I think the buds on the maple trees are beautiful. It’s hard to imagine this “flower” turning into leaves, but soon it will.

Happy April 1st and I’m not foolin’!

The rain woke me up this morning at 4:00 a.m. It was a nice sound but I never did get back to sleep. It’s dark and gloomy out and for a while this morning it was hard to tell it was morning. The grass has greened up a bit and the forsythia hedge has taken on a golden glow, which means it’s thinking about blooming. The daffodils and day lilies are up by a few inches, some of my heirloom iris have sprouted little green flags (hurray!), and Rick spotted the first bear of the season just the other day. 

Spring has sprung here in New Jersey, but ever so slowly.

Yesterday we took advantage of the “warmer” day and did a much needed cleaning up of the front yard. Having trees is a wonderful thing but they do drop a lot of small branches. This is only one of the three wheelbarrowfuls of sticks that we collected. Instead of tossing them in the woods we put them in our kindling box for next year’s fire-starting stash. The way the weather has been going of late we may use some of them up this coming week!

The weather seems confused. It wants to be spring; I truly believe it does. Maybe it just doesn’t remember. Yesterday was in the high 40’s with mixed sun and clouds. A chilly breeze made it feel cooler than it actually was, but when the sun came out strong for a few minutes it felt nice and warm. Warm enough to shed our jackets while we worked.

The trees seem to think spring is imminent and have popped their buds. I hope they are not being too hasty as our temperatures are supposed to dip again this week, forcing us to wear scarves and gloves again.

After the yard work we came back inside and I made some Breakfast Bread, better known in our house as “Sylvie Bread.” (Sylvie Lallemand, a friend of ours, runs a cooking school in Provence. She made this bread for breakfast every day when we attended her school.)

A dense whole wheat bread sprinkled with sesame seeds, it’s best toasted under the broiler instead of a toaster and topped with butter and honey. (My breakfast this morning!)

Other happenings over the weekend included walks with the dogs and practicing Bella’s obedience lesson. And, it looks like I will have to start my Spanish lessons back up again since we will be returning to Mexico in early May. This time we will be visiting Rick’s parents who are staying in the old colonial town of San Miguel de Allende for a few months. Can’t wait! If you follow the link you’ll see why I am not leaving my camera at home! Olé!

My very own snow pasta machine.

Fallen ice cathedral.

First of all, this photo of Bella. She is living up to her name don’t you think?

Yesterday the dogs had a great time playing and romping in the snow and I had an equally great time photographing them. See for yourself!

Here is Bella being herself.

Bella says “Look at me! I can be a rearing horse.” And I am just thinking stay in the frame Bella, please.

Hailey says to Bella “I can roar snow at you, look out!”

“Catch me if you can Bella,” says Hailey!

Hailey makes her getaway.