Sunday - 20 Mar/16

Spring has Sprung! Grass is riz. Wonder where the birdies is?

Spring is off to a very early start in 2016, thanks to leap day weirdness! Have you noticed that the vernal (spring) equinox used be on the 21st when you were a kid? This year, spring begins on March 19 or 20, depending on your time zone.

Equinox which in Latin, literally means 'equal night' (equi - equal and nox - night) means night and day are nearly exactly the same length - 12 hours - all over the world. In reality though, equinoxes do not have exactly 12 hours of daylight.

February 29 has consequences that affect more than just being the rarest birthday. The calendar adjustment means this year Spring happens on March 19th for most U.S. and Canadian time zones. Later this century, it’ll happen on the 19th every year.

This is the earliest spring in our lifetime (unless you are 120 years old). The last time it was this early was 1896.

Google is celebrating spring with a barren tree that sprouts pink flowers that blow away. Cute.

Here we are celebrating spring with a cold front. The rain had stopped before noon leaving today the first day in a dozen with temps not in the 80's F.

Charlotte walked to the Rec Hall to check if she needed any materials for tomorrow's craft class. None needed.

Then a phone call to Liz to see how they enjoyed their spring break holidays in the Laurentians. They actually did have enough snow to ski.

Lunch was round two of Charlotte's excellent homemade minestrone soup.

We decided this would be a movie day. First up, the Film Noire: "Double Indemnity" (1944). An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.

Needless to say having material and time made Charlotte restless. She started making plans another large (bag) purse.

I put on NASCAR and we both promptly fell asleep. We still needed the rest.

We finished the evening with "The Passion" (2 hours) on Fox. Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week for the Christian World. It commemorates the greeting of Jesus with palm fronds as he entered Jerusalem. The Fox special is a live presentation from New Orleans that tells the story of "The Passion", the final hours of Jesus, in modern dialogue and song as a large illuminated cross is carried through the streets. The special is hosted and narrated by Tyler Perry, a native of New Orleans.

That ended our day.