received a chocolate tasting package from my daughter months ago…
we finally got together via Google Duo and did the tasting together… the last time I participated in one was over Christmas in her dining room… it was set up beautifully…
this one was certainly different… I didn’t think to put them on a pretty plate, but did have them lined up and with the note pages… in the end I felt very happy and enjoyed what I had learned… she really helped me discover the different notes of the five pieces of chocolate;-)…
we had wonderful times at the beach and in the water… the area is quiet so that means the beach is too the majority of the time…
I did watch kids from a few cottages over as they kneeboarded and that was fun…
we went in the water often and it was refreshing… we floated on pool noodles and had deep conversations and lots of laughter…
we also found tons of zebra mussels… only a couple the first few days, but after a really windy evening that blew into shore there were many clusters under our feet… one day we spent at least an hour or so feeling them with our toes and then having someone lift them up with their feet so we could collect them and bring them to shore to be disposed of… it was great exercise…
they are very sharp and all three of my companions ended up with cuts on their feet that had to be taken care of to be sure that no infections occurred… I nearly always wore my water shoes so happily was able to feel the clumps or sticks or rocks with them on and not get injured…
many years ago, when the girls were little, I started the tradition of singing happy birthday to them, the number of times as they were old… so if you were ten, you would get happy birthday sung to you ten times…
might have been a mistake, because they still expect that even when they are turning big numbers, lol… and they still ask for it…
last night I set an alarm for this morning so I could sing before the birthday boy headed to work, lol…
this past year, I have sent emails and texts with pictures and just a few calls…
might not have been my most brilliant idea, lol… but it has been fun…
walked to and from the Park with a friend and had lunch at the Park Cafe… I’ve been ordering the same thing for a while now – the beet and goat cheese salad with falafel on the side… it is delicious… I order a side so it is just the right size…
enjoyed all the bits of nature which I spotted at home and on our walk… I also saw and heard geese flying over which was an early Spring treat…
the only unfortunate thing was that one of my boots sprang a leak and by the time I was home my foot was soaked...
apparently I am going to have to get new boots for next year;-(…
I’d had a conversation with a friend about how great my sugar cookies tasted… I’ve made thousands of them over the years, mainly when the girls were in school… I would produce cookies for their classrooms for each and every holiday that occurred…
she suggested I might like to make some for Valentine‘s Day;-)… and also volunteered to lend me a heart-shaped cookie cutter…
I thought I had one so didn’t take her up on the offer…
on Sunday I decided to make them and discovered that I did not have the appropriate cutter…
I went online, found a few different sized heart templates and made a cardboard heart-shaped template…
then I made the recipe and laughed throughout the whole process because it didn’t seem familiar at all…
it took a while as I used a knife to outline each one, but they came out pretty good…
I’d given away all the food colouring and sprinkles a while ago, thinking I wouldn’t need them…
the cookies look rather plain… but taste delicious…
then I had some fun packaging them up for a few gifts…
today I had a lovely time sitting in the sunshine in the living room…
I started a new book by one of my favourite writers and soaked up the warmth… of course, it was -40 outside, lol… so it really was a treat…
have had numerous conversations recently about our lack of sun… cold weather is much easier to accept when the sky is blue and a big yellow ball is in it… we are not getting the amount of sunshine that we used to…
I spent time taking photos of the light and shadows around the house as the sun shone in various areas…