warmth to my very bones!

 Remember the Sunshine song?  Jon Denver...

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry

Sunshine on the water looks so lovely

Sunshine almost always makes me high.."

Well, we have had a snowy few months here in central NY state.  There were days and weeks where it didn't even melt in bouts of flurries.  We still have lots of snow in the yard.

But yesterday, we had sunshine peeking behind some clouds, melting the snow and...I was barefoot on the deck, no coat, sleeves rolled up (gotta tan up the pale white arms!), and it was...48 degrees.  When those rotten little clouds sailed between my sunshine and me, brrr!!!!  Then, aaaah, warmth again.  

Wulf and I were outside for three hours.  We walked around the yard a bit, but where the snow has melted it is very muddy.  We walked down the road a bit, and threw some stones into the creek.  Mostly though, we stayed on the deck.  He alternated driving the little four wheeler, the motorcycle, and the Cozy Coupe, aka the Rain Car.  (Emily named it the Rain Car when she was small, because it had a roof...)

In that last pic, he is delighting in putting his cold hands on my arm, and me shrieking.  He was picking up chunks of ice and throwing them through the railing, then warming his hands on me...:)

Today, Molly is coming over, so I have corned beef, tiny baby potatoes, some red potatoes, baby carrots in the crock pot, and cabbage will be added soon.  I want to make something nice for dessert, something low sugar, as she's eating healthy these days.  I do have to go to the store for a few things, important girly things we have run out of, and then some essentials like cheese sticks, and tortilla wraps.

I got up bright and early and touched up my roots.  What?!  Should I not tell?  I am just not old enough yet to go gray!  The grays come in all curly and springy and ugh...anyway, long story short, I used an opal color this time, it was only $2 on clearance at Walmart!  You can hardly tell, but it did cover a few grays.

I have to look my spiffiest best, so as not to embarrass my three oldest daughters, Miss Emily Anne, Miss Abigail Marie, and Miss Mariel Joy...tomorrow we are "sneaking off to Florida", as one of my blogger friends put it last time I went.  Or maybe that was the time before.  And I don't want to belittle her fear of travel, this blogger friend who commented a while back.  She is a NICU nurse, and has the best intentions for staying safe.  I know my daughters who are in medicine are very careful too, but now are also vaccinated.  

But we actually are going to Florida tomorrow, just a long weekend of sunshine, and I am very excited about it.  We're visiting Grandma, yay!  She has been all alone there, and Paul's brother died a few weeks ago, my heart breaks for Eleanor being down there and not able to travel up here, 91 years old.  I can't imagine losing a child, even if you're old and your child is all grown up and old too, so we're going to go see her and be with her for a bit.  We are also going to the coast, and there will be sand and salt water and sunshine...the forecast is looking good!

So in essence, all those years ago, having all those babies, with the comments and yes, some derision from some, as we sometimes were tempted to question our own sanity, but deep in my heart I knew it was right to accept those babies as gifts, directly from heaven, from a loving God who knew exactly what we needed...it was tiring and chaotic at times, but now these kids have grown into wonderful friends to me, blessings.  These kids of mine have grown up and  completely blessed me back, and I am truly thankful for them...