Costco thinks I should buy one of these and I do too...

I want the snow to go away! I'm not sure Willow would agree.


I wonder how long it will be until we can see the pond. Yesterday you could see some of the spring bulbs popping up from the ground. I'm so very ready for spring!

Happy March!

Spring will be here soon! One of my favorite things to look forward to at the beginning of each month is a phenology put out by Jim Gilbert with the Wild Bird Store. March's phenology can be found here.

Erik and I went on a get away further north, to Bayfield, Wisconsin. We had planned to cross country ski and snowshoe, but quickly realized the snow we had left at home was much better than further north and were out of luck for both winter activities. We found other things to do. We went to Little Sand Bay and Meyers Beach, both part of the Apostle Islands National Park. I lived at Little Sand Bay for a summer so it was fun to be back there, although very much different without the carpet of forget-me-nots. We had wanted to hike out to the caves via the ice, but the ice was gone from the last warm spell. We heard that January was a better month to try to get out to them, or the summer when you can kayak to them.

We decided to drive over to Michigan. It was our first time in Michigan for each of us. We hiked around the Black River National Forest and saw some powerful waterfalls. It was pretty cool. I'd definitely like to go back in the summer or fall.

We ate at some good places: breakfast at the Egg Toss in Bayfield, Good Thyme, just outside of Washburn, South Shore Brewery in Ashland, WI, and on our way to Michigan we stopped in Washburn for some wonderful pasteries and coffee at Coco.


We ended our trip with a stop in Duluth for some Fitger's beer and walk amongst the ice on the north shore. It was refreshing to have a little time away.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay

I loved my sister's post recently and in particular, one sentence... "Maybe I spend my train ride home trying to architect a night that uses every minute perfectly." I think that is a terrific perspective. I don't want to waste any of my time but enjoy every moment even when doing things that are less than enjoyable (cleaning the bathroom). That doesn't mean I need to be super busy, but just make the most of my time.


We had a bit of a snow storm here last Sunday and Monday. Willow loved the snow! We had just lost a bunch of snow to melting and then this storm brought us 18 inches more. The table was completely free of snow. Again I can not see over the snow piles next to the driveway. It is very pretty though.

During the snow, Erik took on most of the shoveling - very much appreciated. I warmed the house by making blood orange marmalade and a lemon vanilla sauce.