Out like a lamb

These little white flowers that are ground cover in the deepest woods just make me happy. There are a few dozen growing on the property next to The Homestead. Nothing to make a white carpet like you can find on riverbanks and in copses of trees. I found these when I tramped through their yard with Jake this afternoon avoiding other neighbors who have a greyhound and rottweiler, both whom attacked Jake at the start of our walk. It was an eventful afternoon. Happily, all dogs and owners are o.k. and on good terms. I am the one that is traumatized - but that's how I really am about dogs.

Record rains in March

According to figures from Cook College, the Agricultural School of New Jersey, the weather station nearest the homestead recorded 8.39 inches of rain this month as of yesterday. That's 4.39 inches above normal for the month. I don't know how many inches we got in the last 24 hours, but it has not been dry by any stretch of the imagination.

With 3.09 inches recorded as the average weekly rain totals, it is no surprise the brooks are rushing and the streams are saturated. If we get typical April showers to bring May flowers, it might just be the Mayflower we can sail come another 4 1/2 weeks.

Partners in crime and in mud

Mud season is never ending this spring. And after one quick trip across the lawn late this afternoon, Sarah's clothes ended up in the washing machine and Jake ended up in the bath tub.

Sarah accompanied us to the tub and was very impressed with his bath time behavior.

How one minute in the yard ends up being a 25 minute
clean up is one of those unexplained phenomenons of life.

Afternoon activities - Palm Sunday style

It was 5:00 somewhere, but between 2-3 PM Eastern Time Luke and Sarah were in the fields at the annual Easter egg hunt and I got to go for the first time! Even though cameras were at the ready, getting pictures of the actual hunt was nearly impossible, so we settled for getting pictures of the loot that was collected.

Both were very excited that each of them found more eggs than they found last year - and that they were in the same age category for the first time EVER!
(I would go on and on about the parents ran around collecting eggs for their kids' baskets, but I shouldn't get all riled up about it again. More importantly, it didn't detract from the fun Luke and Sarah had running through the cornfield picking up eggs)

It was chilly, but my new sweater kept me cozy and warm
- as long as the wind wasn't blowing.

Waiting on line to collect their prizes.

Much to Lorraine's chagrin, Luke chose Elefun, which
happened to have left their house 3-4 months ago during a toy purge.

Since we were busy at the egg hunt, I didn't get a chance to give a second try to the hot cross buns which failed miserably yesterday. At 5PM, I was setting my hot cross bun dough to rise.

Today I proofed the dough and just after dinner it had doubled in bulk.

Rolled and ready for the second rising

Done baking and cooling on the racks. Yesterday's hockey pucks are in the upper left corner. Today's batch are vastly better. Proofing the yeast makes all the difference in the world.

Hot Cross Buns

3/4 C milk
2 packages dry yeast
4 - 41/2 C bread flour, divided
4 T gluten sifted into bread flour
2/3 C currents or golden raisins
1/2 chopped citron - I use dried fruit berries instead
1/2 C butter, softened
1/3 C sugar
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
2 eggs

1 egg white lightly beaten

Glaze:
1 C powdered sugar, sifted
1 T liquid (milk or orange juice)
1/2 t extract (vanilla or almond)

Heat milk; cool to 105-115 degrees. Proof yeast according to instructions.
Add milk, 2 C flour and next nine ingredients. Stir together till moist and add more flour to make soft dough.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead till smooth (about 5 minutes). Place in well greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts for 1 1/2 hours or till doubled in bulk.
Punch dough down; divide into fourths. Divide each fourth into 8 equal parts. Shape each part into a smooth ball, tucking edge under so resembles a mushroom cap. Place about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. With scissors, snip a cross in top of each ball. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from draft, 40 minutes or until double in bulk. Brush with egg white. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes or golden. Let cool on wire racks.
Combine remaining ingredients, stir well. Pipe a cross with glaze on buns. Yields 32 buns.

Taking time to smell the daffs

Busy day here at the homestead. Finishing touches on my sweater are done, a work space is cleared for a project I need to complete in a few weeks, a trial run of the hot cross buns is started (and I think the yeast is failing me) and I have buttons to sew on my niece's pocketbook before I can call it a day. But the daffodils beckoned and I obeyed. Hope your weekend is one you are enjoying!

Good Pizza - NY style - but made, served & eaten in Jersey

If you have spent any appreciable amount of time with me since September 1998, you know one of the things I missed soon after moving out of New Jersey was a good slice of pizza. For someone raised in New Jersey, a slice of Pappa Johns or Dominos does not count as pizza in any measurable sense. While I've enjoyed wonderful dining experiences visiting "second city" at Lou Malnati's and Giordano's, the Chicago deep dish pie is not my first love. Nothing, but nothing comes close to a slice of NY style pizza in my book. Any (and every) visit home over the years has included a slice of "good pizza" regardless of how quick the trip. Here in New Jersey (which so many of you think is an extension of NY) we get great pizza at almost any local pizzeria. Only people not native to the area order from the chains. This evening my brother's family and I went to our family favorite - Avelino's on Rt. 28 in Dunellen. I've been a fan of Avelino's for years when they were located in Green Brook. This location has larger dining facilities and the same great pizza. The kids like eating there on Fridays since one of the lifeguards who works at the pool on my brother's staff is a waitress. Kimmy didn't even bother bringing menus, just confirmed what we were having (half pepperoni and half plain) and kept the soda glasses full.

Pretending like we like one another.

Luke took a picture of his slice while it cooled off.

Pennies in Princeton

I had one of those run-around days today. Rescheduling students within hours of their original appointments for other times, one later for the afternoon, the other for an hour earlier than planned. Another student canceled as I drove up to the home. Because the one student wanted to meet an hour earlier meant I had a thirty minute window in which to find something 'interesting' to take my 5PM blog photo. Because of traffic, I also was now unable to get the slice of pizza I had been thinking about all day long from a pizzeria I like. So, I stopped for a few minutes in my old standby and favorite bakery in Princeton, the Witherspoon Bread Co. and got a piece of focaccia bread with onion. I figured the store front picture would suffice for the photo and then I turned around.......

And saw the parking meter had exploded pennies!

I think someone had a crazier day than I did.
Curious thing is, the parking meters in Princeton don't accept pennies.

The kicker was that when I got to the home of the moved up appointment, the kid was too ill to come down for his session. Sitting at their dining room table waiting on him for a half hour,I got some paperwork done and now hopefully will get lots of knitting done on that sweater tonight!

Knitting along nicely

Good thing I like this yarn, because I am about 80% done with the project. It is knitting up very well and quickly too. It helps that all I have to do is knit and that the pattern is meant to be an asymmetrical sweater - so the length of the front panels and the back don't have to match - because they are not supposed to! It's also a nice easy pattern that starts at the left cuff and works horizontally across the body and ends at the right cuff. The picture I have is of the wrong side up so it is reversed.

You can see from the sweater laid out that I have gone across the neckline and working on the right shoulder. I have no idea how many hours are left in to knit on the sweater - but I am hoping that I will be able to wear it for an egg hunt this Sunday afternoon if all goes well.

The fragile green of spring

During my first year of seminary, I took a road trip with several friends during Reading Week, a kind of Spring Break for seminary students (for the record, we did not do lots of reading, but visited New York City, Philadelphia, and the Jersey Shore using my parent's place as home base). The route from Kentucky to New Jersey took us through West Virginia during the last week of March. Someone in the car wondered aloud if there would be leaves on the trees on our return trip. My friend Laura said quietly, "I think so. The fragile green of spring has arrived". I never heard that phrase before, but every spring afterwards I think of her and that comment when I see the first bright green buds appear on the grey brown branches of trees and bushes.
As you can see the 'fragile green of spring' is visiting upon the lilac bush that was snow covered 4-6 weeks ago. The grass is also incredibly green for this time of year. Typically, grass this green does not happen till the end of April, but thanks to the deluges we received a little more than a week ago followed by 5 sunny days with temps in the 60s and 70s, the grass here in NJ is positively verdant. We still have plenty chilly days to come and I am sure I will wonder if I live in Ireland on overcast days like today.

The two lilac bushes in the emerald green lawn

Forsythia are also budding and blooming
depending upon how much sun they receive during the day

Fragile green on the bushes by the
stream as well as moss on the rocks.

Birthday cupcakes!

Last week, as I prepared to make scones for the Lenten study snack, my mother asked several times, "What will you make for next week's study?" I figured she was angling for hot cross buns, which is true, but I want to wait till Holy Week (next week) to make them. I really had no idea what I wanted to make at all for this week's study. Then, yesterday, at church, the situation resolved itself when I discovered it today is the birthday of one of the regular attendees of the Monday evening study. Thanks to my Wilton cake decorating skills, a little extra heavy cream in the fridge, and the Cake Doctor Cookbook, I whipped up a batch of lemon cupcakes frosted with whip cream icing decked out for spring to celebrate Pat's birthday.

The birthday girl! She's a real blessing to us all.

Daffodil season has begun!

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle in the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them dance; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company;
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:



For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth

It's Official!

At 1:32 pm the vernal equinox occurred and spring arrived! To commemorate the event, I literally visited my "happy place". I spent the day at Camp Lou Henry Hoover, and more specifically, at the waterfront where I was a swim counselor for 7 or 8 summers back in the day. Have you ever taken part in a spiritual mental exercise that asks you to imagine a peaceful and serene place, where you can think clearly and without distraction? In Christian circles, it is often used to imagine a conversation with Jesus. I know many people choose to go to beaches, tropical islands, resort destinations, and the like. Not me. I "go" to the waterfront at Hoover to talk to Jesus when I participate in these exercises. It's one of the places that I began to understand that God created me to be a teacher. Plus, I think there is nothing more relaxing to do in all the world (other than nap in a hammock) than float in an innertube during rest hour in the middle of the deep end. The water was a little chilly to support that activity today, but it was very special to reconnect with people and the place today. I saw some friends I haven't seen in more than 15 years and so proud of my one time camper Deb who is now the camp director. She has done a great job and it is evident she works at incorporating tradition even as the camp undergoes necessary changes for the contemporary GS camper.

It was Work Weekend at the camp, time to make sure everything is ready for the camping season ahead. I 'helped' with checking the condition of the sails that were rolled up all winter. This is a shot from the boathouse door where the staff would come out to meet their campers sitting on the knoll ready for their swim lessons and free swim.

In a couple of weeks the docks will go in the water and in another 3 months the water will be warm enough to enjoy for swimming. Hopefully I will get back here this summer when there are leaves on the trees and I can grab an innertube to be lazy for an afternoon.

On my way home, the GPS took me to a New Jersey landmark. Even though I was there a little after 5PM I wasn't hungry enough for a hotdog.
Besides, everybody and his brother had the idea to get outdoors and let someone else make dinner for them. The lines at Hot Dog Johnny's as well as every ice creamery I passed on the way home was daunting. The weather this week has been positively spring like - which, if you know much about Jersey, is not typical - and I think people were eager to take advantage of the gorgeous Saturday and celebrate the arrival of spring!

Already past their prime!

Four days of full sun and warm temps have helped dry out the ground a little bit. Its been a week of absolutely beautiful weather - unheard of this early in March for this neck of the woods. The crocuses are now fighting to hang on a bit more but they aren't hardy in 70 degree weather.

The snowdrops have had enough as well. Dad got into the flower bed, trimmed down the irises and we are ready for the tulips to come in their own time.

beginning to bust out all over

As seen along a sidewalk in Princeton this afternoon.

It's a great day to be Irish!

The youngest leprechaun in our little clan came up to The Homestead to spend the afternoon getting ready for St. Patrick's Day dinner. We had lots of adventures - many not captured on the camera.

We spent a good deal of time sloshing around the yard. I wasn't sure if we were looking for pots of gold at the end of rainbows or just more streams and waterfalls to see how waterproof our boots are!

Luke and I went for a ride in my car and threw rocks into the Delaware River. We also went "superfast" down "the big hill". By the time we got back, the rest of the clan showed up and we decided to see how many leprechauns could fit into the two seater.

Sarah started to get her legs on the pogo stick for the first time.

And then it was time to decorate the cake for desert.

Mom Estlelle and Aunt Nancy waiting for the feast to begin.
Out on the porch there was the last of golden sunshine to enjoy.
I don't know the last time I ever saw a St. Pat's so beautiful!

Luke got the top working just fine out on the porch.

Nana and Luke surveying the table.

Cornbeef and cabbage, anyone?

Grandpop is Irish by marriage.

Wish you were here and hope that you found your pot of gold.