Hello everyone! Today is quite yucky out. Gray and rainy and damp. And cold. The absolute worst in weather. But, it is also Friday and pizza night and library day and art day as well. So all is not lost today. Plus, my coffee is hot and delicious.

We are having typical January weeks for Michigan, both in weather and in activity level. We are mostly indoors, working on school or our own little individual projects, reading… you guys get it. Cozy home things. We are deep into wintering over here.

I participated in our second Zoom crafternoon this weekend, and I had such a good time. It was so nice to chat with these women, while I stitched away at my embroidery. I think about how this is an activity that really spans decades and centuries, people, women, gathered together while they chat over their sewing or quilting or knitting, and I see why they did it. I know that it was done at times out of necessity, but I am sure it was also for the socialness of it. I feel like I might go down a rabbit hole soon reading about this. If anyone knows of a book that talks about this history let me know! Anyway, back to my own. It is just super casual, we bring what we want to the Zoom, we chat about all sorts of things, and honestly for a group of women who are more than likely mostly introverted, who have never officially “met”, conversation is easy. It has brightened these long gray January days to have these meetups. I am looking forward to our next one in February! I also enjoyed stitching on this bright bit of whimsy this January as well!

We also had another bright spot since I have last posted a catch up. Our scouts had a special program at a local nature center. It was awesome. It was in the evening last Friday, so it was twilight as we were all driving in, and the roadside was full of herds of deer. We saw at least 50 deer driving through the metropark back to the nature center, which was very cool. Some were so close to the road, or in the road, that we needed to very careful on our approach! We were the first to arrive, on purpose of course as the leaders, and while we waited Wyatt and our other early bird Eloise drew and etched animals. I stepped outside for a minute and was greeted by the hoots of two Great Horned Owls calling to each other. One was their resident owl, Radar, who was permanently injured by a car and now lives there, calling to a friend in the woods. It was really cool to hear. I was surrounded by the dark woods and listening and it just felt magical. Especially when you consider that Great Horned Owls have a territory of ten miles, so for me to hear that one when it was so close felt very special.

Once everyone arrived, we all headed in to the Up North room, which the interpreters had set up for our scouts, and even had a fire going in the woodstove. It was extremely cozy in there, and I really could have taken a nice nap. However, there was a program to listen to, so no naps. Billy and I have known these two interpreters for over twenty years, and have a friendship with them, and Wyatt knows them very well too. Wyatt was extremely excited about being there and about the program. The kids learned about the mammals and birds in our area, and had the chance to see and feel different fur pelts and skulls. It was really interesting and I think both kids and adults alike had a very good time. Afterwards we had hot chocolate and cookies and it was just a wonderful night.

We are also having Wyatt’s birthday party here as well in March. The very last big party he had was in 2020, the week before Covid really hit, and it was bittersweet, as it was the last time we saw some of our family and friends for a long time. But we were thankful that we had been all gathered and had the chance, without even knowing it. That party was also here at the Nature Center. We thought for Wyatt’s tenth, we would have another big party for him. I am in the middle of planning it now.

And to be honest, that is about it! We had game night where we played a new game that Wyatt got for Christmas, Junior Detectives, which I highly recommend. We visited a bakery in Detroit and picked up gargantuan baked good. And then, we wintered.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!