I looked around and found some vintage Mother’s Day cards.
Wishing everyone’s mother a wonderful Mother’s Day in spite of the quarantine.
Tag Archives: spring
Which Way Challenge
Spring Snow
The Which Way Challenge, that Cee began, has been picked up by the Alive and Trekking blogger. The beauty of it is that it’s free form. You can include images of doors, gates, roads, streets, exits, signs, paths, waterways, you name it.
See more Which Way photos by clicking here. You’ll be amazed at where people are going.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Spring Scenes
Each week Cee of Cee’s Photography challenges bloggers with a fun prompt. This week we’re to share photos with colors that show spring in all its glory.
Click here to see more spring scenes photos, click here.
Which Way Challenge
The Which Way Challenge, that Cee began, has been picked up by the Sonofthebeach69 blogger. The beauty of it is that it’s free form. You can include images of doors, gates, roads, streets, exits, signs, paths, waterways, you name it. This week I’m sharing photos of downtown Chicago on this rainy Saturday.
See more Which Way photos by clicking here.
Poem of the Week
May Day
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Daughter of Heaven and Earth, coy Spring,
With sudden passion languishing,
Maketh all things softly smile,
Painteth pictures mile on mile,
Holds a cup with cowslip-wreaths,
Whence a smokeless incense breathes.
Girls are peeling the sweet willow,
Poplar white, and Gilead-tree,
And troops of boys
Shouting with whoop and hilloa,
And hip, hip three times three.
The air is full of whistlings bland;
What was that I heard
Out of the hazy land?
Harp of the wind, or song of bird,
Or clapping of shepherd’s hands,
Or vagrant booming of the air,
Voice of a meteor lost in day?
Such tidings of the starry sphere
Can this elastic air convey.
Or haply ‘t was the cannonade
Of the pent and darkened lake,
Cooled by the pendent mountain’s shade,
Whose deeps, till beams of noonday break,
Afflicted moan, and latest hold
Even unto May the iceberg cold.
Was it a squirrel’s pettish bark,
Or clarionet of jay? or hark,
Where yon wedged line the Nestor leads,
Steering north with raucous cry
Through tracts and provinces of sky,
Every night alighting down
In new landscapes of romance,
Where darkling feed the clamorous clans
By lonely lakes to men unknown.
Come the tumult whence it will,
Voice of sport, or rush of wings,
It is a sound, it is a token
That the marble sleep is broken,
And a change has passed on things.
Weekend Coffee Share
Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)!
If we were having coffee, I’d comment on the curious weather we had on Saturday. We got snow, considerable snow, Saturday afternoon and evening. It kept coming down and that night it was sticking. I guess we had over 3 inches–and it’s almost May. I wasn’t so put out since it didn’t make driving worse for me. I stayed in, turned on the fire and enjoyed Trading Spaces.
I’d mention that I attended a playwriters’ group at the Skokie Public Library. We gather to read out 10 pages of each others’ work. It’s good to hear a play read out loud and the group is very convivial and helpful.
I’d recommend the book How to Get Rich in Rising Asia, for its unique structure and point of view. Also, I think it really captures life in Southeast Asia.
I’d tell you that Friday I returned to yoga at my library. I hadn’t been in months. I usually work at noon on Fridays and it’s just a bit tight to get from my library to work. I probably make more of the time issue than I need to. Another excuse is the winter weather. I felt great after going and realize I need to make this happen.
Then I went down to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the exhibit of Hokusai’s famous wave and other prime ukiyo-e (i.e. woodblock) prints. This exhibit focuses on how each print can differ though it’s made from the same block. Sometimes later printmakers added features; sometimes the coloring differed; sometimes sunlight faded a print. I was surprised that the great wave print was smaller than I imagined, but when you think about it the printing press equipment was probably a factor. Also these prints were made so that middle class people could afford them. Thus they’re probably the right size for a home.
I’d mention that I’m enjoying watching Flambards, one of my first favorite British TV imports. Set in as George V is taking the throne in 1910, Flambards focuses on a teenage orphan Christina who’s sent to live with her grouchy, tempestuous uncle and her sparring cousins. Trust me it’s a delight.
This week I want to market my play Dora McDonald: On Trial and start a new writing project.
Which Way Challenge
Driving home from Winnetka, April 27, 2019 – Yes, that’s snow
The Which Way Challenge, that Cee began, has been picked up by the Sonofthebeach69 blogger. The beauty of it is that it’s free form. You can include images of doors, gates, roads, streets, exits, signs, paths, waterways, you name it.
See more Which Way photos by clicking here.
PS: I think we’ve gotten at least three inches tonight.
Weekend Coffee Share
Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)!
If we were having coffee, I’d ask you about your Easter and how you’re liking the spring weather. I’d then tell you how happy I was to discover a new tradition, Polish Easter Basket Blessings, which I saw on Saturday. The Poles’ baskets contain symbolic items (explained here). The ceremony was short and a lot of people turned out in their finery.
I’d share that I had a nice Easter despite not getting to church early enough for a seat in the sanctuary. Later I had brunch with my brother and his family. Since the weather was warm and I needed to burn off some calories, I went on a walk at a park not to far that’s got a small lake.
On Wednesday I was amazed by the technology at the Amazon Fulfillment Center. If you’ve got one near you, you can go on a free tour.
Thursday afternoon I attended a fashion show at Talbots to see the spring offerings. They had wine, sparkling water, and some sweets on hand. If I hadn’t given up sweets for Holy Week I sure would have indulged. I satisfied myself with a glass of sparkling wine. The show was well done and though they offered a discount, there was not pressure to buy. Nonetheless I did splurge on a blue and purple dress for Easter. I needed something colorful.
I’ve been watching the DVD of an old (1979) British drama Flambards. I remember seeing it in the ’80s and loving it. While the production quality is low compared to what we see to today, the drama is every bit as engaging. Someone should remake it.
Weekend Coffee Share
Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)!
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that one minute ago I finished my latest draft on my play. I’ll need to print it out and look for typos, but I’m essentially done and will soon start another project.
Saturday I attended a lecture at my library on the Charms of Chicago or some such thing. It was a disappointment. The speaker just listed a bunch of well known facts you could find on a Wikipedia page. No depth or new information at all. I was tempted to leave, but I would have had to crawl over people on either side of me.
I finished a good book that I strongly recommend, The Old Wives’ Tale. It’s by Arnold Bennett, a Victorian novelist and essayist. I never heard of him, but a friend suggested we read the book and discuss it online. I’m so glad I said yes to the idea.
I loved the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? I’m still thinking of the power of Frank Rogers’ kindness. The film deserved at least an Oscar nomination. I’m not sure why it was overlooked.
I’m delighted that the Mueller investigation is done. It’s time to move on.
Spring is on the horizon. People are still complaining about how cold it is and it’s just in the 40ºs most days, but to me that’s still winter weather. I think part of the reason people are cold is that they’ve started to wear spring coats. It’s too early, folks.
Poem of the Week
Spring
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden. – Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition 