Spring Feed

Scenes of Spring ...

Happy Monday, my friends! I hope your week is off to a great start. :)

Are you enjoying the unfolding of Spring as much as I am? Oh my goodness, it's just one happy surprise after another ... and yet there's such a comforting sense of familiarity as well. This is what I love about the seasons ... there's so much joy to be found on so many levels! I've been out and about taking pictures like crazy (with my phone, that is - unfortunately my camera is on the fritz) and I'd like to share them this morning if I may ... 

Purple and white crocus

Prettiest little crocus I've ever seen - love how these tough little blossoms push their way through all manner of leaf litter and rocky soil.

Forsythia joy 1

Forsythia branches for the nature shelf ... they keep getting moved as Oliver (the cat) keeps finding them and knocking them over.

Flower books

 Some inspiring library books - we're planting lots of flowers this year!

Grunt 2

Remember that lovely rhubarb I showed you last week? I finally got around to using it on Sunday ... Bill was outside chopping wood (a felled tree to make way for an apple orchard!) and I had soup simmering on the stove ... the boys were all around the house and the windows were open and it all felt so homey and good. Just as a Sunday should. :)

Felling trees 3

Bill had lots of helpers once the "felling" part was over. :) And I'm busy googling "things to do with fallen trees and branches" on Pinterest. Can't let all that good wood go to waste!

Light it up blue

 This is our blue light for the month of April (Autism Awareness) ...

Bunny chocolate

This is Mama's Easter chocolate, because it's white. :) I finally succumbed to temptation and had a few nibbles with my tea ...

Spring pajamas

Remember those "pretty spring pajamas" I mentioned in relation to the washing machine fiasco earlier this month? Well thankfully they made it out in one piece, and surprisingly none the worse for wear. I love them so much - the print is called, "Dawn Floral." :)

Ducks 2

Final photo - we had a lovely sunrise visit from a pair of mallards the other morning! The Mrs. was quite brave and waddled about the yard while the Mr. enjoyed the temporary vernal pond in our front woods. I rushed from window-to-window snapping pictures and I think I startled her because she very suddenly ran back towards the pond and the pair of them took off into the sunrise ...

Well my friends, I must be off, but I hope to see you here again in a few days. I'll try to have a housekeeping post up later this week ... or maybe a file crate post as I'm working on the new folders right now ... or perhaps something for Earth Day, St. George's Day or Arbor Day? :)

So please stay tuned!

And thanks so much for stopping by ~ Blessings on your day!


Finally ... SPRING

 A few pictures from our Saturday, the springiest day we've had yet!

Rhubarb 1

Fresh rhubarb I found at the market! I can't wait to turn it into this.

Seeds 1

Garden seeds purchased at the local agricultural co-op. I am especially excited for the pickling cukes, mini pumpkins and the lovely lupines!

Mrs meyers apple

A new hand soap for my kitchen sink - Mrs. Meyer's newest scent: Apple. Heavenly!

O and daddy out in yard

Bill had the boys out in the yard today - which is nearly snow-free - to start the cleanup. Little Bear is just getting over a nasty virus (high fever, runny nose) but he was loving the fresh air ... and the plentiful "sticks."

Purple crocus

Beautiful purple crocus growing out back.

Washi tape rainbow

A rainbow of wash tape! (For my new file crate folders!)

Daffodils under log bench

Daffodil shoots growing beneath our log-bench ...

Vernal pool 1

Our vernal pool out front ... pretty soon it will be peeping!

Hummingbird nest

I found a bird's nest underneath a bush, lying on the ground. It has a unique shape - kind of high on the sides with a fairly small hole. Nothing inside at all ... might have been a dummy nest but clearly deserted. I was very happy to place it in my birthday cloche ...

And so begins a new year of nature study ... 

:)

Some of you on Facebook saw my post this morning about my sunrise walk with Earlybird. Truly, it was magical. The day was just getting light and the sun was glowing warmly behind the woods ... we could hear so many songbirds! And ducks ... crows ... geese ... a woodpecker! It was a lovely way to start our day and I felt such a reconnection with the world. I did enjoy the long, snowy Winter (honestly!) but goodness, I am ready for Spring!

Dear friends, I hope you are all having a nice weekend - wherever you are and whatever your weather. Another nice day on tap for us tomorrow - and by Monday it will be 70!

Thanks so much for stopping by ... see you here again very soon!


It's a Week of Changes ...

A change of the calendar ...

April calendar SB

Rabbit, rabbit! :)

A change underfoot ...

Crocus shoots 

Signs of life, at last!

And a change in season, come Sunday!

Easter card 1

 

My friends, I know I haven't been blogging as often as I used to, but I wanted to let you know I am going to take the next several days off for the end of Holy Week and the Easter holiday. I will be back next week for certain ... in the meantime, I am wishing you all a most beautiful and blessed Easter! I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family and friends!

See you here again very soon ...


* April at a Glance *

Tulips

Happy Weekend, my friends! And thank you all for your wonderful comments as I passed my nine year "blogiversary." You are all very kind! :)

It is a busy week ahead as we wrap up Lent ... I am going to try to keep things in perspective as we head towards Good Friday, but it is hard when you're the one hosting the holiday! There's so much to do, bake, clean and prepare!

Today though, I thought I'd share my April planning notes with you all, since the change is upon us this week, too ... the new month arrives on Wednesday!

April is ...

* National Poetry Month

* Autism Awareness Month

* April's gem is the diamond.

* April's flower is the sweet pea.

* April's Devotion: The Holy Spirit

* April's Season: Early Spring 

* From the farms & fields: fiddleheads, rhubarb, morel mushrooms, chives, asparagus, spring greens ...

* First flowers: dandelions, forsythia, crocus, daffodils, coltsfoot ...

* In the marshy woods: red-winged blackbirds, salamanders, pussywillow, skunk cabbage ...

* Time to put out hummingbird feeders - they'll be back soon!

April Folklore: "April showers bring May flowers ... "

* Days of Note *

1. April Fool's Day, Spy Wednesday

2. Holy Thursday, World Autism Awareness Day (Light it up Blue!)

3. Good Friday

4. The Full Pink Moon, Holy Saturday, Passover

5. Easter Sunday

10. National Siblings Day

11. Archie and Oliver's Birthday, National Pet Day

12. Divine Mercy Sunday, Gladys Taber's Birthday

13. Red Sox Home Opener

20. Patriot's Day, Boston Marathon

22. Earth Day

23. St. George's Day, England's National Day, William Shakespeare's Birthday

24. Arbor Day

26. John James Audubon's Birthday 

30. May Eve/Walpurgisnacht

***

Ahhh ... April is a wonderful month! A true turning point in the year, and after this extraordinarily long winter, it will hold so many sweet surprises for us ... I can hardly wait! I'll be as patient as I can though, because each day brings something new - a subtle change in the air or the light or the feel of a day ... it's a slow process for sure, but how delicious the unveiling!

I think that's one of the nicest things about nature - even though each season returns as it did the year before, there is always that element of surprise. New birdsong, warm light, and the greening of things .... That first dandelion pushing its way through the trampled grass is a tiny miracle all on its own - it breathes some life back into our winter-weary hearts! It reminds us that - whatever we have going on, however busy we get - nature has its own beautiful rhythm and we're just along for the ride ... but what a ride it is!

:)

Well, my friends, I hope this April overview was as fun and perhaps helpful for you as it was for me! I must be off now, but I hope you all have a nice weekend, and as always, I thank you for stopping by. Wishing you all a blessed Palm Sunday tomorrow, and a lovely start to Holy Week ...

See you here again very soon!


Garden Gab: What's in YOUR Garden?

Garden gab 1

Good Friday Morning, my friends! And welcome to our very first "Garden Gab!"

It's a great time of year to talk about gardens, and today's question is this:

What is blooming in your yard right now?

Or maybe your neighbor's yard or the park down the street. What does this time of year look like in your landscape? One of the things I have loved about blogging is getting to "chat" with people from all over the world. I love hearing how different - or similar! - things can be from one place to another.

Here in New England we are in the heady midst of full-blown Spring. Everything is SO green and all the flowering bushes and trees are popping out in pink or white or purple, etc. But it's all so brief - the daffodils are already drooping and the purples azaleas are pooped!

 

So, here's my list:

yellow and cream daffodils

lavender-blue forget-me-nots

Gg blooming 12

pink & white bleeding hearts

phlox

Gg blooming 14

white & purple wild violets

dandelions!

white azaleas

  Gg blooming 15

 grape hyacinth

lily-of-the-valley 

***

And now for some lovely garden views and thoughts from dear friends ...

:)

From Mary:

Gg blooming 1

Gg blooming 2

Gg blooming 3

Gg blooming 4

Gg blooming 5

Gg blooming 6

"As you will be able to tell from the pictures, I enjoy placing a lot of "art" around the garden. I especially love religious statues. The Blessed Mother watches over my kitchen garden of basil, while St. Francis welcomes you to the backyard garden. Then a Celtic Cross is placed in the middle of the backyard garden. And of course it wouldn't be a Texas garden without a Texas stepping stone! ;-)

On either side of the Celtic Cross is "Texas Tarragon" (Mexican Marigold) which is called such because it tastes just like tarragon. In the fall it will produce a beautiful yellow flower. And the stepping stone with my son's hand and the dog's paw is such a treasure. My son made it for me last Mother's Day.

Overall, the backyard garden is a bit thin this year. Just a few tomato plants and the rest are well established plants - Italian oregano, assorted thyme, mints and some chives. But there are two reasons my garden is limited this year...we are in a drought and can only water once a week...and...back in February, which would have been prime planting season here in the Texas Hill Country, I was having a major operation followed by 8 weeks recovery (but all is good now!). So instead of a lot of gardening - we Texans pray for rain. :-)

Oh! And the cracked stepping stone that says "Welcome to Our Garden" holds a special place in our heart. It survived when a small tornado touched down in the area years ago - luckily, we were all spared and the stepping stone wasn't that much worse for the wear!"

*

From Shirley:

Gg blooming 7

Gg blooming 8

Gg blooming 9

"I have attached a few pictures of our garden. One was taken just after the lawn was cut, it always looks it's best then. ;) I think the thing I love best about my garden are the views across the countryside - no matter what the weather or what is happening in the garden, the views just steal the show! Flourishing right now would have to be my patio pots - they are full of lovely bright colours that make me smile when I see them. My foxgloves and peony's are looking like they are going to be blooming in the next week or so - I'm looking forward to seeing them in all their glory!"

*

From Tammie:

Gg blooming 10

"Here is a photo of my granddaughter, Mollie, taken on Mother's Day,with the bleeding heart that just bloomed a few days ago. I love how her dress matches the color of the flowers so perfectly!"
 
*
 
From Elizabeth:

Gg blooming 11

"I love making Fairy Gardens. They are fun. Hobby Lobby and Joannes has many Fairy Gardens things in stock. I love looking for little things to make my Fairy Gardens with."

*

From Kellie:

"I have no pictures yet, as the flowering season here in Wisconsin is at its very beginning - and that includes our trees! But I'd love to share what I've got growing and what my dreams are for this year's garden!

My focus for my main non-food garden is birds and butterflies. Most of what I have planted has been carefully researched to attract a variety of birds and butterflies native to our area, including hummingbirds and the Monarch butterfly. Here are some of my highlights!

Hummingbirds:
Trumpet honeysuckle vine
several varieties of salvia and sage
Cardinal flower
flowering tobacco

Birds in general:
Black-eyed Susan
Goldenrod
Cupplant
Compass plant
Prairie blazing star

Butterflies:
Red milkweed (Monarchs - I have heard their population is critically low, so I have planted several of these!)
Butterfly weed
Lantana

And a couple of plants I have just because I love them - Shasta daisies and peonies (from my grandma)." 

***

Well my friends, I hope you'll jump in and join our first Garden Gab! I'd love to hear what is "in season" where you live. With summer upon us, I hope to host another Gab sometime soon ... future topics include:

From Garden to Kitchen

Gardening with Children

Creating a Sacred/Serenity Garden

And perhaps we'll throw "A Garden Party," too!

But as of right now, I'm shying away from naming a "set day" for Garden Gab since I can't seem to keep to my own - or any! - schedules these days. Lol. For instance, this post is going up later than I'd hoped ... but it's been a rather "slow" week for me ... not getting much done around here ... for several reasons but chief among them, a certain little guy who is cutting new teeth! He's wakeful at night and extra needy of his mama ... and this makes for slow (but sweet) days.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ... thank you so much for stopping by and to those lovely ladies who sent me submissions, I thank you truly for your support and encouragement!

See you all again sometime soon!


Field Notes ~ Our 1st Butterfly!

 First butterfly 1

This morning we spotted our first butterfly of the Spring!

First butterfly 2

 It was a tiny little thing ... pale as dust while resting, but a brilliant blue when in flight.

First butterfly 4

 Which leads me to believe it might be an Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly, but I'm not wholly sure on that. 

First butterfly 5

I loved how it blended right into the gravel ... such a smart little thing!

First butterfly 3

Little Bear found it very interesting!

**

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ... see you here again very soon!


Where is Your Nature Shelf?

Nature sill

My friends, it's been a long, long winter ... and seeing tiny blossoms and greening grass in our yard makes my heart so happy I can hardly express it! Yesterday, it was quite warm here - over 70, I think - and the wind was gusting so wildly ... I imagined it sweeping all the winter dust and debris away.

I still have yet to establish a permanent nature shelf in our new house ... I can't seem to make up my mind where I want it to be. For now - now that we have "treasures" to add to it - I have set up a make-shift nature shelf on the kitchen windowsill where the cats generally don't tread. I used tiny cordial glasses to hold these early spring blossoms - scillia, dandelion, crocus, snowdrop, pussy willow, daffodil and something I can't identify but which is growing all over the yard (to the left of the daffodil).

Eventually I'd like it to be somewhere more child-accessible and friendly, especially once Little Bear gets old enough to participate in the gathering and appreciating of nature's bits and bobs. But for the time being, this works quite nicely. :)

Do you keep a nature shelf with your children? (Or perhaps for yourself?) And if so, where do you keep it? I'd love to hear about your nature collections and displays ... so if you have a moment, please leave me a comment below ...

For now though, I'll wish you all a "good day" and hope you each have a great Tuesday ... see you here again very soon!

p.s. Did anyone catch the full "blood moon" lunar eclipse last night? Little Bear had us up at 3 a.m. but it was too cloudy to see anything!


Kitchen Chat, Week Seven: Easter!

Bs&c graphic 2

Good Monday morning, my friends!

Now, with this being Holy Week, I would love to talk about Easter this week ... so my questions today will center on this simple question: How do you celebrate Easter in your home?

I'm a bit under the weather this morning, so let me get right to those questions!

*☕️*

Where do you celebrate the holiday? Do you host a dinner (or brunch)?

What special activities do you look forward to most?

What foods mean Easter to you? Are they connected with fond memories from childhood?

And how about we wander into the next room for a moment, what is your Easter table like? Are there any special dishes or linens you like to use? 

*☕️*

I could say a LOT about Easter entertaining but if I may, could I direct you to my Easter archive for a rather thorough look at my family's Easter celebrations. (Party recap posts are scattered throughout the archive.) We host the holiday dinner here at our house every year ... and this will be our first Easter in our new home! I am very excited about this! And this year we are expecting 20 guests for dinner, so we will be spread out, with tables set in the dining room (10) and the sunroom (6, 4 and 4).

(That will seat 24 in all + a high chair!)

At Eastertime, I always look forward to ...

The sleepy smiles on my boys' faces as they find their goody baskets.

A chilly morning egg hunt. Colorful orbs nestled in dull grass.

Our church overflowing with fragrant lillies.

Bright light streaming through stained glass.

White chocolate. :)

Wine glasses sparkling in the sunlight.

Our Lenten cross suddenly filled with fresh flowers on Easter morning.

A long, leisurely day with my family.

*

We almost always have a baked ham on Easter but I remember my grandmother serving lamb on some years ... with mint jelly ... not my favorite, lol, but a holiday tradition. She also made lots of desserts, but I fondly remember homemade tapioca pudding with freshly whipped cream. She always made this at my "humble" request. :) 

Our tables are always set with pretty pastel linens and my cream-colored china, as well as quite often, my mother's blue-and-white china, too. Flowers include lots of sunny daffodils and bright tulips and there are small tealights scattered about. I will have pictures of this year's tables next week I'm sure!

*

Well my friends, I can't wait to hear about your own Easter highlights and memories! And please know, if you don't celebrate Easter, I'd be thrilled to hear about any other Spring celebrations you enjoy with your family. This is a wonderful season for bringing light and life into our homes ... pussy willows on the windowsill, pebbles and twigs set upon the nature shelf, spring sounds and smells are so lovely at this time of year.

I particularly enjoy my open kitchen window, looking out over my sink as I work on the evening dishes ... listening to the peepers in the woods, seeing all the daffodils popping up through the yard, smelling that fresh air with perhaps a hint of dirt and woodsmoke. After a winter of closed windows and doors, it feels so good to open our homes up again!

So I look forward to hearing from you! But for now I'll say goodbye, and wish you all a bright and blessed day!

See you here again very soon ...


Poetry Friday: Christina Rossetti

Violets in jar

O wind, where have you been,
That you blow so sweet?
Among the violets
Which blossom at your feet.

The honeysuckle waits
For Summer and for heat
But violets in the chilly Spring
Make the turf so sweet.

(From Sing Song, by Christina Rossetti)

*

Good Friday morning, one and all - another week come and gone!

I wanted to pop in quickly this morning and share that pretty bit of verse. I spotted some violets growing beside our church last Sunday, quivering in the shade outside the west door. And oh, how I love violets! They're so tiny and unassuming but when you look at them up close, they are just exquisite ...

But violets in the chilly Spring make the turf so sweet ...

My friends, Earlybird has an appointment with his neurologist today and we're hoping to get some answers regarding his EEG results, medication, etc. These visits are alway a bit of a trial - between getting us all into the city (and home again) and easing EB through the anxiety of it all - it's a stressful situation on a lot of levels. So I would especially appreciate your prayers and good thoughts today ... I am working on finding my center of "peace" this morning, so that I can be a source of peace for my boy, too ... I know he'll need it.

Thanks so much, everyone ... I'll see you here again very soon.

**


Spring Cleaning Thoughts

Vintage house clipart

open the windows, let in fresh air

clean the floors, vacuum the rugs

wipe the woodwork, wash the windows

change the linens, turn the mattresses

sweep the doorstep and entryway

rake the yard, 

scrub and shine the sinks

plan and plant the garden

**

Spring cleaning chores sound so nice on paper, don't they? In reality though, they're darn hard work, and take time we don't often have readily available. Every year I hope to get our spring cleaning done by Easter but that almost never happens. Still, a little a day goes a long way ...

Do you have any spring cleaning plans this year? How do you fit those extra chores into an already busy day/week/month?

Enjoy your Tuesday, my friends ... it's rainy here at the moment, but there's a promise of sun and 60 degrees later today! Maybe I'll get those windows open and let in some cleansing fresh air ... :)

See you here again very soon!


April Smiles

Rabbit, rabbit, my friends! It's the first of April!

April is one of my favorite months ... a month of welcome change ... when Spring truly arrives here in New England. Nature seems to finally wake up from her deep winter slumber - birds, bugs, grass, even a few first flowers ... there's so much to look forward to!

New shoots in the garden ...

Daffodil shoots 2

Lookin' good little daffodls!

Pastels ...

Spring scarf

April can be chilly, so a scarf is still necessary some days ... but when it's made of such cheerful spring colors, it's not so bad. :)

Nature walks and nature tables ...

April nature table 1

There will be treasures aplenty to find and display this month ...

**

Baseball games, the full pink moon, Easter Sunday, spring cleaning, showery days, salamander nights, St. George's Day! Wishing you all a Happy April! What do you love best about this month?


Baby's Early Spring Wonders

Spring morning

Happy 1st Day of Spring, everyone!

 Well, it will be Spring in just a few hours ... 12:57 p.m. to be exact! The Vernal Equinox is upon us, and despite the chilly temperatures and the patches of snow on the ground, we are at very last, done with Spring proper. Of course, when has Spring every acted properly?

Anyhoo ... I've been writing out some notes about nature "moments" to enjoy through the years with my Little Bear (who'll be 10 months next week!) and I thought you might like to see them. Just some brainstorming here ... nothing too formal yet ... things will take shape as we move along through the seasons. :)

(Note: These ideas are for March and April - aka, Early Spring.)

**

* On the 1st day of March ... lions roar! have fun with roaring sounds, lion pictures/stuffed animals. Read How Loud is a Lion? together.

* Maple sugaring - visit the woods in all their late winter glory - patches of snow, bare branches, old leaves - and befriend a sugar maple, feel that rough bark!

Maple sugaring 6

* Melting - slushy spots along the driveway, puddles where ice had been, drip-drip-drip sounds

* Mud - push bits of things (twigs, pebbles, leaves) into the newly formed mud out front ... ooh, it's squishy! Squelchy sounds! Read Mud! 

* Make (paper plate) masks for Mardi Gras - play peekaboo!

* Go for a wind walk on a blustery day. Read When the Wind Blows

* Go for a rain walk on a showery day (brief, just to feel it)

* Look for puddles, throw things in to *splash* (might be too cold yet for piggy dips)

* Watch the forsythia bushes for buds and blossoms ... snip some branches to force indoors

* When the nights get milder, open the window and listen for peepers in the vernal pool out front

* Watch the night sky for the full sap (March) and pink (April) moons.

* Make a pinwheel and/or a kite for windy spring days

 * Visit new lambs at our local farm, and back at home, look for soft things like fleece, yarn, cotton balls. Read Mary Had a Little Lamb.

* Find pussy willows to feel and admire - so silky soft! Like kitty cat paws. :) Might find some near the marsh growing wild ...  if not, bring some home from the market. Cut branches to place in a vase at home. Read Pussy Willow.

* Explore sweet, earthy carrots - steamed and mashed/chunked, baked into mini pancakes or muffins, start seeds for the garden, read The Carrot Seed.

* Look at smooth eggs - so many sizes and colors! - and try some homemade egg custard (Nana's recipe). Visit neighbor's chickens and see eggs in the nest.

* Listen to Celtic music while driving in the car, or dancing at home - Celtic Dreamland

* Sweep, sweep, sweep! This is the way we sweep our house (steps/walk) clean, wonderful activity on bright dry days.

* Wipe and polish, do our part! For family spring cleaning leading up to Easter, little cloth rags and natural beeswax polish, This is the way we clean our house ...

* Make fingerpaint rainbows with natural dyes/watercolors ...

* Look for rainbows on showery/sunny days

* Enjoy clay play - homemade play dough, natural dyes (rainbow shades)  

* What do frogs say? Peep, croak! Where can we find frogs? Read The Tale of Jeremy Fisher.

* Notice where robins appear - and how they hop! Can we hop like a robin? Can we make a tidy warm nest like a robin?

* Check branches for new buds and shoots - where is life resurrecting itself?

* Visit the pond to see ducks! Quack, quack, quack! Read Make Way for Ducklings. Perhaps ... visit the ducklings statues in Boston's Public Garden.

***

There's so much to explore in early spring! What "comforts and joys" do you look for at this time of year? If you have any ideas to add to my list, please leave me a note below. I'm currently working on a list for late spring (May and June) and I'll share that in a future post, too.

Well my friends, I hope you enjoy this first - much-longed-for - day of spring. What's it like where you live? Is it springy? It's a bit showery and gray here this morning, but NOT cold and that's nice for a change! Skies are supposed to clear later and I bet there will be lots of melting. Can't wait to see all this white gone for good! (At least until December ...)

See you all here again very soon ...


Family Nature Connections

Nature pyramid 

Oh my friends, I have Spring on the brain! I saw this neat graphic on Facebook yesterday (via Richard Louv) and wanted to share it here. I think it's a wonderful framework for a family nature "curriculum" ... sounds very do-able.

Daily fresh air and exercise/play ...

Weekly nature walks/study/garden care ...

Monthly park visits/picnics ...

Yearly family adventure!

I have started some notes on sharing the wonders of nature with Little Bear ... it's been many years since I've had a baby in our nature study loop ... and as you can imagine, I'm all kinds of excited about that! I'll post my early spring baby notes later this week.

But right now, I'm going to bundle up the little guy and walk down to get the paper ... it's gray and chilly here this morning and a rainstorm's on its way, so if we're going to get our "daily fresh air" we'd best do it now!

Hope you all enjoy your Wednesday ... see you here again very soon!

**


Enjoying the sun ...

... and my son. :)

My friends, I hope wherever you are today, your weather has been as nice as ours ... 50 degrees and gloriously sunny! Dare I say, Spring is almost here? (No, I dare not ... knock on wood ... eek!) While Bill had the older boys out this afternoon, I spent some time with Little Bear in the sunroom ... a room we've not been in much since last Fall! It's just been too cold ... but today ... oh, today, we were out there!

(And so too, the cats!)

O and mama sunny 6

 Soon, Mama?

O and mama sunny 7 

Soon, Baby ...

O and mama sunny 2

Cruisin' ... on a sunny afternoon.

O and mama sunny 4

Oh, that sun feels so good!

O and mama sunny 8

(Archie thinks so, too.)

O and mama sunny 5

Sunny, blessed days ...

O and mama sunny 1

Wish I could bottle it all up, you know?

Hope you all have a nice weekend ... see you here again very soon!

**


Spring in our hearts - and our windows!

While running errands this morning, I stopped in at a local nursery for a birthday gift and - oh my goodness! The sun pouring in through the greenhouse roof, the earthy smell of the humid air and the riot of color all around me ...

Nursery trip 1 

What a balm for a winter-weary heart! Honestly, if you're in need of a shot of spring - seek out your nearest nursery stat. Ten minutes breathing in that warm, damp air - smelling that soil and greenery - it will do you wonders, I swear!

Nursery visit 2

In addition to that aforementioned birthday gift, I took home a few primroses along with some pussy willow branches and - of all things, lol - a venus fly trap.

(If you're thinking that last item is for the boys, well you'd be right. Next week's botany lesson!)

Nursery visit 7

Once home, I set the colorful plants in the kitchen windowsill (out of the cats' immediate reach).

Nursery visit 3

 And the pussy willows, nestled in a rustic brown vase, I placed in the library - in a bright window facing west.

Nursery visit 6

We may be still very much in Winter's firm grasp, but we're jump-starting Spring in our hearts ... and our windows!

My friends, I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, and while I'm here I'd like to thank you again for all the wonderful laundry comments! I have some catching up to do - with your comments and my laundry! Also, I'm wondering - how's the weather where you are? Ours is just glorious - sunny and 50 degrees (plus!) here in New England ... however ... we must temper our excitement ... because next week looks to be frigid once again!

Ah, Winter. You are a wily one, that's for sure ...

Thanks again for stopping by, everyone ~ see you here again very soon!