Celebrating Spring

 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle (dove) is heard in our land;

Technically Winter is over and Spring IS here, but in Northern Indiana we are waiting for the rains to come because the snows are not over.  The only flowers that appear are from the florist.  

I did see a Robin or two this past week and wondered why on earth they were here as they tried to dig through the snow for a few morsels.

The Goldfinches are still wearing olive drab, but I'm sure they will brighten up in a few weeks.

But even though nice Spring weather is only a hope and a promise...

We do our best to celebrate the end of a long, rough winter anyway. 

March Madness

A few nice days in March does a lot for a spring-like outlook - even though we know we still have to suffer winter -like weather. 

But, fortunately there is a lot to celebrate in March, such as the Ides of March........

.............the day when Julius Caesar's  friends assassinated him.

Mr. Bill challenged me to do the Ides themed table.

A few days later, with a few quick changes - we have St. Patrick's Day.........

.......and  are all set for a bit 'o Irish stew.

Even the tiniest leprechaun sized bouquet is a feast for the eyes these cold March days!

Spring: Are We There Yet?

Rain, rain, go away;

Come again some other day;

Mrs. Bill would like to play!

After a few sunny days last week, we are back to cold drizzly rain.  We started our new vegetable garden last week and I really, really, want to go out and play in the dirt!    Of course, as a gardener, I realize that

It isn't raining rain, you know,

It's raining violets......

However, that never was any conslolation to me.  As a child, I always longed for the promise of the freedom and fun of being outdoors in the sunshine after being pent-up in the house all winter.  I still do.

It's not that we didn't play outdoors in the winter. We did, but compared to spring and summer, it was quite limiting. Even though we had heavy snowsuits and boots, the weather in our area was often too harsh for any living thing to venture out.

I recently ran accross some paintings that brought back a few memories of that outdoor fun.  Just change the clothes from early 1900's to 1940's - we still did the same things.



Painting by John Walter

I was ten years old before I ever saw a television.  To be truthful, there wasn't  much programming of interest to children on it then.  It's only use was when we were stuck inside.

Painting by Frances Hook (d. 1983)

 Even if companions were in short supply, I still preferred to be out with the flowers, birds, and squirrels. And I still do.

Painting by Frances Hook