Hi, everyone!
We’re still staying home to help stop the bad virus from spreading, so I’ve been spending a lot of time looking out the window. The weather has been doing a lot of changing, even during the same day! On Thursday of Holy Week, it was sunny. Then on Friday we had snow! The snow started to melt in the afternoon, then it was sunny again!
It’s a good thing the snow melted on Friday, because on Saturday, Grandma and I had to cut a lot of daffodils! Pastor Valerie at church was making Easter baskets for some of the members who needed an extra smile. James and Thomas wrote jokes and put them in plastic Easter eggs. Grandma and I made bouquets of daffodils. I helped wrap the stems up with some damp paper towel and plastic bags, so the flowers would stay fresh. Grandma found a nice box with dividers in it. Each bouquet had its own space for the trip to church! Grandma said she was happy she could cut four dozen daffodils and not even notice they were gone!
On Easter Sunday, after the on-line church service, Grandma decided to make a flourless chocolate cake. I helped Grandma fold the beaten egg whites into the melted chocolate, butter, sugar and egg yolks. I was very careful to be gentle! The cake was yummy for dessert!
Lots of sunny April days have been cold and windy, but on the Monday after Easter, it was nice in the morning. I had a chance to go outside and see all my flower friends! In the front yard, there were lots of small plantings of blooming daffodils. The buds on the apple trees were showing green at their tips. I was happy to see that nobody had been eating the tulips! The coffee grounds have worked!
In the side yard, my double daffodil friends were standing up straight! All the flower buds were missing from the rhododendron! Grandma thinks deer must have eaten them, because even the buds at the top of the plant were gone. In the backyard, the big planting of daffodils looked pretty, and so did the forsythia. At the other end of the yard, I made a new daffodil friend. My new friend’s location is a puzzle, because Grandma hasn’t planted bulbs there for a very long time!
After we came back in, we had a visit from a groundhog! Then Grandma and Grandpa decided to take a walk. When they went out, they found a card from James in front of the door! It’s a good thing they found it before their walk, because it started raining just after they got back!
On Tuesday, Grandpa used Zoom to get together with his Tuesday lunch buddies on-line. He practiced beforehand by setting up a meeting with Grandma and me! On Wednesday, the lawn crew came to do spring cleaning in the yard. There were a LOT of leaves that they blew out of the borders!
It’s a good thing the lawn crew came on Wednesday, because on Thursday we had snow again! There was snow on the deck and the shrubs when I got up. My double daffodil friends were not happy! Most of the snow melted later on, but then we had snow flurries off and on for the rest of the day!
Last Monday, Grandma went to the grocery store. Because of the bad virus, she had to wear a face mask and use gloves to do her shopping. She bought a pork shoulder and baked it for six hours to make pulled pork. When it was done, I helped pull the pork. We made a lot! Some went into the freezer and Grandma took some to Uncle Steven’s family.
Yesterday, we had rain, then graupel! Graupel is frozen rain that isn’t quite snow and isn’t quite hail. Then, five minutes later, the sun came out again. It was cold and windy all day.
This morning, when I woke up, there was snow again! All my daffodil friends were bent over again! Then the sun came out, the snow melted, and the daffodils stood back up.
Grandma and I miss seeing James and Thomas, so we decided to make another coffee cheesecake for them. I helped count out the chocolate sandwich cookies to process for the crust. Then I helped mix the coffee flavored cheesecake batter. We put most of it in the pan, but saved some for marbling. This time, I made sure Grandma remembered to put the egg in the chocolate flavored cheesecake batter! My favorite part of making the cheesecake is marbling the coffee flavored batter and the chocolate flavored batter together!
By the time the cheesecake came out of the oven, the sun was back out! We had blue skies and a nice sunbeam for me to sit in!
Love,
Lion-san
The spring flowers are pretty. They are also prolific. We have lots of daffodils, hyacinths and tulips coming. I’ m surprised that you have tulip flowers already. We don’t. Crocus have gone by already and the snowdrops have also.
Dear Lion-San. I learned so much from you in this “issue.” My friend Joanne received an Easter basket with your beautiful daffodils. She said that the kids had written notes. So that was James and Thomas. I really wondered how Pastor Valerie figured that one out.
Also, the deer have already eaten our tulips. I had no idea that coffee grounds could work. Thanks for the tip.
Fondly, La Vache
Dear Lion-San. I learned so much from you in this “issue.” My friend Joanne received an Easter basket with your beautiful daffodils. She said that the kids had written notes. So that was James and Thomas. I really wondered how Pastor Valerie figured that one out.
Also, the deer have already eaten our tulips. I had no idea that coffee grounds could work. Thanks for the tip.
Fondly, La Vache