Busy Weekend

Good Monday morning, my friends! We're winding down from our birthday extravaganza. Oh my goodness. A lot has happened in three days. It was all wonderful, and it will also be wonderful to get back into a simpler routine. Here, at the Three Cats Ranch, we really love our daily rut. I have lots of pictures to show you, so fill your cup with whatever you're drinking, and let's have a chat.

Backing up to Saturday, we were at this vineyard. It used to be known as Chateau Benoit. The last time we were here was with Mike's mom, and she passed away in 1999. So...it's been a while. Erik noticed right away the place was founded in 1979 (the year of his birth). "Great vintage," he quipped. (My son is very funny. He can have you rolling on the floor when he tells a story.)

They have a beautiful tasting room in a beautiful setting. Wouldn't this be a lovely place for a wedding?

Things were blooming in the parking lot. I looked this one up on my phone, but the name escapes me now.

This is rosemary.

As we entered, we were given a commemorative glass. 

They'd moved the event inside to their tasting room and wine cellar, which made for a crowded venue. It was a little hard to make your way to a table for a taste. Mike and I were feeling a little overly full from our dinner the night before, and so we were going easy on the wine. We were able to taste everything we wanted to, and there were folks walking around with little trays of yummy canapes.

Standing outside, this place has incredible views. To the left, it looked like this:

To the right it looked like this:

Despite those cloudy skies, it was a very nice day weather-wise. We stayed a couple of hours and then, Erik and Mae followed us home. I'd baked another Guinness cake to share with them.

Mike and I are not Guiness drinkers, and so I've made this cake twice using Mexican beer. I suppose it works for Cinco de Mayo, although we were on to Seis de Mayo by that time.

As I mentioned in my previous post, yesterday was Mike's birthday. He always gets his favorite Eggs Benedict for his birthday and Father's day. Also, for other special occasions during the year. 

After breakfast, I sat and finished up the second of two blocks I was working on for The Story of My Day quilt.

Of course, that meant I desperately needed something new to stitch. Next up is the Joyful Journey quilt, and I'll be working on June's block, Nest:

I had an angelfood cake baking in the oven while I traced out the next design. Now it's ready for stitching, and I'll start on that this morning.

As for the angelfood cake...we had a prime rib dinner planned for Mike's birthday. It was just the two of us for dinner, and so I didn't really want to bake a whole cake for both of us to spend the next week eating. I knew it was possible to bake angelfood cake in loaf pans, but I'd never done it before. I was thinking I might be able to freeze half for another time, and so I gave it a try. It worked out perfectly.

I had questions about this. First, if a tube pan has to be inverted, what about loaf pans? Well, the box told me to lay them on their sides. Okay...that makes sense. And then, of course, I needed to know if one actually could freeze angelfood. As it turns out...yes. Just double-wrap it in plastic and seal it in a zip-lock bag. You'll get the best results if you freeze it right away. So, I waited for these to cool, and then froze one. The other was for last night's dessert. Mike requested this recipe from Giada deLaurentiis for Angelfood Cake with Espresso Mascarpone Cream. So yummy.

With those things finished, I took the kitties on an outdoor excursion. Before I let them out, however, I decided to bring the lunaria seeds in from the greenhouse. These were planted nearly two weeks ago, and they've done absolutely nothing. Possibly, it was too chilly in the greenhouse for them, and so I brought them into the house and set them in the greenhouse window.

I'm happy to say that by yesterday afternoon, I was seeing some sprouting action.

I'll give them a few more days, and then I'll plant them in the spot I've scoped out for their growing pleasure. 

Smitty had his own ideas about sprouting things. The grass has yet to be mowed for the first time this spring, and so there's plenty of his favorite fat-bladed grass around for nibbling.

We're still in winter kill clean-up mode, which is good for Sadie. She loves a good dust bath.

They both like their kitty kisses.

Taking a little walk around, the rhododendrons are showing more color. These are very late blooming this year.

It's getting to be peony-watch time. The peonies are looking great. The one on the left in the image below is the slow poke. It doesn't get as much sun as the others. The other four all have lots of buds already.

I noticed the wild strawberries are blooming.

These were dug up and replanted from our field using the heel of my hiking boot. They make a good ground cover, but they are invasive. We have to keep a short leash on them. Just to be clear, I've marked their bed appropriately.

The chives are covered in flower buds now. I should have plenty for chive blossom vinegar this year.

The mint is roaring back to life.

And the blueberries are forming flowers.

Okay, now you might remember a Christmas tree we put up a few years ago. It was the Charlie Browniest tree ever. Or maybe it was a Dr. Seuss tree like one might find in Whoville. In any case, it was a comically sad Christmas tree, but I liked it anyway. As a Christmas tree, it was barely waist-high on me.

It's a Blue Pyramid Cypress. I took its picture yesterday. After Christmas, we planted it in the loop of our circular driveway. Now it is approximately eight feet tall, and high overhead for me.

To its right, the Golden Chain tree is forming flower buds. This is one of my favorites. We've had a hard time getting one going in our own yard. This is our third attempt. It was planted a couple of years ago. Aside from having a deer rub its antlers on the trunk, knocking it over, it's doing okay, and I expect this one is in the garden for the long haul.

Finally, the first blossoms have appeared on the plum tree. Everything is very late. I'm hoping we'll get some plums this year. 

With such a late bloom, I'm afraid they won't be ripe when we leave on our fall trip. I even delayed our start to wait for the plums and other garden veggies. Let's just hope for a nice warm summer to speed things along.

In the next image, I'm showing you the tiny red flowers that form on our Japanese maple trees. These will be humming with bee activity. They are such tiny flowers, they're hard to even see.

We'd trapped about nine squirrels, and we weren't hearing any more movement in our basement ceiling. Mike filled in the hole with fiberglass netting and dirt. Then, we started hearing them again. Checking the hole, they'd pulled all that dirt and netting out, and they're back. Trapping continues.

The Andromeda is the star of the garden right now. 

And the lilacs are forming flowers.

And just look at this Bleeding Heart. It was buried under a four-foot pile of snow for weeks! There it is producing its first flowers of spring.

With apologies to Timex, I can say that it takes a lickin', and keeps on tickin'. Or I could be original and say that it takes a piling and keeps on smiling. Or how about this: It takes a freezing and keeps on pleasing. Shall I go on? Feel free to add your own slogan in the comments.

This hummer visited our feeder while I was on kitty playground duty. I'm sure it has a nest in the Japanese maple to the left. I see it fly to and from the tree, and I try following it, but it is too quick for me to locate the nest. I'll keep trying.

This guy was out yelling at me. We're only trapping the ground squirrels. Sometimes we catch one of these tree squirrels, and they get released back to the wild.

This is Sadie's rock. It's her favorite place to sit and watch the birds and the squirrels. She's barely visible in this spot.

Back inside, I had some time for sewing in the afternoon. I added the sashings to the two embroidered quilt blocks. These are really fun to make, and I like being able to use my smallest scraps.

Smitty was my sewing cat for the day.

Here are the six blocks I have for this quilt so far:

After so much helping, walking, and grass-imbibing, Smitty was ready for an afternoon nap in the sunshine.

We enjoyed Mike's birthday dinner of prime rib, and then tired from our weekend, we hit the hay.

The weekend was fun. We enjoyed our time with the kids. Now, I'm ready for some routine day-to-day stuff. Fortunately, the week will be low-key. Today I'm going to start my cucumber and zucchini seeds. The rest of the vegetables will be sown directly into the ground. We're expecting warm weather this week, and so I'm hoping we can get the vegetables planted before the end of next week. There's still plenty to do preparing the soil. 

There are a couple of housekeeping chores to do, and then I'll get back to my quilting. Also, there's another Tiny House to build. As usual, there's plenty to keep me busy. We both feel as if we overate during the weekend, and so we'll be cooling our jets food-wise for at least a few days. It's a good thing angelfood is fat free, huh?