In only a matter of weeks, how many babies will take their first swings right here?
How many moms and dads will hear the squeals of delight that swings bring to children who have been cooped up indoors for months?
Spring is truly an exciting time.
For now, the playground can rest under snow and ice. Soon it will have quite a lot of work to do.
It’s too easy to slip down into the icy waters.
Cold grasses sway in the breeze.
Boats frozen in place.
Yesterday it snowed, but the colors of the playground looked inviting.
At least that chunk of ice got to enjoy the slide. Whheeeeeeeeeeee!!
Usually kids have to wait for a turn on these swings.
Soon these slides will be filled with shrieking children, but for now all’s quiet.
The colors just popped out from the grey and white of the snow.
I also did a post about the baby swings at this playground.
Cold weather leads to soup, which, the other day, led to bread bowls. I tried a recipe called Italian Bread Bowls, found on allrecipes.com, and modified it by adding garlic powder, basil, and oregano to the dough. I had not tried to make bread bowls before, but have enjoyed eating them many times.
So my first thought was that they turned out pretty small. I could just about fit one ladle of soup in each one. I channeled Zoolander, demanding, “What is this, a bread bowl for ants??”
Kidding aside, it’s a nice recipe. I should admit that before I started baking, I did see comments saying the bowls turned out small. The recipe makes 8 bowls, and lots of people suggested making 6 instead. I had cut the 8-bowl recipe in half and made 4 so that I could see for myself how small was “too small.” Next time i will try baking 3 instead.
The bread tasted good. The crust and structure were strong enough to hold the soup, and the texture inside was soft.
The soup I threw together with some homemade stock, leftover roasted chicken, onion, carrots, and, in an attempt to infuse a little bit of summer flavor, some frozen greens and corn.
After all that winter has thrown at us so far, this tree is not impressed.
“I’ve been here for a while now, and I’m not going away anytime soon. Bring it.”
OK, Spring. I know you’re very close. Right around the corner. Everyone is looking forward to your warm face, and your flowers.
In the meantime, I’ll visit your ambassadors in the grocery store.
We got a romantic little snowstorm on Valentine’s Day night. The trees got into the spirit of the holiday by turning pink.
Millions of silent flakes falling
While over there something’s glowing
The kids: Can we make cookies for Valentine’s Day?
Me: As you wish.
Here’s something fun to do with the kids if you need an idea for a Valentine’s Day snack. Whip up some heavy cream, slice some strawberries, get the Graham crackers and sprinkles ready, and let the kids assemble their treats.
To make whipped cream, I add about 1 TB real maple syrup to a cup of heavy cream and then beat with a hand mixer. You could also use powdered or granulated sugar to sweeten the cream.
I got the idea for this snack from my daughter’s school, where they recently gave the kids Graham crackers and frosting so they could make a house at snack time. I usually prefer to make whipped cream to use in place of store-bought frosting. However, I quickly discovered that the frosting would have made a better mortar. The whipped cream wasn’t strong enough to hold any sort of structure together.
So, we settled on making sandwiches instead of houses. Worked out better anyway. How do you eat a house?
