Around and about

 The river is still in a rage. But what a view! This was from late March.

Bread before/after. Don't get me started on baking bread unless you really want to hear an earful because I love talking about it, almost as much as I love eating it, or listening to it crackle when it comes out of the oven and starts to cool, or getting the perfect design on top. These are magical things in my life right now.

A scene from an incredible night featuring a magical collaboration between the Spokane Symphony and local artists, playing and interpreting Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Inspiring. My favorite movement of the Vivaldi seasons is winter. But in this performance, it was fall. In real life, SPRING. Late spring.

On a cold, rainy Saturday we made our first-ever trip to Mike's donuts in the valley. The apple fritters did not disappoint. I'd like to think this is Mike himself. Does anyone know Mike?

 I came out of the hallway after vacuuming to find these two curled up in their respective places. (Luna is not normally allowed on the furniture, but she's really taken to that chair by the window, and if it keeps her from getting up on the other things, then we're OK with it.)

 I love these. I still don't know how to pronounce ranunculous.

 Friday night, eating burgers and drinking wine by candlelight at a record store. Like we do. (At Garageland, at least.)

 Fresh orange rolls. I'm declaring this to be my Easter tradition, even though I come from a long line of other delicious baked-good Easter traditions, not the least of which is hopping bunny rolls. If you're interested in the orange-roll recipe, I posted the recipe here.

RaNUNculous? RA-nun-CU-lous?

 Friday night table is set for our dinner date with PBS Newshour JUST KIDDING. But we did watch The Amazing Race, which we DVR'd from the night before.

Who needs ham for Easter dinner when you can make Pasta Primavera?  Joel made the sauce, I made the noodles. A new favorite veggie pasta dish for me. I like the idea of a pasta for all the holidays.

Friday morning bathroom - before. Generally, there was nothing offensive about this bathroom and the stenciling from the 90s. But our house is covered in this green.  I wanted something cleaner and a little brighter. Enter: Rodda paint #0622 Serene Setting...

Saturday morning - after. The wainscoting still needs some touch-ups, but I'm not thinking about that right now.

These April days have mostly been soggy ones, but if you get out at the right moment, the sun hits you and all the colors are suddenly bright and the earth smells incredible. 

Lately I've been thinking about headwinds and tailwinds. Maybe because it's been so windy with all these changes of weather. But it was prompted by an interview I heard on Freakonomics about our tendency to believe that our lives are harder than others'. The headwinds come and become our focus as we struggle to get through them. But there are also tailwinds in our lives that make certain things easier for us. We may notice them giving us a boost at first, but as they continue to push us forward, we stop noticing them. If we pause to notice the seemingly invisible tailwinds, we start to realize how well we are set up in our lives, beyond the major things we're quick to rattle off when asked what we're thankful for. This is what makes daily gratitude journals so powerful and often life-changing. I've worked to make this a habit in my life for years, but something about framing it this way really made sense to me. In case you want to listen to it on a particularly windy day (or read the transcript): Why Is My Life So Hard?