Good Things

Thanks to Bethany over at Bloom, I'm having a grateful moment here in the frigid midwest. She reminded me of the new bulbs I planted that will bloom in a few months. Here are a few of my favorites from last Spring:






In less than 2 months, they will be back, this time with new tulips and alliums!

Here's another good thing, in a sideways and silly kind of way. Yesterday morning we had a rare earthquake in IL and I live 8 miles from the epicenter. Nothing cracked, nothing broken, just a few of my tinies fell off their shelves and luckily none broken. I've been collecting these since I was about 7 years old. They are my version of treasure:


See the tiny clay critters on the right? The horse and vulture both fell off the shelf but did not break. Those I bought in high school about a million years ago. I always thought I'd get crafty and make such things, but have not yet.

But feeling the earth move beneath you - it's mighty humbling and makes for some serious gratitude. Especially when it sounds like an explosion or bomb happening out your window. I live in a lucky time and place, and I am grateful.

Here's something that's good for me, but sucks for people I love. I'm not here:


Kinda funny, except they got an unprecedented 22 inches of rain last year following the worst drought in ages the year before that, with just under 9 inches. The weather is wreaking havoc on my homeland. Southern or slower Delaware doesn't get much snow, so they weren't prepared to handle the almost 2 feet they got, let alone the 2 inches of sleet on top of that. The news is awful, roofs are collapsing all over the place: Walmarts, Big Lots, churches, schools and over 50 chicken houses so far. Growing chickens is the economic mainstay in the area, besides farming. It is devastating. But my family is safe, and warm, and their roofs are holding, and the weather is letting up, thankfully, so they can begin to dig out.

So hooray for good things, and especially for sunshine and blue skies.



OK, one more good thing. Music. Music!! I'm not named Melody for nothing. I'm happy my music player at the bottom of this page pops out and can hang out with me all morning. Go ahead, help yourself. The little square on the top right pops it out so you can listen too, there's something in there for everyone. I've been enjoying the heck out of some other bloggers' music. Future post fodder.