Spring Trip

Whitewater to Minneapolis to Tucson to Silver City.

Drove on Saturday to preempt the weather. Two snow days in Minneapolis enjoying the blizzard from indoors. Shuttle to airport Monday early in anticipation of trouble. Five hour wait to board plane. Nice flight southwest from snow to desert and snow capped peaks.

Car rental, then 3 hour drive to a very nice big casita in Silver City.

Obligatory visit to the Tranquil Buzz coffee shop.

Lots of exploration, including City of Rocks.

More to come.

Blanket…

…under construction. Twenty hand knit squares coming together soon.

Season of Variability

Snowdrops, snow, sandhills.

First two photos by Sue.

Fine Day…

…for a bike ride.

Substrate bit soggy in places. But good to be out.

Wending Our Way…

…through February.

Watching The Sun Set…

…behind the post office, later and later. The shadow climbs the wall as you watch.

Busy Backyard

No place like the backyard for lots of wildlife.

Full Bloom

Amaryllis showing off.

Still cold, but beginning a warming trend.

ICE Protest

Maybe 50 or 60 folks out braving the cold. Lots of positive horn honking.

That’s the danger. They’re insidious, these terrorists. If you see enough of them, you start to wonder, because they seem just like your neighbors. They seem just like you. They hardly seem like terrorists at all.

—Alexandra Petri

Flower Power

Second season of flowering. Last summer outdoors on its own.

Deer at the Bird Feeder

It’s cold, and they are hungry , but…

…they do a lot of damage around the yard. Still, glad somebody eats corn.

St. Agnes Eve

January 20 is the Eve of St. Agnes. It is also the name of the great Keats poem, forty-two stanzas long but well worth reading, especially on this day. The text is here.

New Hangout

Unprepossessing, out of the way, next to a dog-wash, and bypassed for years, but now my go-to, especially when Mimi is at PT.

Good coffee and great food. Albanian owned.

Getting Back To…

…more seasonal weather.

Quite a bit of rain the past few days. Hoping much of it gets to the Great Lakes, which are low.

Cardinals Come At Dusk

Right after the feeder filled sixteen cardinals up and down.

Back To Baguettes

A fun process, if you have the time.

Comeback Kid

The amaryllis arrived as a gift on Thanksgiving 2024, not yet in flower, the bulb nailed to a plank surrounded by a wreath and fake holly—part of a Christmas centerpiece display.

It flowered in time for the holiday, after which it was un-nailed from the plank and potted up, where it flowered a second time.
In early May the pot was moved outdoors and the plant left to survive summer on its own. In late September all the wilted leaves were trimmed and the bulb removed from the pot and hung upside down in the dark, cool basement. Just after Thanksgiving, 2025 it was brought upstairs and repotted. As can be seen in the photo above, another flowering may be in the offing.

Family Christmas 25

Very nice holiday with lots of good cheer and good food (too much, actually). And, on Boxing Day lots of boxes got recycled.

Dundee Cakes

The classic, buttery fruit cake from Dundee, Scotland, and long a family holiday tradition on this side of the pond.

Two batches, and a baker’s dozen, all told.

Molasses Cookies

Something to do in the holiday spirit. The old family semi-recipe. Semi-successful.