Track Meet

Today was the Alexandria elementary school track meet. All the local elementary schools competed against each other at the High School with the high school track members running the day. It lasted over 6 hours, well into the night, but fortunately my nephew ran the hurdles while it was still light out and I was able to capture it on video. He is the one on the left at the beginning of the video and on the right at the end:





And here is my niece winning her races:

Fondue night

There is nothing like a pot of cheese fondue and a good bottle of vino catching up with friends and family! We had a great night with our friend Holly who I had not seen since last summer. She's getting ready to head back out overseas (another trip option for me!!!) so it was fun to hang out around the table. We started with cheese fondue:

Holly and all the homemade pickled veggies to dip:

Giant Easter bunny being put to good use!

Everyone enjoying chocolate fondue and fresh fruit:

How does your garden grow?

Since returning from Florida last month I have spent many hours working in my garden. The big winter storms resulted in significant damage to my garden. Tree limbs snapped and the weight of the snow distorted the shape of bushes so there has been lots of pruning and shaping going on! But with spring brings renewal and some of my perennials have never been so gorgeous. The clematis has never looked so delicate and the cleome growing up my back fence has never been so grande:

Where does the time go?

Not only have I been retired for a whole year but my niece and nephew have grown up so much this year. For some reason it's so much more noticeable when they are dressed up and acting like adults. Here they are with their cousins at a recent wedding.
Sara and her cousin

Zeb and his cousin

and another cousin

Mother's Day

Spent a nice day with my mom. We were fortunate to also be able to celebrate with my sister and her family. It was nice for all of us to be in the same place this year. The "rents" leave this week for another summer on the Vineyard so in New England tradition my menu consisted of lobster rolls, Boston baked beans, and home made sweet potato chips.

The mothers being honored:


Popping the cork on a little bubbly

A family favorite desert:

Baking frenzy

I'm really missing Rudy's and my favorite bakers! Spent the afternoon making cookies for my Mother's Day lunch tomorrow! I did pick up a few tricks from Julie and Sally! The first tray is "flower power" with fudgy chocolate frosting on a vanilla sugar cookie. The second tray are just fun cookies for my Vineyard bound mother - wild grapes, lobsters and lots of hearts filled with love!

Peking Duck

Our Chinese dinner was wonderful - we started with Mom's favorite: Beijing's most famous dish, Peking Duck. As per tradition it was served with Mandarin pancakes, cucumbers and green onions for brushing on the plum sauce. Here is the official duck carver at our table doing his thing: