Best Pizza

 I've been trying to make a good homemade pizza for a while now, experimenting with various recipes for crust and sauce.  But that good pizza was elusive.

Finally I've realized - the secret isn't making a good base at all.  What works best for me is getting whatever frozen pizza is on sale and adding whatever good cheese I have in the refrigerator and then adding good toppings.  

If I have fresh mozzarella,  that's a bonus.  There are good ideas for toppings in the menus of the best local pizza restaurants.  I can be happy now.

Today is Derby day, and it looks like it might rain on and off all day.  Watch for the Kentucky governor at the end - you may be seeing a strong candidate - for something - down the road.  

Yellow Iris

A few years ago, the dental hygienist and I were chatting and she asked if I liked to garden.  As these things sometimes end up, she  brought me some iris and I gave her some little quilted something.

It's taken a couple of years for the iris to begin blooming and I'm delighted to find that the iris are yellow.  I'd only had purple before, gifted by a church friend, so these are a nice addition.

Sometimes things just take a while to bloom.  People and plants.

Weeds, too.  I've been pulling a few when I've been coming and going and my hope is that I'm pulling more quickly than they're sprouting. 

There are little lettuce plants coming up and lots of chives and multiplier onions.  Just last week I went looking for chives for a recipe and didn't see any - this week there are so many.

Lovely Tree

 

This lovely tree isn't mine, it's my neighbor's.  Note the wind chimes she hung from the branch.

It's been another bread baking day.  Now that I'm back in the baking groove, I'm loving baking bread for friends.  Oatmeal bread is my favorite.

The recipe makes two loaves and I cut enough off each loaf to make a roll for myself.  Strange but true:  my inhaler comes in a little aluminum tray, just perfect for baking a roll or a bit of cake

I'm getting out more these days, and my energy is improving.  Studio time, not so much yet.  

Last Easter Holiday Picture

 

The last picture of the holiday - the good-bye selfie.  Just before the car rolls up the hill.

It was a time.  On Friday we went to Maysville, stayed in a nice hotel, and Saturday Steph and Sarah ran in races that started right outside the hotel.

We had good local food, did some local shopping, drove home the scenic route.  And got ready for Easter.

Easter was a good dinner, hugs from the grands, conversation.

And today, Monday, the car rolled up that hill.

Work Around Photo

 

I still haven't exactly figured out how to get photos to the laptop in the way I wanted, but I've figured out a work-around that's just as good.  So, the picture of the flowers at the zoo.

The results from the mammogram that I had on the way to the zoo came back today.  All good, repeat in a year.  Deep breath.

It's a cleaning day, getting ready for company tonight.  I'm surprised and happy to find my energy returning.  Remembering last Christmas, when all I could do was sit in my chair with painful excursions with the walker.  Six weeks later, when it was a big deal to just pick up the clutter.  

So I'm happy now to be able to clean and do stairs with laundry.  And bake some cookies.  Find the Easter decorations and get ready for the holiday.

I still need breaks, don't get me wrong, but I'm happy.

Cincinnati Zoo

 My phone is not in the mood to send pictures to the laptop, so no picture today.  

But if there were a picture - you would see bi-color yellow and orange tulips, planted beside deep red tulips.  Very striking, and I wish you could see them.

My mammogram was scheduled for mid-day and going to the zoo was the carrot at the end of that experience.  The zoo is only about a mile down the road from the medical complex.

The temperature was in the 70's and the zoo was crowded.  The number of cars in the overflow parking lot was my first clue.  There was a vacated spot in the canopied lot so I was happy.  

I just walked down the paths and admired the spring flowers and a gigantic tortoise.  And a baby porcupine in the nursery.  The flowers were perhaps a week or ten days past their peak but still glorious.

Another day I'll go back and admire a few animals and the new plantings, maybe early in the morning or late in the afternoon.  That's one of my goals for this year - frequent zoo visits.  Every year I buy a family pass complete with parking and a guest included and it ends up being a donation because there is maybe one visit.  

Not that there is anything wrong with a donation, I'm happy to support a fabulous zoo.  This past year Nora took a friend to the festival of lights at Christmas.  And 2025 will be my zoo year.

Worship Banner Complete

 The worship banner is finished and my daugher helped me hang it.  I wanted something for Easter season and I'm pleased with the result.

Maybe, just maybe, this completion will help me move forward.  For the first three weeks of Lent I hung a light purple mottled fabric  Just to have something.  My plan was to add a little something of the new banner every week as I completed it, but I changed my mind as I went.

I adapted Robbin Pickens pattern Showering Stars for the banner.  The top star is appliqued to the backing, the rest is pieced.

All week since hanging, I've planned to show up in the sewing room but . . .  haven't.