Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

On this date 41 years ago, my son Shon was born. He was, (and is) one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and I love him dearly.  Happy birthday Shon. I still love those baby blue eyes!!

Beautiful Spring Day

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, no........

I looked out the window and what did I see,  Popcorn popping on the apricot tree, no.......

Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day,  Yea that one fits even if it doesn't look like spring.

So is this what Spring looks like these days?

My front door

The Deck

The Aspen trees

The Front of the house

The low clouds

Gourmet Dinner Group for March

This month, instead of everyone bringing part of the dinner, Paul chose to cook it all and have us just contribute monetarily. That was fine with all of us, as Paul is a wonderful cook. He has gourmet taste buds and was willing to share his favorites with all of us, and we were not disappointed. The items on the menu were varied and many.

We started out with apricots stuffed with goat cheese.  I have to admit that I really don't like goat cheese.  I have tried and tried it in many things and many ways, but it's just one of those things that I never acquired a taste for.  The apricots were good though.  Sorry Paul, but they we so pretty.

Then out came the stuffed grape leaves.  I don't know exactly what they were stuffed with, but a rice and lamb mixture maybe.  Let me know Welton's.  They were very good.

You can't have a meal without bread can you?  It was delicious with fresh shaved        Parmesan cheese.

                                            Homemade tamales with.......

                            fresh homemade guacamole.  Both were outstanding.

Beef Tenderloin was my favorite. It was truly so tender and rare, was atop a bed of onions and was topped with a blue cheese sauce. It was cooked to perfection.

Another delight was this chicken dish on a bed of rice and topped with his home made sauce/salsa.  I should have paid more attention to all the ingredients but it had onions, peppers  balsamic vinegar and other things.  I guess I spent so much time looking and eating that I neglected to concentrate on the ingredients.  Sorry Paul.

Maybe my favorite thing was smoked polenta with a balsamic vinegar/chipoltle glaze on top.  I didn't get a photo of it because it was gone before I could get my camera out.  He made the polenta, flattened it and cut out rounds as if he were cutting out sugar cookies.  He grilled it on the grill so it had a little smokey flavor.  Yum, yum, yum.

Doug and Julie

Scott and Lori

Susan and Paul.....see Susan, you never take a bad photo

Rick and Laura....see Laura, it's hard to get a good photo of you but you are so darling so I keep on trying

Wayne and Joan

Jim and Jaymie

Next month...German cuisine???

Life is not Always Easy

My beautiful daughter Amy had a miscarriage  today.  Actually, the baby died inside of her a couple of weeks ago and she will have surgery but will have to wait until the baby comes on it's own. It could be tonight or next week.  She was about 4 months along and we are all very saddened by this occurrence.

 I can really feel empathy for her because I have had two miscarriages myself. One was especially hard because I was about 5 months along and 2 of my sisters-in-law were due at the same time.  Now they would have babies together and I would be left out.  I mourned for a long time for this lost baby.  It was not a fetus, not a pregnancy, but a baby. 

Amy had Hyperemesis    Hyperemesis gravidarum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
which meant she has been very, very sick for these past few months but we kept saying just get through this and it will be worth it.  Now their (our) dream is gone.  Some of the things people thoughtlessly say are " oh, you can have another", or  "it's for the best, it was probably not right",  "it was God's will",  "get over it, it wasn't a baby yet".  Even if some of the things are true, they should never be said to the parents.  Instead say, "I am sorry",  "I love you",  " I will help you with the housework, food and other children so you can rest",  "take the time you need to mourn", "we care", "I will keep you in my prayers", "I am here".

Losing a baby is hard on the husband too as he tries to be strong and not show too much emotion in front of his wife. He has lost this dream too.

One thing I do know from my experience is that it can make you stronger. Or, if you let it, it can pull you away from people and from God's love.  I had some wonderful people in my life to help. Amy and Wes do too.  They are strong and will get through this with care and love from all of us.

Today

                           Today is National " Pi "Day.  Are you Excited?

                       On March 14, 2015, at both the AM and PM hours, the date

                      will read 3/14/15 at 9:26:53.589. It's the most accurate

                         pi day that many people on earth alive today will ever see!

                               The short version of Pi is 3.14, and today is 3/14

It's also Albert Einstein's birthday.  I am sure that he would have understood what that means.

It's also National Potato chip day. Now,  I get that!  Give me the sour cream and chive and the cheddar and onion ones.  No Pringles please.  Wayne was at their plant and watched how they were made.  Let's just say before they are formed and baked, the dough is gray and they are made from all the potatoes that couldn't quite cut it as real potato chips.