It's all about the garden

How cold is it? Plenty cold, but at least in the garden there are a few signs of hope. Up near the house where the ground is warmer, a good number of the bulbs we put in last fall are popping through. Tom will have to get out his diagram for me to know what this is at this point, but it looks good to me. Farther away from the house in the "plot" that is out in the open, a few little spikes are showing through. Look hard and use your imagination. By the end of this week we may be through this bad cold spell, and then things should take off. I imagine the deer are casing the area already.

And here's a look at one of the real gardeners in the family. Behind Dad you can see his garden stretching over toward what would become the machine shop. The same garden that I thought was a horrible chore the one or two times I got roped into picking rocks in the spring or—heaven forbid, helping to dig potatoes. I'm horrified now to think I turned my nose up at leaf lettuce and didn't even eat green beans. Proably the rest of the family did a better job of digging, hoeing, weeding...right.

new toy

Did I mention that I finally bought a scanner/printer? Last night Tom retrieved boxes of old photo albums and loose pictures, and I started in. Now I appreciate what Ed has done. Most of the photos in all our old albums are unlabeled, and amazingly repetitive. There is no way I am going to be able to scan every photo. So I'm going to aim a little lower. To justify my lack of staying power, I will scan the photos I like a lot—those that for better or worse I remember and don't ever want to lose. Pretty mushy justification, but you all have the power of the mouse. So here's the photo of the week. I like the light from the window, but especially the kindness of the subjects, who were willing to be patient with such a slow photographer.

On a more contemporary note, I feel famous just to be related to someone who looks so mature (quite a lot of gray in that goatee) and is so articulate with the camera rolling. We would have missed it, but Cullen called in from his car to say that he was pretty sure he was hearing Mark on CSPAN, and there he was. Great Saturday night TV.

The birthday dinner was heavy on the side of red meat, but certainly lacking in sugar. Instead of cake or pie, we had fresh pineapple and strawberries. The biggest hit was the scarf from Bridget, one of first things she has knit, and immediately needed. Darn cold around here this weekend.

And what's your favorite Valentine's day memory?

There's a birthday coming up on Tuesday. At the time I might have wished I was spending Valentine's day a little less occupied with the imminent arrival of a child, and it may not be the holiday he wanted to share a birthday with, but how lucky we were!Obviously, right from the beginning he was remarkably forgiving when it came to enduring the taste of his parents. And maybe there's a link here...whose collection of hats is legendary??

For the record, women can shovel. I beat Tom to the sidewalk this morning and cleared the way to the car. I think this may be the first time in our married life that this has happened. The storm couldn't have come at a better time. No gridlock, no need to go anywhere, and another 24 hours for the plows to figure out what they were doing.

someone has to carry on

If you've been keeping track then you know that last night was pot-luck night, and with Tom too sick to even consider looking at anything but chicken broth, I had to come up with something to take to the pot-luck-superbowl gathering. [Probably some of you are wondering why I didn't stay home and open up the Campbell's chicken noodle soup. I offered. He declined.]

So I went for the basics: deviled eggs [sorry Cullen]

and a killer brownie recipe. More baking chocolate than Betty Crocker ever considered, cream cheese, walnuts, and extra chocolate chips.

Saturday's amusement was half an hour at Tina's, the crazy second-hand store 5 minutes from our house. Leather (I think), cherry red, 3 zipper compartments, 2 inside compartments, $4.50, and it looks brand new. At that price, even if I let Henry sleep in it, it will be a good buy.