March 30, 2021

Jed's impressive Bananagrams today.

My more impressive Bananagrams today.  :)
 

March 26, 2021

We headed out this evening in time to see a nice cloud formation  on the horizon.

Then I noticed in the southern sky a nearly-full moon.

(it's in the center of the pic...

kind of small, but I wanted to get the clouds too)

That interesting cloud formation is more visible here.

(but my windshield is always dirty. :)

The nearly-full moon in the early evening sky.
 

March 24, 2021

Jed started getting Xolair injections today for allergies.

Hoping it helps!

(he wasn't miserable from the shots...

he just doesn't like having his pic taken much anymore

and he definitely doesn't like having to wait around for an hour

to make sure he doesn't die from anaphylactic shock :)
 

March 21, 2021

Nice sunset this evening.

 

March 19, 2021

At first I was terribly disappointed this photo was focused on the raindrops on the windshield 

instead of the much more interesting background sky,

but then I reconsidered...

you can still see the magnificent clouds and the little bit of blue sky peeking through,

but you don't see all the ugliness of a shopping center parking lot, 

at least not in focus.  :)
 

March 18, 2021

Beautiful bucolic scene on a foggy morning.
 

March 17, 2021

My next door neighbor and I drove around our area today looking at houses for sale.  

The setting on this one was just stunning.

Unfortunately there was a chain across their driveway so this is the closest we could get.  :)
 

March 16, 2021

Jed and I ran an errand this afternoon and 

I was shocked to see so many blooming ornamental pear trees scattered about.

It was warm last week, 

and I guess a few warm days are all it takes this time of year.
 

March 15, 2021

The sky was so interesting this morning.
 

March 14, 2021

Jed did something to my cell phone to upgrade the camera to 4K

(whatever that is). 

I didn't think it would make much difference,

but I tested it against my good camera.

How embarrassing.

The detail in the phone pic is incredibly more sharp.
 

March 13, 2021

Jed and I brought the baby home with us yesterday for an overnighter, 

and Brad and the rest of the kids came to get her and hang out for a little while this afternoon.

This is a pretty good picture, 

considering there are five people in it and four of them are under the age of 10. :)

But then Brad had to go and get all fancy, 

trying to line everyone up on the hill so they'd all be the same height.

Look at the baby - she's not having it.

(click on the image to enlarge it if you want to see her misery)

Brad thought it might help if the baby could see him.

It did, a little...she stopped screaming at least.  :)

This is more the norm.  :D
 

March 12, 2021

Jed and I babysat the grands this afternoon.

They are such a hoot!

Decker hosted a tea party for us!

Beautiful sunset on the way home.
 

March 11, 2021

We are so obsessed with this game, 

we bought another set of tiles so we could make bigger and better words.

This particular game is not my best effort to that end,

but it's the only day's play I could find a photo of where Jed didn't misspell a word.

(actually he did, but I let him correct it - 

he spelled barbecue b-a-r-b-a-q-u-e.  

Wish him luck on the SAT!  :)

His favorite t-shirt:

English is important,

but math is importanter.
 

March 7, 2021

I am so tickled at how cute these Oreo balls turned out!
 

March 6, 2021

I've had my eye on this pillow at a flea-market style place for a while now.  

I was always surprised to see it still there...

it's beautiful and intricate and highly textured...

but apparently orange is not very popular these days.

I was so happy last time I was there to see it on sale for half off!

The afternoon sun was making all the beading sparkle...

it's too bad this shot doesn't capture that...

but I still like it. :) 

I also like that we've had 4 straight days of sunshine!!
 

March 5, 2021

Nice sunrise this morning.
 

March 4, 2021

Jed's community college classes are still online, including chemistry this semester. 

I was so hoping at least this class would be in-person, but no such luck.  

So far he's been doing the experiments in the bathroom in complete privacy

but a couple of days ago he needed the stove.

We had to buy a lab kit which included this pretty hefty apron and googles.

He is not a fan.  :) 

I wish this was dinner he was working on!
 

March 3, 2021

Jed and I have started playing Bananagrams a little differently...

instead of just being the first to use up all the tiles, 

we're competing based on the complexity of our words.  

This was one of my recent crosswords that I was pretty happy with.

I don't even want to show you one of Jed's...he's really spanking me with his words.

I'm amazed at his vocabulary, but I'm totally taking credit for it also.  :)
 

March 2, 2021

We had a very low-key birthday dinner celebration for a single friend from our church last night.

I asked him what his favorite meal is and he said Italian, 

which is not my forte, 

so I was hoping an Italian tablecloth would make up for any lack in the meal.  :)

Speaking of lack, the cake was pretty interesting....

I made an Italian cream cake, a recipe from an Italian friend in Maine.  

It's quite simple...

just a pound cake baked in a loaf pan, 

split in two or three layers and filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and jam

(I used lemon pudding instead).

Frosted with Cool Whip and garnished with chocolate shavings and toasted sliced almonds.

I don't care for Cool Whip, so I used Redi-Whip instead, 

which not only tastes better but looks beautiful coming out of the fluted tip.

I frosted the cake just before dinner and placed it in the fridge.

You cannot possibly imagine my horror when I went to take it out of the fridge

and all the cream had melted off the cake and made a huge puddle

in the (thankfully rimmed!) serving dish.

I was so discombobulated I didn't think to take a photo, which I deeply regret now.  :)  

At least it tasted good.  :D
 

March 1, 2021

I've had the same winter wreath hanging on our front door since we moved here nearly 2 years ago.

I love the wreath...

it's pine with pine cones and a burlap bow...

but it has snow on the pine boughs (though it's very subtle).

I wasn't overly worried about it last spring and summer, since no one was coming to visit,

but in hopes that this year will be different,

I made a new wreath.

I even made the bow -

though you could probably tell without me saying it -

and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out since I've always thought they were hard to make.

I tried a new method via YouTube and it was much, much easier.

I'll probably try to tweak this one a bit once I stop feeling so proud of myself.  :)