Birthday Cake for Breakfast

When I'm an old woman I'll eat birthday cake for breakfast in bed, in the meantime I'll practice!

Birthday Cake
in bed.

When you turn fifty I think you can start being a little outrageous, at least in good ways. Eating cake for breakfast is a great way to start.

Some are very supportive of
outrageous acts.

Small acts of outrageousness are sometimes more fun when shared.









Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday. More pictures to be posted as they come in.

Spring Break

The lakes are starting to break. It's a dangerous time of year for the dogs; they've gotten used to walking on water - Payment Lake on Ice - all winter.

Asher watches the
ice break from the
dock - Good Dog.

On the lookout
for birds and
otters.

They seem to understand that they can't go on the ice and I keep crossing my fingers that the lake will open soon.

Asher stays on the shoreline - Good Dog.

Ducks in the sky bear watching.

"Just try landing on my lake!"

The dogs were outside for most of Saturday.  So many new smells and things to check out.

Gracie in the woods.

Asher deep in the woods.

Asher in the Friendly Forest.

Maddie tastes the last of the snow.

Pete cooked down what little sap he could harvest. The weather hasn't given us the cold temperatures at night that are needed for a good sap run.

Boiling down the sap.

Asher, acting as food inspector, tastes
the raw product.

Today looks like another nice day, but Wisconsin always gets an April snowstorm, so I hesitate to put everything away yet.

March Melt

It was a warm weekend in the Northwoods with temperatures in the 50s. On our walk yesterday morning I noted the snowpiles on the sides of Ashe Road were melting fast.

In the early morning there were still some icy patches - use caution!

Gracie was cautious
and stopped often.

Maddie walked slowly
and carefully

Asher? He threw caution to the wind!

We had the opportunity to check on Pete's sap collectors.  He put them up a few days ago and they seem to be doing well.

blue sap sack

a new collection
method

As I walked through the ice and mud I contemplated my boots - L.L. Bean, wool-lined, zip boots.  These rubber-bottomed, leather upper boots have been the perfect shoe for me.  They're great in the muddy fall and spring, while equally as great in the winter. They keep my feet warm and dry and the zipper makes them easy to slip on and off.

These boots were made for walking.

 Karen remarked that the soles of L.L. Bean boots were too slippery for Seattle. Maybe the smooth surfaces of sidewalks and streets aren't the right surface. Up here there's plenty of grip and grit.

"Get your boots on and let's
go home."

"We're waiting."

The lakes are still covered with ice, but they are really slushy.

Payment Lake 

The chickens came out to play.

A Few Days in Mequon

"I don't think we're in Mercer anymore."

 I took a few days off from work last week and took a trip down to Mequon.  Karen was in town visiting Dad and it seemed like a good time to catch up with them.

The snow came after I arrived.

The Milwaukee River was beautiful.

We had a really nice visit and managed to do a few things around town.  It had been a long time since the three of us saw a movie together - a Christmas Day tradition rescheduled.

North Shore Cinema, Mequon

In-depth study of the movie section of the paper revealed two things: Iron Lady, the one movie all three of us could agree on, was not showing anywhere nearby (where's New Berlin anyway?) and The Lorax was taking more than its fair share of theater space (3-4 screens in one cinema). You could even choose to see The Lorax in regular or 3D.  The Artist was showing in Mequon so we settled for that.

movie poster from Weinstein Company

 It was hardly settling; the movie was just wonderful and kept our attention throughout.  While Jean Dujardin won Best Actor and Berenice Bejo was full of personality, the big star was Uggie, the Jack Russell Terrier who played Jack.

Uggie - a good dog.

The dog is a great example of what all good dogs should be.  As I type this, Asher is licking off a plate on the kitchen counter. Asher is no Uggie!

On Saturday evening we went out to Harvey's Central Grill, a local restaurant. The meal was good and the conversation was great.  It's amazing how intelligent we sound!

On Sunday, we woke up to more snow. It was just beautiful.  We decided to take a little trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum.  There was a show I wanted to see - Accidental Genius; Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection.  The 300 piece collection featured self-taught artists from around the world.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Untitled, Madge Gill
photo credit Larry Sanders

Karen and Dad
inside the Museum

Canada Geese outside the Museum

On the way home we stopped at a rather new market in Mequon to pick up some things for dinner.  When I entered the Metro Market I knew I wasn't in Mercer anymore.

They had a great selection of Wisconsin cheese, fabulous organic produce and a killer bakery. We bought some cupcakes to have after dinner.

  In the afternoon I went to the Grafton Costco to stock up on dry dog food. The Kirkland brand has always ranked well on the dog food lists and our Weims really like it.  We don't have to mix it up with anything in order to get them to eat it - well, Asher does insist on a little Kraft parmesan cheese sprinkled on it, but for the most part they eat it plain.  At $22.00, or so, for a 40 lb. bag you can't beat it and we stockpile it. 

Costco

Our SDR
Strategic Dog Food Reserve

Before dinner we had snacks and a little cheese tasting in front of the fire.  We tried two types of cheese from Wisconsin: Billy Blue, a goat's milk cheese from Carr Valley and St. Mary's Gouda from Monitcello.

Billy Blue, left
St. Mary's Gouda, righ

 I think all of us determined that both were quite mild for their varietal, but they were intended to be; they were still young.

Karen teaching me
how to play Cribbage

I always wanted to learn how to play Cribbage and Karen was a good egg to try to teach me.  My impression was that it involved a lot of math. This week I looked up the rules on the Internet and it DOES involve a lot of math.  Thankfully, you can download a scoring cheat sheet at  crosscribb.com.

Karen made a nice dinner for the three of us, although there was a little communication problem over the spinach. We resolved it in true Top Chef style by serving spinach prepared two ways.   For dessert it was Happy Birthday to Me!  An early celebration with CUPCAKES!

My Birthday Cupcake

Jere with Red Velvet
cupcake

Karen - a wine and cupcake
pairing

It was a really nice weekend.  A big thanks to Karen and Dad for the good times.