Good morning everyone, we are on coach WiFi and are on the road home from Amsterdam.

All in all a good holiday but some problems getting on and off the ship, we usually had to cross another ship to get to ours, quite a task for Ruth, in fact she had to miss all the tours except for the Keukenhof Gardens.

Lovely and sunny and we have had little or no rain.

Doug

Morning, JJ, enjoy your cookbooks, and a big WOW regarding the coloured pencil guitar!! Maybe he could make me a ukulele! Wouldn’t need so many pencils. I’m just going to watch that video and learn.

Doug, sorry to hear the boats were rafted and Ruth couldn’t get off. I think that happens quite a lot with river boats on busy rivers. I hope she enjoyed the trip nevertheless. It’s good that the weather was kind.

Darla, glad you “popped in”, I’m not surprised you don’t feel sociable at the moment. They say a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child. I hope Jen finds a way through this situation.

We didn’t make it to the pub quiz last night as our other team members were too busy and part of the fun is meeting up with friends, so we stayed in.

I’ve got to think of church flowers for this weekend. I plan to use phormium tenax to make a cross, and I’ll take it from there. I often decorate the church with daffodils, but Easter is late this year.

We have coffee, cake and communion this afternoon for Maundy Thursday.

Have a lovely and loving day.

QS

Good day all,

Mild but expecting storms later.

Doug, sorry Ruth missed so much. I wonder if it’s like that on all cruises.

JJ, looks like you’ll benefit from that new cookbook.

I’ll try to get some things done outside this morning before the storms arrive
Bill

everyone,
It’s snowing. :rolleyes: We are in a band of snow between rain north and south of us. The high today will be 4 after the beautiful day yesterday.

We got groceries last evening because the family is coming for turkey supper tomorrow. I know Matteo is looking forward to it because he is always asking for turkey supper when they come over to eat. I’ll have to make the cranberry sauce and bean salad today. I also have to prep for the workshop tonight. It is just a fun one on decorating Easter eggs. People will be painting them of course but I’ll demo another couple of techniques like using silk ties/scarves to transfer designs to eggs (they get cooked in the process) and also a way of using food colouring with cool whip to dye raw eggs that can be left in the fridge and used normally instead of having piles of cooked eggs to use up.

I need to dust and vacuum well because my DIL with asthma is highly allergic to dust mites and cats. She is asthmatic and I want her to be comfortable since they are staying a long time for the big dinner. If it was warmer I’d open the windows and air out the house. Maybe I can tomorrow just before they come.

I saw the first Grackle and heard a Red-winged Blackbird yesterday. I don’t know what they are going to eat until the snow melts. We still have 2 feet of snow in the yard although some yards have boarders of grass showing (or rather did). I put out some bird seed yesterday but they are ignoring it. I can’t do that for long (except on my second story deck) for fear of attracting hungry bears. There have been a couple of sightings around town already and with the late spring they will be especially hungry with nothing growing yet. Brian left a door to the warehouse at work open yesterday to enjoy the fresh air but was told to close it in case bears came in. :rolleyes:

I better have breakfast and get my busy day started. I’ll try for the gym this morning since I don’t have to babysit today. Have the best day possible everyone.

Good Morning! SW Ontario is still under heavy clouds with more rain promised later today and tomorrow, Good Friday. It’s warming up though.

During Class yesterday, we practiced the glazing technique that would form the apples of the still life. They struggled. With. Every. Attempt. They’ve painted apples before. In fact, one of their first lessons included painting apples. Not yesterday. We’ll work on them again next week.

I was able to run out to get my hair cut. Of course, I don’t care much for what she did to my head, but it’s only hair and it will grow and I’ll do the same thing again. I bought a couple of things at the grocery store while I was in town. I had to make a lunch for Simon and just didn’t have anything in the fridge for him, so I bought him some nice pot pies (not the 50 cent ones from my childhood).

I was planning to stop by the Dollar store to pick up some Easter goodies. It was jam packed with people, so I fled with nothing in hand. I’ll try again today. I’m heading out shortly to the grocery store again (I was pressed for time yesterday) to buy the ingredients for our Easter dinner. I do have most of what I need, but the perishables will come home with me today.

Also, I want to make sure my yeast is fresh because I’ll be making hot cross buns tomorrow. I’ve been making them on Good Friday for almost longer than I can remember. I don’t put currants in them, though. I generally add raisins or candied fruit.

The transfer station won’t be open on Friday or Monday, so my plans for Saturday will also include running there to rid the house of trash and recyclables.

(((Darla))) thank you for popping in. I’m blasting some positive energy and good thoughts your way.

Sharon, I’m sorry but I didn’t understand what it was that Brian was planning to do at 74.

JJ, I love cookbooks. I like to read them as if they were novels. I like to collect them. Wherever we visited, I picked up a cookbook for that region. The books are cherished as gifts. I have so many… When we renovated the kitchen, I gave many of them to the thrift stores in a purge that was almost heartbreaking!

Many years ago, I gave a Fanny Farmer cookbook to Jonathon. He uses it to this day and the pages are well thumbed and covered in ingredients.

In 1998, I wrote my own cookbook and gave copies to all my family and friends because I included anecdotes about the more than 200 recipes in it. I rewrote it a few years ago because of my interest in organic ingredients and nutrition. All my kids have both editions.

Doug, what a shame that Ruth couldn’t join you on all the tours. I’m sure she brought her needlework with her, but it’s unfortunate that she missed out.

QS, I had to google phormium tenax. My daffodils are not blooming yet.

Geoff, it’s all about the weather conditions, eh?

Bill, it’s going to be nice and warm out today. Hopefully, the storms won’t be severe.

Sylvia, Simon (our young Boarder) got him outside yesterday and out in the garage to do some tidying. They vacuumed out the van. Ted was tired, but he told me that “it’s going to be ok, I’m going to be ok”. That was HUGE!

I love that method of watering the orchids. I have two of them and worry about how much water to give them.

Uschi, it’s a shame that your bread didn’t rise well. Despite that, it’s wonderful that you were able to spend such good time with Ethan.

Ellen, it sometimes takes a couple of days for the birds to realize that seed is there for them. the bears. Humans continue to destroy their natural habitats and now the bears are encroaching on urban areas. I’ll enjoy the delicious aroma of your roasting turkey vicariously.

Ted’s finally up and I’ll get his breakfast on the table. Then, the grocery store and the Dollar store are calling me. I hope your day is creative and happy! :grouphug:

Back in time day,been around Chedworth Roman Villa, interesting tile work,my legs gave up though.

Geoff