My New Neighbor!

I have the most charming new neighbor! 

 I don't know if the Chickadee family have had their babies yet, but there certainly is a lot of action going on at Chez Chick these days.

Waking Up at the Ditch

The Ditch is still pretty much a symphony of muted colors and fairly quiet. I think most of the ducks have gone down-under, tending their nests; the new growth of grasses is yet to be visible and the trees still bare.

But there is definitely some life going on! And more than a little bit of beauty!

Waking Up: At Home and Beyond

Before I start this post, does anyone else who follows blogs with bloglovin' find that their site has been down for about a week? If I don't visit you, it's because even though I get their notifications, when I click on any link to visit you, it says their server is busy. Same when I visit the url for the site so I can't even complain! Just asking -- wondering if it is overall or just me!

Last week my friend Jan and I went to our favorite market to pick up Easter food. Their "fresh" selection beats any local grocery. On the way past the bird seed, garden implements and seeds, we glanced outside and saw some color in the greenhouse. And so we ventured forth, curious to see some color in what has been a very gray spring.

And we were blown away!

More from the Art Workshops!

Sketchbook Revival continues till April 30 but so far I've filled a lot of pages on my book! I shared the cats and landscape with you HERE. These are a few other pieces.

Early Easter

This weekend, many who celebrate Easter will do so on April 17. (Orthodox Easter is April 24.) We celebrated on Palm Sunday with our kidlets. And it was so much fun! 

Birds, A Blog Book and a Book Signing

Spring is trying to break through here in mid-Michigan, although the weather is doing its best to provide the obligatory April showers. It brings out the critters, this happy cardinal...

More Bunnies

With only two weeks until Easter, it was time to bring on the rest of the bunnies! It may be frigid outdoors here in Michigan -- or not, we're on the seesaw season of Sprinter, no matter what the calendar says! But inside it's pretty cozy!

Marching Through Books: Real People

What draws you to a certain book at a certain time? Maybe it is your favorite genre, a new entry by a beloved author or events swirling around you. This month's books weren't picked because they were about "real people," but that's how it ended up. Our March offerings take us from Amsterdam to Paris, Michigan to Japan, and to the war rooms and stages of England.

Time to Paint!

Rick diligently practices his classical guitar every day. And guess what? He gets better and better. In the summer, I paint every day. And guess what? I get better and better too.

Then I put everything away for months at a time and when I go to start again, I realize how far I've fallen. So when the Sketchbook Revival free workshops began, I decided to jumpstart my creativity!

Welcome, Spring!

Now, this is the way to spend the first day of spring!

We hadn't yet celebrated the Big Guy's birthday -- he turned five in February. So, on this glorious first day of spring, we headed to Livonia with presents and cupcakes and settled in for a day of fun!

Middlemarch - Morning Reflectons

The sun was so bright, the weather forecast so positive, that I couldn't resist stepping out the front door early in the morning to smell an early bit of spring. The daffodil shoots are tall enough now that I can see them from the kitchen window, bravely peeking from the dirt and the mulch, hoping it is safe enough to continue to shoot taller, without the possible enemies of snow, ice or squirrels to deter their growth.

Early Spring at Home

Since it's almost spring (and friends tell me it already is meteorological spring -- I wish they'd tell that to the weather here -- we bounce from high to low) I figured it was time to spring up the house.

Early March at the Ditch

In an earlier post I mentioned a lovely, early March walk to the Ditch. It was 60 degrees, sunny and perfect. The water still looked pretty cold. There's still a lot of ice, but it's breaking up and the weather was certainly helping. 

Two Years Later

Shortly after what I view as world lockdown began, March 11, 2020 (the date would no doubt vary from place to place and person to person), I began what I called "The Covid Journal." Thinking, like so many, that this change in our lifestyles would be short-lived, I chose a rather small journal I had bought two years before at Sennelier in Paris. I would record thoughts from this time in words and watercolor. It would all end neatly, when Covid and masks were a thing of the past. Not necessarily a happy ending, but an ending.

So Much Good

Life is so topsy turvy, isn't it? So, when you get a good week, you celebrate it.

The Books of February

February was a wonderful month to curl up with a book and I curled up with a few good ones! The seven books I read took me from the France of Julia Child and M.F.K. Fisher to the village of Three Pines in Quebec; from the Illinois midwest to the cathedral town of Lafferton in the UK; the from wealthy homes of Paris to the farmland of Norfolk, and from war-torn London to England's Kent counry side. February's reads were well worth the time.

"Provence, 1970" by Luke Barr

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

Sunflowers for Ukraine

Did you know the national flower of Ukraine is the sunflower?

I didn't. Until today.

I looked at my Facebook feed and it was becoming flooded with glorious images of sunflower.

And This Is How Our Days Go

The good thing about February is that we see signs that winter won't be forever here in Michigan. Yes, we will still get snow -- maybe even a lot of it. But then you have melting days where the temps are warmer and the snow begins to reveal the grass beneath. And, as we celebrated Christmas late, we did Valentine's Day late, too -- so only about a month till "official" spring. Time flies!

Revisiting Travel Photos: Japan

More from the digital photo file vault! This revisiting photo files has been a walk down memory lane for me. Today I'm delighted to share some photos from our February 1998 trip to Japan.

"Peace" - Created with thousands of paper cranes in Hiroshima

Winter Life

By the time we get to the middle of February, winter gets old. Pretty, but old.

Calendar by Kate McNenly

I've been enjoying my newest neighborhood critter, Bunny FooFoo. Well, probably he won't stay Bunny FooFoo for long -- he seems far too masculine for that! 

Christmas In February

We came bearing gifts and received as well. We played with little boys and savored fabulous meals. We were with our tribe and it was wonderful.

Christmas didn't play out for us in December. Between our isolating and Covid hitting the kids' house (thank you, day care!), we were behind the game. So, we reverted to something my cousins and I actually did back in the day when families were either too large or not well enough to travel far at the holidays: Christmas in February.

All Kinds of Valentines

Hearts. Chocolate. Love notes and pretty cards. Valentine's day is one holiday that can be divinely fun or deeply depressing. Or, a day everyone, it seems, but you, seem to be celebrating.

This is a story of friendship. Back in the 1980s, there was a group of seven of us in various stages of life disrepair. Broken relationships or no relationships, unfulfilling jobs, losses. We seven were good friends -- three women, four men --  about half of whom worked together, the other half made up of people who had volunteered for our television station's fundraising events. 

So, We Got a Little Snow

We've been gliding through winter here in Michigan pretty easily, with very little snow and cold but not excruciating temperatures. 

That was then. This is now. 

 

A Little Love in the House

I'm not quite sure how we got to February. I'm not complaining -- but the year seems to be flying by! It was time to deck the halls for Valentine's Day.

I don't do a lot for Valentine's Day. It seems to pop up so fast and then boom! It's gone. But it is a time where we celebrate love, so I thought I'd better bring a little love into the home, starting with the front door!

January Reads!

I was pleased and surprised to have read five books this month. Take a look at a fascinating book about Broadway bombs, intriguing mysteries and a fanciful scenario -- what if "Queen Elizabeth" escaped the palace? It's a real mix  of mystery, fiction and non-fiction and all by authors new to me. First up is "Mrs. Queen Takes the Train."

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

Revisiting Old Photos....The Nature Collection

One of my fussy projects this winter has been to go through old albums and digitally save the photos I want and send the originals to those in them. In the course of filing the scans, I revisited my digital photo files and have been dumping a lot of those as well. I also rediscovered many from past years that, if they were ever shared here at all, were shared long ago. (Photo purging is a great thing to do on a frigid day!)

Two Recipes to Make Your Valentine Swoon

If you're looking for some fun, easy desserts to share with your Valentine -- anyone from your beloved to your neighbor to your best friend -- here are a couple that are sure to melt their hearts!

Fabulous Fudge Bars

 

I didn't add nuts or fleur de sel to the top -- but you can!

Checking In

Touching base on a sunny, cold day! The birds are back at their feeding frenzy. Lizzie alternates between sleeping and watching! I alternate between baking, painting, reading, watching and blogging!

Gathering Our Inner Resources

There are times all during life when we need the inner resources to keep ourselves busy and productive all by ourselves.

         ~ Fred (Mister) Rogers 

How are you doing with Omicron? Are you hanging in there? Self-isolating and going out only when necessary? Living with abandon?

New Years, 2018. Those were the good old days! More abandon then!