A Foretaste of Spring and a Blogiversary

March can be very changeable. Today is cold and grey; snow is falling thickly, and the newly-budding trees are shivering in an icy wind.

Last week, however, we enjoyed a glorious foretaste of spring, with blue skies, sunshine, and a few days of temps in the 50s. You know what that means for this blogger....

The first ride of the year was, as always, a compound of sheer delight at the freedom of the road, and an uncanny sense of collapsed time, as though the four months out of the saddle had never been.

What a treat to wheel past trees and fields I hadn't seen since November:

Spot pigeons in a row on a barn roof:

Pause for photos at a favorite bridge:

And watch Tallulah get creosote on her feet as she walked across a sticky piling:

Magically new and comfortingly familiar (the ride, that is, not the creosote).

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The next day I rode my bike to work.

Blackbirds fluttered at the edge of the river trail:

Much of the river was still frozen, but some stretches were open to the sun:

Hello, cycling shadow! Nice to see you again:

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In other March news, I completed a pair of socks! With sock yarn!! On size 1 knitting needles!!! (Please pardon the excess of exclamation points; this is big for a serial crocheter like me.)

I wore them to work one day last week, and felt ridiculously proud every time I caught a glimpse of my ankles.

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Ten years ago this month, I published my first blog post.

At the time, I had no idea where blogging might take me. My original plan was to write about frugal living, with plenty of recipes and green cleaning tips, but along the way the focus shifted to crochet design, cycling, and chronicling the changing Wisconsin seasons. Who would have guessed that between then and now, I'd sell numerous crochet patterns and articles to magazines, travel across the country multiple times to take part in benefit bike rides with fellow bloggers, and write and publish a book?

Better still, who would have guessed that through this blog I would make friends with wonderful people all over the world? Meeting you online, and in real life, has been a joy and a privilege.

Thank you for reading all these years, and for enriching my life with your comments, emails, and friendship. I am so grateful for you all.

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