First Day of Spring

And a beautiful one it's been.

Today Larry had his first rehearsal for his school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He got the part of Lysander, a much bigger role than he expected. He has a lot of lines to memorize between now and the first weekend of May.

I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';

(source)

He's got a lot of work to do.

Last Thursday I had the privilege of hearing David Bereit give a fantastic talk about the 40 Days for Life movement--how it got started, how babies have been saved from abortion, how abortion clinic workers are leaving their jobs to join the prolife movement, and that one by one Planned Parenthoods are closing. He said that even though there is no abortion facility in our immediate area (the closest abortion mills are an hour or more away), abortions are committed on hundreds of local women every year. He stressed the importance of supporting crisis pregnancy centers and voting pro-life. He encouraged us to pray and fast for an end to abortion.

Afterward as I was leaving, I stopped to thank him for his inspiring words. He said to me, thank you for all you do and to keep up the good work. I will admit that I was somewhat baffled at this. Why was HE thanking ME? I don't do squat. Sure, I'll give a pittance on occasion to whatever charity or prolife group happens to be my favorite at the moment; I've spent a few hours praying in front of abortion clinics (but not during this spring campaign, or the previous fall one, either); I'll write an occasional blog post or letter to the editor about prolife issues. David and his friend Shawn Carney started a phenomenon that only keeps growing, and the abortion industry is scared to death of them because they're making a difference. Women are choosing life and abortionists are losing money. I realized that after every 40 Days for Life campaign, Shawn and David must come home and sleep for days on end. They don't stop. Me, I usually plan my days to make sure I get a catnap, otherwise I'm dragging by the end of the day.

But hey, it's spring! It's my favorite time of year. The light is returning and there's a new sense of energy and freshness in the air. Soon, perhaps, my nose will start running and my eyes will begin to itch (some years the pollen bothers me and some years it doesn't), but I don't care. I love the flowers and the birds and the warm sunshine, and even the thunderstorms. Bring it on.

It's a beautiful springtime in our neck of the woods

A few weeks back we had an early morning dusting of snow here. By early afternoon it had all melted.

Now the weather is a little warmer, and our little half acre is alive with springtime color.

We're in the planning stages of a landscaping project. It's turning out to be bigger than I imagined, with stone walls and everything. There will be more of these little purple flowers to enjoy.

We might plant some more dogwood trees. We had three beautiful ones in our yard when I was little--two pink ones and a beautiful white one. I think a dogwood is my favorite springtime tree.

I might have my landscaping guy put in a bed for a vegetable garden (so I can have one NEXT year...) but it will be right where all these lovely violets grow. I've still got mixed feelings about that.

At our church, the flowers and blooms are gorgeous.

Today we're expcected to get some pretty intense thunderstorms, the same ones that have produced all those tornadoes we've been hearing about these last couple of days. It will make our trips around town to flag football games and the grocery store and the farmers' market quite interesting to say the least.

Have a wonderful Saturday, and don't forget tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week!