Reading and Knitting and a Promise of Spring

I recently read Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. The plot is a simple one: Ursula Todd is born, and dies. She is born again, and dies again. And again, and again. The novel takes us through her many lives, and her feelings of déjà vu. The novel's characters remain essentially the same, and yet their circumstances are altered. It was fascinating.

The flaw in the narrative is this: how can her life have any meaning, when it is erased each time she dies and is reborn? That aspect was frustrating (once I caught on), but the stories of her lives offered some compensation.

(NPR had a good review here.)

This is a scarf that I recently finished. I sent it to the Old South Church in Boston. On the day of the Boston Marathon, they are known as the "Church of the Finish Line," because of their location near the marathon's finish. Each year, on the Sunday before the race, they welcome runners for their annual Blessing of the Athletes. This year - one year after bombs ended the marathon early - Old South Church plans to "wrap each runner in love," giving them handmade blue and yellow scarves at that service. Mine will be just one of those scarves; I hope it gives a runner comfort and encouragement.

I am eagerly watching for spring. The cold and snow have hung on much longer than necessary. Last week, it seemed that every morning we awakened to more snow falling:

Not that it amounted to much - it was lovely, and made me think of living in a snow globe, but it didn't stick around. It just reminded us that we are not in charge, and that winter will not give up its grasp until it is good and ready.

But maybe, just maybe, it's getting ready. Bonnie and I saw this yesterday, when we finally ventured into the Friendship Village woods again:

And look what we saw on our walk today:

East of the park, on Croyden

The ice across our street finally melted yesterday and today; the snow pile by the park is slowly shrinking; and there are snowdrops in our yard!

I'm sure there will yet be a tug of war between winter and spring - but eventually, spring will win!