Rail Fence Blocks

 

“I testify that if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world. Jesus Christ Himself declared, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.’ I testify that through the redeeming Atonement and glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ, broken hearts can be healed, anguish can become peace, and distress can become hope. He can embrace us in His arms of mercy, comforting, empowering, and healing each of us.” – Reyna I. Aburto