A Little March Magic (By Sun and Candlelight)

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ March 3rd

Getting Ready for Next Week

It may be a winter wonderland outside, but inside I'm trying to stir up a little spring fever. Here are some pictures taken around the house yesterday afternoon, just as the sun started to set. The light is lingering later in the day, which is one of the best signs of spring in my book. :)

First, a look at our nature shelf - it's finally showing a few signs of life:

I haven't replaced the nature pictures in the wall frames, but I do have the four new pictures picked out. I've asked Bill to help me do that this weekend.

Our favorite nature blessings book, open to the March page.

It reads:

Sing Praise

when pussy willows show

and daffodils push

through the snow.

The sunlight

the mourning cloaks

have sought

warms sister hare

twixt seasons caught.

Boy, I'd love a wreath on my door just like that. I think I might try to make one.

In our jam jar we have a small sample of pussy willow, a gift from a friend. She bought some branches at a local farm last month. Once the weather improves here a bit we will add other cuttings - more pussy willows from the trail out back as well as forsythia branches from the yard.

It was fun to watch them bloom. This would make a nice sketch for a nature journal.

Have you ever read this little Golden book by Margaret Wise Brown? It is just the sweetest thing. I couldn't find a copy at the library, so I ordered one through Amazon (a used copy was all that was affordable). This will be a wonderful story to share with Earlybird this month.

The illustrations are so lovely, and the fact that a red squirrel is part of the story makes it all the better. :)

I've shown you our bird nest before, but it looks so pretty in the light, I had to show you it again. It's a nest my uncle found and saved for the boys; it holds tiny treasures like acorns, dried mushrooms, feathers and the like. Just behind the nest is The Story of the Wind Children, a tale that is actually set in the fall, but March is such a windy month and a good time to think about seeds.

On the far right is a little pot of shamrocks I picked up at the market. I was going to replant them in a nice terracotta pot, but instead I just dressed up the white plastic with pansy stickers. Also on display is an old issue of Your Big Backyard, open to a beautiful page all about the Sugar Maple tree (one of our March nature themes).

Here's a close up:

All across the learning room windows, are green shamrock doilies. I found them at Michael's Craft Store.

And in the center of the windows is our Lenten Cross.

It started out bare, but each day of Lent we add a little sprig of green (silk ivy leaves). On Easter morn the whole cross will be covered in beautiful flowers.

And here we have a piece of spring green poster board. This will be a little learning center for Earlybird this month. We will add pictures and simple words throughout March. I taped up a pussy willow branch to begin with. We will add maple leaves, bark rubbings, photos we take of robins, lambs at the farm, etc.

The front windows have St. Patrick's Day window clings. I just happened to notice this view when I was uploading pictures last night and thought it was neat - with the fading light and winter landscape in the background.