Arrrgh!!!

A HERD, I tell you! As we were preparing dinner tonight, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a HERD of Robins! Usually I'm the last of our family to see the return of the robins, and usually I only get to see just one at a time. There must have been a dozen birds at the very least, and maybe twice that. They were in the herb garden, beneath the truck, in the black walnut and apple trees, and the shrubs near a bunny. They have a very distinctive run and hop, and were easy to identify, and they were fluffed up in defense of the cold.

Spring just HAS to be around the corner, despite the fact that we are supposed to get several inches of snow over the next 24 hours. Surely the robins wouldn't be back if it wasn't time, right??

When I was a kid, my mother occasionally made what she affectionately called "Boozy Beef." It is basically a beef stew made with red wine, and is more famously known as "Beef Bourguignon."

The recipe is simple. I had it in mind as I went to the grocery store, but, alas, it's been easily 20 years since I made it last, and I forgot that I would need pearl onions. It's not really a problem. My family will adjust to yellow onions, if necessary.

I tried to find a bottle of Burgundy. My grocery store has a pretty amazing wine section, and I browsed through it, looking for a Burgundy. Unfortunately, it seems that Burgundy has lost its cache. Not a bottle was to be found.

I came home to look at Elegante Mother's recipe, and it actually says "red wine."

I surfed on-line to see what other kind of wine might be used, and found chianti, Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux, zinfandel, or Pinot Noir were all suggested. I have a Cabernet Sauvigon that I hope will work.

So, it's French peasant food, elevated to French cuisine, for dinner tomorrow.

If you're interested in a simple, elegant, hearty beef stew, here's a link to what looks to be a great recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25938,00.html

This is a shot of the Chinese take out kitchen near our hotel in Florida.

It was good, I tell you! The Boozey Beef turned out just fine. Cop Car, I was right to use that bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. It made a wonderful sauce.

I skipped one step that would have made a more complex tasting sauce. I was supposed to add half a cup of cognac, and then torch it to burn off the alcohol. I passed on it this time, but I'll try it another, just to see what happens to that wonderful sauce!

I used the "steak cut" mushrooms, the ones you can get at the store that are thick cut, and they held up well to the heat of the stew. I think visually they balance better with the other ingredients than the thinner sliced mushrooms. Their texture is firmer, where the thin-sliced mushroom become too soft.

I think next time I might add the chunks of carrot later. This time around they were VERY soft. I'd like just a bit more "tooth" to their texture.

I learned one fun technique for thickening the sauce. The instructions called for three tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of soft butter. You mix the two together to make a wet paste, and add it to the liquid in the pot. It almost instantly thickened the sauce without any stray bits of flour floating on the top. It's the same concept as making a kettle gravy with water and flour, but by coating the flour with butter, it's absorbed more evenly, and the butter adds a sheen to the sauce.

In all, it was well worth my time to play in the kitchen with this recipe. I added egg noodles, bread, coleslaw and strawberries to round out the meal. As I said.....Yummmmmm!!

I have a number of entries I'd like to do, that really should have a picture to go with them. I think I'll give you the synopsis today, and try for pictures over the coming week.

The exercise ladies who contributed squares to the "Share a Square" project came to the house yesterday afternoon to work on assembling two afghans. We have to edge each block with black crochet, and then sew 48 of the blocks together, and crochet around the entire edge. Yesterday we managed to edge 48 of the blocks. We meet again in a week, and will probably have to meet once more. My table is covered with a rainbow of blocks edged in black!

I found batik fabric for pillowcases when I was in Florida. I saw a case, and fell in love with it. My "souvenir" was the fabric for two of the cases. I found an excellent pattern on-line. I could have winged it, but it was nice to have a pattern for back-up. I'll post a picture of the finished project soon, I hope.

This coming week is personal tax week for me. My sister-in-law does Elegante Mother's taxes, but I need to mail the information off to her. Then, I need to answer the planner from my CPA, gather information from Quicken, collect the 1099s and such, and send that package off. My CPA will be ASTONISHED if I get them to her by March 15th. She's busy completing the company tax packages

Tomorrow, Elegante Mother and I are going to a nursery for an early planting day. They will provide plants and soil and the additives for the containers. We bring containers and choose which plants we want, and spend some time planting them. The nursery will keep them until mid-May, when it's warm enough to put them out, and we will have mature (well, maturing), arrangements. I'll take pictures tomorrow, and pictures when we set them out. I figure it's a way to get our hands in the dirt, and assuage the need for Spring.

Quilting Bee meets tonight. I'll be crocheting, rather than quilting, but they won't mind. One of our members will be away, helping to hang quilts for a quilt show. I hope that I'll get to see that show on Sunday afternoon. (Note: This is another way to ignore that Spring is not yet here. A quilt show is always a good diversion!)

Monday the cat has his annual visit to the vet. Tuesday, EM and I are taking lunch to a friend who broke her ankle in February. Thursday is EM's salon appointments and a Share a Square afternoon. Saturday is a perm, and so on and so on. I'm going to have to start working in the office at night, to get caught up.

I hope you are all "weathering" the end of winter well. I know Bogie is longing for green, and Joy is looking for a cessation of white. I'm ready to be able to go out doors without having to put on my coat!

Have a great weekend!

I attend an amazing senior exercise class. I started going long before I qualified for the age requirement because I had arranged for Elegante Mother to take this class. Rather than sitting around and watching her exercise, I joined the class. Recently I asked the ladies in the class if any of them crocheted, and discovered a gold mine. I told them about the Share a Square Project that Shelly Tucker of This Eclectic Life has organized, and they made granny squares for the afghans that are being created for kids going to cancer care camp this summer.

We realized that we could help Shelly by offering to put together two of the afghans, and asked her to send them on. We met a week ago to begin stitching around the squares. Five of us rimmed 48 squares that afternoon, and two of us completed another 24 during the week.

We met again yesterday to finish edging the last 24 squares in black, and started assembling the first of two afghans. We'll interrupt our work this next week as we prepare for Easter, but we should be able to complete the afghans by early April.

It's been incredibly satisfying to contribute to this project. To learn more about it, and see some of the completed afghans visit Shelly's blog and click on the "Share a Square" button on the right side of the page. When we finish our two, I'll take a picture and post it.

P.S. DON'T send Shelly any more squares! I envison a house overflowing with them, pushing the walls out! She has enough! *G*

....to my week, and to this blogging session.

I spent about 15 minutes writing an entry, only to find that it has disappeared off the face of the earth! Maddening!

At any rate.....I was cat sitting for a friend who has three marvelous cats. I was on my way to do the evening visit on Monday, and as I walked up the sidewalk, my feet flew out from under me. Somehow, probably in trying to break my fall, I ended up landing square on my right knee. Other that the visceral "WOW! That HURTS!!!" the first thought to go through my head was that we wouldn't be able to take lunch to an exercise buddy who has broken her ankle.

After I landed on my knee, I must have thrust myself back to get my weight off the knee, and I ended up in the shrubbery, where I picked up several slivers. I looked and felt like a beached whale. No one was around to assist me, and my phone was in the car. There was nothing I could use to pull myself up.

I slithered over the sidewalk and into the grass, and tested my knee. I was finally able to rise, and was very surprised to find that I was able to walk. I fed the cats, and loved them up quickly, and headed home, in case something dreadful was yet to come.

I seem to have lucked out. I have a few miscellaneous aches and pains, and two spots of skin scraped off the cap of my knee, but I seem fine otherwise. I'm taking anti-inflammatories. My knee is warm to the touch, and I developed some bruising Wednesday afternoon, but if that's all that happens, I've gotten off easy.

The sidewalk looked dry. I could not see ANY ice at all on it, and was really shocked when I went flying. Elegante Mother has had some balance problems recently, so we've been very cautious about footing. I lucked out. I was embarrassed, but not mortally. I'll get over it, especially since I'm still up and walking!

This afternoon, while it is a bright, lovely, sunny day, I've been buried in the hallway, cleaning out the mudroom pantry. I knew that it had to be done before my family visits, or someone would open the door and be taken out by the slide of STUFF flowing over them. *S*

I want you, and my family, to know that I THREW SOME STUFF AWAY!!! It's been said that everything that comes into this house gets lodged here, and stays, but that's not true. Dear Husband will attest to the fact that the garbage and recycling on Tuesdays is killing him! I sorted through the veggies and pitched onions and potatoes that were sprouting. I moved a number of things which had been stored there in error, to the closets and drawers where they really belong.

I boxed up the pillar candles and moved them to the top shelf. I reorganized the light bulbs, foil pans and paper plates. I was even able to add cleaning supplies I purchased yesterday without breaking the shelf!

There were two other chores that needed my attention. My oak table in the room off the kitchen where we usually eat dinner, has been looking very sad. I was using a bee's wax polish on it, but I either didn't polish it often enough, or I needed to buff it more when I added the polish. I found a liquid lemon-scented polish and gave it a go today, and it's made an amazing difference. I suspect the table is thirsty. I'm going to add a second application and then use a mechanical buffer on it. I hope the table will shine for Easter. *S*

And, I brought up ALL the bags of spring season silk flowers so that Elegante Mother can reorganize the flowers in her sitting room. I have all the flowers I need to make a wreath for this spring, and another for late Fall, but I need to pick up ribbon. I have a stash of the rest of the material needed, picks and dry foam, wire and moss. I should be able to get those done this week.

Last Tuesday my niece came to clean for me. I'd like to say that it was because I hurt my knee, but actually it's because she is the most amazing cleaner I have ever known! While she worked on the kitchen floor, I cleaned out the refrigerator. My family commented on the fact that they could see what was on the shelves, as if I was the only person putting things into the refrigerator! My niece is working on the things that most of us consider spring cleaning, and she considers to be weekly cleaning. She'll be back on Tuesday to take apart my living room, and I can be sure it will look nice for Easter.

We need to revise the old saw to read....."There is nothing sure in life except death, CLEANING, and taxes!

I hate word problems! Why in the world would someone want to know what time it will be in Schenectady when two trains crash in Nevada??

A "friend" sent me a math problem yesterday. It took me three tries, but I finally got it right. Did I mention it's a FIFTH GRADE math problem??

I was so pleased that I sent it to my entire family and one unsuspecting friend! *G* When you get the number right, you are able to open a spreadsheet that comes with the word problem. At that point, you can add your name to the list of people who have successfully opened the spreadsheet.

My brother, who is an electrical engineer, wrote back to me, right away, and said "I didn't see your name on the spreadsheet." I told him that I'd gotten the number right (shared it with him to prove it! *G*) but I didn't have a clue about how to add my name to the list. At least I can do fifth grade math!

Here's the math problem. See how YOU do at it:

This is a 5th grade math problem. If you can't stand word math problems, just delete now. If you can open the spreadsheet, you'll see it's a very small list of people who have gotten the correct number. This is not a trick question. This is a real math problem, so don't say that a bus has no legs.

There are 7 girls in a bus

Each girl has 7 backpacks

In each backpack, there are 7 big cats

For every big cat there are 7 little cats

Question: How many legs are there in the bus?

The number of legs is the password to unlock the Excel sheet. If you open it, add your name and send it on to see who else can unlock it.

MathProblem.xls

I hope I've managed to include the file for the spreadsheet. If not...e-mail me, and I'll send it to you.
Have fun!

A member of my family is angry with me. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no clue as to the cause. I realized more than six months ago that he was very carefully not speaking to me unless he was cornered. When he had absolutely no choice, he spoke to me in a sarcastic tone of voice, and still does.

One day when we were visiting their home, he offered a beverage to everyone but me, and though we've visited several times, he's continued that practice. When he comes to my home, he speaks to everyone but me. Yesterday, we were packing up the leftovers for the families to take home with them, and I asked if he ate ham. He replied that he did, but they wouldn't be taking any of it home.

My inclination is to turn my back on this childishness. Speaking to him is not going to resolve the issue, because he doesn't care to hear what I might have to say. I could refuse to go to their house, given that I am not welcome, and I could even make a point of not welcoming him to my house, but that doesn't resolve the issue. It only escalates the problem, and spreads it further throughout the family.

The question is, what do I do? Do I confront him and ask why he's behaving this way? I suspect that he would deny that he's been rude to me, but others are beginning to notice what's going on. One of my concerns is that if I let it go on to long, I'll snap one day, say something that compounds the problem, and we'll have a worse situation than we have now. He's the master at passive-aggressive behavior, when I'm a what-you-see-is-what you-get sort of person. I'm more likely to avoid conflict until it can be avoided no more.

I really don't want to cause any division in my family. I don't want anyone to have to consider whether or not they should invite me, and by extension, Dear Husband, or whether it's not worth the trouble.

If you have advice, I'd love to hear it.

...or as we affectionately call him, ED, is my old black cat. You can see the silver threads in his coat. I think our vet believes he's a miracle cat.

Ed has been an outdoor-indoor cat since he first adopted us in 1991. He was roughly two years old at the time, and we were having a vicious winter. Somehow he made it into the garage and was curled up on the seat of the riding mower when I first met him. He had obviously been raised around people, and had just as obviously been abandoned. It's taken him most of his life to warm up to us, and he's been grudging about giving away his love and trust.

I know.....WHY keep a cat like that? Who can explain how you fall in love with a "pet?" This cat has trained us to his bidding. Elegante Mother opens the door for him to come and go, and she and I feed him on demand. He's as likely to slice our hands with his claws as he is to rub around our ankles, begging to be petted. He's just Ed, and he's a major part of our lives.

Unfortunately, he has begun to show signs of kidney failure. I knew, before we went for his annual checkup what they were likely to find. I approved the drawing of blood for tests just to confirm what I was seeing, and I was right. He's past the early stages, and is moving into the more pronounced middle stage.. He's lost weight, and the fat that normally covers his shoulder blades and pads his hip bones. He drinks, and pees, a lot.

Despite that, he seems to be in good spirits, and is still eager to go out, at least, when he feels the weather is bearable. He's been inside for most of the winter because it's been so bitterly cold.

This morning he went out. It's a bright, sunny, chilly morning. I set the timer for ten minutes and went to see if he was ready to come in. No cat. I looked again five minutes later, and to the side of the door, there's this black shadow. When I opened the door, I realized that Ed had caught another chipmunk, and was just getting ready to eat! YUCK!!!!

Dear Husband is on burial duty. It's his job to whisk away the remains. I sure hope that we don't have any visitors before DH gets home! *G* I suppose I have to go to the door and let Ed in.....

Despite my complaints about chipmunk parts being left around, I'll really miss this cat. He's my "kid." He comes to sit with me at the end of the evening, and we share warmth. I'll miss the little bugger.

....We hope! This past weekend was lovely! My youngest sis, Nan, and her family drove up from Indiana to spend the weekend with us. We went to have Portillo's famous Italian beef for lunch, and then came home to play with some of the preparations for Easter.

Saturday night, the girls all gathered to do a baby shower for a niece who will be giving birth April 7th. One of my nieces lives in Perth, Australia, and since she was going to be in town for the weekend, they decided they would organize the baby shower so she could participate. It was lovely to have dinner with all the women in the family, and to see a store-ful of adorable baby clothes!

Sunday, my sister and her husband fixed breakfast for us, and we all headed off to my oldest sister's church. Our family filled three pews. One of the members of the church asked how many generations of our family were there. This is an old farm community church, where generations of continual attendance matters. There were FOUR generations present.

We rushed home to set tables, heat the ham, make green bean casserole, and generally get ready. It should be said, that Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I offer our home, but everyone else pulls together to see that the day is special. I could NOT have done it without the help of my youngest sister and her family. My-Sister-The-Nurse brought half the meal, but Nan's family saw to the tables, the seating, the decorations, the logistics that ultimately made everyone comfortable, and made the house look lovely.

There were approximately thirty people here yesterday, including two first-time visitors. We were talking about spanning those four generations, and I suggested that it was possible that there could be five. The mother of the oldest great granddaughter fanned her face, looked panicked, and suggested that it was too soon for us to even consider that! *G* Okay....it's too soon, but it's lovely to see our gathered family and enjoy the continuity of our line.

I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did. The final and perfect touch to the day was discovering that the crocus are up! Spring is on its way. We're blessed!

We eat out perhaps twice a month. In this corner of the western suburbs of Chicago there are endless opportunities for dining out, and the number is growing every day. We have a favorite upscale restaurant that has a sister site on Navy Pier in Chicago, and we were delighted when they opened the restaurant less than three miles from us. I wouldn't say we dine there frequently, or as frequently as we'd like. It's always fun to have a reason to go.

A friend from exercise class lost her husband early this year. I know that right after a funeral, there are a lot of calls and letters from friends, and that the attention begins to taper off as time passes. I thought it might be fun to treat her to dinner at this restaurant. She and her husband had been eating out for the past three years, so I thought it might make an evening pass more pleasantly for her, and she would have the chance to see a restaurant she might not go to on her own.

It was a wonderful evening. We all chose wines to start the meal, and chatted while we looked over the menus. Oddly, Elegante Mother and our guest and I all chose almost the same meal: petite fillet with a double baked potato. This restaurant is known for seafood and steaks, but this is the first time I've ever ordered a steak. Of course, it was superb. We dined early, to suit Elegante Mother's needs, so we had all the attention we needed. As the room began to fill up, a keyboardist and singer entertained us. It was just a very pleasant night.

I think we might do this again, but next time we'll try another of the restaurants available to us, just for variety. I hope it helped our friend to have the chance to talk, and to get out. I know it will be a long time before she adjusts to her loss, and I hope we can help her through it.

A good time was had by all!

Yesterday, I saw the first large gray heron for the season, about two miles west of our home. Sorry, Cop Car, I'm not sure exactly which of the birds it was. I saw it as I was "on the fly" (sorry, couldn't resist...DH at work *G*), so I didn't get a close look. But where there's one, there may be others.

At least SOME ONE thinks it's spring!

Addition, later the same day.....

I checked the Sibley Field Guide to Birds, and it's likely I saw a Great Blue Heron. It was the appropriate size and coloring, and is the only heron listed that fits what I saw. Thank you, Nan, for the Sibley book for Christmas!

We were invited to a friend's 50th wedding anniversary celebration yesterday. Lyn and her husband have an amazing array of friends. There were people from school, and from the first town they lived in. There were farmers from the land around their home, neighbors, and business acquaintances, quilt guild members and friends from Bible study and church. And, FAMILY! We arrived about halfway through the afternoon and the room was PACKED! People came, and people stayed. It was a lovely celebration of fifty years together.

Happy 50th, Lyn and Wayne!

Since the day before Easter the inside of our house has been filled with beautiful blossoms, but the outside is sadly lacking. We've had three little crocus appear near the front door, and we have about three or four inches of daffodil greens showing around the yard, and the leaves for one early blooming tulip (the name of which escapes me at the moment). I'm guessing that it will be a month before we see much of anything. We'll have to be content with magnolia and redbud and lilac buds swelling.

My knee has improved, but I haven't tested it to see if I can kneel on it. I'm desperate to get out into the gardens and clean things up. Wouldn't you know that the one day in the 50s that is supposed to be dry is Wednesday, the day I'll be chained to the office for an audit! How UNFAIR!!!

Well....soon. I'm sure I'll be outside soon.