It's morning on what looks to be another gray day. It's the middle of March so we know the cold weather won't last TOO much longer, although we will sometimes get a random snowfall even in April. Thanks to a couple days of above freezing weather the sidewalks have mostly lost the occasional icy glaze that we have to watch closely for. And most of the sidewalks are even dry. Makes walking my dog a lot easier and a lot safer.

Just saw my neighbors kitchen light turn off. It's early. Not quite 7:30. We need to get blinds up in our new room soon. Just waiting for sample colors to arrive.

It's quiet. My daughter has just left for work and my husband is not up yet. It's a good time to write.

Well, as far as neighborhood news goes...there was a murder just about a block away from us. It's been several weeks now and there has been no arrest. The only thing the police will tell us is that it did not appear to be a random murder. I hope all their secrecy will lead to an apprehension of the perpetrator. All of us neighbors are a little on edge about it. A murder, for heaven's sakes!

He was a man who grew dahlias all over his front yard. They were lovely. He kept vases of water at the end of his driveway and would put cut dahlias in each vase with a note to take one. Such a simple thing. He brought a lot of joy to everyone in the neighborhood who walked by. Then someone killed him. Lord have mercy. Please pray that the killer will be found soon!

We've used our new room a lot since it's been built. I think I'm counting 15 times for large groups. 16, if you count our family Christmas celebration. We had an Alpha class here for our parish Christ the King. We had an open house, just to show our neighbors what all the construction was about. We've had 2 or 3 neighborhood meetings about a proposed new apartment complex that would be built right along the backyards of many of our neighbors. (Totally inappropriate for the site.) And we had a gathering of neighbors just to mourn the loss of the man who gave away flowers. I'm happy we've been able to use the room like this. It's been a great blessing and has helped to build the community of our neighbors.

How is your day going?