April's Here!

   A long walk this morning - it was sunny but still cold so I walked briskly for 45 minutes. Hope I burned off some calories! 

   Easter Sunday lunch with the family. We were nine around the table as Judy and Steve's Aunt Lena was visiting from Scotland, a very pleasant addition to our little group.

    Luckily Judy hosted it at her house as my stove is still not working. We had a delicious meal of cauliflower soup, ham, peas, roasted potatoes and Greek salad (Steve's contribution), followed by key lime pie (made by Elliot, it was yummy) with whipped cream and coffee. James made little buns, courtesy of the Pillsbury doughboy, and individual Keurig coffees. So it was a combined effort. Dave, as usual, did a great job of cleaning up afterwards. 

   No dinner tonight but a snack later. Judy had made some Easter Braid bread and I came home with a chunk of that to snack on.

Bah, Humbug!!

   My oven went on the fritz yesterday - took forever to heat up and never really reached the required temperature. I ended up putting on the broiler and turning the meat every so often to avoid it charring. Very frustrating!

   This is a relatively new stove, no more than three years old. The previous one (with a few replacement parts) lasted over twenty years. Unable to get hold of a repair man today and I have a very busy week coming up so may have to wait some time to get it repaired. So, will have to come up with new and novel ways of cooking - it will mostly be on the stove top, I guess!

Spring!

   First day of Spring but still very cold here with the temperature barely in the positive numbers and going below freezing at night. At least we have had quite a few sunny days recently.

   I have put away my winter coat and have vowed not to drag it out again no matter how cold it gets. I am sick of the sight of it! From now on I will tough it out in my bright pink (well, cerise really) jacket as just wearing it really cheers me up.

Update

   Clocks sprang forward last weekend so we have an extra hour of daylight. Still below zero temperatures overnight and there was snow on my car this morning. However the garden, is beginning to come to life.

I found a packet of nasturtium seeds in a drawer and hope there is some life left in them.

First new shoots - I think they are daffodils.