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Well, how are we all doing, I emerge to ask. ♥ 'Not even four full months into it, but this has been such a trying year in my own little world, every month a new heartache and stressor, and now all this. . .in the larger world for us all. Ay yi yi! We focus on the positive as much as we can, though, don't we, and we plod on as always. 2001 still holds the record as the worst year of my life--24 was a humdinger--and I never think of it without remembering that a couple weeks before it finally (Thank God) ended, I was stunned to find myself getting excited about painting pink snowflakes onto my Christmas cards' envelopes before I mailed them: If I could still get blissfully lost in creativity, even in a project as simple as painting snowflakes onto my outgoing mail, then obviously, this sometimes-devastatingly awful world hadn't beaten me. My heart may have been broken many-times-over that year, I realized, but it was still there and still a good one, and I would be okay. These silly bunny-shaped dinner rolls this Sunday were the 2020 version of 2001's hand-painted snowflakes.
"Next time, I'll knead the dough a little longer," I told Mike as we sampled a couple Easter afternoon. (Why? I think they're good, he responds.) "Maybe I'll scratch on some whiskers with a cake-tester or toothpick next time so they look more like bunnies." (He nods while he eats.) "And I think I'll pinch little puffs of dough out of the backs for tails." (More nodding and eating.) "Anyway, they have potential, but they could be cuter." If I'm already looking forward to the next batch of bunny rolls and to future Easters that will find us sharing our meals with our families again, hope is still alive and well here, despite furloughs, family layoffs, face masks, and the seemingly-constant BREAKING! NEWS! that mark all these spring days. I keep you all in my heart and wish you your own dinner roll revelations, whatever it is you need to keep yourself going.
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My younger brother's wife had just finished her nursing school exams and I was home for the wedding on a weekend-break from packing up our old apartment to move here, so I'm surprised we look as carefree as we do in this 2011 picture. It is one of my favorites. Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, and a happy anniversary to her and my younger brother. ♥
Mike and I returned from our anniversary weekend away last night: A day and night in Erie, PA and a day and night at his parents' home. Perfect little getaway for us right now. A month has passed since Mike's dad died, and the sounds of the seagulls and the tides were balms for the soul Friday.
Ice-cold water--some snow was still mounded under the shade of trees--but restorative for us, nonetheless.
I didn't notice until I uploaded the photo below from my camera that the word "Hope" is clearly written in the sand here.
Mike said he had noticed at the time that there was something drawn in the sand, but he hadn't paid any real attention to it. Hope, I tell you! That's at least as sweet as all my found hearts.
The last time I'd visited Lake Erie, I was about thirteen years old. The beach and woods bordering it are just as I remember.
This time, though, instead of making the trip with my dad's older sisters, I was with my husband--
--and instead of spending a humid summer day giggling as my aunts teased me about having crushes on lifeguards, I was using my husband as a windbreak as I huddled for warmth against him on a log. It was really too chilly for bare legs and bare feet, but that's what beaches are for, and the comfort of sand and waves against my skin was worth every second of mind-numbing FREEZING COLD. :)
Ducks--Mike's favorite--and seagulls paddled before us, and to hear the gulls later outside our hotel room too was just bliss to me. ♥ Although we were only staying for a night, we allowed ourselves the one-bedroom hotel suite that offered balconies and a rare-to-us bit of luxury. I figured we deserved to treat ourselves a bit, and so we did.
Saturday evening, we were greeted at my in-laws' home by their gorgeous-eyed cat--
--and equally striking spring flowers.
A rock wall is a "must" for my dream home and Mike has known this for ages, but it didn't occur to him for the longest time to mention that oops, oh, that's right, his parents have one out in the corner of their backyard. Methinks this is the same lack of attention to detail that made him oops, see that someone had written something in the sand in front of us but not care enough to read it. Gah. :) My mother-in-law's flowers looked heavenly in front of the rocks, making it hard to decide if it was the shore or the cat or the wall that counted as Today's Charming Thing.
The rock wall may have won. ♥
More beauty on my in-laws' back porch--
--and inside their home, an adorable picture of Mr. Mike from a less recent beach trip. :) My all-time favorite photo of him, I think.
And yes, after Anniversary Cupcake Fail, Mike did, indeed, get his Krispy Kreme doughnuts over the weekend. The bee-topped one was mine.
A lovely getaway, and a couple more days off to get caught up here at home. I'm redoing our bathroom and requesting permission from the landlord to paint our bedroom. ("Dare to dream.") And in the next few weeks, we will be visiting both Mike's family and mine, and I will get more interstate driving experience, so as sad as this past month has been, there is more to look forward to on the horizon.
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