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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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| Calendar art by Kate McNenly |
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.
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!
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.
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| "Peace" - Created with thousands of paper cranes in Hiroshima |
By the time we get to the middle of February, winter gets old. Pretty, but old.
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| 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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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."
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!)
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!
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| I didn't add nuts or fleur de sel to the top -- but you can! |
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!
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?
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| New Years, 2018. Those were the good old days! More abandon then! |
Sunday morning I awoke to 6 degrees F. Although it did warm up some later in the day, I knew from the time I got up that today would be a good day to bake.
Sometimes Mary Oliver speaks to the heart better than anyone. (No. Most of the time Mary Oliver speaks to the heart better than anyone.)
I have an awkward relationship with January. It's fresh, a clean slate, time to get on the stick and do something! It's also cold, there's stuff to clean up and put away, and I just want to chill out -- without being chilled!
Truth is, my friend Kate captured my mood exactly in her January calendar offering. For that matter, she captured Lizzie's mood perfectly too!
Well, we are full into January now, with cold days here in the north and enough white stuff on the ground that Rick is into cross country ski mode. I'm into nesting mode! Santas, out. Snowfolk, in.
We've had our first real snow (not all that deep -- only about four or five inches) but it was enough to look pretty at the ditch.
Pretty cold, that is!
In a recent article in the New York Times, Julie Lasky quoted author Reid Byers on home libraries: "Entering our library should feel like easing into a hot tub, strolling into a magic store, emerging into the orchestra pit or entertain a chamber of curiosities, the club, the circus, our cabin on an outbound yacht, the house of an old friend. It is setting forth and it is coming back to center."
Happy New Year, everyone! I love going back through photo files at the end of the year and the images remind me of the highlights -- and sometimes, low lights -- of the year. Here are a few.
