Not Yet!

We had a nice heat wave after my last post, but the weather keeps flipping from winter to spring.  We got a couple of inches on snow on the 18th, and below freezing weather for several days, which turned my apricot tree blossoms into crispy critters.

We actually got a bit more snow the morning of March 28th - just a dusting though.  This weekend it was 85* out on Saturday, and I put all the screens back in the windows.  By Sunday, it only got in the 50's, and we had to start a fire in the woodstove!

Luckily the Hellebores (Lenten Roses) are hardy - they have been blooming since late February.

The crocuses, daffodils, and hyacinths have been blooming as well, and the weeping cherries will open any day now.  We have had enough nice days, that I have done some outside work, such as deadheading and weeding in the flowerbeds; pruning the blueberries, butterfly bushes and clematis, and raking gravel out of the grass.

The wild violets have taken over in my largest flower bed.  At first, I tried to weed them out, but it was hopeless, so I decided to let them be.

This year, I thought I'd try something useful with them, and I made some violet jelly.  First I had to steep the flowers in boiling water for 4 hours, which turned it a bright blue.  Right before adding the sure jell and sugar, I added lemon juice, which turned it a bright purple.  After it was gelled, it was a bright pink color.  The recipe stated that the jelly has a "grapey and floral" taste.  All I noted was sweet with a bit of lemon.  Oh well.  I have still been enjoying it on toast!

L was assisting with the HS drama production again last week.  They did "Little Women - The Musical."  They needed a pair of ice skates for a prop at the last minute, so L and I stayed up late and built a pair out of some boots that she thrifted, cardboard, tin foil and hot glue.  They didn't turn out half bad!

I just started another fire in the woodstove, as it is forecast to be 30* overnight, and it is already starting to get a bit chilly in here.  I can't stand it! It's April 6th...where is SPRING??

April Fool

I am home sick today with COVID.   I thought perhaps that I would make it through this pandemic unscathed, but apparently not.  Luckily, I feel like I simply have a bad cold and am fairly hoarse, otherwise not feeling too poorly.  Mostly I'm just feeling a bit of a fool for not wearing a mask to L's County Chorus Concert on Friday evening.

Today is also the warmest day of the year so far - in the 70's, and the sky is a brilliant blue.  I have all of the windows open in the hopes of blowing the nasty germs far away.  I'm glad that I got the screens put back on the windows over the weekend so that I can have them all flung wide!

I did finally get the peas planted over the weekend as well - we are a few weeks behind the St Patty's Day deadline, but not too shabby!  The other plants should not be too far behind - they are currently hardening off in my new tiny greenhouse purchased at Tractor Supply Company a couple of weeks ago.  And just in time too...some of my squash plants have wee squashes on them already!

I made some other purchases at Tractor Supply Co. a couple of weeks ago as well:  10 little peeps.  I started out with 5 black sex-linked pullets, and 5 Rhode Island Red pullets, but one of the black ones died the following day.  I was able to replace it with a Buff Orpington pullet (this is the breed of our stupid rooster, NumNuts) - she is the little blond one toward the center.

Outside things are greening up and doing their thing as well.  The pear trees are blooming, and were swarming with bees over the weekend (if you enlarge the picture you can see the bees more clearly.)  The weeping cherries were also humming full of bees.

The swing set is also greening up.  JP and I bought stain for it last week, and it was so beautiful outside that I decided to start using it today.  You can see that I didn't get any higher that I could reach on a step ladder since I'm scared of heights and home alone.  Guess I'll do the high stuff later.

Unrelated to outside and green and peeps, but slightly like growing things, I made pasta over the weekend.  It's been a while, but it turned out delish.

Well, I'm coughing rather violently again, so I'm going to go back outside - that seemed to help earlier!  I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful season!

One of Those Days

Today was one of THOSE days.  You know, the days where everything seems to go wrong, and the underlying funk that has been hanging around your brain for months finally gets overwhelming, and you just want to cry all the time.  Oh...maybe that's just me!

The bad vibes actually started last night.  I noticed, while I was walking around outside with the dog yesterday, that our Honey Crisp Apple tree in the defunct orchard actually has some blooms on it!  This is the first time ever...and it's been, what, 10 or 12 years?  Of course, last night was forecast to get down to 27* (it actually went to 26*.)  I figured there was nothing to do but let nature take its course and likely the blossoms would all freeze, so there would be ZERO chance of any apples this year either.  JP encouraged me to try to cover it.  Luckily there were not too many flowers, and even though the tree is probably 20 feet tall, I was able to wrap a good number of the lower branches.

I was using the step ladder to reach as high as I possibly could, and of course, I reached further than I should have and fell backwards off the ladder.  I managed to hurt my left foot again (I JUST started light exercise again last week after 3 months of wearing the walking cast and resting it.)  I was/am SO discouraged and upset by this, that it brought my low mood even lower today.  The good news is that the apple blossoms that I covered survived and look lovely - now I have to protect them from the deer!

This morning the milk that I was heating to make yogurt got too hot, and then I spilled my cuppa tea when I was trying to cool the milk down before incubating it.

I had multiple problems working from home today as the program kept crashing.

It was one thing after another!

I desperately tried to cheer myself up.  I noticed the squirrels left nutshells behind under the hickory tree all winter long.

The dogwoods are blooming, and look lovely, AND the sun is shining.

I picked my first bouquet of asparagus from my little patch.

The egg I cooked for breakfast had 2 yolks in it.

After 2 years, my orchid is blooming.  Another bud opened up today, so now there are 8 flowers.

I noticed this car parked in front of one of my friend's houses in town.  Rumor has it that it will be used as an ice cream truck this summer.  Isn't it absolutely precious?

AND I finished the 2000 piece puzzle that I've been working on for a couple of weeks.  It has a bunch of kooky scenes, such as this one of a storm trooper in the cafeteria with his lunch box.

I had tea with my mother this afternoon, and we attended L's County Choir Concert this evening.

I'm feeling somewhat better, but my foot is still hurting.  Here's hoping for a better (and pain free??) day tomorrow!

Deconstructing

This week I decided that after 4 years, it was time to deconstruct my lego Hogwarts.  I *think* that I got it for my birthday in 2019, and took several weeks to put it together.  It didn't take quite as long coming apart, but I'm not absolutely certain that I got all the right parts in the right bags.

I typically put together puzzles during the winter, and this was a puzzle-like endeavor.

I did get stumped by a puzzle this winter though.  This 1000 piece puzzle had teeny-tiny little pieces, and huge swaths of it (sky and trees) had undistinguishable features.  I got everything put together except for the greenery at the bottom, and after HOURS of trying to fit pieces, I actually sorted the remaining pieces by shape and was trying each piece one by one until they fit.  I made a little progress and then realized that I don't have at least 2 pieces (BRAND NEW PUZZLE!!), which probably means that I have put it together wrong.  I was getting such a headache from this project that was supposed to be fun and relaxing that I finally swept the entire thing into the trash can and called it quits.  I've never done THAT before!

The weather has been typical of Spring.  By that I mean that it can be 78* one afternoon, and 12* the next morning.  We get wind, we get rain, we get snow.

My apricot trees were absolutely COVERED with blooms this year, and then we had snow and freezing temps for several days, so I'm sure we will get the same amount of fruit that we have gotten every year for the past 12 years...a big, fat NOTHING!

I did get my compostable newspaper pots made and seeds planted several weeks ago, and most of the pots have little green sprouts in them.

Also, this orchid that my mother gave me 2 years ago, that has done nothing except grow lots and lots of "legs" (the root-y things that are not underground - I just learned they are called "aerial roots") just bloomed!

L's musical was last weekend, and she did FABULOUS!  (Made me cry.)  They did "Emma the Pop Musical" - a modern take on Jane Austen's story.  L had the part of Jane Fairfax.  Here she is standing on the table in the lunch room belting "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

This is Jane commiserating with Harriet Smith after she was snubbed by Phillip Elton.

And here is Jane with her beau, Frankie Churchill.

Best of all, I have been out of the walking cast for about 1 1/2 weeks - still somewhat sore at the end of the day, but over all ok!

The low tire pressure light has been coming on in my car every couple of days, and I put a bit of air in the back tire.  I've done it 3 times, so decided to take it to the tire shop today.  They found a screw in the back tire, but were able to repair it.  The pointed out that my inspection expired in February, and had time to do that too while I was there.  (Except my proof of insurance in the car expired mid March...sigh.  Had to call my insurance agent and confirm it was indeed insured.)

Sigh.  It's been a whirlwind!  L has Spring/Easter break in about 10 days and we are taking a little getaway up in Erie - relaxing with the fam and getting take out.  Ahhh...

I hope that you are surviving the trials of early Spring as well!

Happy Spring!

 

Year Three...

Well, we officially started year 3 of the pandemic in our area on March 13.  We welcomed the anniversary here with a surprise snowstorm that dropped 8 inches of snow on us!  It melted quickly, and by yesterday I not only had Lenten Roses blooming, but also crocuses and the first daffodil - spring is definitely on its way!  Not to mention the days are longer thanks to Daylight Savings Time.

I spent several hours yesterday clearing one of my flower beds and pruning the blueberry bushes.  My goal for today is to fashion a bunch of biodegradable pots out of newspaper, and get some seeds started (I just received my seed order last week.)

J was home last week for her first college Spring Break.  We had been planning a trip down to NC to visit JP's sister and family (this had also been in the works 3/13/20 when the US shut down, so we haven't seen them for a couple of years.)  Unfortunately, L's Spring Break did not coincide, but at least she had a 4 day weekend due to teacher in-service.  We were planning to spend a couple of days there, but cut our visit short due to the impending winter storm that I mentioned earlier.  We arrived home at 2 AM, with poor visibility due to snow for the last hour or so.

At least the girls got to see their cousin, and teach her and me how to play "Spicy Uno."  We also got to visit briefly with another cousin and his wife in person, and with another cousin and her 2 little ones via Face Time.  We also spent over an hour chatting with JP's 2 other sisters and brother-in-laws via Zoom (the bane or savior of the pandemic, depends on your view of things.)

We are edging ever closer to opening night of L's musical and her Spring Break (over Easter.)

Speaking of Easter, I have mentioned my love of marshmallow peeps in the past.  I noticed some new *Limited Time* flavors of peeps while grocery shopping this week.  I didn't even try to wait until Easter to try them.

The chocolate ones are good, but I'm fine with the good old, pastel sugar coated vanilla peeps!

I only have 3 more weeks to wear this stupid boot.

Things are looking up!

Normal

 I realized as I was cleaning downstairs today, that last year at this time, I was furloughed, JP was quarantined, and the girls were home from school.  How different it is this year!  We are all fully immunized, except for L, who is too young.  The girls are back to school 4 days/week.  I am working again, and doing many telemedicine visits.  The girls and I have masks to coordinate with all of our outfits.

This is our new normal.  We are going on with life.  We did our annual Easter Egg hunt outside on a beautiful April day.  J said that she wanted to continue to do this as long as possible because "I always win!"

Even Stella got Easter Eggs!

The girls are currently at their first dress rehearsal this afternoon for the Spring play, which opens in 10 days.  I am worried that things are opening up too much and too soon.  JP is seeing a huge increase in the numbers of positive COVID tests every day he works.  J is planning for prom.  I typically work at one vaccination clinic per week, and I see shots going into the arms of hundreds of people, but I don't see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow yet.

But we continue on - what else can we do?  J has been accepted at YSU (#goGUINS) and I am effectively blocking all of the emotions that go along with that - at least for the time being.  She recently sent in audition recordings for the theater program, and had a virtual interview with the director and several instructors of the program last weekend.

I keep cooking and baking, with many successes and several fails - such as this Angel Food Cake.

Spring keeps advancing - the tulips that we transplanted from raised beds in the garden to my flower bed by the house are in bloom.

The peeps were racing across the feed trough that we started them in, flapping their tiny wings ferociously, so we moved them into the hen house.  It didn't take them long to settle on the next-to-highest roost!  Unfortunately, I found one dead this morning of unknown causes.

The redbuds and the dogwoods are blooming in the woods.  The grass is growing.  JP will soon have to get the mower out!

My seedlings are going crazy in the house.  I am hoping that we can soon till the Rye cover crop in the garden so I can plant them because I am going crazy in the house too!

So embrace the new normal.  Keep going, because giving up is not an option.  Be careful, because the virus is still raging out there.  Dig in the dirt because it is good for the soul.

April Fools!

The lovely Spring weather turned backwards today.

You can see my apricot trees blooming in the background amidst the snow flakes.

We have had to work to keep the peeps warm - these 6 little girls came to Poplar Ridge about 2 weeks ago.

So, while the winds blow snow outside, I am cooking inside - I made homemade gnocchi for the first time, and for dessert, tiramisu.

One day spring will be here to stay.