Hello

Good morning hungry little fellow!

Journal Jam

Monday afternoon "Online Journal Jam" with Effy Wild.

Pulled prompts:
#1  Use a color you don't often use
#2  Use yellow / Make a shape
#3  Use a color you love
#4  Add a word
#5  Drippage

Fun!!

Sunday

 81*, sunny, and windy today.  My bleeding hearts have opened, the wisteria has started to bloom, violets are smiling everywhere, and another tulip opened.  

This is the most beautiful time of the year!

Saturday Evening

 I just took Jake for a walk around the cul-de-sac during this soothing time of the evening.  Almost feeling normal again.  Spring colds are the pits!

Food for Thought

Satan:
"I will cause anxiety, fear, and panic.  I will shut down business, schools, places of worship, and sports events.  I will cause economic turmoil."

Jesus:
"I will bring together neighbors, restore the family unit, I will bring dinner back to the kitchen table.  I will help people slow down their lives and appreciate what really matters.  I will teach my children to rely on me and not the world.  I will teach my children to trust me and not their money and material resources."

~C. S. Lewis, 1942

Saturday

 SO happy our Kwanzan Cherry tree is blooming!

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I cleaned the front porch and planted my poinsettia (as I do every year).  Gorgeous sunny 82*.  Almost too warm to work out there.

 Another tulip opened today.

 Part of our back yard.

 More of our woods.

 More of our woods.

 Closeup of Ornamental Crabapple Tree #1.

Closeup of Ornamental Crabapple Tree #2.

Friday

Ornamental Crabapple.

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Each day is a gift of more beauty.  It was 79* today.

 Ornamental Crabapples.

 Redbuds.

 One tulip opened today.

 Metal pine cone hanging from one of our front maple trees.

A glimpse into the woods coming to life.

A Lovely Spring Day!

Rebirth

 After almost 2 weeks of staying in fighting a terrible cold, yesterday I ventured out into my yard to see Spring coming to life.  

Still not 100%, but getting there.

All that fresh new growth ~ the best medicine!

Spring Equinox

It is finally here! And since we are spending these early Spring days in our homes instead of out and about, we can enjoy it to the max.
The trees are coming to life, the flowers are blooming, and there is green growing out of the ground everywhere. The birds are singing and the squirrels are playing. Sitting on the porch enjoying this time will be a joy.
I woke this morning to a beautiful day. I have a terrible cold, but this will pass, and so will the uncertainty we are living with right now with our world in a state we've not experienced before.
I will do my best to stay calm, stay home, work on projects that need attention, and make art. I am putting my faith in the professionals along with prayers to my Lord and His Mother, asking them to protect us from harm.
I send love out to each of you on this first day of Spring.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Powerful Words

And the people stayed home.
And read books, and listened, and
rested, and exercised, and made art,
and played games, and learned new
ways of being, and were still. And listened
more deeply. Some meditated, some
prayed, some danced. Some met their
shadows.
And the people began
to think differently.

And the people healed.
And, in the absence of people living
in ignorant, dangerous, mindless,
and heartless ways,
the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed,
and the people joined together again,
they grieved their losses, and made
new choices, and dreamed new
images, and created new ways to live
and heal the earth fully,
as they had been healed.

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There is hope.  This is beautiful and it needs to sink in.  I have no credit.  I would love to know the source.

Keep Calm

Sad

I was sad to see Patty and Jim leave this morning to return to their home in Ohio.  Their children wanted them to stay put, but I understand their need to be in their own home to ride this out.

I loved having them with us over the last 2 months.

Protection

We turn to you for protection, Holy Mother of God.

Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs.  Save us from every danger, Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

Amen.

Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.

And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love--
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

~Lynn Ungar 3/11/20

Throwback

Summer, 1968 - Put-in-Bay, Ohio. 

Put-in-Bay is a village on South Bass Island. Larry and I went there to spend the day with some of his family. It was a fun day until we left for home. Larry drove a Corvair and on the way home the engine fell out of the car! Literally! He found an old belt in the trunk and tied the engine up high enough off the ground that we could crawl at a very low speed to somewhere where we could get help. Not much open at night in those days. We got to a gas station and all they could do was tie it up better until he could get me home. An experience I will never forget. Poor Larry. Mom was NOT happy.

Spring

 Spring is popping up everywhere.  Loving the color it brings!