“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” - Mark Twain

ENJOYING: Spring Break. Nope, I didn’t go anywhere, but sometimes a bouquet of tulips, a big stack of books, coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and wine in the evening, along with a super smooshy beagle are just the vacation a girl needs.

READING:

A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts - By the bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, this book was a Christmas gift from a friend who knows my literary taste so well. I started trying to read it in January, but the limited daylight made it really hard to read in the evening. I put it away for Spring Break and I quite enjoyed it. Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was a formidable woman!
J.D. Salinger: A Life - A great biography/anthology of the life and work of one of the most popular and mysterious figures in American literary history.
Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961 - A former CIA officer and curator of the CIA Museum unveils the shocking, untold story of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway’s secret life as a spy for both the Americans and the Soviets before and during World War II. This one makes me a bit nervous…
The Race for Paris - World War II novel about two American journalists and an Englishman who together race the Allies to Occupied Paris for the scoop of their lives.

WATCHING:

Upstairs, Downstairs - I’m not sure why I didn’t watch this PBS series sooner. It certainly fills a void until the Downton Abbey movie premieres this fall. The first season of Upstairs, Downstairs, set in the 1930s featuring the abdication of King Edward VIII and the events that led to England’s involvement in WWII, was riveting, but the second/final season got a bit soapy for me.
Project Runway All Stars and the new season of Project Runway on Bravo - I’m glad that PW has returned to Bravo and NYC, but I’m not sure that I’m going to enjoy host Karlie Kloss & mentor Christian Siriano as much as Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn.
And yes, I’m embarrassed to admit, but I am watching the latest season of The Real Housewives of New York City. There’s no excuse for it, but at least they’re the the only Housewives that I follow.
Help me find something new to binge. Have any of you watched Home Fires, Poldark, or The Durells in Corfu? I need some PBS to rebuild the braincells that I’m losing on Bravo!

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

Fresh air and the song of robins, cardinals, and chickadees wafting through open windows.
The first tender green shoots pushing their way up through the thawing earth. I got a preview of crocus, tulips, and jonquils in Paris, and now, I can hardly wait to see them appear in my own garden — that is, if the bulbs haven’t frozen or been eaten by the deer who visit Piper every evening.
That first glass of rosé on a warm spring evening — the one(s) I had in Paris don’t count.
The Les Misérables miniseries on PBS in two weeks.
Art in Bloom at the Milwaukee Art Museum
Taking more photos — I’ve been a bit lax lately.