Happy March! I’m calling this my March illustration. Daffodils are everywhere this week, due to the coming of spring, their being the Welsh flower, and St. David’s Day which is very important in Wales as well. We also have a female blackbird making a nest in our back garden hedge. I keep spotting her in the garden picking up massive loads of twigs and things to line the nest. She gets so much, that she can hardly see around them! She then seems to look in all directions before darting into the hedge. I adore it and can’t wait to hear her babies in a few weeks! Spring is coming!

This week seems like it went quite quickly. And yet I packed in a lot. I did a lot of writing this week with two photo tour posts, an epic book review post and I started the draft of my next picture book, which is very exciting (it’s about Ink the Cat!).

FRIDAY LINKS

*Beautifully, sunny week. I had to stop during my run and just soak in the sun on my run at the Warren.*

I’m excited about all I read, listened to, found and made this week, so let’s dive in to our links!

THINGS I BOOKMARKED

5 Quick Things on The CommonPlace – I really appreciated Tsh Oxenreider’s Brief 101 on approaching Lent. We celebrate Lent every year and it seems to always look a little different, especially here as we don’t have an Ash Wednesday service to attend. But Lent isn’t obligatory. I loved Tsh’s words “the seasons of the liturgical calendar are a gift to us as people. We’re invited to partake of the rhythms of fasting and feasting because it’s good for us, not because we needlessly flagellate ourselves for no reason. We are body-soul composites, and it’s good and necessary to remember this often. And it’s good to remember that the second person of the Trinity took on this same mortal flesh, and did so for our sake.”

Little Way Chapel Lent Guide – We use this guide in some form every year for the past few years. I really love how it helps and directs us in focusing our efforts this season.

New Faith Rising poem by Rachel Joy Welcher – I really loved this poem by Rachel. I found myself as a mother in this one, as we have a daughter named after a saint as well. And I echo Rachel’s words:
“I’m not Catholic. I don’t pray to saints.
But as a Protestant I have leanings
and these leanings lead me to admire
at the least the idea of saints, looking to them
as that cloud of witnesses, a reminder of
who we are and can become.”

the end of our extremely online era by Tommy Dixon – I really really hope Tommy is right about the end of this era. I too feel this “The more I reduce my technology use, the more profoundly human and precariously alive I feel.”

Krystyna Turska Children’s Book Author and Illustrator – I discovered Turska for the first time this week thanks to a vintage picture book I bought over break. I was thrilled to learn more about her through one of my favorite illustration blogs!

THINGS I LISTENED TO

Good Things Come single by Fielder – My love for Skye Peterson’s music is no secret. I’m so thrilled to also listen to her teaming up with Addison Agen with this new music called Fielder. This first single has been on repeat in my headphones. I especially love it driving through the hills of Wales while the sun is streaming down.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder by Katherine Rundell – an incredible series of 5 essays written and read by Katherine Rundell about the power and politics of children’s fiction. I loved listening to these short essays and the fire and passion for children’s literature was kindled more in me.

Hallelujah by Rain for Roots – Joanna, Mark, and I taught this song to our church last Sunday based on Psalm 148. It was a gift to discover it recently and I really really love listening to it and getting lost in singing it.

A Bear Called Paddington – I listened to this audiobook read by Stephen Fry while painting this week. So much fun to revisit this classic story. And having someone read it to me was fantastic. (Sidenote: but we have Yoto players and this book on one of those cards, so I was able to listen to it on my phone using the Yoto app. Love it.)