April Showers

It's that time of year again--spring! We're still having chilly days, but the trees are starting to show buds, the grass is already green, and early flowers are blooming. We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory yesterday (Patrick needed a break anyway from his mad rush to review his notes of the approximately 250 books that he's read since September; his exam is tomorrow), for a stronger dose of greenery, and found some neat things. Here's a bromeliad in flower (and I thought the red spears were their flowers!), and a bowl made out of paper-thin slices of kiwi and papaya that have been pressed, dried, and shaped.

I'm on Spring Break next week. Once Patrick's exam is over, we'll be free!!! The plan is to drive south, where spring will hopefully be a little farther along than it is here, to his grandma's house in Indiana. We'll spend a few days with her, then drive about 120 miles farther south to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, where we'll hike, camp, and kayak. I'm really looking forward to getting out of the city for a while.

I was rummaging around and found a card that Auntie Nancy and Uncle John gave us right before we moved to Chicago. There's a sweet message inside. I wanted to share the words on the front, which the card says is adapted from and old Irish prayer:

Take time to work.
It is the price of success.
Take time to meditate.
It is the source of power.
Take time to play.
It is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to read.
It is the way to knowledge.
Take time to be friendly.
It is the road to happiness.
Take time to laugh.
It is the music of the soul.
And take time to love
and be loved.

All for now. I'll hopefully be posting again at the end of the week with pictures from the trip and my latest knitting project! Lots of love.