Like thousands of other readers all over the world, I was saddened Sunday morning by the news that Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts, had died in his sleep. It was difficult to believe that this was also the day of the final Peanuts strip in hundreds of newspapers. The cartoonist would probably have been pleased that the two things happened at the same time – simple, without being expected to put such an almost unbelievable end to a national treasure and career.

When The New York Times devotes two full pages to something, you get a sense of its importance to each one of us. Inside of the paper was a complete biography of each of the characters that had ever appeared in the Peanuts column, accompanied by a chronological listing of the life of Charles Schultz. Somehow, it put a sense of closure on the whole sad news story.

I finished reading this lengthy story in The Times and folded it up and set it aside. A fluttering in my small yard drew my attention to 11 fat, hungry acting robins! Surprise hardly describes the way I felt to see those acclaimed harbingers of spring, happily covering the whole area as they found seeds for breakfast.

The robins stayed about 15 minutes and were not very much afraid of one car that passed by on the road. A neighbor walking a dog in the rain was different, and they left in one large “whooshe.”

It’s been a strange season for bird watching. Three days last week there were no birds around. This supported the stories I’ve been reading about hawks and other predators being in the area in large numbers. I saw one hawk a month ago; but this time, the birds are very wary. They have been coming in larger numbers the past week, but they are alert to any sound or action nearby and they fly away. Just another example to prove that nature regulates what goes on its world, and in its own way.

Laurie, the Vermont daughter, has sent several clippings from papers up there telling the same story – few birds and hungry hawks and owls in the area in larger than usual numbers. She also had seen some showbuntings on her drive to work. People around here often call the Juncos a snowbunting but they are not. Laurie has the downy woodpecker and the larger showy woodpeckers at her window feeder which has suet in it.

Her neighbor has the pileated woodpeckers, which are found most often in a patch of woods.

Letters from friends who spend the winter in Florida complain about the cold weather. Caroline and Bob Edwards are more apt to complain about the heat, but this year they are getting some really cool days. I noticed on the weather TV station it was 35 degrees in Tampa one day. They live not too far from there.

A letter from Caroline last week had one small paragraph which provided a simple and unusual recipe for cookies. I just about stopped making cookies when all the children were home and in school. Weekends I would make and freeze packages of cupcakes and cookies for lunches. It took a lot of each to supply dessert for 20 or more school lunches a week. I especially disliked making the cookies. Once, some 25 years ago, I had made a large batch of some favorite gingersnaps. Before I got the pans and dishes cleaned up, children with hearty appetites had completely eaten the whole tin full of cookies. I swore off baking them and hadn’t since been tempted.

However, this recipe was really very tempting, simple, short, and with both peanut butter and chocolate chips. It was only one day later that I had to try it.

You need only four ingredients and mix them well in a bowl. They are: one half cup of peanut butter, one half cup of sugar, one egg and one cup of chips. I lightly greased the pan and baked them about ten minutes in a 350 degree oven. It made about eighteen cookies – I dropped the batter from an ice teaspoon. I dare you to try them, but buy enough chips for several batches, you’ll need them!

The quotation in last week’s column was by Thomas Jefferson.

Who said, “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do”?