a woodpecker, a rabbit, and a date

In other words, a look at our past few days...!  The weather was not as dramatic here as it has been elsewhere in the US; the ice storm missed us by about 70 miles, and the wind and rain did not bring much damage that I know of. We spent much of the week driving in the country, visiting with our buddies.  Wednesday, as we neared our friends' farm, I noticed a large hole in a tree by the side of the road. I am a bit fanatical about woodpecker holes right now; for some reason I am driven to figure out which kind made which hole, and as far as I could tell at first glance this long, rectangular hole had to be made by a pileated woodpecker. I slowed down the car to get a better look (it's a slow road, and as I said, I'm a bit fanatical), and GUESS WHAT WAS THERE???????? Oh man, my heart is beating fast just thinking about it. The girls indulged my "did? did? did? girls? can you see it? can  you? OH MY GOSH IT'S SO HUGE!" It quickly flew off into the trees, but on our return trip, I slowed down as I neared the spot, pulled over to the side of the road and...oh, yes, it was there again! Yipeeeeeee! Here was the best I could get before I spooked it by opening my door...

Heaven. I was so happy.

The next day we drove in the opposite direction to our home away from home, on a gloriously sunny day.  We needle felted, sewed, drank coffee, talked and talked and talked, took care of babies and talked some more.

Flooding and freezing along the roads

Needle felting

Walkin' the babies

fungus on the firewood, which is not where you want fungus, but isn't it beautiful?

suuuuuuunshine

It being the Chinese New Year, Year of the Rabbit, I hounded their indoor bunny relentlessly, but it obviously was not in the mood for mugging. Hmm....does this say something about my year?

That brings us to today. Dan left this morning for a quick trip to Maryland, and Eliza went back out to the woods for a sleepover, leaving Ani and me here. Alone. Without a car. After reading to each other on the couch for an hour (Deal, Mama? You read one, we read one together, you read one, we read one together. Deal?), we concocted a plan for our day: walk over the hill to the bookstore, find a new puzzle to do together and enjoy the day. 

Once there the plan evolved - how about eating lunch out? There were some giggles and eye sparkle over that. So we did. 

Mama? I love it. I love this. I love the whole idea!!

We should clearly do this more often. Struggles? None. Discussions? Plenty. How is cement made? How do they build sidewalks? Why do some people think walls are not for walking on? How do all the veins in our bodies attach to the heart - is it really that big or are they really that small? When our hearts need to rest and stop working, the heart doesn't know it is making the rest of the body die, does it? Does all our food become pee or poo? What about fizzy juice? Does our blood go everywhere in our body? Why do we call our eardrums earDRUMS? Did you know I have 2 purple worker ants in my body that do all the work, and move the poop around and stuff?

Wow.

Eating at Casa

Checking out the wooden snowpeople at the cemetery

she chose a shark puzzle over the ballerinas and sunflowers

us

our favorite moon

eggs and shadows

Beautiful day. Total joy. Grateful grateful grateful.