Spring?

The calendar says it's spring, but there's still a little snow on the ground and more is predicted for this afternoon. Well, it is New England.

A couple of days ago, I looked outside and even though there was ice on the pond, there were fish swimming around underneath the ice. And there are daffodil sprouts in the garden. Clearly the fish and the flowers are ready for spring and so am I. I even heard the song Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most last night during Jazz à la Mode.

I'm getting tired of my winter clothes; I want to switch to shorter sleeves and fewer layers. I want to paint my toenails and wear sandals. I want to pack away those warm scarves and gloves till next year.

I know it will all happen soon, but waiting can be hard.

On the work front, I've reached the title Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I've pretty much cleared out those duplicates and problems already because I dealt with  Little Men a couple of weeks ago. Little Women is a wonderful book that every girl should read. About ten years ago, I read it again and was surprised to realize I was reading at that level when I was in elementary school. It is a great read, but not an easy one. The vocabulary is quite sophisticated.

I've never seen any of the movies that have been made. One fan of the book told me the 1994 movie with Winona Ryder was terrible.

I tried reading Little Men, but didn't get very far. I'm not certain why. I had planned to read the entire series that Louisa May wrote. I guess I got distracted by murder mysteries. I know I read Eight Cousins when I was younger.

I was a voracious reader as a child. Come to think of it, I read a lot of mysteries then, too.

Book Review: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Even though the subtitle of this book by Margareta Magnusson is How to free yourself and your family from a lifetime of clutter, I would not call it a guide book to de-cluttering.

It is really a 117 page essay on one woman's experiences, thoughts and reflections on cleaning out the home of someone who has recently died. It is very personal and somewhat self-indulgent, but then, so is this blog.

Ms Magnusson who describes herself as someone "aged between eighty and one hundred" was responsible for cleaning out the home of her deceased mother-in-law. After her husband died, she was faced with the same situation. Now, she is in the process of what might be called "pre-death cleaning" so that her children are not burdened with the task. She does specify that "death cleaning" also happens in anticipation as well as after the fact.

I guess I would describe this book as a pleasant pep talk for shedding unnecessary belongings and living a simpler life, not only for oneself, but for those who follow.

An update on work: For the last few days I've been eliminating duplicates of books that begin with the word "little". There are Lots of Littles. I originally thought of using that phrase as this title of the post, and there were other variations (e.g. A Little Can Be A Lot).

Finally, after 5 1/2 years of merging duplicates, I'm beginning to see the results of my searching methods. Since I usually pull up many records with a general search and hunt for anything that may need fixing, I've already merged some records in the last half of the alphabet.

While there are lots of books beginning with the word "little" I'm going through the list pretty quickly. Who knows? I may actually finish the list - all the way to the letter Z - before I die! Then I'll have more time to death clean at home.