Winter has returned.

 This is not a pile of dirt just off the back parking lot at the Archives.  this is what is left of the pile of snow they scraped up over the winter.  It is now just a hard block of ice and a dirty one at that.

 This is the Winthrop Library here in Augusta.  Have never been in it and this pic was taken across the lot where the old YMCA used to stand.  all they have left are piles of granite that was part of the building.

 Across the destroyed YMCA lot we can see this wonderful Hallowell granite church.   they hold Weight Watchers meetings there.

 This church is missing its steeple.  They took it off and threw it away because it had become a safety hazard due to the dry rot that had set in.

 Our car on the morning of 28 March 2012.

The books we may get to redo due to the sad condition of the cradle seen in the background.  This cradle is very old and is a wheelbarrow when compared with the slick electronic digitizer being used across the room from us by a company hired to digitize the BDM of Maine.

It seems like Spring is trying very hard to be here.  Woke up this morning (Wednesday) to a covering of snow and looked at the Iphone to see that it was minus 3 degrees.  Wow, I thought, -3 degrees, I guess winter is not done with us after all.  So I rugged up with all kinds of clothing, do not like to be cold, and off we trundled to the car.  It did not seem to be very cold, so I got out the Iphone and looked and sure enough it did say minus 3 degrees – then I looked and saw that this reading was Celcius and not Farenheit which was 28 degrees or so.  Well, still below freezing is quite a shock to the system after the wonderful 80 degree days last week.

I was wondering if I could get my hands on some Balsam fir branches.  Thought I might like to do a bag of balsam to scent up my drawer so sent an email to a friend to see if they had balsam fir in their backyard and below is her reply:

Sorry, no balsam.  We've got pine (& pine cones), birch (& birch bark), oak (& acorns), beech, maples of various kinds (& their helicopter seeds), wild red and black raspberries and mock raspberry bushes, blackberries, choke cherries, hawthorn, honeysuckle, barberry, jewelweed, tiger lilies; and some lilac bushes and burning bushes that we would like to transplant this year; and many other wildflowers.  One of my favorites is the spreading dogbane for its white/pink bells and its scent.

I think that she must live in the Garden of Eden or something.

We are doing books from the 1800’s right now and the very earliest one is dated 1801.  The young missionary Elders came in on Monday to see what we do in the Archives.  I was able to show them the beautiful writing in the books. Not all of these Elders can write in cursive – it is not taught in the schools any more.  But then, when you have a computer and a printer at your disposal, cursive writing is becoming a lost art.

Sara wrote and told me that Lyla has only one more heart to fill in.  We were hoping that she would not have any trouble falling asleep and staying asleep as a result of this 5 heart exercise, but I do not think it will be that way………because  Lyla is the next best thing to an Energizer bunny.