five lovely things…april 12

Warm greetings to you all
and a Joyous Easter or Happy Passover to those of you celebrating today or in the coming week.
I hope today finds you and those you love well, and safe, and that wherever you are sheltering, there is peace.

Here are my five lovely things for today:

Haircut humor:
When I was a young girl in the ’70s the shag was a very popular haircut.  The current style might better be called the shag-gy, or perhaps Shag 2.0. Many people are valiantly trying to cut their bangs at the very least. This advertisement struck my funny bone with its angst-free bang-trimming advice:

Balconies now and through the ages

A fascinating read from the BBC takes a look at the surge in balconies-as-community during the corona-crisis, then pans back for a look at balconies throughout history, architecturally and socially. It’s worthy of the ten minutes of your time it takes to read, and offers good food for thought about how this virus has raised awareness of the human need for connection and community.

Songs of comfort
Yo-yo Ma has begun a Twitter hashtag #songsofcomfort where musicians can post audio of their performances for the enjoyment of all. His own contributions, and his demeanor as he plays, are sublime:

My bloodroot is up
Always the earliest spring riser in my gardens, this gorgeous Minnesota native wildflower never fails to make me glad.

Nature poetry
My flowering bloodroot and the green spears of tulips and iris inching upwards called to mind this lovely little poem.

A Spring Message, by Joan Alpermann

I heard the rain fall in the night;
Softly it fell,
Slowly, carelessly,
And I knew
That everywhere little brown doors were opening,
That everywhere little green things were stepping
Shyly, daintily,
Over the threshold of Spring.
*******

That’s it for today. Keep looking for the lovely, friends!

This week on Orange Marmalade…
…I truly am going to post that list of suggested reads for 14 and up! It has just taken me a while to pull this together.
…I’ve also got some read-aloud suggestions, focusing on 1) young listeners, 2) reads for a wide age group, and 3) reads for households of only teens and older
…Beyond that, I’m going to stop predicting what else I will or will not post in a given week! Doesn’t seem to be working well for me 🙂
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