I got a chance to go for a walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden this morning. Aaaah so pretty!
Do you see who's perched in the middle of the photo below? The birds were so loud and happy everywhere!
CLAIRE IS ELEVEN!
Claire turned eleven this week. We celebrated with a special outing - a trip to the Friends Experience in Chicago. It's an exhibit all about Friends the TV show including recreated sets, costumes and artifacts like scripts. Somehow Claire and her friends got into watching Friends a while back so it was a perfect thing to do for her birthday.
Balloons in the car on the way home:
Then we just celebrated as a family with birthday doughnuts and birthday cake.
The cake details - I made a big german chocolate cake from the Baked cookbook. And I made an ermine frosting from the Midwest Made cookbook. I replaced the white sugar with brown to make a sort of caramel flavored frosting. This type of frosting has become my favorite for cakes because it's light and fluffy and not too sweet. You cook flour and milk first and then add butter later. Some recipes have you cook the sugar with the flour and milk and some have you add the sugar later with the butter. It's so easy - have you tried it? The chocolate cake itself was good but I'm not sure it beats Grandma Dice's chocolate cake recipe.
Here she is with her birthday cake. I really hope next year we will have photos of Claire and her friends without masks. I want to see those smiles!
Happy Birthday dear.
MAY ALREADY
How can it be May already?
Here's Claire heading off to school. She will be eleven tomorrow! I still don't know what kind of cake I'll be making for her. Maybe angel food cake?
Lilac season is here!
A good oatmeal cookie recipe from Midwest Made.
I potted up some of my winter sown seeds. These are Salvia or blue sage. They are so tiny but they seem to have good strong roots.
I bought a new (old) lamp for the basement. I needed something tall and found this vintage one made in Oregon. The wood is very pretty - it's myrtle wood - I'd never heard of it but I guess it only grows in the Pacific Northwest.
I've done a little sewing lately. I made a pair of shorts for Claire and she has actually been wearing them! I used this free pattern from Purl Soho.
And I made a summer weight robe for myself.
I was very pleased with it until Bea said the pattern looks like corona viruses (hmmmm).
The weather has been up and down but we are enjoying eating outside whenever we can. The other night it was warm enough for Brian and Claire to work on homework outside in the dark.
On to May.
JUST ENJOYING SPRING
Another quiet week. My girls are back to school full time now (no more remote learning days). So that makes it especially quiet. Brian is still spending endless work hours in his home office. And me, I'm just enjoying spring and looking forward to warm days ahead.
I discovered a park in our town that I had never heard of before. It's just a sliver of land that goes down to the lake but it makes a nice walk from our house.
I picked my rhubarb and made a pie. I just wish my rhubarb was a more pink variety.
I have ten globe thistle plants. I potted them into bigger containers and I hope they keep growing strong.
The Amelanchier that I planted in the fall is growing and flowering nicely.
I finished painting my garage doors. The garage still looks a little rough in this photo but it's an improvement. I'm happy with it.
Bea and Brian went down to the Shedd Aquarium today.
And last but not least. Because I needed more scallop in my life and I don't like the look of our patio table. I made a scalloped edge tablecloth.
NOT MUCH TO REPORT
It's been mostly quiet around here. Brian did go to Rhode Island for a work trip. After more than a year without any work travel it felt really strange to see his suitcase packed and ready to go on the bedroom floor. I don't think he enjoyed the trip much because he was nervous about Covid.
I've been enjoying my garden and I got some new slip on clogs that I really like.
I'm doing a direct sowing experiment. I made a mini cold frame out of a plastic box that will hopefully protect the seedlings in some of my already established beds.
On Tuesday Brian and I got our first vaccine doses. Yay!
The highlight of my week was getting this anniversary present. It's an artwork commissioned by Brian and created by Bea. They had been secretly working on it for a long time. There was even more shouting "don't go in my room!" than normal (ha). Bea created drawings of each of our homes and then 3-D printed them with the help of a teacher at her school. There's our little ranch house in Midland, our condo in Evanston where Bea was born, our first apartment in Switzerland where Claire was born, our second Swiss apartment and finally our current home in Wilmette. And there is a conspicuous blank space at the end for our next home...
Those two really know what I love! It is so special! It's at the top of my most prized possessions list.
Here's a video that shows it better than my photo.
The daffodils are almost done and leaves are starting to burst out so that's very encouraging. This daffodil was so showy it had to come inside to sit on my windowsil.
And that's about all there is to report - other than these people sitting on the couch doing who knows what.
DAFFODILS AND ROBINS
The Chicago Botanic garden is full of daffodils and robins. And also the beginnings of green plants sprouting out everywhere. And also the most beautiful pastel colors.
This time of year feels almost overwhelming to me. The anticipation of all those plants - they will soon surround us in green but now it's still chilly and there is a clamoring feeling. I had to sit down to take it all in. I watched a red-wing blackbird and listened to the carillon bells.
I took a detour from my usual path to visit the vegetable gardens and my favorite sculpture.
Still trying to work out how I can dislodge it and fit it in my pocket - it would look so nice in my garden.
I'm obsessed with this garden shelf in the English Walled Garden. I think it has changed a little from last fall. I can't find my photo of it but I think it was a different shape without the legs and a swear it was green. I believe it was filled with scented geraniums the last time I saw it. I must get my own version of this shelf. I have the perfect place for it and I would fill it with fancy begonias in the summer. Dreaming.
Thank you Chicago Botanic Garden - you do not disappoint. I'll be back to see your tulips very soon.
BOUNTIFUL PEEPS
Thanks to Aunt Sandy.
NO LEAVES YET
Today Brian and I went for a walk at Moraine Hills State Park. He rode his bike and I rode... the car (ha).
Even though we were walking among wetlands, the day felt really warm and dry. And since the leaves are not quite out yet the colors were pale and interesting.