I think I’ve been bitten by the gardening bug! I started some basil plants inside and I’ve been busy figuring out how I can grow vegetables in containers. April should be interesting. First, here are some March favourites.
Read
Another satisfying reading month. For my Books of Centuries challenge I listened to The Misanthrope, a play by Moliere (17th c.) and read The Confession of Saint Patrick (early Middle Ages) and am in the middle of listening to a couple of others. From my lists of books to read in 2025, I finished Mere Motherhood (by CM podcaster Cindy Rollins), By the Lake (a quiet novel set in Ireland; it took me a while to get into it, but I ended up loving the dialogue), and James (a retelling of Huckleberry Finn that I DO NOT recommend, except that I wish I could discuss it with someone). I finished Glimpses of Grace for my online women’s study. For book club I read the play No Exit by Sartre. To the kids I read Song of the Trees and Beyond Mulberry Glen; I didn’t really love either, but I like that Trees is about the Logan kids from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and that Mulberry Glen is by a homeschooled teen and the chapter titles are in Latin!
Check out all these great picture books that we got from the library: Fiona’s Lace, St Patrick’s Day in the Morning, Fiona’s Luck, Something About a Bear, and The Bear Went Over the Mountain.
Eat
Ralph finally made the mini fig pies from his little book about medieval castles and was pleased with them.
On St. Patrick’s Day we went to Stewart’s for 99 cent ice cream cones (after forgetting last November) — a fun treat even though the weather was miserable.
I don’t think I’ve shared this butter chicken recipe before, but it’s definitely a keeper (thanks, Emily!). Eleanor made it for her birthday followed by coconut almond cake.
Believe it or not there are some Smitten Kitchen recipes that I do not plan to make again: pizza beans were not a big hit (mostly because the beans we used tasted funny, but no one was that enthused with the recipe either) and I twice tried the pizza recipe in her latest book and did not like it at all. The pizza dough in her first book is my go-to, though!
Do
We were all sick again (!) and had some weather cancellations, but here’s what else we did in March:
- We had our first picnic at the park (if the air is warm, just ignore the puddles and piles of dirty snow).
- I took the kids to a Sugaring Off Party with live fiddling (even tiny children!), folk dancing, and sugar on snow samples at TAUNY.
- We attended a successful surprise 90th birthday open house.
Listen
I’ve been listening to the Just Grow Something podcast while I exercise. The tagline is ‘The “Why” Behind the “How” of Gardening’ and I enjoy learning more about horticulture, even things that I’m not going to implement any time soon.
Watch
I watched The Forge and yes, the story line is too good to be true, but sometimes you just need an inspirational movie or book!
Ponder
Here’s a haiku by Kobayashi Issa that I recently discovered (should I frame it when we buy a new house?):
Don’t worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.
Meditate
“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.'” – John 9:1-3