Hello again friends!

We’ve found our way to the middle of March. I’m currently hunkered down, taking full advantage of warmth from the indoors while a few days of cold weather pass through. Last weekend we enjoyed some 10 degree Celsius moments and lots of sunshine which had me out in the garden beginning the first rounds of battle – springtime garden cleanup. Our lovely neighbor Henrik braved the chillier days leading up to the fleeting warm weather to fully trim his hedges and prune apple trees. It was much too cold for me, so I wished him well. He’s now nearly done, and I still have yet to really get going, I’m planning to jump back outdoors when some warm weather arrives! I won’t have to wait long, as sunny days are forecast this coming weekend!!

A little before and after to get into the springtime garden cleanup spirit!

Still doing a fair bit of reading due mostly to the cold weather. I usually have two books going at the same time, both of those now happen to be crime fiction; one by Peter James and the other by Rachel Halzwell Hall. Prior to jumping into those two books, I tackled the 624-page behemoth, The Incorrigible Optimists Club by Jean-Michel Guenassia while also reading one of the latter Ian Rankin Det. John Rebus books…. I love reading! Guenassia’s book is up there in the top 5 of best books I’ve ever read. HIGHLY recommend.

I should probably do a bit of housework, as there’s always something needing doing. But my rationale there is, no matter how well I clean it all up, it doesn’t stay that way, and/or it’s not going anywhere!! Another thing I will likely spend a bit of time doing this week while I wait for warm weather is to pull the sewing machine out and do some sewing. Somewhere around here, I’ve stowed away a few small stacks of projects that require a bit of attention. I won’t be creating or pursuing any large projects, but when I came upon this fantastic story last year I did have a moment of thinking, hmm what if, but mostly just WOW!!! I stash away great articles and videos for later repeat reading & viewing. Enjoy!

The Black Women of Gee’s Bend Work Hard and Easy

If you’re into videos, I’ve got you covered!! Winner of the documentary short category at the 2024 Academy Awards, I present, ‘The Last Repair Shop’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xttrkgKXtZ4

Of course, I will be re-reading and re-viewing these myself as soon as this post is written and sent to all you wonderful people!

I thought the following video capture had been lost when I was fiddling with the photo storage on my new samsung phone. Thankfully, the video capture was kept, cannot say the same for the actual video footage I took of the fox. I was delighted with several minutes of it having his way with a slew of field mice. Unbothered by the proximity of my watching it over the fence line, the fox just carried on like I wasn’t even there. He was rewarded with a plentiful lunchtime snack for what looked to me like sheer playtime. BTW that was how things were looking 28 December!! Not a flake of snow in sight.

Now that I’ve brought everyone up to speed with what I’VE been up to, or I am planning to GET UP to, what have YOU been doing??

Sometime this week or next I’ll pot up the seed trays and dust off the plant lamps so we can grow on a few perennials which caught our eyes in the shops – it’s that time of year, people!!! Besides those started indoors, there are a bunch of seed packets for direct sow once we get past our last frost date in May. I checked on my propagated plants outdoors from last year and have success!!! Oh my! What luck! Cannot wait to really get that into gear once we’re into the throes of the new growing season. 🙂 Propagation here I come!!!

Hopefully you are well, and you are finding the courage and strength to match the current torrent of global dismay. Hurray for Canada! Slava Ukraini! I stand against Fascism, authoritarianism, bigotry, and white nationalism. If you are like-minded and don’t know where to turn or want to know what you can do, I recommend the following.

read: Dr. Heather Cox Richardson – Boston College – Letters from an American

read: Dr. Kati Reijonen – Starting over at 65

view: Leenan Puolivilli Puutarha (Leena’s half-wild garden) – Longtime Finnish gardener, Suomen kieli. No English translation provided – but really, none needed)

Until next time, friends! Peace, love, and hugs.

❤ Vanha Talo Suomi!