Reasons to be cheerful - under the wire

It took just a few days for the pussy willow branches to open -

now their feet are out of water and they are hanging upside down for a bit.

This is the last week for PlanetPenny's Reasons to be Cheerful, and eek! I have less than 6 hours before the deadline.

The weekly cheerfulness has been a wonderful theme for me, and a great way to visit other people's blogs and get to know new people. Thank you so much, Penny, for hosting such an uplifting party all these weeks.

This past week I met some friends for dinner and a movie - dinner was at an Italian restaurant with a half-price-wine-by-the-glass special. The food was great, and the conversation started off with one friend's description of a cooking class demo she had just attended. So much fun to discuss the vegetables she had never cooked with before, what our experiences have been with them, what vegetables our mothers cooked when we were growing up...I could go on and on. Then we walked down the street to our 1928 movie theatre, built for the advent of talking pictures, to see The Artist (the opening scene is in 1927 as the silent movie industry is shifting gears to talkies). Great film and wonderful to see it in such an apropos setting.

Last night our church sponsored a fundraiser around Late Nite Catechism. Such a wonderful, funny, and poignant interactive theater production.

The actress who played Sister, who is teaching an adult catechism class, was excellent. Very funny, as well as thought provoking. The fundraiser was beautifully put together by a creative team of women and included being able to buy indulgences before the performance and during intermission. Not all of us really knew what indulgences were, but we bought them anyway (they were beautifully handmade cake pops).

We still have some snow from Friday morning, which didn't stop the snowdrops and crocuses.

Today was sunny and 50F. And now even the daffodils are coming up!

Thanks again, Penny!

Edited to add: What?! 30 minutes ago the link said "closing in 6 hours." Now it says Closed. Oh, well! Still cheerful.