Here are a few lovely things I came across this week:

Love lessons from 100 happy couples.

The myth of Prince Charming.

Hot matchstick art.

Sweetheart pinchusions.

Valentine’s table centerpiece.

Pink Cake!

XOXOXO

Spring played peek-a-boo this week with on and off showers and some balmy days punctuated by frosty nights. Nevertheless, I enjoyed several playdates in the garden with some cold-weather annuals.  Like my mother always says about lipstick—everyone needs a little color!

Here are a few other things that brightened my world:

1. If you, too, are planting spring annuals, check out these planting tips from Annie of Annie’s Annuals—remember, wield a shovel not a trowel!

2. For those of you still snowbound, spend a few moments with these beautiful orchid watercolors by Canadian artist Karin Johannesson.

3. Whether you’re enjoying spring or enduring winter, make something yummy with lemon grass.

4. Revel in the Bay Area’s answer to the Bellagio fountains.

5. Consider learning to code. I am.

6. Weigh in on the women & work controversy generated by Sheryl Sandberg’s soon-to-be-released book Lean In.  I like this take by writer Dominique Browning.

My apologies to the rest of the country.   I know you’re oh-so-tired of shoveling snow and watching icicles form on icicles.  But here in the Bay Area, we are in the clutches of an early spring and we can’t help but crow about it.

Try to think of our incessant postings of beautiful blossoms as hopeful missives telling you that spring is on its way.  Trust us, it’s coming.

In the meantime, here are a few recommended readings/viewings. Peruse them under your favorite blanket (here’s mine).  Me, I’ll be heading outside to soak in all this wonderful warm weather before the rain starts again on Monday.

1. Read this inspirational story about a gay couple adopting a baby abandoned in a NYC subway.

2. Explore a newly discovered lost continent.

3. Hum along to this “tit-for-tat” rejoinder to Seth Macfarlane’s tone-deaf Oscars performance.

4. Consider Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules of Writing, then add a few of your own.

5. And if there isn’t a spring bulb yet blooming where you live, pull up some images of Dutch tulip fields like these or these.

Then go buy a bunch of tulips for your own table–’tis the season!

We parked outside the cemetery gates and took off in the storm, zigzagging up the hill as we commenced our weekly therapy session. But before we reached the top we turned back, soaked to the skin and worried about slipping and falling.

We were almost back to the entrance gate when Rosie interrupted my saga of house-selling bad luck and pointed at a glowing light that moved from one low black tombstone to another.

“What’s going on over there?” she said. “Must be leprechaun lanterns or, better yet, pots of gold!”

Of course, it didn’t take long to see that the light from a vehicle parked near the entrance was reflecting off the wet headstones, “moving” as we moved towards our cars.

Here’s a shot of the tombstones an hour later after the sun was up.

And here’s a glimpse of a blurry pot of gold as seen through my rainy windows.

So, at the risk of spreading a little blarney here, I wanted to note that this morning’s extra magical cemetery walk confirmed that pots o’ gold aren’t always found at the end of a rainbow.  Sometimes they show up in the cold, wet, mud-spattered dark—but you’ll never see them if you aren’t out in it also.

Here they are resting up on my kitchen counter before their journey north.

Fortunately, in return for letting Pauline use our oven we got our very own Bigfoot apple pie. A good story and an exceptionally good apple pie make for a good omen of big things to come this year!

Pauline’s Big Foot Apple Pie Filling

6 apples – best if three different types, any variety but Fuji

Concentrated apple juice, thawed

1 c. brown sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 stick butter, melted

Peel and slice the apples and blanch them in the thawed apple juice.  Remove the apples with a slotted spoon.  Add a little cornstarch to thicken the juice.   Add the lemon juice.  Add the butter. Return the apples to the thickened liquid.  Voila!

]]> http://thingselemental.com/2012/01/bigfoot-apple-pies/feed/ 2