Simple Saturday

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The sad thing about fall in Utah is that it lasts about two seconds. It’s a brief sigh of relief between the frying-bacon-on-the-sidewalk temperatures of the summer and the wool-socks-aren’t-enough temperatures of the winter.  This Saturday, we made a point to get out and enjoy it while we could. It was just the perfect weather where  it was just nippy enough to be comfortable walking around in a sweater, but not cold enough to feel like your fingers and nose are falling off.

How can you resist going outside when it looks like this:

We headed down to Draper Park for our walk. It was one of those days that sharply reminded me of my long standing pet envy. I’ve picked up a little park habit that I like to call “puppy mooching,” where I shamelessly try to pet as many of other people’s pets as possible. Yes, I think “shameless” is the right word for that. In Draper, I can sometimes even scrounge up the odd horse (I’m assuming the number of horses in this area is what contributes to the famous “Draper Vapor” that can often be smelled from the highway).

I feel like I only want a dog on days like this. When it gets cold and snowy, I’m a cat lady all the way. I like cats. I’m used to cats. At one point growing up, we had almost the entire cast of Giligan’s island represented in kittens. It turned out to be a good thing there was room in the cast when we discovered that Mary Ann was really The Professor. Two Christmases ago Colin bought me an electronic cat, to try to fill the cat shaped hole in my life. While it’s a lovely thought, but it still can’t replace a real animal. Our conversations around robo-kitty usually go something like this:

Katie: (usually after seeing some furry object of affection) “Awe! Colin, can we get a kitty?”

Colin: “I got you a kitty”

Katie: “I mean a real kitty”

Colin: “that is a real kitty”

Katie: “It has no soul”

Colin: “It might if you loved it enough”

Much to my disappointment, we currently live in a no-pets rental—so he does have a good point. We have house plants, and they’re great, but they don’t keep your feet warm or bring you mice for a present.

Here’s some of how the park looked that day:

The beautiful thing about Draper City park is that it’s located right next to Draper City Library. We spend a lot of our time in the Salt Lake City library system these days. My favorite thing? You can check out from one and return to another. It’s great. Colin wanted to get them before we walked back to the car so I would only take what I could carry instead of trying to take the whole library home with me. With library books, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach. Besides, the snow will come soon, and I will need to have my winter supply ready.

Conference Time!

This year for General Conference, Colin and I decided to do something a little different while listening to the Saturday sessions. Instead of sitting on the couch in our pajamas, we decided to listen to it while we drove the scenic Nebo Loop, and do a little hike and picnic in between. It’s something that had been on our Utah bucket list for a while. I’ve heard of some families camping before General Conference (outside or in their living room) and telling their kids the story of King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon where the people pitched their tents around the temple to hear the prophet. I’ve heard of other people hiking up the mountains (lots of scripture references there too) and listening by radio. I love the idea incorporating nature into spiritual activities. There’s hardly any place better to feel the peace and stillness that so easily connects us to God.

Colin in front of the changing colors

I couldn’t believe how much wildlife we saw. Say hello to Bambi!

Pretty sure these aren’t “wild” cows. But still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them free to roam the trees like this before.

I cant quite remember what this part was called but it was something like “Little Bryce Canyon” or “Devil’s Kitchen.” Both very appropriate.

The loop had lost of these one-off picnic tables just tucked into the leaves. We turned the car off and let the radio play through the window. It was such a perfect quiet place to stop, though it was a little cold. We ended up wearing that blanket by the end.

This shot is because every blog and facebook post should really be about what you ate right? Beside this picture we had an oh so lovely thermos of fresh milled apple cider from Farnsworth Farms (who also has some u-pick things that they do. We got small pumpkins there that turned into a disastrously ugly fall wreath. I’d include a picture, but the lopsided eyesore decided to go for broke and grow mold, so it went straight to the dumpster). When fall comes around we hunt for fresh cider and then portion it out gold. We can easily spend ten minutes just smelling the stuff before we ever take a sip. I can also highly recommend cider from Allred Orchards in Provo.

All in all, it was a peaceful relaxing day. It was one of those days where every memory conjures up one of the senses: crisp fall air,  light coming through the multicolored trees like a stained glass window, crunching and scuffling as you walk, wrapping up an a big wool blanket, the smell of cider, and of course, listening to general conference. Here are some of my favorite sound bites:

“Acting on even a twig of faith allows god to grow it” Henry B Eyring
“Family time is sacred and should be protected and respected” Boyd K. Packer
“We are not diminished when someone else is added upon” Jeffrey R. Holland
“To those that judge others, I offer simple prophetic advice, ‘Stop it!’” Dieter F. Uchtdorf

You can also watch some of the highlights here.

The Ultimate Grocery List

Since we’ve been married, we’ve gone through a bunch of different types of lists for planning our groceries.  Some were organized by day, some by meal, others by section of the grocery store.  After much trial and error, I think I can definitively say: this is the best.



Here are the benefits:

• Lists items by meal AND by section of the grocery store.  This is key; most other lists don’t do this.  Shopping is so much easier and faster this way. So many times we’ve been in the store, looking for something on the list, only to find that they don’t have it, or it is super expensive. We’d try to find a substitute, but it’s difficult when you don’t know what meal it goes with. The other benefit is that if I’m making dinner, for example, I can look on the list and know that I can’t use all the onion because it is needed for the another meal.
• Fits on 1 sheet and can be easily attached to a clipboard (which has magnets on the back for attaching to the fridge)
• 3 meals per week allows for leftovers if you eat 2 meals twice and one meal 3 times
• If you want to shop for multiple weeks in one trip, just add another page
• There’s a space to track costs
• Section to write the source.  Name of the book or website where the recipe was found.
• Can be filled out electronically or by hand.

If you want to try it, you can download it from the link below (it will look a little different in your web browser than the version you see above).
The Ultimate Grocery List

Beauty and Belief

This week, Colin and I FINALLY made it to the BYU Beauty and Belief exhibit. We have been wanting to go since the opening in February, and we only just now made it on the very last day that it was open. The exhibit is a glimpse at different Islamic art through time. Before coming to this exhibit, the only thing I knew about Islamic art was the very little that had gleaned from conversations with others, art history classes, and one awesome world religions class I took from Alonzo Gaskill (which I highly recommend to anyone currently attending BYU). Since I didn’t know much about the subject to begin with, the whole visit was very enlightening to me. Here are some of the thoughts I had as I walked through:

Cultures are less isolated than we think

One of the things that struck me the most about this exhibit was how much Islam got around. For example, this griffin above, used to be on a cathedral in Pisa.  You could also see pieces that were created for other faiths by Muslim artists, such as a Jewish Torah curtain, that hung in an Egyptian temple, but was made by Muslim craftsman.  We saw rugs and pottery from all parts of the world world where you could see different cultures borrowing each others art languages and remixing them. Some of the ancient artifacts felt very modern that way. I’m sure conquering and looting was a big part of the cultural amalgamations that you see, but I like to think there were times of collaboration as well.

Spiritual mindfulness can be integrated into everyday living
You cant look at a room full of Islamic art and not be struck by the calligraphy. I thought it as interesting that even very common every day objects were inscribed with beautiful calligraphy, that was often relevant to the object is was inscribed on. I remember one bowl in particular that was inscribed with calligraphy about health and sickness, and was thought to bring health when you drank from it. There was the one pin or broach I remember being totally in awe of because the filigree work had interlaced holes smaller than pinpricks. So many of the pieces had a meditative attention to detail that gave me a sense of rhythm, ritual, and reverence.

Words have power 
One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the “The Ninety-Nine Names of God.”  Each of the screens displayed one of names, first in Arabic, and then in English. From what I read, it seems that in Islam, the names of God are infinite, but there are only 99 known names.  I remember a powerful feeling of reverence as I read:
As-Salam, The Source of Peace and Safety,  Al-Muhaymin, The Guardian, Al-Gaffar, The Repeatedly Forgiving, Ar-Raqīb, The Watchful, Al-Muʿīd, The Restorer, The Reinstater Who Brings Back All, Al-Muḥyī, The Giver of Life.


I also read about an Islamic principle of Ghayb and Hadhir (had to do a brief google-ing to bring this to memory) or the seen and unseen or present.  There seemed to be an allusion to the unseen or spiritual principle in all of the art I saw. It was like a reminder of humility. Here are the ninety-nine known names, but don’t forget, there’s more that you don’t know. Here is an infinitely repeatable pattern, but don’t forget, you can only see to the edge of the bowl it’s printed on. Here are images of fantastic creatures, but don’t forget, God can create anything.

Mutual respect is not only possible, it’s vital
I was reading this article about the exhibit, and was impressed by this quote:

“In light of a recent outrage in Afghanistan after several Qurans accidentally were burned at a U.S. military base there, Magleby says he was impressed by the intense respect the BYU staff showed the artifact.
‘The contrast of the outrage over the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan and how differently we were respecting a Quran in a deteriorating state seemed to be very poignant,’ Magleby says, his voice choking with emotion. ‘We wanted them to see the respect the people of a disparate culture can have for Islamic culture.’
Many items in the exhibit showcase eras when Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars and artists flourished peacefully in cities in the Middle East, including Baghdad. Other works are Christian and Jewish religious artifacts produced by Muslim artists…
‘We want to re-create that kind of reciprocity between cultures here,’ Magleby says. ‘We know that is not the case in the world right now. But a Mormon university hosting this exhibit and finding the resonance, the appreciation and the awe for the art of the Islamic world — we think that reproduces that late medieval moment in Baghdad.’”

 
I’ll never forget one lesson I had at BYU where the professor said that he owned a copy of the Qur’an, and he would no more let that book touch the ground than he would allow someone to use his Book of Mormon as a beer coaster. That’s just not respectful (apparently that was even before he joined the LDS church). He said, that to someone, that is the word of God. It’s precious. We should show it respect because the people who love that book our God’s children and our brothers and sisters.
If you’re looking to bring  peace into the world, I think a little basic respect is a good place to start.

Don’t Break the Chain!

Since we both have rather sedentary jobs, Katie and I decided a while ago that we wanted to go on a walk every day after dinner and do a more intense workout at least once a week.  The problem was that we weren’t very consistent.  It was easy to find an excuse to skip a day, which made skipping the next day even easier.  Then we discovered The Seinfeld Method for keeping goals and forming habits.  Here’s how it works:

1. Put a calendar in a prominent place.  Write your goal on top that you want to do every day.  Place a red pen or marker nearby. 
2. Every day that you accomplish your goal, put a large ‘X’ through the box, forming a chain as you keep your goal for multiple days.
3. Don’t break the chain.  

Now this is the surprising part: it actually works!
I had read about this method before, but dismissed it thinking, “That can’t possibly be a good motivator”.  However, this is what our calendar looks like:

Draper Flight Park

Since we moved to the Salt Lake Valley, we have loved watching all of the “flyers” on the point of the mountain. From a distance they seem so peaceful, like little human butterflies. I’m sure if someone strapped me to one of those puppies and pushed me off a mountain, “peaceful” would be the last word to come to mind.  I imagine there would be more blood curdling screams and mental images of failed childhood egg drops. All splatting fears aside, watching them from the ground makes me feel like I could lay down in the grass and take a happy little nap, counting fluffy little floaters as I fall asleep. Colin and I drove up here to take a walk around, and we must have stayed for an hour afterward watching people take off and land. It was just one of those happy moments for me when I felt totally content.

My new favorite vegetable

The Parsnip.

Also known as “The Albino Carrot”.  Well, that’s what I call it.  It’s my new favorite vegetable. 

Tasty foods you can make with parsnips:

• Parsnip chips—fried parsnips slices, like potato chips but (slightly) healthier
• Roasted vegetables—chop up a bunch of root veggies, toss with olive oil, salt & pepper, and cook at 400 until sufficiently crispy (about 20 minutes)

So I’ve basically only made these two things with parsnips, but both were incredibly delicious!  Looking forward to finding new parsnip recipes.

Salt Lake Farmer’s Market and the Kimball Arts Festival

This was a really fun day our for us. Well, maybe it was a very Katie-centric day out for us, but Colin is always a good sport. We started out getting lunch at the Salt Lake City Farmer’s Market, which I had always wanted to try. It makes our little beloved Provo farmer’s market look like a dude selling knick-knacks out of the trunk of his car. We lucked out by coming near the end of the day. We bought some AMAZING fresh bread and had another loaf just given to us so that, “he could have a good home,” as the baker said. We paired it up with some cheese and fresh peaches, and pure heaven.

Heaven’s knows I love me a good troubadour, and there was one on just about every corner. They had some crazy band thing in the middle blasting 90’s grunge music. Nothing against 90’s music, it’s just the wrong Seattle music period for the setting. At least half of the market goers have hipster leanings. Try a little Fleet Foxes, or at least get a lady with a banjo! On second thought THE WHOLE MARKET IT FULL OF TRUBADORS! How about we nix those mammoth amps?

After the market we took off to Park City Utah for the Kimball Arts Festival.  It was awesome to see how many artists come out for the event. I would have taken more pictures…but people don’t seem to like you taking shoddy pictures of their work and posting them on your own blog. Go figure. I made Colin pull over the car so I could take a picture of this barn that I thought would look great in a sheep painting I am working on. Little did I know, when we got to the show, I spotted at least 3 paintings of the very same barn! Great minds must think alike.



My favorite parts of the day?
1. Looking at all the creations (obviously)
2. Petting the lump-of-a-cat that lives at Dolly’s bookstore (pretty sure I could live there too)
3. Sitting in the shade splitting a giant coke with my Colin. Don’t know why that part sticks out, but I remember it being particularly nice.
4. This crazy metal rooster. I automatically thought of my Mom. We had both read this blog post and it’s been a bit of an inside joke ever since. As a joke on her birthday I had my sister’s ding-dong ditch a smaller version on out family’s front porch for her birthday.

I love podcasts!

Since getting a smartphone, I’ve been listening to podcast during  my commute.  It makes my drive so much more enjoyable.  I used to listen to NPR, but the political news just made me mad and frustrated.  Now, I feel like I’m doing something useful with my time. 

Here are my favorites:

• LDS general conference
• Easy way to review the talks
• The British History
• Very entertaining speaker and fascinating topic
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
• Not chronological, but just random periods in history with intelligent discussion
• NPR’s Science Friday
• I love Science Friday, but rarely get to hear it because I’m usually at work when it’s on
• The History of Rome
• Self explanatory
• TED Talks
• “Ideas worth spreading”.  Kind of like BYU forums speeches.  Topics range from science to law to politics to art to programming to well, basically anything

Lessons in furniture building

For the past 6ish months I've been building a console table (thin table designed for placement against a wall).  Now it's finally done.  It's been quite an process, and very frustrating at times.  I thought I'd share some of the lessons I've learned, in no particular order.

Use good materials

Try to find good materials.  This doesn’t mean you need to use fancy wood like walnut or maple, the pine (or whatever it is) lumber at Home Depot works fine.  It's not always easy finding good pieces if you're trying to stick to a budget, but it can be done.  It may take a lot of rummaging through the 1x3 pile, but it's worth it.  Starting with good materials is so much easier than trying to fix bad. 

For this table, the grain and color on some of my 1x3s was different than the others, which I didn't think would matter since I'd be covering them with paint.  It turns out, however, that the paint stuck a little differently on those pieces.  Doing it again, I would have tried harder to get matching pieces.
Speaking of paint, if you are going to use spray paint, get the 2x coverage kind.  It really does go a lot farther  (further?) than the normal stuff.  Also, buy enough to begin with so you don't end up making several trips to the store.

And regarding wood choice, if it's going to be painted anyways and you don't care about seeing too much grain, the pre-painted boards are the way to go.  It's easier to find straight pieces without as many flaws than in the regular lumber, and it's not that much more expensive.

Measure twice, cut (hopefully) once

I know it's a cliché, but it's true. But don't just measure twice, check that you are measuring the correct length. Check your plan, it you're using one.  For this console table, I needed to cut a 1x12 for the top surface.  The plans called for two boards stacked on top of each other, with the bottom board 4 inches longer than the top.  Not paying close enough attention, I cut them both to the shorter length, necessitating a lengthy fix (because I’m a cheapskate and didn’t want to buy a whole new 1x12).  Part of that fix involved adding an extension and putting a 1x2 piece of trim all the way around to hide my fixes. The problem was that the table was just the right length to fit into nook in the living room.  With my fix, it became 2 inches too long.  Aaargghhh!  If only I’d measured more!

Don’t assume boards are square

I understand why “real” woodworkers buy raw wood and use a planer.  Dimensional lumber, (they type you buy at a big hardware store and comes in measurements like 1.75” x 3.5”) is rarely perfectly square or straight.  I found this out when attaching the legs to the top.  Make sure you have a good square and use it every step of the way. 

Finishing

A few lessons on finishing.

Use a pre-stain treatment when working with pine.  Pine (your standard 1x and 2x boards) is rather porous.  Consequently, if you are staining pine, the grain shows through very strongly, which you might not want.  In this case I didn’t want it, but forgot to test my stain on a scrap before applying it to the tabletop.   

Also, know what you want.  After making several trips to the store to find the painted we wanted and putting on the first coat, we decided we didn’t like it.  Sigh.  Back to the store.  As a side note, use a primer coat and Minwax Polycrylic for the clearcoat.  Apparently this will prevent the finish from yellowing as it ages.

Why it doesn’t matter

Locking my keys in the car made me realize, none of the previous discussion really matters for making furniture. 

Reading woodworking blogs and flipping through Fine Woodworking at the library made me feel like my table was crap.  I didn’t use dovetailed joints or fancy materials, didn’t patch up my mistakes well enough, didn’t sand sufficiently, etc.  Then, while waiting for Katie to pick my up after locking my keys in the car, I wandered around a furniture store looking for inspiration.  What I found was that “distressed” and “vintage” is very much in fashion.  Many of the items I saw had a lot of blemishes—and these were professionally made and being sold for big bucks!