In like a lamb...

 As we head into the second week in March (time, would you just *stop* with all this flying??), there are hints that spring is on the way.  My tulips are starting to poke up in the garden!!  Their daffy sisters, too.  We had a 70 degree day last weekend!  You could just feel the vitamin D soaking in to any exposed skin. As much as I am melancholy about the end of ski season, I think I am ready for some warmth and light in this world. 

Even though we have skiied since and may go again (Peek n'Peak day rescheduled to this coming weekend), I think I may count March 3rd as my last time out. Because it was nearly perfect.  No crowds, snow that was better than it had ANY right to be, and just good clean fun on every run, laughing and enjoying time with my honey. 

What better way to spend a few hours on a Thursday night??

Enjoying the springlike weather with Winter the next day... we encountered these three deer who were simply NOT fazed by our presence. Wild kingdom, here in Cleveland Heights.

Celebrated my mom's 70th birthday with dinner at Olive Garden and a small after-party at our place. She and her new friend Kirk seemed to enjoy themselves. 

This is how our cat watches TV sometimes. 

Warm Saturday afternoons mean freedom for chickens.  We have sadly had a lot of loss to the flock recently.  Two bird left us during the cold and snow in early February- we found one body and the other just.... disappeared.  Then the thawing world released the predators and something else got 4 (!) more birds before we could find the weak point and secure the coop.  It was sad to lose Maran, our one remaining bird from our original flock, and a few of my favorites (Chipmunk, Cochin...).  The 4 birds we have left are all young and prolific layers, so that's nice.  But they've never been named or taken to heart like some of our early ladies. Still cute, though.  And handling the coop trauma well-- laying regularly and very curious about humans.  

Now that we are down to our regulation 4 birds... we may have to raise some more chicks this spring...

Sunny and 70 Saturdays also call for lake time... where we were surprised to find quite a bit of ice left on the water.

Couldn't keep these two off of it. 

Delicious sunshine and and friendly people walking dogs and chatting and soaking it all in.

More chicken time.

Had just the most fun Saturday night. Warm enough for a cozy porch fire with a great group of friends and neighbors and numerous bottles of wine.  Jack had 3 friends over for the evening and they were just the cutest.  They played Sorry and fooseball in the basement and ate a lot of pizza and wandered over to Cumberland park for a while to get up to no good.  Ivy had a grand time with Lillian and Naomi and Ira when he joined them.  Thank goodness for the Wii.

Sunday-  spring skiing all the way when we went to the Ski Patrol Meet and Greet morning.  We skiied through slush and puddles and ice balls and all manner of crud in the blazing sun-- and had a great time meeting new people and honestly enjoying conditions that were better than they could have been.  We will find out by the end of the month if we are accepted to train for the Patrol. Then we get to decide if we have the time to commit to doing it.  When we first thought this up, in winter 2021, when the rest of activities in life were cancelled, it seemed doable.  Two choirs and a highschooler later and our schedule is quite a bit tighter these days...

Squeezed in a bit of day drinking and quiet time in the yard before heading off to winter concert number two.

St. Stephen's church is one of my favorite places to sing.  So beautiful, and so much ring to the sound.  I will certainly miss singing this repertoire.  I already miss the ease of singing music from memory, as we jump into learning the Bach Magnificat and I continue to trudge through learning Italian for Othello... Why is it that I have no free time again?

Because life is always full of ups and downs, our beautiful  weekend ended with Nat being hit by a stomach bug.  Followed by three days of nervously awaiting who would be next...  So far so good.  We are not out of the woods, but we are getting back to normal life and eating dinner as a family again.  

Got out for a run with one of my favorite people.  It was a crazy stroke of luck to attend that Boss Dog group run 3 years ago, and meet Eugenia.  We've not run together for almost a year but the conversation picked up right where we left off and she made me run up a bunch of hills.  I have missed her energy and smile. 

Tonight a strange thing happened.  Our kids actually *played* together. Somehow Jack tormenting his sister at the dinner table with his new lightsaber turned into playing baseball with a lightsaber and a raggedy old dog toy, then playing baseball with two lighsabers and a less raggedy dog toy, then heading outside for a good half hour of battling in the dark.  Just lilke the sunshine, you soak up things like this when you can.