Springing Ahead!

Hi, everyone!

We’ve had some very nice, sunny, warm days recently!  Just before Holy Week, more of my crocus friends bloomed.

So did the first of my daffodil friends!  There was an anemone blooming in a place Grandma never planted it!  Grandma thinks the squirrels and chipmunks sometimes get flower bulbs and acorns confused!

Grandma invited Uncle Steven’s family to come over for a delayed St. Patrick’s Day menu, so I helped make another AWACS coffee cheesecake! I always do the batter marbling, but this time I got to put the ganache on the baked cheesecake, too!  I made sure there were some chocolate-covered almonds on top for James and Thomas, in addition to the chocolate-covered espresso beans.  AWACS cheesecake is James’ and Thomas’ favorite dessert!

On Friday before Palm Sunday, Grandma picked up palm fronds for us at church.  On Saturday, I went out to visit the daffodil sprouts that Grandma and I planted.  They were tall enough to stand out from the ivy!  On Sunday, Grandma and I listened to the on-line church service.  Then I followed the directions to fold my palm frond into a cross.  I think it would have been easier to do when my palm was fresh on Friday!

Tuesday of Holy Week, Grandma and I went back to Highland Park to see the changes warm weather was bringing.  Even more scilla were blooming and the magnolia blossom buds were opening!  My helleborus friends in the Poets Garden looked very happy!

The buds on the lilac bushes were turning green.  I could even see some lilac blossom buds!  Grandma and I checked out the groundhog burrows in the lilac bush roots, but we didn’t see any groundhogs.  The pansy bed was still empty, too!

On Wednesday, Uncle Steven’s family came over for pizza after taekwando class!  I helped Grandma make the pizza crust dough.  When it had risen, we spread it in the pans.  Then I helped with the toppings!  James wanted just cheese on his pizza, and Thomas wanted sauce, cheese, black olives and pepperoni.  I made sure two halves of one pizza were just what James and Thomas wanted!  The other pizza got pesto, Alfredo sauce, balsamic vinegar, sweet Italian sausage and cheese.  They were both yummy!  James said his half was the best pizza ever!

Everybody was happy that there was leftover AWACS cheesecake for dessert!  James and Thomas and I had a good time together before it was time for them to go home.

Thursday was both Maundy Thursday and April Fools Day!  Joe-san and Nancy-san and Tilly and Moose-san invited Grandma and Grandpa and me to have Easter dinner with them.  I wanted to help make the food that Grandma was going to bring!  Dessert was going to be apple pie with cinnamon ice cream, so we got the ice cream done on Thursday.  I helped stir the custard part in between times in the microwave.  When it was properly cooked and thickened, I stirred in the remaining milk, cream and seasonings.  Then, after it was chilled, I watched it in the ice cream maker to let Grandma know when it was done!

That wasn’t the only freezing done on April 1st.  We had more snow!  It stayed cold on Friday, but the snow didn’t last.  When we went out to the bay, all the ice was gone from the surface of the water.  There were a few icicles hanging off the edge of the boat house!  I could see yellow flower buds on the primrose in the herb garden.

Easter Sunday was a busy day!  After we attended the on-line church service, there was a lot of food to prepare to take to Joe-san and Nancy-san’s for dinner!  First, I helped get an apple pie out of the freezer and get it ready to bake.  Then I helped make the crust dough for an appetizer quiche!  When the dough was chilled, I helped roll it out and bake it until it was set.  Then I made sure that the gorgonzola and pecan filling went into the bottom before the egg mixture went into the crust and into the oven.  We were making a shaved carrot salad, so I helped pick the fattest carrots to shave!  Then there was a warm dressing to make!

We got all the cooking done just in time to go to Joe-san and Nancy-san’s!  I served the appetizer quiche.  Everybody liked it!  At dessert time, Moose-san and Tilly and their goldfish friend helped me serve the apple pie and cinnamon ice cream.  Everybody liked that, too!

On Monday after Easter, the Easter bunny was hanging around our house!  More of our daffodils are blooming and the forsythia is blooming, too!  The buds on our apple trees are swelling and some of them are even green and opening!

Yesterday, Grandma took me back to Highland Park to see what a week’s worth of mostly nice weather had done to all my plant friends there.  Some of the magnolia blossoms were already open!  I made a new blooming tree friend.  There was a dandelion in bloom — the first I’ve seen this year!

Uncle Steven is building a tree house for James and Thomas!  Because we’re having warm days and no rain, he’s working hard on it this week.  Aunt Kara and Grandma and I are helping!  On Monday, we helped him secure a beam high up between two trees, so he can use it to lift things onto the deck of the tree house as he builds.  Yesterday, we helped him prop the support beams for the tree house at the proper height to make sure they all fit.  Today, we helped him measure to make sure the beams were level, so he could cut the support posts to the right lengths.  James and Thomas had a half day at school, so we had a picnic on their deck for lunch!

Love,

Lion-san