Spirograph this

Spring has come on like a roaring lion. I can't say I'm sad about it, but I am hoping that there will still be some sweater-appropriate days. I love a good sweater. But the blossoms on the trees fill me with optimism. Even if I did spend the day yesterday yelling shrilly at the three small sweet souls that co-habitate with me. Sometimes, I really honestly think that they will hear me better if I scream. Even despite evidence to the contrary. I never considered myself an angry person until I had three little charges simultaneously disobeying me. How powerful is the ego.
Disobey me? How do you dare? When I just told you...????? HOW!?

Yeah. It's very pitiful, how I choose to ignore in myself the very essence of willfulness, and upbraid my kids for their human nature. Boy I sure do love the mornings , when I haven't screwed up yet, and I can hold my little babes and snuggle them and kiss them and we all feel that glow of new mercies. Today was a much much better morning than yesterday. My challenge is to allow for some missteps, and not throw the whole day out as a failure, before it's even half done. It's like when I was about 8 or so, and I wanted to complete an entire Spirograph pattern perfectly, no slips or skipped spots. If it wasn't perfect, it wasn't beautiful. Sigh. Working on it.

Speaking of beautiful. This odd magnolia blossom just tugs at my heart. It's not the usual magnolia with stiff, gorgeous, cup-like petals. This one has floppy, open, vulnerable, and noodly petals. They are haphazard and unstructured. It looks like its petals are floating underwater. It is completely charming to me, and utterly un-Spirograph-like. And beautiful. I'm not doing it justice. Pencil on rag board.