Imagine my surprise when last weekend at Open Studios this young man introduced himself as “Nancy Erisman’s son”. I yelped. It was ever so brief but such a lovely meeting — almost as good as I imagine meeting Nancy herself would be. He bought a little window cloth for his mother and requested that I stay mum for a least a week while he arranged delivery of the gift. It was tough!

Well — quiet no more! Happy belated birthday Nancy! Maybe next time, it WILL be you.

This finger points to a face in the sky, courtesy of Michelle. I love the doodle and keep it near my calendar.

Also a while back, one of Saskia’s exquisite pillows arrived in the mail. ‘Pillow’ seems the wrong word because it’s a work of art, really.

Over a period of a year, I had squirreled away a number of miniatures along with a blue jay skull that I had buried with the intention of sending to her. They were objects that seemed to belong in her Dwelling, but I only half believed I’d ever actually ship them to Holland. When I finally did, that was reward enough. I didn’t expect to receive such a beautiful gift back.

ALSo! I have just received one more incredible gift (from Australia this time). I haven’t photographed it yet, however, so it’ll have to remain a mystery for a little longer.

K is muttering through the last of our taxes. It’s been snowing off and on all day, much to our dismay. It doesn’t look like the weather will be all that great for the Boston Marathon tomorrow.

If it’d been warmer, I might have bought pansies this afternoon. Instead, I took K out to lunch. We sat next to the open kitchen, so I could look over at the fires. As I gazed at the flames, or more specifically, at the prism created by the flames in the beveled edge of the glass partition, one of the long answers to a Globe crossword puzzle clue came to me (it had to do with prisms and rainbows). I love it when that happens.

And now to build what I hope will be the last fire of the season.