cake and ice...temps

 Birthday week!!

Six-inch four-layer German chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

Todd has been getting over a really terrible cold and had zero energy, but we managed a short walk and a museum trip.  The cake I made had the most delicious pecan/coconut filling that I've ever tasted, and I'm not a fan of pecans.  

As an afterthought, I also made a lemon cream pie with graham-almond crust.  I like lemon and have had a lot of lemon desserts, but this, too, was the best in its class, in my opinion.  We groaned in delight for DAYS!  

A lot of delight outside, too.  Green, green, green!

barn in front of our house

dogwoods are blooming!

shade garden by front driveway

Woodland flowers!

trout lily

jack-in-the-pulpit

The apple blossoms withstood the rain...

...but not the wind.

Lilacs have come and gone, too.

So much growing, though.

both columbines

shasta daisies

part of the side rose garden

Claudia is loving life in warmer temperatures.

She's yet to bring us any pests this year, although I saw her this week with a suspicious feather hanging out of her mouth...

The deer are starting to appear in the daytime, and I hear turkeys gobbling in the early mornings now.

our back field

I'm slowly, slowing working on getting my winter sow garden seedlings planted.  I have a low tolerance for cold, and although Todd loves these 55-degree days, I'm shivering in three layers.  It's windy!!  Somehow it feels even colder than wintertime...for once I'm ready for summer.

Warmer temps coming soon.  Have a great week!

Two weeks ago, Claudia waiting for me in the rose garden.

spring ephemeral sprawl

We took a hike on Easter morning and I was so excited to see the spring ephemerals out!  As the name suggests, they're the woodland flowers that bloom for a few weeks and then disappear.  

Bloodroot is one of my favorites.  They wear their leaves like little green cloaks before opening up.

Lots of Spring Beauties...

Duchmen's Breeches...

Young May Apples!!

The forest floor was absolutely carpeted with Yellow Trout Lily leaves.  Millions and millions!  Only a few were blooming...I think it's going to be amazing there within a week!

I also saw wild Wood Phlox, Rue Anemone, and big swatches of Columbine leaves...and the first pollinators of the season!

So nice to walk around the lake...

...see the budding trees...

...and a little wildlife!

(opossum tracks)

I've been seeing a bit of activity at home, too.  Several large coyotes have been loping around the barnyard some mornings.

They look very well-fed!  Claudia definitely stays close after she catches their scent.

It's a beautiful time of year to walk around the property.  Red-winged Blackbirds are nesting in the front pond...

...while others are keeping an eye toward our porch rafters as a potential nesting spot.

The field grass is growing quickly, and Todd is mowing down the taller bits before the early summer bush-hogging.

As quickly as I can, I'm getting seedlings, like these iceland poppies, planted in the garden.

This backfired on me last week, when we had a string of unseasonably cold days, with one night down to 20 degrees!  This caused an extraordinary amount of work for us.  I had to go around covering flowering bulbs and tender sprouts in the front garden...

...while Todd pounded stakes down the middle of our planted row.  Over the stakes went the frost cloth, very difficult to secure against the fence side, and then whatever bedding/towels/tablecloths that I could spare from the house to doubly insulate.

This whole mess had to be peeled back during the day, so that the seedlings could get some light.  I grumbled the whole time, but it worked - although some seedlings had frost damage to the outer tips of their leaves.  Lesson learned:  even if a seedling is frost hardy, no setting them out if there's even a chance of a freeze within a 10-day period...i.e., probably wait until April.  

Fingers crossed that we're now onto a mild, comfortable spring.  

Have a great week!