The kids and I went out to my mom's last weekend, since it was their spring break. When we drove out, the temperatures climbed to 73 degrees. It was warm and sunny. I sat on the front porch and soaked up the sun. The warmest I've been all year. That was Thursday. The next day, it was blowing snow, and it snowed all day. Crazy. But by Sunday it was back up in the 50's and the snow melted fast. On Saturday, we visited Aunt Virginia and enjoyed watching The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency with her. I'm afraid we kept her from the very important KU game, which sadly, they lost. I heard the results while I was lying on the floor next to the heat vent. I was hoping they'd go all the way.

On Sunday, we went with mom to Dodge City and visited Boot Hill. There is an exhibit on the "Plains people" in a small building next to the cemetary, that has a stuffed buffalo, and a video that shows a buffalo herd stampeding. When the buffalo start running, it sounds like thunder, and you feel it in the floor beneath your feet. There were a lot of interesting artifacts on display. Even the girls seemed to enjoy exploring the various parts of the museum.

When we got home that night, we cooked frozen pizza and washed it down with bottles of sarsparilla we bought at the Boot Hill gift shop. I have to say that sarsparilla was really quite good. For four days, we lazed about. I read my book for Teen Lit, a historical novel titled "Peril on the Sea," about English privateers who were really like pirates, but who helped the Queen's navy fight the Spanish Armada, though more out of greed and hope for bounty than any noble feeling for the crown. I also read part of a story (not for teen lit) about a New York couple who moved to a cottage in a remote part of Ireland that didn't have a stick of furniture. They relied on "turf fires" for heat ---made by burning the dried up peat from the bog.

Back to the grind this week. Back to homework I've put off, and soccer practice and 6:00 am alarm clocks. And it's raining again, of course. But it's spring now, and that does make everything feel so much better.