Our oldest granddaughter’s birthday is in May, and we will celebrate with her soon. We were surprised to find at Christmas that she is interested in crystals. When I heard about this, I thought she was into the multi-faceted, shiny stones that you might see in jewelry, but she is more interested in rocks. Her grandfather not only increased her collection of crystals, but found boxes for her to store and identify her rocks. He’s gradually helping her to expand this interest, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find him giving her rock hammers and things of that nature when she is older. One of Dear Husband’s sons has trained in Geology, so we might need to have him arrange a crystal-hunting trip one day.
While I know very little about crystals (although I’m learning more every day thanks to my granddaughter), I do know a thing or two about cake baking and cupcakes. Dear Husband’s daughter announced that GD1 wanted to be a Cake Boss when she grew up. There is a show on TV called “Cake Boss.” We’d never seen it, and made it a point to watch one day. I have no idea how my granddaughter saw this show, or what about it appeals to her, but it’s resulted in frequent bouts of cupcake baking.
I think I have the perfect gift for her. Sur La Table is a chain of stores featuring things for the kitchen, the grill and the table. I was surfing through their newest catalog and discovered a pan to use to make filled cupcakes. Envision the shape of a small ice cream cone from Dairy Queen…..the kind with a sugar cone. This pan will create the bottom piece with an indentation that holds a couple tablespoons of pudding or other fillings, and a top that looks like the swirled ice cream. The pan will bake six sets at a time. Bake, cool, fill, top and dust with 10x sugar and you have an amazing dessert! This is a Nordic Ware pan, so it should be good quality, and long lasting..
I figure I need to buy the cup cake pan to offset the rocks that Dear Husband will be giving her. I hope my step-daughter will still be speaking to me after a few rounds of these cupcakes. Perhaps we can have a baking day at Gramma’s! YES!!!
Do you suppose that this will be the child who carries on the sugar crisp recipe for the family?
Checking in
Moveable Type tells me that my last entry was May 7th. This has been one of those weeks where my blog and a number of fun things have been put on the back burner while I attended to things for my Mother’s estate, and other obligations.
I’m happy to tell you that both the egrets and herons have returned. I’m not seeing them in huge numbers, but I’ve seen an egret a day for at least two weeks, and I finally saw a heron this week. Mother and I used to watch for these beautiful birds as we drove to exercise, and I find I’m still checking out the retention ponds for a glimpse of these beauties.
In 1981 I went to stay with my parents for what I thought would be a brief summer visit, that turned into a year and a half stay. When I graduated from college, my parents and youngest sister moved from northern Illinois to far southwestern Missouri, to Table Rock Lake. My visits to them were during the summer so I had never seen the hills filled with the blooms of serviceberry and dogwood. The area is hilly, and the roads twist around, and you need to pay attention to your driving.
My eyes were drawn to the beauty of those blooming trees, and more than once I came closer to the edge of the road than I should have. It’s much like those days, watching for the egrets and herons, but at least the road is straight. Now I just need to worry about cars coming up behind me, wondering about my strange driving.
OUr spring has been mostly gray and wet, except for two unbelievably hot days this week. We made a new record in the Chicago area in the upper nineties on Wednesday. Thursday was almost as hot, but the weekend is thirty to forty degrees cooler. It will be one of those years where spring is missing for the most part, and we go from late winter into summer with no preparation. I don’t mind the cool, rainy weather, but I really need to get into my gardens!
I hope you are all faring well, high and dry if you are in the areas with too much water, and able to find a cool spot if you are in the heat Enjoy this day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. 🙂
Mother’s Day
This will be my first Mother’s Day without my Mother. We’ve had a number of those “firsts:” my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and the return of the egrets. She would have loved this spring, with the glorious array of daffodils and tulips.
I wasn’t expecting anything for Mother’s Day. I have grown step-children, but no children of my own. I chose to celebrate my mother, to entertain her and keep her company, so that my sisters could be with their families. That felt right to me.
My “baby” sister sent me the most wonderful card. It talks about our relationship as sisters and the love that we share. She wished me a Happy Mother’s Day. I called her, and we had a lovely long talk. I told her how much it meant to me that she had sent the card. Her response was that she doesn’t have a mother to send these things to now. It really hit home that Mother is gone.
I hope that all of you who still have mothers will celebrate with them on Sunday, and share all the memories you have accumulated over the years.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Word of the Day
I noticed that the word of the day is “serviette.” I know this word, but I generally don’t use it.
My mother and my aunt were big on linens. When my aunt closed her house, preparing to move to an assisted living facility, she had loads of linens to share with us. She no longer needed so many and wanted to pass on to the family things that my grandparents and she had loved and used over the years. I have antimacassars, doilies, serviettes, dish cloths, pillow cases and I think there may even be some sheets.
As a general rule, most of my generation lives a much more casual lifestyle. We don’t use napkins that need to be ironed every day, and I rarely use the wash and wear napkins. We’re much more likely to grab a paper napkin. But, I can’t bring myself to throw or give these things away.
This Easter I let myself be persuaded that we should not use the china and linens. It actually made things easier on everyone. No one had to be chained to the kitchen sink to wash the china, and I didn’t have to press napkins for everyone. But it sure seems a shame to own all these lovely things and not use them.
I think Mother’s Day would be the perfect day to use the serviettes. Can’t you see a table set with beautiful antique linens, china and crystal? I was planning to make grilled cheese, but perhaps I can put together a simple but elegant meal to do justice to the setting! *G*
Egrets!
I’ve seen egrets this week! Or, maybe I’ve seen the same egret more than once. He/She must be the scout to see if our weather is ready for the migration! lol Now, I’m watching for the herons. They are harder to see because of their smoky gray color, and how thin they are. If you are not seeing a side view of those birds, you might miss them!
Spring is FINALLY showing up!
I asked the man who has helped with some of our landscaping to fill my veggie beds with a mix of compost and dirt. I thought it would be delivered about three weeks ago, and was getting ready to call to find out what had happened. Dear Husband pointed out that it had been delivered yesterday. I have seeds to plant! I’ll have to pass on the spinach until this fall, but I can get other things in, soon!
Tomorrow the Arr!! goes into Lake Michigan. Dear Husband is going to come home tomorrow night. He says that it’s a bit too cool to sleep over on an unheated boat. He’ll go back Sunday to get things squared away, and I’ll spend the day piecing quilts!
Egrets, the Arr!!, seeds and quilting. It’s Spring.
Share a Square 2010
Shelly Tucker, the originator of Share a Square, has announced that she has enough squares for this year! YEA!! She has put out the call for enough donated 6″ crocheted squares to make 150 afghans, each having 80 squares. Do the math….that’s 1200 squares! People have been generous, and she reached her goal for this year.
Once the squares started coming in, Shelly organized people to assemble them into afghans. One of my friends and I have each done one for her, and last week she sent us two more to be done. Now that we are past the preparations for Easter, I should be able to sit each night and work on this project.
If you crochet, or know someone who crochets, please click on the link at the top of my blog, and it will take you to the FAQ page for Share a Square. Shelly is going to do another year of afghans, starting this August. If you want to participate, you could begin crocheting now, but be sure to read through the requirements before you start.
Size is important. Your block needs to be SIX INCHES. Please leave a 12″ tail off the corner of your block when you finish the last row. Crocheted blocks only (no knitted ones…they stretch too much). Worsted weight yarn. I know there are a few more guidelines, so be sure to take a look.
Hold your squares until Shelly puts out the call, and then you can send them to the address listed on the FAQ page. If you are on Facebook, you can join Share a Square to keep up on the news for the group.
And…..if you can’t contribute squares, you might consider donating cash to cover Shelly’s expenses. These afghans go to kids who are participating in Cancer Camp in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. It’s a really good cause. Help us out, won’t you?
That Blasted Bird!
We have a young robin that thinks he has to defend his turf from another bird in the window of my office. While it’s cute to watch, he is the messiest bird I’ve ever known! While he’s busy making faces at the “Other” bird, he’s pooping on the limestone sill. Do you suppose he’s scaring himself, or is this just the nature of the bird?
I hope he gets the idea soon that the reflection is no threat, and gets on with his life!
It’s Green!
Well, it’s greening up! The honeysuckle shrubs are leafing out. My chives are full, bushy clumps of green, and the grass is mostly green.
Easter was so late this year that my family has FINALLY had the chance to see the drifts of daffodils all across the lot. I created a cutting area years ago when I replanted two groups of daffodils to give them more space to branch out. I must have at least a dozen varieties of daffodils, perhaps more. I sent one of my nieces out to clip daffodils for an arrangement in the kitchen, and she chose tall ones and short ones, white ones and yellow ones, single and doubles, to make a beautiful bouquet. One pod of tulips were open and this week more will open as we loose some of the early daffodils. This cold weather has made a huge difference in the length of display. While I’d like a little more sunshine and just a few more degrees of heat, it was wonderful for my family to finally get to see what I’ve been bragging about all these years.
As for the green, I’ve noticed that the weeds are pretty healthy, too. I have perennial thistles in my front sidewalk garden. I pulled a lot of them, but you know they are just going to come back. If it ever stops raining, I may try some weed killer on them. Perhaps something systemic will keep them from coming back.
Coming soon: tulips, iris, lilacs and peonies!!! I’ve cleared everything off my camera so I can take more pictures, and I’ll share some of them with you.
Happy Spring!
A Fabulous Easter
Normally this time of year Dear Husband and I make a trip to Indiana to celebrate my youngest sister’s birthday. It’s rather odd….we drive down and act like couch potatoes, and she slaves over meals for us, and finds great ways to entertain us. It seems backward to me. SHE should be the one we are waiting on.
This year, it was a bit odder still. She packed up her 20-something daughters, their boyfriends, her husband, the dog and half the house and came to us for a short weekend. We met at Portillo’s for lunch on Saturday, and then spent a couple of quiet hours catching up and settling in. Sis organized a pizza order and she and DH went off to pick it up, While they were away, I began baking Vernice Kastman rolls for Easter dinner.
After dinner, DH put together his famous lasagna, which is offered at every holiday gathering in this house. Sis did dishes as fast as we got them dirty, and had things pretty well under control by the time we older four decided it was time for bed. The kids were awake for hours more, but the rest of us knew that we needed to get enough rest to make it through the next day.
Sunday morning Sis was up to walk the dog, and I caught up with her around 7:00 a.m. I made an egg casserole, and set out cereal, fruit, fruit juice and bagels. One of the boys told me that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had breakfast, but that didn’t stop him from eating it! Sis prepared crudites, and my step-daughter arrived with her spinach dip.
My-Sister-The-Nurse brought most of her family to join us on Sunday. She arrived around noon bearing two hams, a roaster filled with funeral potatoes, a vat of pickled eggs and beets, and assorted other goodies. I made cauliflower with browned bread crumbs, roasted sweet potatoes, tiny French green beans, bread pudding and a pan variation on S’Mores. My brother in law made a dark fudge cake, and my nieces brought green bean casserole, corn, and raspberry pretzel salad. By the time we added DH’s lasagna, and his Caesar salad, the island was almost overwhelmed! I’m still stuffed…….and so is my refrigerator!
I love these family gatherings. I like having the chance to talk to my relatives, I like seeing how the little ones have grown. We’ll have some wonderful pictures to share soon. My next to youngest niece is a superb photographer and she took wonderful pictures of the littlest members of the family, hamming it up and in repose. She will send some of them to me, and I’ll try to post a few of them here.
MSTN and her daughter washed the dishes for me. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. This year they FINALLY talked me into using plastic plates and cups. We put the glasses in the dishwasher and they washed silverware and serving pieces. I kept trying to help, but they kept saying, “GO SIT DOWN!!!”
Frankie and her family were the first to leave, because they had to return to central Indiana. Two loads of cars went to Frankie’s home, and then the girls and their boyfriends reorganized their things and drove on to their respective universities. Both the girls had work to be turned in on Monday so I know that it was difficult for them to devote those two days to us, but I’m so glad they did.
And Frankie’s birthday celebration…? It will be a little quieter this year than most, but I think she made up for it this weekend. Although she’s not posting at the moment, I hope that she will post this summer and tell you about her return to “throwing pots.” She’s quite the artist, and it contemplating a new career in clay. (Besides, she nags ME to post….she should TOO!!)
So, I hope your weekend, and your Easter celebration was as wonderful as ours. If you find yourself alone for a holiday in the future, join us here. We love visitors!
Spring???
It’s supposed to be Spring, but this is the oddest weather I can remember having in April. The really good side to all of this is that the cooler weather is allowing the bloom on the daffodils, tulips, forsythia and star magnolia to last unusually long.
Dear Husband came home around 4:00. I was watching Mr. and Mrs. Mallard out the kitchen window. The change in the amount of greenery, and the shades of greenery between noon and 4:00 was astonishing! We had a chilly, rainy day, but the grass, the honeysuckle bushes, daylilies, chives and everything else in the herb garden just seemed to be jumping out of the ground, shaking off winter and embracing a new season!
I took the bows off the evergreen (or not so green) wreaths that had been stored in the garage during the last month or two. I save these bows from year to year and hadn’t gotten around to storing them. That paved the way to move wood from the wagon so that we could have a fire after dinner tonight. It was lovely, warm and inviting. I have enough wood left to repeat the fire tomorrow. Actually, I may refill the wagon and have a fire every night of the coming week, since it’s supposed to remain in the fifties all week long.
I hope we get a break in the stormy weather tomorrow. I’d like to take pictures of the daffodils at the front of the house. I thought I’d put together a book of pictures of the gardens so that I can remember what blooms and where it blooms. Like my mother, I seem to always want to plant something where something else already lives.
I hope you all have a great weekend!