A bunch of different things ...

I'm posting many pictures here, all random disconnected events ... bear with me please!

Dylan is graduating from Kuyper College this spring. He has also been working on a lot of research projects with a colleague and friend. Last fall, Claremont Graduate College was soliciting papers for its Philosophy of Religion Conference and Dylan wrote and submitted one. His paper was accepted, and he was invited to fly out to Los Angeles to read it and participate in discussion at the conference. So last Thursday I drove Dylan to the airport at 4:30 in the morning and he flew out to Los Angeles. This was Dylan's first time in the air! He's traveled some other places in his life. Last spring, he went up into Canada with a bunch of folk from Kuyper and they also went to New York City and New Jersey. He has been down to Florida as well ... but this was his first flight, going through Minneapolis and then onto Los Angeles. He arrived safely back home early yesterday morning and said everything went well at the conference. I'm excited to hear the details!

And I don't know if you remember my Valentine's Day post from a year ago, but I had really wanted to go out to dinner at Red Lobster, my very favorite restaurant. But I ended up cooking a special Valentine's meal at home instead. Since Valentine's Day was on Saturday this year and I had a prior obligation over at church, Mr. Jones and I decided to eat a late lunch out Friday afternoon and call it a date. Mmmmm. I ordered the Sailor's Platter at Red Lobster and it was SO good!

And speaking of Valentine's Day, Mr. Jones and I did our usual exchange of cards. He always buys a humorous one for me, and I most often design him a special one. This year, I found a quote I really liked: "Love is not blind ~ it sees MORE not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less." (Rabbi Julius Gordon) So I used that quote on my card to Mr. Jones and wrote some mushy stuff as well that I will not share ...

We woke up Valentine's Day to a fresh 3" blanket of heavy snow! So beautiful! I bet you're thinking I was less than enthused about more snow. But I'll tell you ~ I was actually glad ... no, really! We'd had our week of nice warmer weather and I enjoyed it very much. But after a few days, things had become so gray and bleak looking. All of the trees were SO undressed, with no hope of any leaves for 8-10 weeks! But with this new snow, everything was made beautiful again!

I went back to my woods and took a bunch more pictures. In Michigan, spring rarely comes and stays until mid to late March. So we may as well have snow!

Saturday afternoon, I drove over to my Mom and Roy's house for a visit. Nana and I worked on her computer for a little while. For Christmas, they had received a gift of an Amarilis bulb ... look how beautifully it has grown!

Amazing! If you have little children at home, this is the kind of plant they really appreciate ... you can practically WATCH it grow in front of your eyes! This plant is over two feet tall and the stalk of it is more than an inch around ... it's huge! I think I'm going to have to get one of these next year and see if I can possibly NOT kill it ...

And this is for the Jones kiddos (Sabrina, Nick and Adam). The other day, your dad showed me this switch lantern downstairs in the basement. It was all dusty and sad-looking. He wondered if we could hang it over our new TV in the family room. I looked at him rather doubtfully ~ it just was SO dirty!

But he cleaned it up ... and hung it up! I like it :) I had to take down and re-arrange some of the pictures I had just hung on the wall, but no problem! This lantern hung for years and years in the family room over on Rapidfall, where the Jones kids grew up. I think it's very nice that we can have it hanging here to show the grandchildren when they come up to Michigan.

Doesn't it light up very nicely?

Lastly, here is Thomas K. This time of year, he behaves like a loyal puppy. He follows me all over the house and is quite affectionate (for a Tom cat). This is his newest favorite place to relax and nap. I think he is a very handsome cat! I wanted to show you these pictures tonight, because tomorrow evening my cousin Lois and her whole family (almost) are coming over here for dinner ... I've got some preparation to do for that! Lois and her husband Joel have eight children, five of whom are adopted. I'll take some pictures and show you later ...