I wanted to make this post a gigantic celebration of spring, but then it started snowing again. We have had a completely dry month and a half, so I’m glad we are finally getting some moisture to control the fire danger. And to tell the truth, I LOVE it when it snows here! There is probably no more peaceful place on earth when we are fogged in, and the snow gently falls.

I asked my fellow boomer bloggers to send me posts about their spring rituals. Interestingly, two decided to write about TAXES. This is a very sore subject around here. Did you know that all the money you spend on building a new home is seen as income? BUMMER! Now on top of the price of the house, we owe an arm and a leg in taxes!

Here are Tom and Meryl’s take on the subject:

Spring is not the carefree season Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting remembers as a child and teenager. Adult responsibilities intrude and must be heeded before the best season of the year can be enjoyed. Read about her pre-spring hurdle in A Rite of Spring.

Tom Sightings also has practical matters on his mind. In a post from his more innocent days he details 10 Lessons You Learn from Doing Your Taxes. But now he must make a confession. This year he fell victim to No. 10, and has hired an expert to blaze his path through the thicket of the federal tax return.

In the spring, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist who blogs at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, is inspired by the increased sunshine and the beautiful blossoms of spring. She plants an organic garden every year and enjoys the wonderful vegetables she produces. Robison was particularly inspired one year when she went to the Green Festival in Seattle and met Alice Waters, the owner of the Berkeley, California, restaurant Chez Panisse, which features locally sourced, organic food. Alice is a leader in the locally grown, organic food movement.

And finally, writer Carol Cassara asks: Are there things you’re doing that are just life clutter, joyless or stressful? Is it time to let them go? How about some spring cleaning for your mind! 

I found I literally had too much stuff in my ears this week.   Here’s a hint: If you’re having new difficulties hearing as well as you used to, go get the extra wax out. It’s like a new lease on life, but I will never forget the sound of that vacuum cleaner for your ears! What a trip… apparently I had a record amount of wax!

Just had to add my favorite Easter cartoon:

 

Think naked Romans, paganism, and whips…

Way before Hallmark, Valentine’s Day, like Halloween, is rooted in pagan partying. This lovers’ holiday traces its roots to raucous annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat or dog skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility, so says classics professor Noel Lenski at University of Colorado, Boulder.

The annual pagan celebration, called Lupercalia, was held every year from February 13th to the 15th, and remained wildly popular well into the fifth century A.D.—at least 150 years after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Lupercalia was “clearly a very popular thing, even in an environment where the [ancient] Christians are trying to close it down,” Lenski said. “So there’s reason to think that the Christians might instead have said, OK, we’ll just call this a Christian festival.”

The church pegged the festival to the legend of St. Valentine. The story goes that in the third century A.D., Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking to bolster his army, forbade young men to marry. Valentine, flouted the ban, performing marriages in secret. For his defiance, Valentine was executed in A.D. 270—on February 14.

“In the end
these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you live?
How deeply did you let go?”
― Gautama Buddha