One Step Ahead, Two Steps Back

...toward spring I mean.

In the week since I last posted, we've had two ice storms, two snow squalls, and one day of spring-like weather (today - albeit windy and rainy).

There is the possibility of snow in the forecast for tomorrow night again.

{A little spun cotton chick in a sphagnum moss nest in a little escargot pot with an ice-coated window in the background}

I had said I would try to show some Easter photos but, obviously, that didn't happen. Well, it's happening now (if you haven't figured that out), but it didn't happen before Easter like you probably (and rightly) assumed it would. 

Each year I bring out less and less, which means I should get rid of more and more.

But that's not likely to happen either.

In any event, here are a few photos. Heavy on the rabbits, I know.

{Antique and vintage candy containers. Most are German, but a few are Japanese, or unmarked. These are the kind where the heads remove to access the candy (vs. the type with a paper-covered opening in the bottom)}

 

{Another antique candy container...with embellishments}

{Rabbit print on old paper framed on an antique book cover}

{Pressed paper/pulp/ paper machie rabbit...one of many. Another obsession}

{Antique German die-cut rabbit and vintage watch faces and flower frog}

{Probably my largest antique candy container}

And lest the fowls cry foul, Miss Fiona is here to represent the chicks, ducks, and ducklings in my collection that didn't get shown.

{Yes, she is real...and taxidermized. Sorry}   

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As a bit of a postscript, someone mentioned in my last post that they wondered where the rabbits go in our wretched winters. 

Contrary to popular belief, they do not hibernate.

Rather, they seek shelter in a variety of places: brush piles, tall grasses, under my porch decking.

During periods of heavy snows (i.e., weekly in Nod), they will use the snow itself as a shelter - building tunnels and shallow depressions in the snow called "forms."

The snow acts as an insulator reducing loss of body heat and a buffer against the wind.

All too soon, they come out and build nests. One day the ornamental grass was covered in several feet of snow and the minute the snow melted, some bunny had burrowed in and started building a nest out my back door. Again.

GAH!

Tell Me Again...

 

....why do I live in Nod?

I know full well it could be much worse - my heart hurts for those suffering in the aftermath of the tornadoes and other storms down south but, all the same, I am winter weary.

(And, unfortunately, our turn at tornado season will come as well.)

I am (desperately) trying to focus on the promise of spring.

Since I can't shut out the view of white out my windows, I tried distracting myself by pulling a few of my favorite bunnies out of hiding.

(Ok, truth? I'm also avoiding doing taxes....)

All but one of the bunnies in the below photo are antique/vintage German candy containers.

These are one of my favorite things.  Ever.

But I like other bunnies too....

{Spun Cotton Bunny Baby}

And pussy willows....(not real...too cold and too much snow here yet.)

I've also started on some more spring-like projects and, yes, located my wayward hook.

This is "Early Bird" - an adaptation of a Lori Brechlin/Notforgotten design by Kris Miller.

     

(The colors look a bit washed out here - they're better in person.)

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And books...well, there's really no season to them.  I don't think I'll ever catch up with sharing them all, but I will again try to include a recent read in posts again.

"The Museum of Extraordinary Things" by Alice Hoffman was a most satisfying read.  I know I once said I'm not much for love stories, but this one had so many other things going on that I could really forget it was, in reality, a love story too.

The protagonist, Coralie, performs as a mermaid in her father's "museum," (i.e., a Coney Island freak show).  She meets a young Russian immigrant who has photographed the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and becomes tangled up in a young worker's disappearance.

It is part love story, part mystery, and part history but so artfully told it casts a spell that is hard to resist.  I was especially impressed with the accuracy of the author's depiction of early 1900's New York.

And, yes, I will be reading more of this author.

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Hoping things aren't quite as white where you are.

Nary a Hare Anywhere

 ...well, almost.

{Vintage/Antique Rabbit Candy Containers}

Here we are...four days (plus or give a smidge depending on when I actually finish this post) before Easter, and my bunnies and other other Easter accoutrements are, for the most part, still staring at the inside of their dark totes and boxes.

Blame the tax man...and any other man you can find.

So, before I run out of time completely, here are a (pathetic) few that managed to be liberated for the season.

{Spun Cotton Bunny Child}

{Folk For All Seasons Sculpted Rabbit}

{Saltglaze Bunnies}

(Ok, ok...I cheated on that last one...those bunnies live there all year long.)

  

And that's it.  C'est ça!

As far as my pastime endeavors go, I have even less to share.

 I don't know what made me look this up, but it cracked me up....until I realized that what I have to show for my "pastime" really fits the definition of "past time" more aptly:  Something that should have happened or been done by now. 

I have stitched some, but it's too wrinkled at this point to share...and, no, I'm not pressing it.  

I have hooked some too, but you really probably can't tell.  (And there's even less hooked now since I did a bit of reverse hooking after this photo was taken.)

And, yes, it...and my stitching project...should have been done by now.

*******

Last, but not least in the pastime department, my book report for those of you interested:

"The Woman Who Smashed Codes" is quite a ways out of my typical "lane" but it was fascinating.  It is the, until now, untold story of a remarkable woman who played an integral part in our country's history.  Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a young Quaker poet with a true enthusiasm for Shakespeare.  She was lured to the extraordinary and sometimes magical estate of an eccentric tycoon to assist in deciphering codes he (and actually many others) believed were hidden within the texts of Shakespeare by Francis Bacon, the "true" author of the texts.  (Ok....)

When World War I broke out, Elizabeth's language skills were put to use by the government and, ultimately, she, and her husband, developed the modern science of cryptology (code breaking).  

These skills were honed over time and she assisted not only in apprehending smugglers during Prohibition but breaking the leading Nazi spy ring and shaping the course of the second world war.

{Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her husband, William Friedman}

While the book is filled with a great deal of history and technical background to the art and science of codebreaking, Elizebeth's fascinating life and the author's adept skill at non-fictional narrative made for an enjoyable read.

Again, not for everyone, but a nice "break" if you find yourself in a reading rut.

*******

Now back to taxes...and macaroons.