Sinking Back Into Winter?

According to the weather guessers it's supposed to get colder tonight and then tomorrow night a big storm is supposed to slam in with rain/snow/sleet/ice.  I watched this robin take a bath this afternoon and thought that it better enjoy it while it can because it's not going to be warm enough for baths for the next week or so.  Just when we think that we're out from under the thick clouds and treacherous roads of winter, a storm the local guys have named Fiona comes barreling out of the west to pull the rug out from under us.  My friend Lala and her brother are driving up to visit their mom on Thursday and then driving back to Milwaukee on Sunday.  His flight out is at 10 AM so I invited them to come spend the night on Saturday so their race to the airport doesn't have to start in the wee hours.  I hope they come.  I hope the roads stay safe or at least passable.

When he lived next door DS planted some mini-daffodils and when I took the trash out a few minutes ago I saw that they're blooming.  My regular size daffodils have sent up a few buds, they'll bloom soon.



 

This afternoon two of the knitting guild members came over so I could show them how to use the fiber website Ravelry.  We had a lot of fun talking and I think they learned a few things anyway.  I had handouts with pretty plain directions so hopefully they'll be able to keep exploring the site at home.  Otherwise they can call.

I got lost in a WW email with a bunch of recipes in it this morning.  I printed off a couple of them and when I stopped at Meijer on my way home from the Y I got ingredients to make Chocolate, Almond, Cranberry Wontons which I made after supper.  Instead of chopping a bunch of regular chocolate chips I bought the mini ones.  I still had to chop craisins and toast and chop sliced almonds.  Putting them together was putzy--wet the wonton edges, scoop a teaspoon of filling, fold the wrapper and press the edges.  I could only fit 24 on the baking sheet so I've got filling enough for 8 more, I think, but I'll wait to make them until I've eaten these.  I think I baked them a minute too long, they're a little crunchy, but they're good, and only 2 Freestyle points per wonton.  I also printed off a recipe for chocolate cookies with chili powder in them.  I'll try those next.




Getting sucked into those recipes meant I didn't leave for the Y until 11 o'clock so 25 minutes on the treadmill, 10 on the arc trainer (a kind of elliptical that's easier on the knees), a stop at Kwik Trip for bananas, and then longer in Meijer than I'd planned meant I didn't have time to change before I threw together a quick salad that I was still eating when SH and DS got here.  Oh well, we didn't run out of things to talk about while I finished my lunch.  Like I said, it was a fun afternoon.



I spied a different bird out there today.  It's a Gray Catbird, named because its call sounds like a cat's meow.  It was freaky the first time I heard it.


9 April--Paul Gauguin, Young Man with Flower.

Coffee with cream complexion,
hint of a mustache,
his golden eyes look off
to sea? to jungle?
a pretty girl passing?
Small white blossom
nestles above his left ear,
his white shirt buttoned up
to his blousy bow tie.

You only paint girls topless, Paul?
~~~~~

I'm convinced that Gauguin was a creeper.  Look at the faces of the young women he painted, they all look unhappy or scared.  I hope the weather people are wrong about what's coming later this week.  There are things I want to do, people I want to see, an assistant I want to entertain, and I don't want crummy weather to get in the way.  *folds arms across chest*
--Barbara