mid-march around comfy house

The sunrises this time of year have been glorious. Our front door faces east and has a beveled glass window, so when the sun comes up, it casts interesting shadows in the living room.

It's still cold here with scattered snow showers. No new signs of spring since I last reported seeing lilies and daffodils coming out of the ground. If you don't find spring outside, you can always bring it in.

I had my annual physical this morning and afterwards grabbed a souffle and coffee for breakfast at the nearby Panera. While driving in the back of the building, I could see the Norge Ski Jump sticking way up above the houses, so I decided to drive a few blocks to see the entire jump. I have a friend who lives in this area and she took me to see the jump a few years ago, but I wanted to experience it again. Of course, a photograph doesn't do it justice. It's amazing to see in person. It's huge! One hundred sixty feet into the air, to be precise. This year, the Norge Ski Jump was home to three members of the US Olympic ski jumping team.

I tried my hand at making biscuits this afternoon. I found the recipe in the Cook's Illustrated All-Time Best Spring Recipes magazine. As most of you know, I love to cook and bake, but confession time: I'm not that great with making things such as biscuits, breads, and pie crusts. These didn't rise very high, but I don't think they were supposed to since they were cream biscuits. I wasn't too sure about them when I first saw how they turned out, but I had one with some raspberry jam and - my goodness! - it was delicious.

 When I saw beautiful light purple flowers used in vignettes around Mary Alice's beautiful home, I found out they were Statice - a very popular "filler" flower that also make great dried arrangements. I found a darker variety at Trader Joe's and divided them up in various places around my house. I love that they are inexpensive and will still be pretty when they dry out.

I was surprised to see the bunch in the spare room developing little white blooms. Guess it's because they're by a sunny window. It made me smile to discover the new blooms when I walked into the room. Sometimes it's the small things that make life a little sweeter.

Well, this crazy Jade plant sure isn't a little thing! I'm glad it was so healthy, but it obviously was in need of a good pruning for aesthetic reasons. Some of the limbs were so heavy, they were falling over.I looked up information online, plus watched a few youtube videos, but I was still nervous. A few days ago, I decided just bite the bullet and do it.

Ta-da! Much healthier and bonsai-looking, which is what I wanted. 

And I now have six Ball jars filled with jade plant cuttings. I am waiting until the weather gets warm enough where I can go outside and plant these cuttings in little pots of soil. 

Since Daylight Savings time is here and it now doesn't start getting dark until 7 PM (hallelujah!), it's nice to be able to take a walk after dinner while the sun is still out. Passing by the creek down the street, we were happy to see Mr. and Mrs. Duck and a pair of Canada geese both taking a swim.

Until next time, have a lovely rest of the week!