2/19/26 – If pitchers and catchers have reported for duty, can spring be far behind?

Hey there happy reader,

There are small, hopeful signs that spring is on the way! The snow is melting (just a little bit) as the daytime temperatures here in the northeast have risen above the freezing mark for a few days in a row. Training camp is open for professional baseball players and, most importantly, there are aisles of Easter candy in my local CVS.

It’s Peeps season!

With the weather improving a bit, I spent a day in Manhattan with some friends to celebrate one member of our group’s birthday. We went to the Neue Gallery, home of the very famous painting, the “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” by Gustav Klimt, otherwise known as “The Woman in Gold.”

Housed in a Beaux-Arts mansion, this painting was the subject of a film – it had been stolen by the Nazis during WWII and a descendant of the woman in the painting petitioned the Austrian government to have it returned to her family. After a protracted hearing, she won the prized portrait back and it now sits proudly on display in New York City for all to enjoy.

When you stand in front of this magnificent piece of art, you are immediately drawn in to this woman’s soulful eyes. 

Klimt mimicked her eyes in the pattern of her dress and maybe knew somehow that the world would be watching her for centuries to come.

The opulence of her diamond studded necklace could not protect Adele Block-Bauer from the meningitis that killed her in 1925. 

And unfortunately, the necklace was looted by Hermann Goring during the war – there are pictures of his wife wearing it. It has never been recovered.

When people ask me where my ideas come from, it’s stories like this one that inspire me. A diamond necklace, captured in a portrait, but lost in a war, never to be found? Was it buried in a safety deposit box and forgotten? Was it dismantled and sold in pieces? Does someone have it but not want to be identified as a relative of a war criminal?

Left alone long enough, I can pretty much come up with an entire story… suspense novel, anyone? I’m going to file this one away for future use!

What inspires you? A new recipe? A knitting or needlepoint project? There’s an inner artist in all of us – we just need to give ourselves permission to unleash our hidden talents!