weekending

I had to wake her
Saturday morning ballet
papa and I snuck in our
20 minute coffee date as she spun and skipped

a birthday cake was made
it's carrot cake every year
sweetened this year with honey and maple syrup
every year I bake it, and he frosts it

we took the cake, flowers, and some balloons down the road to
a little 'Asian-fusion' restaurant

celebrating a four year old's birthday at a restaurant
was an experiment

I think it went well
there was a lot of lomein and fried rice

at one point the very friendly waitress turned on the large television over the bar
and put on the disney channel
in no time the kids were belly up to the bar watching a fairly innocent looking show
we (the parents) all thought about it, wondered what to do
none of us are real big on screen time with the kids but that sudden hush that
allowed us to all sit together, eat, talk.....
well that was nice

so we went with it for about ten minutes and then
I went and found the remote and declared

cake!

and so they weren't too disappointed that I ransacked their fun


home again and I started rearranging
guess it's that time of year
Claire has started peeking in the trash bin as I go around organizing,
making sure I'm not throwing out her treasures and such
probably not a bad idea, kiddo

today blew in balmy and sunshiny
it was warmer outside than in for sure
first day in a long while with no fire blazing in the wood stove

I spent some time adding more names and addresses to the swap list
(I'll be closing the blogger swap in a day or two to get it rolling, so sign up now if you want in!)
Mike laughed at me sitting there, scribbling on pages of a legal pad
he wondered why I didn't just type it all directly into the computer
because this way is easier for me, I said
because I like it more, I said
sometimes you just have to put pen to paper, yes?


Claire and I rode the bike over to check the sap status and were
pleasantly surprised to find full buckets


a dear friend came visiting from PA
in town to promote her book (a field guide to the edible and medicinal plants
along NC's Mountains-to-Sea trail, due out late this spring)
and I'm so glad we were a stop on her trip

after the visiting we drove around town, white plastic buckets full of
sugar maple sap sloshing around in the back of my car
23.5 gallons today(!)
so maybe the season hasn't been too mucked up after all
and there will be syrup to sell


take that, polar vortex

looks like we'll be boiling tomorrow

*weekending with amanda