Jerusalem from the top

 Jerusalem 3D

The man in charge at the Clark Planetarium said we should appreciate the fact that by coming to the screening of National Geographics' "Jerusalem 3D" we'd saved ourselves about $15,000 or basically the cost of a trip to the Holy Land.
I don't think so.
If anything, the film sold us on going there someday.
Aerial shots of the ancient iconic buildings and the River Jordan and the Western Wall and the mountain fortress are intriguing and impressive. (This is never-before-seen footage from the region's no-fly zone.)
It makes one want to stroll the streets, shop at the open market and relive bygone eras.
In addition, the producers have focused in on three young women from each of the three religions: Jewish, Muslim and Christian.
You see the city through their eyes and, in the end, understand that each religion has its own view of Jerusalem and until they come together, there's a disconnect between people who love the area passionately.
In a 40-minute sweep, you come to appreciate this city mentioned more than any other in the Bible and aptly regarded as the pivotal center of the world.
It's crowded with scriptural significance and history.

A few worshipers at the Western Wall

Writer/Director Daniel Ferguson with Scott Hoffman

The music is beautiful.
The spirit is strong. It's a satisfying virtual journey that will do until we can get there in real life.
It plays through April 2014 at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 and 7 p.m. at the planetarium in the IMAX theater, 110 S. 400 West in Salt Lake City.
Tickets are $7/$9 and right now, there's a duo deal where you can get tickets to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at The Leonardo with purchase of a membership at the planetarium.

The view from my window

It's been WAY too long since I cleaned the outside of my windows.
I know it and I admit it.
But yesterday when I officially took on the task, armed with a new, telescoping brush and squeegee tool, I was determined to make my windows shine.
I mixed up some soapy water and headed out, a woman on a mission.
I washed the sides I could reach, went back inside the house and slid the double-sides over so I could now clean the inner sides of our double-paned windows.
I went back inside to readjust and outside to wash some more.
I next realized I would have to take out the screens and keep sliding glass sections so I could wash all four? sides. The logistics involved gave me a headache but I was making a tiny bit of progress.
I waited for Marc to bring home a ladder and help me remove the screens before he reminded me that the screens lift out from the inside.
I removed a couple and then tried to get to the big ones in the living room and my office.
They absolutely refused to budge.
I pushed and pleaded and hurt my hands trying to get them to slide. They stubbornly stayed in place, except for the edges of the windows. Those were coming off.
I waited again for Marc.
He got it to move so I could wash some more glass.
Now we're trying to get the screens back in.
Over the years the little rubber tabs on them that are supposed to give you something to grab have come off.
We have one left on one screen, none on the others. It makes it challenging to work with them.
Marc tried to fit one of the bigger ones back in.
It wouldn't go.

He pushed, pulled.
He cussed and stomped.
He bent.
Here's the happy result:
I think we're going screen shopping.

Taking off in the Barbie jet

So I'm playing Barbies with one of my granddaughters.
The Barbies are getting ready for a trip so they're headed to the airport.
They have their hair fixed and they're all dressed up fancy the way Ellie likes them when she reaches for a wicker basket sitting on the cabinent.
"Here's their jet." she says rather wearily as she sighs and parks her dolls in the basket before it takes off.  "They don't have a real one."
I realize she's still thinking about the Barbie jet her cousins have, one Marc and I gave them one Christmas as a joint gift for three sisters.
She asked me for one last year and the year before that but I couldn't justify spending as much for one gift as we did for three at once.
And I couldn't explain it adequately.
I thought she'd forget.
But she hasn't, especially since her cousins have now moved back to Utah and everytime she visits she sees the jet they have and she doesn't.
I tried to forget about it.
But she trusts me and expects me to hear her.
When she didn't have any Ken dolls, I made sure she got some.
When she left her little sister Barbies at my house, I mailed them.
So I went on a journey to see if I could get her a jet...maybe the price had come down in the last three years.
It had a little but still not enough to make sense...
Now if I were buying it for two...
Hey, I realized her mom is due any day now with a baby sister so if I gave the jet to the two of them, that might work. I could do the same for another household with two little girls.
I convinced Marc and we went out to buy jets, paying full price but saving the shipping by buying in store and saving 5 percent with my new Redcard (See an earlier blog about that ordeal).
Then the Christmas catalog came with the jets on sale and $5 off coupons.
So I loaded up my jets and went back to the store to return them and buy them again for $22 less.
It was a bit of a hassle but the Target store people were nice. I only had to make two trips and show my receipt both times.
The pink plastic jets are now safely back downstairs awaiting wrapping and I can't wait to see Ellie's face.

Blessings from Heaven

Babies are miraculous.

One day old

Not only do they remind us that life is precious and worth living but they are these tiny little packages of warmth and softness and need like nothing else.
They're amazing.
Our newest grandchild, Richard Cael Gardiner, is a little less than seven pounds in weight but everything in him and on him works.
He has ten fingers and ten tiny toes.
His little heart is beating away.
His little brain is working to make sense of this new world.
His little lips and ears and nose are all just tiny and remarkable.
Then he opens his eyes and there's a whole little person in there.
I never quite get over how God worked this out.
First of all, we all had to agree to be born into this world entirely dependent on another human being to feed us, warm us, change us and love us.
Secondly, we all start out without being able to communicate except through crying...a fairly dangerous plan since the crying can be upsetting.
And finally, we all come here without a clue, forgetting who we really are, where we came from and why we came.
That fact that we survive and thrive, in my mind, is a testament to a God who is in charge and who worked out a truly impressive plan.
It's not something that could have happened accidentally.

Knocking heads

Because we are no longer in the business of writing for a weekly newspaper, Marc and I attended a Meet the Candidates night voluntarily last evening.
We didn't have to be there to take notes or pictures or even to follow the issues for an editorial.
We simply realized we needed to at least meet the candidates for the mayoral and council seats.
It was illuminating.
It was also scary.
We came away with some real concerns.
The incumbent mayor is not a problem.
He's reasoned and rational and he's learned a lot in the four years he's been in office. He recognizes that city officials often have to make hard choices and color within the lines to get things done.
He's been a supporter for city services that don't make the city money like the rec center, the library and the Arts Council, services that return valuable, intangible rewards.
He's helped make sure American Fork has good, clean water for years to come.
But his opponent is quick to point out that American Fork is in debt and looking to take on more to fix the city's roads.
He harped on how the city ought to run itself like a small business and only pay for things as the money becomes available.
He mixed up his apples and oranges in big ways, advocating a push to attract and keep businesses without recognizing the need for a working infrastructure to go along with that push.
The council candidates were worrisome also.
There are three candidates running for two seats that are coming open.
In good conscience, I can only vote for the one who made sense, the one who'd been there.
The other two were all about the road bond and how terrible it is to take on more debt.
(I know, I know, there's a couple of sides to the road bond but it'll all be over before these guys even take office. They won't be in a position to repeal it.)
Marc and I watched and listened and realized that the new guys trying to come in are more than green. They have NO idea what they're talking about.
They seem to think all city money is the same and you can take money from this pot to that with no regard for legalities.
They seem to think problems will fix themselves if you just stand on principles.
It was all very frustrating and we both came away disconcerted.
Maybe it's time to jump in and run for office?

Boiling eggs and other delicacies

In our house, we share the cooking duties.
I make most of the lunch and evening meals and Marc cooks the eggs.
(He also mans the barbecue and the wok as well but this column is about eggs.)
He likes a hot breakfast with choices.
So since I was usually leaving before he was in the mornings, over the years we developed a routine.
He cooked breakfast and I ate it.
I always thought it was pretty much a convenience thing.
But the other day after I left him to make a potato salad with eggs I had boiled the day before, I discovered something.
I apparently can't boil eggs.
I had boiled four extra eggs for him thinking I was saving him some time and effort for the salad he was making to take to a work party.
Off I went to shop.
The next morning I was going about my business when I noticed eight eggshells in the garbage not four.
"Didn't you use the eggs I left you?" I asked him.
He kind of hemmed and hawed not wanting to make me mad.
"They were too soft," he finally admitted. "I made new ones."
I was confused. I had made them the same way I always did.
I put them in water, brought it to a boil and cooked them for five minutes...with a timer to remind me when time was up.
"Isn't that how you do them?" I quizzed in a righteous huff.
Marc looked at me sadly.
"They need 15 minutes minimum," he said, ready to duck my blows.
"Uh uh! I'm sure it's five. I know how to boil eggs."
I headed to the cookbook and sure enough. They suggested 15 minutes for hard-boiled eggs. Five for soft-boiled.
For more than 40 years I've been doing it wrong and wondering why sometimes my eggs turned out runny when I needed them hard-boiled.
I always thought it might be the altitude.
Now I see it was more accurately my attitude.

Do their marketing people know?

I usually just blow off the cheery cashier at Target who is trying to sell me a Redcard.
I let her finish her spiel about how much money it would save me to have a Redcard and how easy it is to apply and then I say, "No, thank you. I have enough cards to carry around."
But right now I'm trying to order something for Christmas from the Target website so I want a Redcard so I don't have to pay shipping costs.
I can also save 5 percent on the things I'm trying to order.
So I have been trying to sign up.
I waded through the online application and gave away semi-private, personal information so I could get a Red debit card.
I stressed a little over handing over access to our bank account but reminded myself about how often I shop at Target and convinced myself it would be fine.
The note on the application said "Take a seat and wait a bit while we see if your banking institution will allow this transaction."
I did that. I took a seat and waited.
Pretty soon I checked to see if a couple of small bits of money had been deposited and pulled back out of our account.
One transaction had been posted and retrieved.
So I went back to confirm and finish my application.
The Redcard people wanted evidence of two such transactions.
It wouldn't budge without two.
I waited some more and then decided, "Heck, I don't need it to be a debit card."
So I started over and tried to apply for a credit card instead.
It was almost instantly approved.
Yay!
But, hold it.
Now I have to wait 7-10 days for it to come in the mail unless I want to start shopping now with a temporary account.
I tried to do that but the button saying I agree to their electronic messaging won't work.
I'm back to the Redcard square, waiting.
I'll give it a week and then, dang it, I'm going to complain to the cheery cashier.