Handbell Sunday - April

  I gave you a hint last week that we were going to play "Hymn of Promise." It was the prelude, and people just take forever to quiet down. There's not much I can do about the noise since I'm only recording with the camera mic. I think the chimes sound really nice on the one verse.



I think you should have the words to all three verses.

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Our second piece was "An Easter Celebration." The young man on trumpet is a college freshman.



In the afternoon, I worked on the campsite list and got another 100 miles done. I forgot to tell you yesterday that I did 225 miles, but I worked really, really hard at it. Not even half done with the list yet.

See Handbell Sunday- April

Shadows of Spring

 I loved the sky and shadows across the back yard this morning.

The rest of my daffodils are coming into their own. You've seen them all before, but not this year. These are the lovely bi-colored ones, Narcissus Delnashaugh.

This one always makes me smile because these bulbs came from my family farm in NY. The old-fashioned double daffs were a favorite of my Grandma Leary.

Going back to another two-colored one, this is 'Duke of Windsor,' one of my personal favorites. It spreads very slowly, so I don't get big clumps of it like I do some of the others, but it manages to keep hanging on.

I think this variety is looking the best it ever has. This is 'Pistachio,' which is supposed to be yellow-green. It never is, but this may be the closest it's come. The wind knocked a few of these over, so we now have a little bouquet of them in the house, too.

I wouldn't mind a couple other varieties, but no plans to do anything about it at the moment.

I went to the food bank in the morning, and then worked all day on listing campsites for the book.

See A Riot of Daffs

Team C-J for the Win Yet Again

 Well, it appears that the last time I had the living room really clean was 2018, although Nov 2019 was probably close. And, no, it's not really clean now. And I didn't take a before picture, but this is the after. I know... there's still a lot of stuff. But you should have seen how much there was. Cathy came over and we spent two hours tackling this mess.

The couch is out of the picture on the right side, and it is clear (which it wasn't two days ago). As in... people can actually sit on it and use it as designed.

When I started working in earnest on the trailer project, all the wood, foam, moldings, etc were stored in the area you see here, in addition to everything you can still see.

So, where did all that stuff go?

We still have one viable out building. There was so much junk just thrown in the entrance way... We broke down about 50 dead boxes and pulled out some things that can go to recycle or the township cleanup day this spring. Again, no before picture. Not even an after picture. This is the middle of the project when it was cleaned out enough to move all the leftover building materials to this space.

Sure, I prefer having a cleaner house, but what has kicked me into a higher gear? Steve is coming for a visit in 2.5 weeks. We need enough space to at least have four people hanging around together and to eat meals. I have some hopes for part of the dining room table, but I'm not positive.

And, I edited, and managed to get 100 miles of campsites logged. I am whipped.

Just for perspective, You know I've been lamenting the utter mess here since I finished the hike. Well, I have emptied the boxes from and cleaned the kitchen (the floor was covered with boxes), cleaned and redecorated my bedroom, widened the aisle through the dining room by one whole row of boxes, pretty nearly finished cleaning the pantry (I'm still puttering on that), and the bathroom isn't bad. I guess I should feel a little better about my progress.

See Boring but Necessary

Forsythia

 I kept my nose to the grindstone all day today, so I've got not much to share.

Enjoy my forsythia bush, in full bloom two weeks earlier than usual. And it's looking very good.

Another 100 miles of campsites listed, and some editing, and some housecleaning

See Ready to Roll

Sneak Peek - How to Hike the North Country Trail

 This project is all Matt Rowbotham's fault! I'm only half kidding. He approached me at the Celebration in October of 2022 and suggested this would be a worthy and easy project. He was half right.

The first part of the book is about 30K words of text that explain why the NCT is different from other long trails, both in experiences and management. This is more or less done. I've sent it to some fact checkers and have to go back through and incorporate their feedback.

The second half is going to be a listing of all the known legal places to stay overnight along the trail. This is the daunting task. It has taken a while to get a format that is understandable, and works with all the odd configurations we have to deal with. Huge thanks to Marianne Duvendack and Cathy Laman for helping me get that whipped into shape.

Here is a sampler pdf with the opening to the campsite half, including the legends. Then it skips to a list from western Wisconsin.

Link to a Sample pdf of How to Hike the North Country Trail

I did my editing quota and then worked like a fiend on this book. I have to keep my nose to the grindstone or I'll never get it done in time. But I'm also supposed to be doing other things... I have campsites listed for about 1200 miles (that's about a quarter of the trail), and not all of those are formatted correctly yet.

Also, my car has new brakes. Driving is an expensive hobby.

See More Mapping Fun