Spring Equinox revisited

They don't call me RunninL8 for nothin! I drive myself nuts not posting relevant stuff in a timely manner. But...better late than never,yes?

As you can see, it still be winter here. We're under about 2 ft of snowpack. Yesterday and last Thursday Lo and I went on a couple of great snowshoes up Bear Pass across the valley from our house. We brought a sled both times so that we could zip back down the mountain to the trailhead. Dea and I had tried this a few years ago. We brought big black trash bags to wear for our attempt to glacade down in a timely rip-roaring manner. The snow was a bit deep at that time and it just didn't work the way we had hoped. It was more of a butt-scoot to the bottom and we over-shot the trail and had to bushwhack back to the parking lot! Thursday, we tried out the roll up Whamo! sled which slid nicely but wouldn't stay on the packed down trail so there were a lot of stops and starts. Fun, none-the-less. Yesterday, Huz joined us and the 3 of us piled on a long cheepo plastic sled. The conditions and sled type were right because we careened hazardously down the mountain at a dangerous speed-me with visions of Natasha Richardson(my heart just bleeds for that family) in my head-having quite a bit of trouble using our heels to brake and steer. We hit a few patches of brush when Lo decided to hold on to my FACE instead of my waist, but we made it down in one piece. And because no one got hurt...THAT WAS ONE KILLER RIDE DOWN!!!!!! But next time, HELMETS for sure.

On the Spring Equinox, Lo and I went out to enjoy the wonderfully sunny, cloudless day. It was pretty hard to imagine SPRING with the cold wind nipping our noses. We went in search of signs of life, looking both high and down low for any new green. Our walk conjured up memories of when I was a child in new Jersey, walking to school and discovering the first crocuses popping up. A sign of warm weather and the end of the school year coming into sight! I'm not necessarily ready for winter to be over-still so much skiing, sledding and snowshoeing to do, but it would really thrill Lo to see one of those hearty flowers poking up from the snow! Not to be, here in Alaska! The ONLY new life emerging was at the very tippy tops of the willows on our property.

Little fuzzy pussy willows. Lo was excited to see them, wishing she could collect some. They were too high up but we did cut a couple branches to take inside and force-something we do each Spring Equinox so that there can be some semblance of spring! The idea is to get some opening buds, pussy willows and green leaves popping by Easter. Some may recall my post from last year on how hard it can be in Alaska to celebrate certain seasonal rhythms. We just have to make do with what we are offered and create more of a spring inside the house! Let's be glad we're NOT seeing signs of Spring on the Equinox because that would be a REALLY bad sign!!!

So, later that day we made sure our birds and squirrel buddy, Chit-chat, were stocked with food and we tidied up our little birdhouse with the see-through back in the hopes that this year a bird couple will use it! If anyone has tried one of these birdhouses, let me know how it went for you! Inside, nice and warm, we decided we would make our own nest and eggs for the nature table.

I found this cute yarn nest idea at No Time For Flash Cards but thought we could add our own twist to it.

We followed the instructions, dipping our yarn in Elmer's Glue and wrapping it around the bottom half of a balloon. But when the nest was dry and we popped the balloon out, 2 birdies went about the house searching for pieces of string and ribbons, bits of fabric, and tufts of colored wool to weave into the nest-just like real birds.

For our eggs, I bought some made of wood from Micheal's and Lo painted them blue with brown flecks. The flecking was done using a small brush with firm bristles and a plastic pallet knife. She just rubbed the knife along the bristles causing the paint to splatter.

They came out quite pretty and although the nest is a little over-the top with color, it's a nice addition for our table! We're thinking of adding some "findings" to the nest as well-buttons, charms, etc. I think we might try this nest making method to make a new (Easter) Spring basket for the Spring bunny to fill next weekend!