The Crocus

Beneath the sunny autumn sky,
With gold leaves dropping round,
We sought, my little friend and I,
The consecrated ground,
Where, calm beneath the holy cross,
O'ershadowed by sweet skies,
Sleeps tranquilly that youthful form,
Those blue unclouded eyes.



Around the soft, green swelling mound
We scooped the earth away,
And buried deep the crocus-bulbs
Against a coming day.
"These roots are dry, and brown, and sere;
Why plant them here?" he said,
"To leave them, all the winter long,
So desolate and dead."



"Dear child, within each sere dead form
There sleeps a living flower,
And angel-like it shall arise
In spring's returning hour."
Ah, deeper down cold, dark, and chill
We buried our heart's flower,
But angel-like shall he arise
In spring's immortal hour.



In blue and yellow from its grave
Springs up the crocus fair,
And God shall raise those bright blue eyes,
Those sunny waves of hair.
Not for a fading summer's morn,
Not for a fleeting hour,
But for an endless age of bliss,
Shall rise our heart's dear flower.

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

More Blooming Branches

After the fun with forcing my forsythia into bloom, I decided to try some other blooming branches from my yard. I have no idea what the tree is that these came from. One of the fun things about bringing the branches in is how much more closely I can pay attention to the progress of the opening blooms. These ones, in fact, were prettiest and most interesting right before the blooms opened.

Each bloom cluster started as a single bud, which then opened up into a cluster of chartreuse green balls, each of which later opened up to become a flower. I have a weeping cherry and a regular cherry tree that I want to try next. The daffodils and crocus have all started to open, as well. I love spring flowers!

How're We Doing? Resolution Review

The year is now a quarter of the way over. So, I thought I'd review my progress on my "resolutions" for the year, as well as my March plans.

MARCH

Cyrus
Had his party. Did not do sleep training due to teething and double ear infections twice. And now he's been febrile and has a stuffy nose. Maybe latter this month? When he WAS well, he was sleeping much better, down to only one waking a night.

Elsie
We are doing reading time, but everything in her new routine is back to play by ear.

Girls
The month was crazy and we just stopped reading together in the evenings cold turkey. Which is too bad, we all really were enjoying it.

Marvin
Is full board into track again. He's doing pole vaulting! Practice is everyday till 5 or 5:30, and meets till 11, so there hasn't been much time to work on scouts.

Holiday Happenings
Check!

Garden Work
Peas are planted, but its been so cold, they haven't come up. They are germinating down in that cold soil, though. I checked! Pruned the butterfly bushes, raspberry canes and red twig dogwood. Tore out holly bush above ground level. Still need to get that stump out...And its been too wet to do any digging.

Make Spring Break Fun and Productive
Bwa ha ha ha! Maybe next year?


And my New Year's Resolutions:

Self Education Course:

Read 3 1/2 of 4 books for my online book clubs
Did some, but not all of the reading for gospel study and Education study
Relearned what I knew in sign before, started teaching Cyrus
Have done several drawings
Was very weak in completing any of the other things.

Parenting:
Family scripture study is still eluding me.

Provident Living
Reviewed and Updated Retirement Portfolio
Did Tax Returns
Turned in MSA receipts in a timely manner
Got clothing put in the 72 hr kits. They are almost done! I need to rotate the food out next week.

House Projects
Did a lot of downsizing: got rid of the baby stuff.
Touched up painted trim
Did some spring cleaning.

Church Service
Same old status quo. Did do a Primary Activity.

Nature Journal
I have 16 entries for the year so far, but no sketches for the month of March.

And I think I must have ADD sometimes. Because, lately I have made the goals of eating healthier and starting exercising again, too. I've exercised twice, but eaten a lot more fruits and veggies, but a lot of Easter candy and girl scout cookies, too. Can you become perfect through brief little spurts of activity?

At our RS birthday party, they read the story of a "perfect" woman, who managed to do everything she should be doing. It really brought home just how unrealistic it is to manage to do it all. So, how am I supposed to approach all this? I feel compelled to keep trying. And for the most part, I don't get discouraged when I don't succeed, because I know I will have some progress eventually. Although there are some things I'm not trying as hard at as others because I have had so little success at them.

Because it is unrealistic to do it all, is it crazy to keep trying to do so many things at once? Should I just let many important things fall by the wayside and really focus on just a few things? If so, what do I let go? Because it all does seem like important stuff, at least to me, if not to anyone else. Am I crazy for even thinking about this?

If you comment on this post, please don't tell me things like "you are doing great" or "wow, you got a lot done." Give me advice. Bless me with your thoughts on this! Please?