March Reflections

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March Reflections

Though we still have a few days left in March, this seemed like a good time for my monthly wrap-up.

Like many of you are experiencing, spring has come in fits and spurts. We’re still having some cold nights and mornings, but the trend is toward warmer weather. I love this in-between season of not being too hot or cold.

Much of March has been taken up with healing from cellulitis. Like the change of seasons, and growth of any kind, and so many other things, healing seems to be an up and down endeavor. My spirits have risen and fallen multiple times a day, depending on how my leg looked at any given moment. But I think we’ve turned a corner. The area is looking better rather than worse most of the time now.

Family activities

We celebrated Jim’s birthday early in the month, and then “Pi Day” on 3.14. He, Jason, and Timothy stayed up late to watch the lunar eclipse. Otherwise, it’s been a fairly quiet month.

Creating

I just made one card this month, for Jim’s birthday.

Husband birthday card

This was done on the Cricut. It looks black, but it’s actually dark green card stock. That’s not quite Jim’s hair style. 🙂 I didn’t think to trim it. After I got this all done, I thought of ways I could have dressed it up a bit–but I didn’t have time to go back to it.

Watching

British period dramas are not Jim’s favorite viewing genre, but he’ll watch one with me occasionally. We both enjoyed North and South, based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic novel of the same title. A vicar has a crisis of conscience, causing him to step down from his ministry. A friend finds him a teaching position in a northern English town, which is an industrial area with a busy, dirty, harsher feel to it. His daughter, Margaret, has a negative run-in with the head of the local textile mill, Mr. Thornton. She also becomes friend with a girl whose lungs are diseased from working in the mill and her father, leader of the local labor union. There’s a bit of Pride and Prejudice vibe–not in balls and match-making mothers, but in the interactions and misunderstandings of the main characters. Jim had worked in textiles for much of his career, so the history of the textile industry was interesting to both of us. Watching the story has me wanting to read the book again.

Reagan was a 2024 movie about our 40th president, starring Dennis Quaid. Reagan was the first president I voted for and my favorite president of my lifetime, though of course he was not perfect. So much of this was history I lived through and remember. I especially loved the “Tear down this wall” scene before the Berlin wall. I thought Quaid portrayed him well. Oddly, the story is told from the viewpoint of a Soviet spy telling a younger spy how Reagan kept communism from spreading. The film may have leaned a little toward hero worship, but overall it was very good.

The Long Game was based on a book about a true story. In 1955 Texas, a group of Mexican-American young men worked as caddies at the local country club. They built their own golf course to play among themselves. A new principle, friends with a local golf pro (Dennis Quaid again), forms them into a high school team and struggles to get them accepted into tournaments. The prejudice they faced was maddening. I won’t spoil the ending, but it was very good. There are some mild language issues and some crude interactions, especially at the beginning.

House of David is a current series based on David of the Bible. There is a screen at the beginning of every episode saying the show creators are not attempting to be historically or biblically accurate, but have taken creative liberties for storytelling purposes. :/ I was dismayed that they portrayed David as an illegitimate son and showed Saul’s wife consorting with a witch or sorceress. Then Susanne told me about a video interview with the show’s creator and his reasoning. Evidently some Jewish people do believe David was illegitimate. I researched the reasoning for this, and I disagree with it. But I was glad to know the show’s creator wasn’t just inserting that idea for drama. I don’t usually watch Bible-based shows because they’re not always biblically accurate. I think when we say, “The Bible doesn’t say it happened this way, but it doesn’t say it didn’t,” we open ourselves up for just about anything. But keeping an eye open for inaccuracies, this has had some good features. I particularly liked the scene where David was anointed king by Samuel, and all the brothers looked at each other like, “What is going on?” Plus, I knew David was anointed long before he actually became king, but I don’t think I ever really caught the tension of being in Saul’s house as a musician, knowing David as been anointed as the next king but having to keep it a secret.

Do you have any good, clean, program recommendations?

Reading

Since last time, I finished (linked to my reviews):

I’m currently reading:

  • Hebrews for You by Michael Kruger with the ladies’ Bible study group
  • The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963, compiled by Walter Hooper.
  • The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
  • He Should Have Told the Bees by Amanda Cox
  • On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, Volume 1 of the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson.

Blogging

Besides the weekly Friday Fave Fives, Saturday Laudable Linkage, and book reviews, I’ve posted these since last time:

Writing

My latest chapter was up for critique this month with our writing group. As always, I received great advice from the other women in the group. I always leave those sessions energized and wishing I could do nothing else but write for a few days.

Next month, we have Timothy’s birthday and Easter to look forward to–as well as more consistent nice temperatures!

How was your March? Are you looking forward to anything in April?

7 thoughts on “March Reflections”

  1. I’m so glad that your cellulitis is improving, even if it is slow. I know that can be worrisome.

    I did some research about David’s alleged illegitimacy and I can see why some have come to that conclusion. I disagree though, just like you. I haven’t watched any of the series yet.

    I’m enjoying the increasing warmth now and the spring blooms here and there. I think this is my favorite time of the year.

  2. Your March sounds lovely, Barbara, with the exception of all you’ve suffered through with the cellulitis.

    I have a book on Regan that I’ve yet to read. You mentioning the program you watched, brought the book to mind. Maybe I should put up further in my TBR pile. 🙂

  3. The David show sounds interesting. I had never heard about the theory of him being illegitimate either. The bits that might veer some from the Bible remind me of my thoughts on “The Chosen.” Still, the emotion that a movie brings is helpful. I’m glad the cellulitis is improving, and as I remember with my friend who had it, healing was a pretty slow road. Maybe take a photo of your leg each Monday? When I have something that I’m hoping will “clear,” sometimes I do that since it’s easier to see progress (or lack thereof) in that way. Love the card for Jim! I was relieved to read it was made on Cricut as I was stressing out, imagining you “fussy cutting” all those details! With “All Creatures” over, I’m enjoying “Wolf Hall” and “Marie Antoinette” on PBS, although even though I know the history pretty much, still I’ll admit I struggle at times with who’s who and what exactly is going on.

    • It’s odd with the cellulitis this time–when this happened last year, the infection cleared up with a couple of rounds of antibiotics, but it took a long time for the wounds themselves to heal. This time, the wound is healing nicely, but there’s still some redness and warmth under and around it, making me wonder if there is still infection underneath it.

      I only saw one episode of The Chosen (the walking on water one). It was moving, but I didn’t want those characters in mind when I read the gospels. That doesn’t bother me as much watching David–I don’t know if it’s because The Chosen depicts Jesus, or what.

      I’ve seen Marie Antoinette advertised and wondered if it was good. I don’t know much about that era.

      Even with an X-acto knife, I am not good at cutting something as detailed as that card with precision. 😀

  4. I enjoy reading your monthly reflections. And your blog post on the humbleness of Jesus was so helpful for me, thank you!

  5. Our March was a little crazy. We have lots of exciting things planned for April including 2 birthdays and a few big work events.

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