Wishing You a Blessed Easter

(This picture is from last year.  We had some snow flurries this afternoon.)

By some miracle, hubby was given this weekend off work.  (Ok, maybe it was because everybody else where he works wanted St. Patrick's Day off instead to go drink green beer.)  Well anyway, we are counting our blessings that we have had the time this weekend to attend an Easter party at my aunt's home yesterday with a fair number of her children and grandchildren.  We played games, ate food, and then the hymnal sheet music appeared.  They all sing, really really well even when they don't try hard!  Two of my aunt's daughters (one an alto the other a soprano) married twin brothers (one a tenor and one a baritone).  One daughter had 5 children.  The other had 3.  The children are now in their late teens or twenties, and all of them sing.  I thought about recording it on my camera, but the girls have a tendency to peg meters on professional sound recording equipment, so my little camera microphone would not have stood a chance.

Today hubby and I were able to attend church together.  Usually hubby's work schedule makes it unavoidable that he attend the church of osmosis with pastor sheets and reverend pillow on Sunday mornings.  After being surrounded the previous evening by folks with closely matched voices, strong pipes, and seriously perfect pitch singing 4 and sometimes 5 part harmony with the descants, the Easter Sunday music was disappointing in comparison.  God is the only one who can really judge if it was a joyful noise, or just noise.  But then, I'm spoiled.  The young associate pastor tried to preach a sermon.  We'll leave it at that.  There is more to being a pastor than preaching sermons, and I'm pretty sure he is much better at the other parts of his job, because otherwise he wouldn't have one.  If you know of any good pastors who can preach well and are looking for work, our church has an opening for a senior pastor.  The one we had retired.

The afternoon was spent relaxing.  All in all, today was not a terribly earth shattering, theologically ground breaking day.  But then not every day (even Easter) can be that way.  At the end of the day, we still know that God loved us enough to send His Son to make forgiveness of our sins possible, even grumpiness.

Wishing you all a lovely week and hoping that you have experienced the redemptive power of grace that only God can give.

Some Indoor Activities

for waiting until spring finally arrives.

First, winter is a perfect time for making a big batch of yogurt.

(A cooling rack set atop the pellet stove conveniently maintains a stock pot of pasteurized milk with yogurt culture at steady temperature of 110 deg. F.  For slightly more than the price of a quart of yogurt, it is painfully simple to make a gallon.)  The most tedious part of the recipe is stirring while reheating the milk to slow pasteurize it again then cooling it back down to 110 before adding the culture.

 It disappears very quickly when topped with walnuts and honey.

 Then it was time to make a loaf of "winging it bread".

Start with some potato water reserved from cooking potatoes for mashed potatoes.  Then add a couple teaspoons of yeast.  Cover loosely and let sit overnight.  (This is also a handy excuse for not washing the cooking pot until the next day.)  The next day add some sugar, olive oil, salt, an egg, and enough flour to make a runny batter.  Let it sit and allow the yeast to wake up a bit.  Then add enough flour to make a stiff dough.  Put it in a container, cover, and let it rise until doubled.  Punch down, and form into a loaf.  Let it rise, and bake for 40 minutes at 370 deg. F.

 And here's a little something to keep hubby from wasting away.

Sorry for the lack of posts.

Stepfather has finally admitted he has Alzheimers.

I have been rather busy helping him and mom sort some things out that have slipped a bit the last couple of years.

I hope you all stay warm and well

while I help find and sort some lost marbles.

Dejavu all over again,

but at least I can remember it.

BBC (Blueberry Breakfast Cake)

Figured it was about time for a food post.  This recipe makes two "cakes" in #8 cast iron frying pans.  Once baked and cooled remove the cakes from the pans and store in an airtight container.  Don't let them sit in the pans, or the pans will rust.
So without further ado...

BBC (Blueberry Breakfast Cake)
Stir together dry ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

If using frozen blueberries, stir 2 cups into the dry ingredients at this stage.  If using fresh blueberries, add them after mixing in the wet ingredients.

Whisk together wet ingredients in this order and then stir into dry ingredients just until incorporated.
2 eggs
6 Tbs. olive oil
2/3 to 1 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Divide the batter between two #8 cast iron frying pans or similar sized baking dishes.  The mass of the cast iron really helps make them fluffier than if you had used muffin tins.  Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.  Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.  You can try halving the recipe to make only one pan, but don't blame me if they disappear too quickly.  Enjoy.

Is Spring Finally Approaching?

We have had some warm weather (above freezing)

and rain the last couple of days.

The snow piles are shrinking, a little.  Unfortunately, the frost is still in the ground, so the back yard is one giant puddle.  Who knows, the next post might be on "how to convert a pump scrounged from a disassembled washing machine into a backyard drain pit bilge pump".

So, Ma

When are you going to finish

 My Haircut?

Ugliest New Car?

So the Chevy website is calling this "thing" a Chevy Spark.

This particular color is supposedly retro pink.

Depending on the light it can look rather lavender.

Maybe somebody at the plant accidentally mixed in a little blue.

So, how can they market this thing?

Do they get a bunch of that fake green grass, a giant basket, and stick the pink, yellow, green, and blue ones in it as an Easter sales promotion?  Or will they have to fill it with chocolate to get anyone to bite?

Wonder who will buy it?

Will it be a Mary Kay saleswoman?

Or will it be a stripper?

Or will the dealership give up and sell it

 to another dealership in San Francisco?

Chivalry is Alive and Well

Hubby ground the worn edge on my favorite snow shovel

back to straight.  It chops through the icy drifts so much better when the blade isn't curled over on the corners.  Hopefully it will not be needed for a few days.