Thank you to every music teacher who made violin videos on YouTube during lockdown! My niece's violin arrived and it sounds like I've been playing for a week on the first day.

It might still sound like first week after a couple of years. But I love how moving the bow across the strings feels!

Added these to our home today, so I'm getting a good start to another week of embracing my weirdness.

Filled the bird feeder, sat 8 or 9 feet away, and started playing my banjo. It only took a few minutes for the beautiful, colorful visitors to start showing up.

I needed this time today. This week, so far, has been a crappy month stuffed into a few days. But it was really nice outside, birds came to the bird feeder and chirped and trilled while I played.

I spent some time drawing today. I seem to be in a "draw weird stuff" mood. There's a major trauma anniversary for me in a few days. This is a good time to just do any healthy thing my hands want to do. I also spent some time outside playing my ukulele for the birds.

I did eat lunch. Another problem popped up. A previous problem has been fixed. And let's just switch to happier things...

As Ariel exclaimed, "Look at this thing! Isn't it neat?"

My husband bought it for me because I've always loved Ursula's necklace! I waited 34 years for this! It has a chain of silver musical notes inside.

Y'all wanna see my baby sea monkeys swim?

The first of my sea monkeys have hatched! They're just tiny flecks skittering in the water right now. I was chanting, "Yes! Swim!" at them like a joyful Disney villian!

I don't like the advice I give myself. It's too sensible.

It says I can't do anything to "fix" what's causing me distress today, and finding peace and healing has to come from outside of thinking of it that way. And trying too hard can just create blocks. Stay focused on treasured things that bring healthy support. Insight about the past can lead to growth and abundance. And while I don't want to hear it, yes...healing takes love and time.

I started divination with very structured systems, like tarot. I eventually started working with more personalized tools for practices like osteomancy and lithomancy. I resisted charm casting until someone pointed out how the idea of it not being a valid practice was elitist gatekeeping. They were right, so I got into it. But the set changes over time and mine is working its way back to mostly bones and stones.

Distilled water and "purification powder" added for day one. It's s actually some of the eggs and stuff that gives the water high salinity. But I guess that is purification for brine shrimp.

Hopefully tiny Deep Ones will come out and swim around their plastic
Y'ha-nthlei in the next week!

My new dice are here! The blue and purple ones are the new ones. The swirly purple ones are the ones I've had for some time. Now I can explore more options with dice divination because I have two sets with different looks.

Both sets are Elder Dice, so they're different but also go together.

If I dress for Spring, will Spring show up?

Years ago, I wrote a version of "The Call of Cthulhu" that is like Lovecraft meets "Toy Story". The whole thing is played out by toys. (The policeman comes from the Fisher-Price family.) Cthulhu is Sockthulhu...a doll made from socks.

I also made Sockthulhu at the time, and found him this weekend while going through some boxes!

We have an unavoidable situation in which relatives no one wants here will be here this weekend. This includes a homophobic person who will reject queer relatives from his own home, but isn't likely to feel he can say anything about it in our home.

So it was requested that I put up the flag I got to replace the one the wind destroyed last year. This one is much bigger! Our whole tiny rural town can see it!

I'm so happy with my headwrap today that it became time to change profile pictures. Also, I like to change them every now and then because I refuse to hide my aging. When I turned 40 I promised myself I would not send the message that aging makes one less beautiful.

Shai-Hulud doesn't usually rest on top of the sand like this. Maybe he's helping look for my eraser.

I walked in when he was headed to his water bowl last night. He stopped and watched like he was concerned I would want an invitation to join him.

We got a calendar that will give encouraging messages for this year.

My family really needs to start asking where the inspiration for my creative pursuits comes from before they go into encouragement mode. I don't think they understand Ian Anderson is who I picture when I'm pushing myself to figure out how my flute works.

There's a bag of birdseed on my back porch that didn't get used before the seasonal shift made it The Season of Not Walking Out to the Bird Feeder. It's been very cold lately, and we've been getting snow off an on. I'm glad the bag is there because a little friend has been finding shelter there and helping themself to the food.