Getting my priorities straight...

I have always said that while the broccoli in my refrigerator sits and spoils, I will always make an effort to use the last of the buttermilk/sour cream/heavy cream before it spoils.  Lately I have been baking something almost every other day.  Buttermilk leads to either coffee cake or biscuits, and since I made coffee cake last week, the rest of the buttermilk became biscuits.  And the best part of making biscuits is heading to the garage to pick out a jar of jam from last summer's canning adventures!

Puutarhuri

My apologies for posting towards the end of the week instead of the beginning when my turn is supposed to be! This is because my routines are all scrambled due to my husband's belated winter vacation. My topic for the week is The Gardener, and this title belongs to Mr Vacation. He is truly the head gardener in the family! While I sit indoors posting, he is out there in the rain planting trees. That's all right, because ordinarily he is the one who has to sit at a computer most of the day.

What will be especially interesting this summer is that our 9-year-old is now also into gardening! Number one on her birthday wish list last fall was the promise of a big garden. Next came seeds, tools, and a wheelbarrow. Our shady yard is not the easiest place to grow vegetables, but at least we are going to have some 60 cherry tomato plants lined up in buckets along the sunny side of the house! Too bad only one of the kids will eat tomatoes...

It's really happening...

I really can't believe it's here!  Yesterday was cold and it poured rain all day, but they promised sunshine, and here it is!  The neighbors' chickens are visiting almost every day now, and are slowly getting used to the boy, even allowing a little pat here and there.  Our yard might technically qualify as a swamp, or at the very least, a wetland, but we're hoping tomorrow the ground will be not too muddy to mow.  Oh, please please please!  I want to smell the grass being cut!  

Kymmenen kuvaa elämästä

Nothing much happening here. Except... flowers drying, pencils being sharpened, letters being learned, hair being combed, cats jumping, leaves waiting, children growing a little in between. Did someone say something about life happening while you are busy making other plans?

I don't have a big subject for you this week either. Just ten pictures about life that have nothing to do with each other except that they were moments when I stopped to "smell the roses".

Neglect

I know that I have talked before about the trilliums that grow in our yard.  It's a native flower that is notoriously difficult for home gardens because it needs deeps shade, and thrives when the ground around it is left undisturbed.  I used to feel pride that our little patch seemed to be getting larger, but now it is starting to spread to other parts of the yard, and I am wondering if it is also an indicator of neglect.  Oh well.  At least it's finally springtime!

Monta hyvää hetkeä

Friday: cleaning
Saturday: shopping and carrot-cake baking
Sunday: an hour's morning walk and Easter dinner with the extended family
Monday: home-made pizza and a 45 minute evening walk

Many good moments, that is!

Easter picnic

We have finally been catching a few patches of sun in between the hail, snow, and rain.  The boy has recently taken to wanting his lunch served picnic-style, which means on a blanket on the the deck, if the weather is good, or on the kitchen floor, if it is not.  After making our Easter eggs this week, the blanket made it out to the deck, got rained on, then was brought back to the kitchen floor, then dragged back out into the sun again.  This all happened during the time it took me to make the egg salad sandwiches.  Such is the weather here.

En edes keksi otsikkoa

This is not a happy post. Monday night I heard the terrible news: a ten-year-old girl had been hit by a van while crossing the road at a crosswalk in the center of our little town. She died. Tuesday morning I had to send my own daughter to school not knowing if she had lost a classmate. Every picture and every word seems completely inappropriate right now, but it also feels impossible to post about anything ordinary. We later learned that we didn't know her, but many children that go to my daughter's school had seen it happen, and the whole town has been shaken by the tragedy. It's upsetting especially because it reminds us how vulnerable our little ones are, and that no matter what we do we can never protect them one-hundred percent. It's also upsetting to realize that this could happen to anyone of us grown ups, anyone who drives while stressed, tired, or in a hurry.

It's sad beyond any expression. I can't even think of a title. But life must go on. And that is does go on is at the same time heartbreaking, inevitable, and necessary.