A successful St. Patty's Day celebration and some Spring . . .

The irony is, as I write this, we are waiting for a "winter" storm that is anticipated to drop as many as SIX inches of snow on us.
Oh, say it isn't so!
Either Doppler radar is playing a very cruel joke on us, or I put my winter coat away entirely too soon!
Well, the past two days have been gorgeous ones.
The best two days, weather wise, out of the whole break!
Yesterday, we celebrated St. Patty's Day with a meal of corned beef and cabbage and some fresh Irish soda bread!

Daniel was my little chef. "I'm a good helper, mom!" he bragged.
Indeed, he is.

While the bread was in the oven, we took some time to play outside.
Here are some images of Spring.
I will look back at them often during the next few frigid days!

Today, it was back to the painting grind, although things are really coming along!!
I should have taken "before" photos.
But, I did not.
It was a beautiful day today. We had the windows and doors flung open, and the birds were singing sweet songs which floated in on warm breezes. At one point this afternoon, Daniel was sitting on a chair in front of an open window in the kitchen, near where I was painting. He was eating a green apple and looking out at the day he would soon be out playing in. He said to me, "I'm so happy!" It was so out of the blue, I almost cried.
"And what is making you so happy?" I asked.
"This apple. And the sun," he replied.
So simple.
And it made him so happy.
I stopped what I was doing, and watched his curly haired head bobbing in the sunlight streaming in the window. He was chewing his apple and swinging his feet.
It was one of those moments when my children teach me some fundamental truth about life.
And I was listening.
It doesn't take much.
Being near those you love . . . a little warm sunshine . . . a bit of good nourishment . . . put them all together and you have the recipe for sheer joy.
"I'm so glad you're happy," I told him.
He looked at me and smiled, and went back to looking out the window.

I was so tired. I had been painting all day and had some other worries on my mind . . . but after that, I picked up my brush . . . and was happy!