Hi, everyone!
We haven’t had a lot of springlike weather yet, but gradually the leaves are coming out and the world is looking green! We’re still staying away from other people to slow down the bad virus. Even on chilly days, I can sit at the window and look outside! Sometimes local musicians put on concerts on the internet that I can watch without going anywhere.
On warmer days, Grandma takes me outside in the yard to visit my flower friends. With cooler weather, they are all staying in bloom longer!
I’ve been helping Grandma and Grandpa with cooking projects! Grandma made a fresh batch of goat cheese biscuits. I helped cut the butter and goat cheese into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender. It was hard work to get all the big lumps cut up! Grandma did the rolling and cutting. Don’t the finished biscuits look yummy?
Next, I helped Grandma try out a new waffle recipe. The recipe called for whole wheat flour, quick oats and regular yogurt, and Grandma had those ingredients all left over from other recipes. Grandpa got out the old waffle iron and warmed it up. I helped him figure out how much batter to put in to make a full waffle! We had to check the waffle to figure out how long to cook it! The waffles were yummy!
Grandpa’s cooking project was making bread! He started making it at night, because it needs to rise for a long time. I helped him measure the flour before I went to bed. The next afternoon, he showed me how he shapes the risen dough into a loaf. Then it rose in a sauce pan before it went into the oven.
When the dough was ready to bake, I reminded Grandpa to sprinkle flour on top to make the crust extra-crispy. Then Grandpa picked up the loaf by the parchment paper it was sitting on and put it in the Dutch oven. That went into the oven and what came out later was bread!
When we had another warmer day, I helped Grandma feed the daffodils. Grandma has been hoping the bad virus would go away enough so we could go to public outdoor places, too. She made me a face mask, so I could set a good example if we get to go. I tried it out visiting my flower friends in our yard.
On May Day, I got to use my mask for an adventure! Grandma wrote a new book about my adventures in Kauai in February. Because a lot of the adventures were while Papa Dick-san and Grandma Sue were visiting, Grandma made a copy of the book for them! On May Day, Grandma and I took some daffodil friends and the book to their house. We left a bag on their front door, but didn’t try to see them in person. Papa Dick-san sent me a picture of all my animal friends at their house reading the new book!
Grandma and I really like looking at all the daffodils we planted! Because the weather has been cool, the earliest blooming daffodils are still open as the later varieties bloom! (Make sure you click on the picture to see them all!)
Last Saturday and Sunday were springlike days! On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the bay. Grandpa mowed the lawn for the first time this year and Grandma fed all the azaleas. Then I helped Grandpa take down the deer fencing that protects the rhododendron flower buds. I hope there are enough other things leafed out now that the deer will leave those buds alone!
After we got the gardening done, Grandma took me for a walk in the woods. First, I stopped to see my primrose friend blooming in the herb garden. Then we found some red trillium blooming in the woods. I made friends with some trout lilies, a little jack-in-the-pulpit, and a May apple!
Sunday night, the wind was off the lake and it was cold watching sunset. Monday morning there was a nice sunrise, but the morning was cold and rainy. It was chilly all day, but there was some sun back in Fairport at dinnertime!
It’s been sunny and chilly today, and the weatherman predicts record low temperatures for most of this week! I had to wear my hoodie to help Grandma with gardening this morning! I visited my red trillium friends. Some of the early daffodils are through blooming. We needed to cut the wilted flowers off the stems, so the daffodil plants wouldn’t waste energy making seeds. Grandma calls this daffodil beheading! I helped with the early daffodils in the main planting. There were a lot of wilted blossoms to go out for the town pickup! Then Grandma took me for a short walk down the street to see the neighbor’s magnolia tree in bloom. It’s nice to see green and blossoms around us, even if we can’t go to the park!
During this period of staying home to help control the bad virus, some people are finding ways to reach out to others. Uncle Steven’s family made a “thank you” sign to put in their window for all the workers who have to go out so everyone else can stay safe at home. Our neighbors have a teddy bear waving in their window, so children in the neighborhood have something fun to look for. When I saw the bear, I asked Grandma if I could sit in the front window, too!
Love,
Lion-san
Margaret Bear is very excited by her first time being published in a blog! Not sure if we are going to like living with her inflated ego!
But Grandma Sue, can’t you just show her how often you’ve been in my blog?
Yes it has been cold but it has kept the flowers nice and looking fresh for awhile. All our later daffodlil are still coming. Our forget me nots are starting to fill among them. We have several different colored violets coming up in the grass, white with blue freckles, purple and white ones. and even those pesky dandy lions (no offence intended).