Warmth!

Yesterday was our second day in the 90s, and it looks like today will be the third. Today is Colorado's Bike to Work Day, and the state is hoping that at least 1 million people will join in. What's scary is that this Bike to Work Day originated in 1956 - the year I was born - so I guess Colorado was ahead of it's time in being health- and carbon footprint-conscious. A lot of businesses are offering free breakfasts or sustenance stations throughout the state - all you have to do is show up with your bicycle to partake. The Mayor of Denver has already arrived at his office via bike, and I passed 15 stations being set up while walking this morning here in Boulder. All the local news stations are covering at least one of their reporters' ride in to work from their home... It hasn't reached 60 degrees yet, but I know that I'll be baking when I walk the red kids today.

The patio door is wide open, but both kits are perched on the cat tree inside, looking out. They both ran outside earlier when I opened the door, and Lovey has, of course, left her paw prints all across my chest. Thanks to my friend Connie, Alberta has joined Fred as a real green plant in my apartment. Alberta is a young catnip plant, and while the kits have inhaled her heavily, they have yet to lay paw or teeth upon her. Fred, the ivy plant, is still growing apace. And the apartment sprinkler system has been reset so that the back yard gets watered at midnight; the grass in the back yard is a testament to all the rain we've had, as well as judicial watering.

Donna Baron, an artist and home owner in Maryland, is gearing up to fight the development of Belward Farm. Belward is an oasis of green space in the Washington, DC - Gaithersburg corridor. The old farm originally belonged to the Ward family, and one of the owners was my husband's fourth great grandfather. The last owner of the farm sold it to Johns Hopkins with a codicil stating that it was to be saved as a green space, but could be used for a medical center or rehabilitation clinic. Johns Hopkins purchased the property with this condition for , if I remember correctly, $5.1 million; the owner had been offered $141 million for half of the land by a developer, but had refused that offer, knowing the pastures would become concrete jungles. Now Johns Hopkins is trying to bull through an extremely large development - over 150 buildings, varying in height from 4 to 10 stories - on the pasturage.... I have volunteered to help Donna in any way that I can. If you are interested in trying to preserve a pre-Civil War farm on the outskirts of Washington, DC, please let me know!!! And, if you enjoy beautiful paintings, I suggest you visit Donna's website at www.donnabaron.com ; she has gorgeous artwork in her gallery!