I’m in Florida! And the weather’s fine. It cools down in the evening, but the days are nice and hot. Been to the beach of Sanibel Island and picked up some pretty shells, bought some earrings and a bright pink hooded sweatshirt. It is so lovely to go outside in the morning in shorts and top, to sit in the sun and get really warm. The sun falls like a benediction on my face. I think of the far frozen north, where the temperature struggles to reach double figures above zero, and I try to rise to pity for those poor folks. But I’m so busy enjoying the warmth, the palm trees, the kind niece and her sweet husband, that I just can’t quite make it to true pity. Especially when the forecast is for more of the same. I’ll be home Friday.

Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, we’re going to go get our foreheads smudged with the black ashes of last year’s palms. “Remember man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” And Lent begins.