I hope everyone has a great Easter holiday weekend! Our weather here in New Jersey is finally being kind to us and today we can look forward to a spring-like day before another cold front defends on us at the beginning of the week.

Today we plan to finally take down the Christmas lights from our little Alberta spruce trees out in front of  the house. The bottoms of the trees with the power cords for the lights have been under some kind of snow since they were put up. It's time!

We'll also jump in the convertible and go for a ride, hopefully with the top down!

Happy Easter!

Linked in to Weekly Top Shot

The first day of spring has come and gone with nothing to show for it. Our ground is still covered in white from our 4-5 inch snowfall on Monday. It's melting, but slower than you would expect it to at this time of year. The thermometer is stuck in the 30's. When I look back on the blog entries from years past at this time it's almost surreal. Last year the forsythia was blooming! This year its buds are closed tight with not even a glimmer of yellow showing. I know, I checked it yesterday. I also know I promised no more white photos, but I couldn't help myself the other day with the late afternoon sun on the melting snow.

It's hard to motivate myself to go out with the camera to find anything of interest so I headed to the local garden shop yesterday since I had noticed that they were flying a big OPEN sign the other day. No flowers yet except for a few potted bulbs inside. And these colorful hummingbird feeders.

And this cheeky little guy who is much cuter than the pesky squirrels in my yard that have now chewed an even bigger hole in my best bird feeder. Other than that there was nothing to see or buy at the shop.

The weekend is supposed to be a bit warmer with temperatures in the 40's, but they are saying the wind chills are going to make it feel much colder. And, a little  more snow is expected on Monday. Alex keeps pulling out his snowman toy that was a Christmas present to play with and I think he might be jinxing us. I'm seriously thinking of putting it away until next year.

In other news, the last amaryllis is just about ready to bloom and it looks like it's going to burst forth with three flowers at the same time.

And on closer inspection, the huge amaryllis that still has one last flower blooming has another flower stalk poking out of the base of the bulb. Wow, I'm thrilled it has the oomph to send up yet another bud stalk!

So how's that for a mish-mash of stuff in one blog post!

Ah, March. If there ever was a month that couldn't make up its mind, March is it. So far it's given us a few glorious spring-like days, but yesterday it gave us snow flurries and brutally cold cold wind. Downright nasty. Looking back on my blog in past years, entries show up with maple tree buds bursting and neighborly crocus blooming. I think I saw the neighbors' crocus up the other day as I drove past but they were closed up tight due to gray skies. My maple trees show no signs of wanting to bust out all over but I did see about ten robins the other day in my yard. One day they weren't there; the next they were!

March is capricious, that's for sure.

I was surprised and quite pleased by all the visitors brought to my blog by joining in the Rurality Blog Hop this week. My poor little blog hasn't seen that many comments in years. Maybe never! So if you are stopping by again on a return visit, thank you for your kind words the other day.

We are hosting a dinner party tomorrow night for six people plus us. We used to entertain quite a bit but don't so much anymore. Mostly because of the rowdy dogs but quite possibly they were just an excuse. We've done this particular dinner once before and it was a great hit with our guests. We are having cassoulet that we ordered in a "kit" from D'Artagnan in the Hudson Valley who are known for their French goods, most particularly duck products.

Our kit arrived on Wednesday with all the main ingredients that we need: haricot tarbais (large white beans), ventreche (a kind of pancetta), duck leg confit, duck and armagnac sausage, french garlic sausage, duck and veal demi-glace, and of course, duck fat.

Let's just hope that we don't have to change out dining tables like we did the last time. (Last time I was putting the extra leaf in our antique table when the table leg broke. We had to call on our neighbor, who was also coming to our dinner, to help us get our other table up from the basement. What a ta-do!)

Today will be spent grocery shopping and cleaning the house in preparation, so I best get on with it and stop blabbing!

(photo: Shadows at Long Pond when the sky was a strange color: blue!)

Yesterday it rained. Unlike the song rainy days and Mondays always get me down, it was really quite welcome. Besides that, it was Tuesday. At least you don't have to shovel rain and it's a step in the right direction towards spring. 

The dogs tried to persuade me to take them somewhere but for once I didn't give in to them. I just stayed dry inside and started my knitting project of Rick's felted slippers. His old ones have sprouted a hole in the toe. 

At times the rain poured from the sky, drumming on the skylights above me in the sun room. It seemed to come in waves. Whenever it started raining hard all of a sudden, eBay would lift her head up from her spot by the fire and look up as if to say what is that noise??  Once they resigned themselves from not getting to "go for a ride"  the dogs just laid around and didn't even ask to be let outside in the yard.

By late afternoon the rain had stopped and the sun came out for a short while. I loved how the raindrops reflected the sun's rays.

The rain washed most of the snow away except for a few small patches where it had been plowed or shoveled. Things are definitely looking brighter!

Linked in to Rurality Blog Hop

(photos:)

Puddled Reflection

Raindrops on Pine Tree

Raindrops on Branches

Pine Cone Afloat