snowballing

a fast moving snowstorm went through here saturday night while we were enjoying aidan's birthday weekend in minneapolis. the snowball began, innocently enough, with a phone message after our return on monday night. said message was dutifully,though inaccurately, delivered and started the whole mess in motion. thinking that my 2:00 meeting was now going to be held at 10 i rearranged my whole day and upon my late (uncharacteristic) arrival saw no cars and got that first little tingle of dread....
i don't mean to go through the day blow by blow but will give you an idea of what was involved throughout the next few hours. no groceries. no ironing. no walk. a cracked windshield. disconnected flower show planning . water in the basement. lots of water. sopping wet towels. emptying a closet. the bathtub drain. fans. dehumidifiers. broken nails from tearing up floor tiles. and this morning the neighborhood woodpecker found our house!!
deep breath.
the groceries are now in the cupboard. the ironing will wait a few more days. i'm on my way to work and because naphtali posted all the good pictures from our visit (we did have a very good time)i'll close with my first daffodils

and my spring-y new flats.

mmmm

as we've been eating salads in a big way around here i decided it was time to try a vinaigrette using the cranberry vinegar i made. mmmm
1/4 c olive oil
2tbsp red wine vinegar
1 generous tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
i have a delicious cranberry mustard that i used rather than dijon and my own cranberry vinegar. light. tasty.mmm. and because this is a midwestern blog you can't sign off without mentioning the weather. it snowed last night. the wind is/has been howling. there should be an improvement this afternoon - winds down to 25mph - and i think we're on for the meeting that was postponed last week due to a snowstorm. so i plan to be in north platte sometime later today.

change in plans

the wind is howling and snow flying today. i was supposed to go to north platte this afternoon for a meeting but after a flurry of early morning phone calls we all decided that there was nothing important enough on the agenda to drag us out in this weather. you know what that means - snow day!! i was already planning to get nothing done at home today so at this point if i accomplish anything i'm ahead of the game!!
i did enjoy a very timely conversation with naphtali. and then i figured i should at least make supper, and chili sounded so good as the tree branches were scraping against the house. so i hit the kitchen. tim and i found this cast iron dutch oven at an auction 30(?)(!) years ago and it has been our go-to pot ever since. food that simmers in here just tastes sooooo good.



we like to have something sweet in the house for..... those times that you need to have something sweet in the house. this has become a stand-by for us:
honey glazed almonds. starting with a cold oven set to 350 roast 2 cups raw almonds for 12-20 minutes.

melt together 2 tbsp butter and 1/4 cup honey


stir in the almonds and coat evenly.


pour onto a lightly greased sheet and cool. sprinkle with turbinado and store in an airtight container.


and while the oven is on let's add cornbread to the menu!


hope you're enjoying a seasonal day wherever you are.

random thoughts

everyone is waiting for tiger to resume his game. no exception here except that this is the golfer we're anxious to see.

wire kitchen baskets can be an effective storage solution in the corner of a closet.


tim was home with the flu thursday night through saturday. thankfully it looks like i'll dodge this one.
his normal course - chills, fever, delerium - was augmented by the standard symtoms that most of us associate with flu. he was miserable. and today he's on his feet washing sheets, spraying surfaces, looking into nooks and crannies whose existence he'd forgotten. i'm just trying to stay out of his way....

at what age do less than classically handsome men become so easy on the eye? i'll just name 3: donald sutherland, michael caine and tony bennett who have become - if not handsome - certainly distinguished looking men.

i spent friday chasing around central nebraska. i had a delightful couple hours to myself in hobby lobby in kearney looking for table decorations and accents for the garden club convention in april. and then we switch to the scene from the music man where the old biddies do their pick a little number at a meeting not in river city but in lexington as we tried to discuss the table decorations for the....

i recently bought my first red lipstick. i enjoy wearing it.