Life Goes On

Even without pandemics, I'm pretty much a homebody. I can recall when I was working full time, and a graduate student, and a mother of youngish children, when my calendar was packed with places to be, and things that were due. This was in the days of Franklin Day Planners (please tell me you remember those). Each time I flipped to a new month and found the calendar empty, I vowed to keep it that way. Then, little by little, before the month even arrived, the days filled up bit by bit, until they were just a crazed as the months before. Now, I revel in these open days of going nowhere and staying home...until I'm forced to do so, of course. Then it begins to feel burdensome, and panic can set in without notice.

And all of that to say that my day yesterday was spent mostly in the kitchen, but also in dread of the grocery shopping trip I needed to make this morning. I wore a mask and gloves, but even with a nose piece on the mask, it still fogged up my glasses and put them at an odd angle that made it difficult to read anything. I know all of us will be glad when these days have passed, but I wonder if we'll ever get back to where we were. It'll be a new normal, and hopefully, if this ever happens again, we'll be better prepared.

So my moments of dread made it hard to concentrate, but I did make my way into the sewing room late in the day to work on the next block for Dancing Chickens & Flying Pigs. This is the 6th of 12 blocks, called "At Home with Dandelions." Perfectly fitting for how the yard looks here at the Three Cats Ranch.

All the fusing and tracing is done. I need now to top-stitch the applique and machine embroider some of the lines on the house. My machine has a triple stitch that works especially well when the lines are straight. There isn't much hand embroidery on this block, and so I don't expect it to take long. After that, I'll get back to the hand quilting on Mulligan Stew.

My sewing day started so late that it was dinner time when I finished with the quilt block. We tried to give Matthew a happy birthday dinner, even if we couldn't all be together as a family. We had the Overnight Lasagna that is a family favorite around here. Also a Caesar salad, fresh baked bread and angelfood cake, as Matthew requested. I haven't baked an angelfood cake in years...at least...and so we all enjoyed this. Matthew wanted strawberries on his, and I was able to find some organic strawberries at a local vegetable stand. They were tasty, if a little on the tart side. Nothing a little more sugar couldn't fix.

For I-Can't-Eat-Strawberry-Seeds Mike, I made a different topping. For this, the cake is brushed with Kahlua and the whipped cream is made from espresso powder, mascarpone cheese, confectioner's sugar, and whipping cream. This is one of Giada deLaurentiis's recipes. It was also supposed to have a little sprinkle of cocoa powder, but I forgot that part. Looks good, no?

Matthew and I mused about how it would be to dip strawberries first in chocolate, and then in the coffee flavored whipped cream. If strawberries go well with chocolate, and coffee goes well with chocolate, doesn't it seem like the three could form a perfectly edible menage et trois?

Okay, so today I'll get back to the Dancing Chickens block. Other than that, the grocery store was about the only other thing planned for the day. With that finished already, my calendar is clear...just the way I like it.