Pretending It's Spring

Rick just left after watching the finale of "Derek" (Netflix) and part of "The Darkest Hour" (a timely film to see during these challenging times). Freshly fallen snow was on the ground as he started home. It's March.

Calendar art by Kate McNenly

I may or may not have seen a sprout in my garden the other day. It was so short, it could have been a weed. But I don't think so. I think it is destined to become this!

It is pretty, though. Especially in the morning when the sun is out and long shadows from the enormous tree in the backyard create beautiful shapes on the white snow.

Until tonight, most of our snow had melted -- a nice, slow melt that doesn't flood the gutters and frozen drains. That's promising -- but this is Michigan. We take nothing for granted. It's definitely not the time you want to be a Comcast guy!

Lent has begun and on the day before, Fat Tuesday, people were enjoying the tradional paczki. I mentioned this in the last post but in case you don't know what one is, here's a photo from a display at the market. As you can see, it's a pastry, similar to an American bismarck, with a filling (but I think the pastry is a little airier than a traditional jelly roll). Fillings can vary from cream to a fruit filling. I'm told by my friend Jan, who knows about these things, that the traditional paczki was made using fruits that may have been left after Christmas -- apples, apricots, prunes or a cream filling. Now you can find just about anything inside them.

I finished my puzzle. I don't work on them non-stop but I picked up the pace, wanting to move the dining table back into place (the leaf of the puzzle table means a furniture shift). 

I have to say I adore this puzzle and I would have been quite happy to extend it for a long time. I just loved the details.

If you do puzzles, do you ever hit a point where you are absolutely convinced there is a piece missing? I thought so till about the last 10 pieces and was afraid to vacuum near it, in case one fell on the rug! And then there's Lizzie who occasionally will bat a piece off. Nope. All there!

When I got my new computer last fall, I was disappointed that it didn't have the same movie-making program I was familiar with. But it did have something so I have been doing my best to bond with it and experiment. Here's a little sunflower piece in remembrance. We are so lucky to have roofs over our head. To have homes, to be safe. We should be willing to sacrifice what we can in terms of our own self-centered conveniences to remember that others are trying desperately to save their democracy, their homeland, and are fighting with great courage. (I still haven't figured out how to do a title image or dissolve images but I'm getting there! And the music is nice!)

Finally, I leave you with another reminder of Ukraine, a piece I did a couple of years ago as a card. 

Donate what you can. And send all the love, hope and prayer we can into the universe.  

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