At long last Spring!!! Spring arrived at 7:44 on Friday
morning and was greeted with joy and relief by those of
us who've had more then enough of Winter, thank you
very much.

Of course just because there's a time and a date on the
calendar that says Spring Arrives it doesn't mean that
the weather outside suddenly shifts from Winter blahs
to Spring brilliance all at once. It's still cold out, and
it's rainy and it's grey. But the crocuses are poking their
heads out of the ground and bravely facing the elements
and the daffodils are not far behind. The Robins are
hanging around the yard and singing their hearts out,
and the day time temperatures no longer have a minus
sign in front of them.

So we're heading in the right direction, with the under
standing that there will most probably be a few days
when we'll seem to slip back into Winter's Ways, but
at least we'll have the comfort of knowing that it's a
temporary set back that will soon pass, and become
nothing more than a memory.

In other words....I'm not packing the boots, shovels
and parkas away just yet.


I have been thoroughly enjoying my latest obsession
with Prairie Schooler's Prairie Birds. I finished the
Hummingbird on Thursday and immediately started
the next design that I decided to stitch for this project
which is the Sparrow. I know, Sparrows are not the
most colourful of birds, but the overall design appeals
to me and the bird house featured in this one is my
favourite of the lot. And lets face it, Sparrows are every
where, and they're such determined little survivors
and scavengers, whether it be in the country, or in
the heart of the city. So they deserve a little respect.

I have to say a great big Thank You to everyone who
left comments over the course of the past week about
my two finishes and my framing of them. I really
appreciate the encouragement and the support.


In celebration of the arrival of Spring (yeah, sure) I went
berserk .... nuts ..... crazy ..... I ordered some new books
from Indigo/Chapters online service. All but one are by
authors that I've read before and thoroughly enjoyed.
Deanna Raybourn's is a Victorian mystery series, P.C.
and Kristen Cast's is a Young Adult Vampire series,
Marilynne Robinson is a new to me author, Jodi Picoult
writes riveting, thought provoking fiction, Michelle
Moran writes historical fiction which centers on the
lives of the Pharaoh's of Egypt, and Anne Easter Smith
writes historical fiction centering on the era of the
Plantagenet's and the Tudor's in England. Can't wait
to dive into these.


This week I read Maeve Binchy's latest novel Heart and
Soul. I love Binchy's writing and have been collecting
and devouring her books for a few years now. When I
read a Maeve Binchy book it's so easy to slip into the story
and develope a relationship with the characters in it.
She has a way of writing that convays the essential
elements of each character clearly and with compassion
and humour.

Her last five or six books have all been linked by the
characters appearing in them. The focus may change
from book to book but you'll always run into people
you met in Quentin's or Scarlet Feather or Whitethorn
Woods. So reading her books is a bit like coming home.
But you don't have to know anything about her previous
books to be able to enjoy the latest one.

This book centers around the lives of the doctors, nurses
and other staff and patients who attend a heart clinic in
Dublin. The relationships and the friendships that
develope and the joys and the sorrows and the life's
lessons learnt that result. As always, when finished
reading a Binchy book, I find it hard to put down and
walk away and leave the characters within behind.
I become so attached to them while reading and they
become so real to me. It's hard to have to wait for
the next book from Maeve Binchy because of that.

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I'm writing this post a bit early this week (Saturday
night instead of Sunday morning) because tomorrow
I'm going over to have lunch with Mom and a visit
for the afternoon. So I'll be doing a few chores
around the house in the morning, or at least that's
the plan.

**************************************************

Weekends go by too fast!! This morning DH and
I went to a few local shops to pick up some special
things for lunch. A friend of ours who was really
good about visiting my Mom when she was in hospital
and who loaned her a television to use when she
was in the rehab center came to visit us today for
lunch and to pick up the TV that we've had here since
Mom came home. I wanted to make a really nice lunch
for Jacquie after all that she'd done for my Mom
and I think it worked out well. We had a nice
visit and then she left here and went over to see my
Mom.

I spent a couple of hours after Jacquie left
stitching and then I went across the street to my
neighbours for tea and a visit. It was nice to be
able to walk across the street without having to
pull on a pair of boots and a heavy coat first.
Not that it's warm enough to go without for any
length of time yet, but to just run across the
street was fine.

*********************************************

Was not the skiing accident and subsiquent
death of Natasha Richardson a terribly sad
thing last week?? She and Liam Neeson were
such a lovely and loving couple and he looks
so berefit and lost now. My heart aches for
him and for their two young sons.


Not an exciting post this week. But I'll end this post
with a picture of sweet Phoebe hiding under the bed
and waiting for the opportunity to nip at my toes as
I changed the sheets last Sunday. Cheeky baby.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, with lots of
quality stitching time and hopefully some nice,
welcome Spring weather. Take care.

Cheers!