Collected

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            The bear showed up again last night, and trash lay all over the driveway and front lawn.              Black bears start bulking up from midsummer through fall before they hibernate for the winter here in the Sierra Valley. It’s easier for them to forage through people’s dumpsters than through the forest that surrounds our mountain valley, so they wander from neighborhood to neighborhood looking for fridge castaways.             Groaning, I began the gross and time-consuming task of collecting the litter. One more thing. It was one more thing on my cluttered to-do plate.             After a four-day conference halfway across the country, I…

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Blooms Bursting Out

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Blooms Bursting Out by Mary Hamilton Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement. Spring Is Sprung. So goes the saying I remember from my youth. What glorious sights springtime brings us. Masses of flowers blossoming in our yards, along our highways, and over our meadows and hillsides to delight our eyes and scent the air. The season of Spring is well named. Hope and encouragement springs into our hearts and souls with the sight of blossoms changing the barren landscape of winter. Our spirits are renewed. Our sense of expectation rekindled. Our creative energy replenished. Everywhere we look, we see signs…

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