buds and spears

 We had rain on and off today, not quite April Showers but also not like March going out like a lamb… in fact there is snow in the forecast for tonight - a good (ha ha) April Fool’s joke.

I can see green buds on the lilac that grows outside the guest bedroom window. I can close my eyes and imagine the purple blooms that will be there in a month, I can almost smell them. And I can't forget to mention the little points of peony that are pushing through the barely thawed earth.

Spike is a new dog! He’s running and jumping a bit - I know that a haircut does this for him, yet both he and I hate it so much it gets pushed off for weeks. I’ve got to figure out a way for him to put up with the grooming like he did a few years ago. I need a training plan!

I read today that Ontario expects that everyone will have at least one vaccine by mid June. I’m afraid to have much hope, but gosh! A summer where we could see family would be wonderful. Even with vaccines, I wonder how long it will be before we feel we can have friends over for interior dinners. 

We did take a little trip today: first to Florence, Pisa, and Lucca - so much amazing art! Then to Paris. The museum with the tapestry will be a must see, along with the cathedral with the stained glass - breathtaking. Yes, someday we’ll travel again although it’s a bit hard to think about now.

“Spring drew on...and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.”

~Charlotte Brontë

two more days of sunshine

 Two days of sunshine started this week off well. Yesterday the wind made it feel cold, but today, even with a breeze, it feels comfortable. Not so comfortable that you want to take your sweater off, but warm enough for a fleece shirt with no down vest. Each day that passes takes us closer and closer to the day with no more snow in the forecast… that magical day when anticipation of summer picnics and languid days by the pool seems achievable, attainable, and SOON!

We all suffered yesterday, well, at least Spike and I did. I had my turn first: bloodletting at the clinic in Winchester. I’ll be frank: I very nearly cancelled as it seemed like a pointless risk. Then it was Spike’s turn: a full haircut. He was terrible, panting heavily, struggling, trying to jump off the table. My heart went out to the wee guy (even though I could have throttled him). He has little growths over his skin and sometimes the clippers catch one and make it bleed :-( It’s heartbreaking but I don’t know what to do.

With his squirming and trying to escape, I did a horrible job - he looks like a moth eaten hunting trophy.

Another sad Spike moment? Yesterday I asked him to ‘high five’ and he didn’t know what I wanted 😢. On a good note though: today he was able to get on the futon once.

Yesterday we tried something different: a beer smoothie. It was a surprising treat!

“Take off your hat," the King said to the Hatter.

"It isn't mine," said the Hatter.

"Stolen!" the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who instantly made a memorandum of the fact.

"I keep them to sell," the Hatter added as an explanation; "I've none of my own. I'm a hatter.

~Lewis Carroll

decorations of an insane monkey

 It’s a crazy start to the day when you have to chill on the sofa to ride out a rather uncomfortable sugar high… yes, burnt sugar cake for breakfast accompanied with a shot of ‘buttertart’ liquor. OMG! So good yet so very bad. But it was all for a good cause! It was Carm’s birthday and I planned to make every minute a celebration.

A trip outside with Adia revealed Trudie tying bunches of balloons onto trees and hanging a gift bag on a sturdy branch. I tricked Carm into going outside - he had a wide smile at the surprise.

In between phone calls we worked on our hats. It was Olaf’s idea to have a theme for our family zoom visit and hats seemed like something everyone could do. Carm formed tinfoil into a halo of horns and crosses - I think he had Monty Python and Black Adder in his head. I took a ream of packing paper and stapled it into a sort of beehive with shiny bits of foil and draped with toilet tissue. I was thinking of Mary Poppins.

Crafting is not something that we do so I count it a huge win!

For supper we had Prime Rib roast with yorkshire pudding, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. I screwed up the cooking of the beast as I forgot to reduce the temp from 550 down to 350. When it started smelling so good early in the cooking process I realized my mistake. In the end the roast was a bit overcooked but OMG - the crust. I nearly swooned as I gnawed at the bone. A murmured ‘Oh my God’, reminiscent of Stanley Tucci as he eats so many wonders, passed my salty lips.

(note to self for next time: I heavily salted each side, sprinkling with a good amount of Italian herbs before flipping. A clove of garlic was slivered and jabbed into the meat. It couldn’t stand up so lay on it’s side, a meat thermometer in it’s center.)

Once I was done with the bone (the best part of the meal), I passed it over to Grace.

After supper we digested for a while and then signed into Zoom for a family ‘get-together’, complete with hats. Everyone had done such a good job - Shawn had an impressive ‘Mad Hatter’, Kirsten had something cute made from tinfoil. Olaf, Stephanie, and Freya had foil covered paper hats, while Mom, Dad, and Graham had hats from around the house.

I’m not going to lie… today was 100% lazy, perhaps from the late night, or maybe it was the rain that drained my energy. Not in a bad way, but let’s just say I wasn’t jumping around much! And it took a herculean effort to make the bed after washing the sheets (maybe I was only 90% lazy, we did get the laundry done). 

Spike hasn’t been on the futon for several days now. I’ve put a little bed beside my spot on the sofa and that’s where he’s been sleeping when he wants to be around us. Otherwise he sleeps in Adia’s comfy crate. He’s in bad need of a haircut...

“It always amazes me to look at the little, wrinkled brown seeds and think of the rainbows in 'em," said Captain Jim. "When I ponder on them seeds I don't find it nowise hard to believe that we've got souls that'll live in other worlds. You couldn't hardly believe there was life in them tiny things, some no bigger than grains of dust, let alone colour and scent, if you hadn't seen the miracle, could you?”

~L.M. Montgomery