Friday Favourites

 

With the end of March very near, Spring bursts into fullness. We've had a month of a few lovely days of bright sunshine, and plenty of very wet days that make staying indoors very appealing. Often the mornings are wet and the afternoons cloudy and grey, but dry, so we venture out for a bit of fresh air. 

There are plenty of American Robins flying about, as well as other birds. I heard such a variety of birdsong on one recent walk that I stopped and used my Merlin app to identify them by their sound. Singing all at the same time were Dark-eyed Juncos, White-Crowned Sparrows, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Red-winged Blackbirds. What a tremendous choir!

Sometimes the sunlight can be deceiving. In the forest the air is still very chilly and damp. And if there is a even a bit of wind, it is sharp and chilling. A murmur of Hooded Mergansers floated on very calm water in Tod Inlet. 

Colour is a welcome sight. Skunk Cabbage has a pungent smell, but the bright yellow flowers really stand out in the woods. 

Over Spring Break I looked after my youngest grand-girlies four afternoons. Each time they came we made a different type of Madeleine. I mentioned the Honey Almond and Chocolate varieties last week. This week we made Vanilla Madeleines, and 

Rosewater Madeleines. These we glazed with a rosewater icing and I let the girls add sprinkles to the tops. I think they were the favourites simply because they were "fancy" as young Iris says. Each afternoon we enjoyed two Madeleines with a cup of tea - such fun. 

The Vanilla Madeleine recipe called for separating the eggs, beating the egg whites, and folding them into the other mixture. Folding in was a technique new to the girls and now young Cora practices "folding in" with whatever is in her bowl - soup, noodles, etc. 

How surprised I was to see my husband walk in the door with a bouquet of red roses - just because! They are lasting beautifully and make me smile when I see them on the dining room table. I believe these came from Colombia, but Ecuador is also a big exporter of roses. When we lived there we could buy a bundle of two dozen long stemmed roses for less than five dollars. I might prefer more locally grown flowers, but I'm not about to turn my nose up at these beauties given to me by my husband. 

This weekend we're celebrating his birthday and there are some special things planned. I also hope to get out into the garden as we've had a few days of drier weather and the ground isn't quite so soggy.