Episode 302 Nature Notes, Blether, Reading

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Skagen Shawl KAL

Official start will be Feb 10 but start anytime. I will divide the KAL into weeks so you can do it like a Mystery KAL without the mystery.

Nature Notes

Here in Central Illinois February begins the slow wake up to Spring. We feel Spring’s heavy-lidded eyes fluttering open and arms beginning to stretch. The hours of daylight are rapidly increasing. One of us will remark “It’s 6 PM and not even dark!” as if this is a miracle, which it is. We notice the birds singing more, especially in the morning. The flocks of cardinals that banded together throughout the winter are breaking up and the individual males are beginning to whistle Chew Chew Chew to establish their territories and find their mates. With its bright colors and beautiful song, perhaps the male cardinal does not have to work that hard to attract a female. Woodpeckers are still one of most common visitors at the feeders. Downy woodpeckers, Red Bellied, Hairy Woodpeckers, and the occasional Flickers are nearly always finding seeds at the feeders or looking for insects in the tree trunks at the edge of the woods.  We enjoy these early signs of Spring; however, we are not yet fooled for we know that Spring will drift back to sleep for a while yet. We still have March for awakening and its been known to snow here in April.

In the garden and woods small flickers of green are beginning to emerge. Our clumps of chives are poking through the remains of last year’s stalks. Soon we will feel confident enough to cut the tender shoots for salads and sandwiches. Bulbs that were hastily planted before the ground froze are poking up through mulch and leaves.

February has shown us quite an array of weather. Snow, ice, fog, rain, thunderstorms, temperatures in the single digits, and now 60 degrees.

Spring Rain by Sara Teasdale

I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.

I remembered a darkened doorway
Where we stood while the storm swept by,
Thunder gripping the earth
And lightning scrawled on the sky.

The passing motor busses swayed,
For the street was a river of rain,
Lashed into little golden waves
In the lamp light's stain.

With the wild spring rain and thunder
My heart was wild and gay;
Your eyes said more to me that night
Than your lips would ever say. . . .

I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain. 

In the Blethering Room

Craftsy Unlimited

Make the Most of your Food Processor with George Geary

Cooking with Ellie Krieger

·        Autumn Vegetable Soup

·        Dijon Vinaigrette

·        Salmon with Honey Mustard Glaze

·        Sole with Crispy Breadcrumbs

Reading

Bob

Still Life by Louise Penny

A Beautiful Blue Death By Charles Finch

The General and The President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War by H.W. Brands

Paula

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spenser Fleming

Loving Eleanor by Susan Wittig Albert

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr

The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell

The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown

Stay with Me by Ayodami Adebayo. Audible version has superior narrator Adjoa Andoh.