Roses are red macarons are crisp I bought myself my own valentine gifts Not out of lack of a beau or a boo but because I need practice saying "I love you" to myself.

A hat, a hat! I finally made a Sockhead Slouch Hat , after seeing nearly every knitter I know make multiples of them years ago. This one was accelerated by being iced in, in part because it was very cold outside, and in part because I persuaded my littlest to let me cut his hair (which was in his face and he kept asking to have cut but then deciding he wasn't comfortable with the trimmer) by letting him cut mine, so we have matching #3 buzzes, and let's just say there's a reason I usually buzz my hair in August rather than February. I also got to do a lettering commission for someone, which was an enjoyable project. I haven't done many of those recently, and it is something that I like doing. The challenge of fitting specific words nicely into a given space, and needing it to look nice at the same time, provides a pleasant sense of accomplishment when done. We had a Target pick up (I'm still not going in anywhere I don't have to) the day before Valentine's D

This month has been typical of an Arkansas winter (as I know them - I'm told my grandfather watched the grown ups cut ice blocks from the river when he was a child and I've never seen that river frozen solid enough to walk on). There have been several days out of almost every week that allowed for outdoor walks in short sleeves - aaand we were also iced in for three days. Some parts of the state (and country) got snow, but we got three inches of danger sprinkles, tiny sleet balls that fell with a sound like broken glass and were absolutely impossible to mold or walk on without slipping. The ice came after grocery day but regrettably spanned the days the Bigs would normally have ninja gymnastics and ballet, respectively, but since neither got to go, both were at peace with it. My partner downloaded the Spyro video games and taught the Bigs how to play, and the little one sat on the bed with everyone else and provided commentary. I took everyone to a park the next week to make up

As mentioned previously , I've been on a tarot journey of late. It started with pulling cards for a monthly moon circle several years ago (over three, at this point). Then the circles went virtual and I had to get my own cards when the pandemic began, as I was unable to use the leader of the group's like I had been. I still held them at arm's length, only pulling them out once a month, until late last year. Something about how I viewed them shifted. They're just pictures. But they're a set of pictures that pretty well encompasses the human experience (depending on ones resonance with the specific artwork, which took me a few tries) and they can be an excellent therapeutic shortcut to ones own inner workings. For example. I started an examen practice last July.  The format I use has changed as I've tried to find what works best for me, and I recently hit on something that feels right. I wanted to have a written mediation that didn't take up an entire page, an

One thing that I did in January was "omen days," which involved journaling and pulling cards to gauge the themes and energy of each month in the year ahead. While I do not believe that tarot cards have the ability to predict  the future, I do know that where and how I am right now does effect where and how I'll be in the future (barring change) so I did it more as an exercise than as something I took very seriously. The journaling and cards for February suggested some sort of shadow work, which was not a particularly terrible prospect, since I like knowing where I could be better. The timing felt like a bit of a downer, but I was almost looking forward to finding what inner demon I needed to dispatch. Except as January progressed, I was given a very consistent message. Stop trying to make things better. Notice what is already good. That goes for you, too - you aren't in constant need of improvement. Enjoy yourself. Ex cuse me? I was more offended than I had been when