Miser family update: masks, trees, bikes edition

Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Family household.  We have been entertaining ourselves partly by devising clever new things to wear.   

To wit, I've been sewing mask upon mask upon mask, and decided to make a pair that make me giggle: a mustache and a cat mask.  

N-son models the mustache mask (there's a nose, but the camera light kinda washes it out).
I'm the one in the kitty cat mask.

Prewash, not to be outdone, sometimes wears a mask that looks very convincingly like a half-and-half carton.  

Although I made a selection of good-looking masks for her, I-daughter is understandably even more delighted with this spring sweater she's knitted, finished (appropriately enough) just in time for spring.  

Spring has had a tough time finding its sway here, however.  The past two weeks have been surprisingly gray, cool, rainy, and windy.  Indeed, the wind knocked over a tree that was formerly standing at a nearby Theological Seminary, which fell gently into another tree.   What an interesting metaphor this has been: we all need someone to lean on these days . . . 

. . . especially when we're feeling uprooted, and the ground is shifting beneath our very feet.

This ground here is normally level; it's really cool seeing the hole formed by the lifted roots.

But spring *is* coming.  I've just taught my last week of classes, and so next week I'll give final exams, and receive final exams, and grade things as quickly as I can.  Grading exams can mean only one of two things:  Christmas is coming, or spring is coming, and in this case, it's gotta be spring.

With spring comes increased chances to ride bikes, and my husband is taking advantage of Strava challenges to ride "with" or compete "against" other riders on roads that are delightfully low-density when it comes to automobile traffic.  He turns 67 today, which is supposed to be old or something, but he's trying to figure out a way to bike the 80 miles to Philly (and back) sometime soon, because the weather is just more and more glorious. 

Another spring-like thing: the sunshine that filters through my bedroom windows in the morning (a) actually filters through while I'm still in bed, so I know the sun is rising earlier and earlier, and (b) is pink light, because of the cherry blossom tree right outside.  Pink morning light is a beautiful thing to wake up to, I've learned.  

the view from my bedroom window, 5:45 a.m.

And with warmer weather, Prewash and I get to spend time on the front porch, people watching from a safe distance.  

A giant social-distance building where N-son
 and two other guys are working

N-son has had a blast this past week working with his brother-in-law Pete on installing something like 60 garage doors in a building that is under construction in a town about 60 miles from here.  He comes home exhausted, but very happily so, telling me delightedly about getting work done while listening to music thats's "not your kind of music, mom".  This work and time with the Guys is really good for him in a bunch of ways.  

And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be safe and healthy.