quick strange question

Do any of you often notice the same time on a working clock day after day? I mean, as you glance at a clock to check the time, you routinely see the same time over and over on different days. I ask because I see the time 12:34pm several times a week. I saw it just now, and I saw it yesterday. What does it mean, if anything? Sometimes it feels as if the clock is willing me to look during that minute.

Cue the Twilight Zone music.

crazy-assed Spring

Today: bright, warm sunshine and torrents of melting snow. Go figure.


(The sound of running water coming from our roof is so loud that Mr. Man thought we had a water leak. That is some furious melting.)

(Apparently, this is now a weather blog. I'm so sorry but this occupies an amazing amount of conversation around here.)

snow this morning

The poor early robins are hunkered down in the bare branches, dreaming of Mexico.

aaand

now it's snowing. With the sun shining. Go figure. 

I can wait. See me waiting?

The days are getting longer and sunnier. In fact, this morning the sun was shining through my kitchen window so aggressively I thought I might go blind. (This is mostly due to the trees' reluctance to take a chance on growing leaves at present.)

Also, the robins are back. Hello, robins! We've missed you guys!

I can almost taste Spring: asparagus and peas.

Can't wait to taste Summer: peaches and tomatoes. My favorite. 

"That's the Winter talking"

This has been a Wintery weekend. Yesterday was cloudy and cold. Not a bitter, below-zero cold, just not exactly beckoning, if you know what I mean. One of those "Let's stay in" kind of days. I should have taken the opportunity to clean my house. Instead, I cooked. I cooked my all-time favorite chicken, David Lebovitz's roast chicken with caramelized shallots.  Let me take a moment here to urge you all to follow that link and cook that goddamned chicken. It has been in heavy rotation here for months and no one is complaining. When you make the chicken, be sure to have some bread or potatoes or something to sop up the gorgeous gunge at the bottom of the pan because that, I swear, is the whole point of this dish. Full disclosure: I don't always add the parsley. I like to use chicken thighs and drumsticks instead of the whole chicken. It doesn't matter, it's delicious either way. I also love that this dish takes maybe 15 minutes to put together, yet it will blow away the minds and taste buds of your guests.

Moving on...
The chicken would be served with some leftover mushroom and farro soup and a salad. I've been reading this and loving it, so I wanted to make Jacques Pepin's mother's recipe for cheese souffle to serve as well, but Mr. Man said that would be a bridge too far. He said that was the Winter talking, and he was right. Too much warm, caloric comfort is not recommended, especially when we are both trying hard to be slimmer people.

I have a new cookbook, Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Breads Every Day". I put together a couple of loaves of rustic hearth breads which are slowly rising in the fridge. I made Chocolate Cinnamon Babka. This, along with some soft-scrambled buttery eggs and grapefruit juice, was our Sunday breakfast. Yes, this is also the Winter talking, but a small serving goes a long way toward warm comfort.

Testify, testily!

p.s. I so agree. 

Sugarbear just told me (in a very sad voice) that's it's too bad I don't have any eggs left for Daddy's tadpoles to taste. I hated to tell her that there are a few eggs left, I just refuse to use them. And they probably wouldn't hatch anyway. Or taste very good.

not that I'm complaining...

The kids and I just ventured out to get some groceries. I had left my half-full stainless steel water bottle in the car. The water inside was frozen solid. I wouldn't have been surprised, except that the car has been parked IN THE GARAGE since Monday.

On the up side, at least we don't have rolling blackouts. That would be so annoying.

and another one

Day two for winter weather keeping the kids at home. Yes, it is cold (-15.1 degrees F. as I type) but it is going to warm up a bit more than yesterday. Maybe we'll get up to positive 7! Day two = not as much fun for me as day one. I feel a little sheepish even complaining when places like Chicago are getting slammed with snow, ice and wind.

Also as I type, I'm watching a house finch and a junco fill up their bellies at the feeder. Stayin' alive! Tomorrow we should be back up to 36 degrees or so. That's great news for the birds. 

Wintery Weather

Here at the Honeycomb Hideout we are having ourselves a little snow day. It seems strange considering there is very little snow on the ground here at the moment. In some places one can see maybe two inches, mostly less. School was cancelled today due to the cold. That's right, it is so cold they cancelled school. I think the district may have been concerned about kids walking to school in sub-zero temperatures. Yikes.
I keep expecting the ground to be littered with frozen songbirds, dropped from the trees. How do their wee toes not just shatter or snap off? The bird feeders are stocked with seeds and suet but I haven't seen much action out there so far today. Juncos, where are you? Tucked away somewhere a bit less cold, I hope.

So here we are, nice and toasty indoors. Earlier this morning, Mr. Man pointed out a veeery light snow floating softly through the sunshiny air toward the ground. I called it disco snow because it looked like tiny glittery light particles, as tiny as dust. The were only visible because they were so sparkly. I didn't get any photos of the snow falling, it was far too subtle for me to capture. I did get some macro photos of the frost on our dirty window.

The girls are downstairs playing Kirby's Epic Yarn on the Wii (most beautiful Wii game ever. I love it, and so do they.) while I clean the kitchen after making oatmeal pancakes. Later in the day, we will bake some cookies and and watch the third Happy (oops!) Harry Potter movie. Tonight we may set a new record for low temperature. The forecast says it will reach 20 degrees below zero, or colder. I'm so grateful for shelter, heat, Mr. Man (who makes sure the snow is cleared from the steps and sidewalks), down comforters, hot chocolate, and a Turnip warming my feet.