Lesson 941: On Thin Ice

 Finally, Folks!

Some warm weather!

This makes your double nickeled blogger

quite happy today.

You can see the tip of my birthday banner in the background

from earlier this week.

Did you figure out my age?

On the wee hours of my 3-3 birthday,

were were supposed to have some sort of lunar eclipse

at exactly 3:33 am!

I don't think the time was correct for our time zone,

but I set my alarm 

ungodly early 

and got up to check it out.

No eclipse that these old bifocaled eyes could see--

but the moon was stunning as always,.

The students got out to the school yard

to shake out the wiggles.

The beautiful ice has melted from my grapevines.

The ice is breaking up on the lake.

And how are the water foul handling that?

 They are walking On Thin Ice!

I moved our winter sown seeds in a location

that gets more sunlight.

Rabbit is protecting them.

Spring is not far away!

Here is the evidence!

I'm tiptoeing On Thin Ice

because I'm not sleeping enough.

I feel prowly at night.

I'm headed to the couch with Theo (of Golden)

until I nod off.

It's a slow book for me,

reminds me a lot of the Noticer.

So far it's a 2.5 out of 5 for me,

and if it knocks me out tonight,

I might bump it up to a 3.

I really loved Project Hail Mary--just finished it this week.

More on that book later,

closer to when I go see the movie in a few weeks!

Goodnight!

Eloise

Lesson 940: Dreaming

 Hello, Readers!

We have ourselves some warmer temps

in Erie, PA today.

The ice is melting off!

It's got me Dreaming of Spring.

Whitford is dreaming, too--

although he has not known Spring,

as we found him last Summer.

I know we'll be burning fires in the woodstove

for a month or more yet,

but official spring is just three weeks away.

Eloise is ready.

The sap is starting to run.

The winter sown seeds are getting some much needed sunshine!

The seeds were about as happy as we were

after a USA Men's Hockey Gold Medal win on Sunday!

Also as happy as Ellen and Charlie

getting their first sourdough loaf to work.

Dreaming of Spring during the 

goodbye,

see-ya-later days of Winter,

makes for some very muddy dreams!

Look at this cool shoe bag from my friends

at Two Crafty Girls!

Perfect for muddy days

or frequent trips to bowling alleys

where wet shoes are a no-no.

CLICK HERE for Two Crafty Girls

(psssst!  Here's the secret---one of the crafty girls

is a student at Clark Elementary!)

What I've really been Dreaming of lately

are all of my garden projects!

There are so many things I want to build--

or in truth,

want Mr. Lamp Post to build for me.

I let the universe decide the first project.

I did the Winter Solstice practice

of writing down 12 things on pieces of paper

(my things were projects but they could be wishes, goals, destinations, etc).

You burn one each evening without opening it.

On New Year's Eve the final two are left.

One is burned 

and the last one left is opened.

Mine was.....

Build a bean teepee!

I saw one when we went to the Erie County Fair 

in Buffalo, NY,

and instantly fell in love.

Here are a few others I'm sketching out

in my 

Plant Lady notebook:

A sunflower room!

I'll put some Bee Boats inside, for sure!

I'd really love this herb spiral.

I'm a potato gal,

so this could be neat:

I just realized I have a lot of stuff to start collecting.

That's what Dreaming gets you, I guess.

The absurdness of this nation's leadership,

has me discussing 

(the polite term, used it a very loose way)

current policies,

past histories,

and the foreboding link between the two.

I've learned that flies can't be reasoned with.

I'll be making my sweetness this weekend--

maple syrup, though,

not honey.

Flies,

you can fly right on by.

I don't have energy to waste on you.

Eloise

Lesson 939: Golden Girls

 

Hello, Readers.

Eloise, here,

sending love from the golden sands of Presque Isle.

Or not.

These are photos of Valentine's Day weekend

and our time on Presque Isle,

the Bay,

and Findley Lake.

Walking on the frozen bay was really something.

Here is some golden sand from the tip of the peninsula.

Golden is clearly a term for blog-flow purpose--

the sand is actually brownish,

but very pretty when visually layered against the bright white ice dunes

and clear  blue sky.

There were flashing signs on the peninsula,

warning folks to stay off of the ice dunes.

They are dangerous because they are hollow

and one call fall through into the icy lake,

making rescue difficult and risky for others.

So glad that everyone obeyed.

We explored some steep hills that were safe for humans.

Peek-n-Peak is magical this time of year.

Watching Ellen slide down the bunny hill

was not quite as thrilling as the Olympics,

but there was joy in just being outside

watching her have some fun.

Speaking of joy and the Olympics.....

meet our new Golden Girl!

Alyssa Liu not only won the gold medal,

but she won the hearts of the world.

Her joy jump on the podium 

spread infectious warmth 

through the cold Winter Games.

I hope athletes of the world

listen when she speaks of sports burnout

and the freedom one can find when finding balance.

We got to give standing applause to these golden girls as well.

Yay for USA!

I get to watch live hockey on Sunday

when the men play Canada for the gold.

I had to receive hockey updates today via my mother 

because I was in school.

I was hoping for a virus to blow by

so I could take a sick day to watch it live,

but I woke up healthy as a horse...

for a few minutes anyway,

(read a little bit more...).

Grandma says she's tired out from playing hockey,

skiing,

and doing her quads in ice skating.

LOL.

I'm tired, too!

I've been really dialed into the ice skating

and the Quad God Ilya's jumps.

So intrigued, in fact,

that I wondered what it must feel like 

to jump up and spin around four times before landing.

I decided I'd try it.

This morning.

In my kitchen.

At 5am.

While the coffee was perking.

I'll try to jump and spin around

just once....

just to see.

Well....

I landed on a cat toy and twisted my knee.

My pride was hurt that I only spun a 180

and landed with a thud on the kitchen floor,

squishing the fuzzy cat taco toy.

Not quite hurt enough for a sick day though.

Drat!

Thanks for the play by play commentary, Grandma!

We can cheer together live on Sunday.

Have a great weekend!

Eloise