Here Comes Spring !

When I woke up this morning the skies were gray and gloomy. I thought the cheeriest thing I might see today would be my roasted pepper and sweet potato salad. As I was eating, I looked outside and saw the crocuses had arrived; a sure sign of spring. It may be 30 degrees tonight, but winter's back is finally broken.

Strengthening My Spirit

The last few days have been pretty stressful. My mom was in the hospital with a recurrence of a chronic lung condition; for a while the doctors thought she might also have pneumonia. She's at home and is doing better now. Unfortunately, the day I brought her home from the hospital, I also brought Elliott Beagle home from the vet with a diagnosis of lung cancer. Now, my dad is sick with a respiratory infection.

Sometimes I feel I'm living in a death house.

As you can see, I haven't been especially cheery lately. I had a photo class scheduled for yesterday, but decided to take the day off and go wander in the park. Nature has always been my source for strength, focus and peace of mind.

Photo Field Trip

I've been taking a photography class at a local community college to help improve my photos. Today we went on a field trip to the downtown of my hometown, Plymouth, Michigan. Very convenient for me. It was a cold, rainy evening and most of my fellow students bugged out as soon as possible. Before too long, only my instructor, one other student and I were left. We headed to a cozy coffee house down the street, where we warmed up with hot drinks, then continued the class in comfort.

Paczki Day

Rio has its Carnival and New Orleans its Mardi Gras, but here in Detroit we celebrate Fat Tuesday with paczki! Paczki (pronounced POONCH-key) are basically fat Polish jelly donuts stuffed full of fruit, cream or custard fillings. Eat enough of these fat-filled treats and you'll be willing to give up just about any food item for Lent---or, at least until the chocolate eggs and bunnies show up.

Winter Meltdown

You may have noticed during my last posting, that I had a bit of a meltdown. I attributed it to a lack of chocolate compounded by five inches of "blankety-blank" snow. I'd like to apologize to my ancestors and all the daring explorers who allowed me to live in the beautiful state of Michigan. I'd also like to thank the Girl Scouts for bringing Thin Mint cookies into my life.

Now, at the risk of converting this "mostly" travel blog into a weather blog, I have to report another meltdown. For the last three days or so, we've had temperatures in the forties and fifties. The weather has been windy but sunny, Elliot Beagle's favorite. His days have been spent mostly outdoors, soaking in the sun and sniffing the breeze. It has been so warm, I found a woolly caterpillar in the yard. I'm not sure what he had planned, but he was moving across the yard like he was on a mission.

I realize it's only February and winter will soon be back in all its furious and awful glory, but for now I'm thinking spring.

In The Deep Freeze

It seems like just a few days ago I had decided that winter wasn't so bad, as long as I had plenty of sun and chocolate. Well, a couple of days ago I had neither. What I did have was five more inches of snow. The local weather forecaster had predicted only an inch, so imagine my surprise when I went to let Elliott Beagle out. He refused to leave the house until I had cleared a path to his favorite tree.

Now, normally I'm a pretty nice person but, exchange my chocolate for another blizzard and watch out! As I shoveled my way down to Elliott's tree and then out to the driveway to find my car, things turned ugly. I went back through history and cursed the French, the English, the Americans--- anyone in any country who sent explorers to Michigan and the Great Lakes. I cursed the builders of the Erie Canal, that allowed my ancestors to settle here. I cursed myself for moving back to Michigan from Texas. There was so much foul language in the air, before I finished shoveling there was a huge blue streak down the middle of my driveway.

Today's better. The temperatures may be below freezing, but the sun came out and my niece brought me some Girl Scout cookies. After I dig my way out to my compost heap, I'm going to come indoors and settle in front of the tv with a cozy box of Thin Mints.

A Winter Respite

You've probably noticed excessive whining from this blog lately. I'm been complaining about the weather being too gray, or cold, or snowy or windy...etc, etc, etc. I've reached the point where I've nearly bored myself to death with my continuous complaining. Of course today is a beautiful sunny day but, I'm sure my moodiness is totally unrelated to the weather (or chocolate).

In addition to the sunny weather and copious chocolate, I had a chance to take a quick trip, something that always cheers me up. I attended the annual winter conference of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, in NYC, last weekend. It was a great educational and networking opportunity. The weekend was intense with manuscript reviews, critique sessions, and workshops. The speakers were fantastic: Jane Yolen, Jules Feiffer, Lois Lowry and many other talented and knowledgeable writers and illustrators. I'm still laughing from some of the stories told by my favorite speaker, R. L. Stine, the best-selling children's author of all time. My son was a fan of his Goosebumps series when he was a kid.

Speaking of my son, I had a chance to get together with Dan and his fiancee, Caitlin while I was in New York. We went out to dinner two nights, checking out new restaurants and catching up on all the news.

Getting together with family, meeting new friends, gathering and sharing information, and exchanging encouragement and support with colleagues, all combined to create a fantastic weekend. I came back to Michigan fired-up, with a renewed sense of purpose and enough energy to get me out of the winter doldrums.