A beautiful spring evening in our backyard - Spring has sprung!
Roses blooming, lilacs on their last, peonies opening up those many buds, diancahtus (Pinks) blooming their hearts out - very pleasant.  My favorite rose is the tree rose - Brandy - beautiful buds, long stems, apricot color - opens up into a huge blossom. Sterling silver is very pretty this year, more blossoms than usual, and of course, the Peace is always a favorite. The red, yellow, pink and white are pretty too - love those roses! Planted a couple more peonies, a Meyer lemon tree, three small calla lilies of different colors, and went to the college garden sale yesterday and picked up two cucumbers, one green pepper, a couple zinnias and something that looks like silvery leaves - can't remember the name of it. I don't think it what I thought it was but I like the variety of color.
Happy Spring to everyone!

My first day of wearing shorts & a tank top - sandals and I'm sure was close to 80 degrees!

Spring took a detour - but knit & crochet class made the day!

Just when we thought Spring was here, we get a cold front and wind so Larry has a fire going in the fireplace again tonight and it really feels good!  It is supposed to be in the 40's tonight instead of the usual 50's. Amazing what 10 degrees difference feels like!
We had a great generational class at church tonight teaching women and young ladies how to do basic knitting, crochet curly scarves, or do the knit Sashay curly scarves - 13 people came - we had three of us as teachers!  What fun we had!  Will do another one next Tuesday night for newcomers or if anyone needs help!

Iris and lilacs from our backyard - what a beautiful aroma!!

 

This was my class for the Sashay curly scarves. I'm finishing up a purple one! The younger generation really caught on quickly - as I told them, I had to watch the YOUTUBE three times to figure it out, and I think I took mine out three times before I finally got it right!  Now I love making them!  We're teaching a group again next week - more of the Hmong ladies & younger girls.

 

Basic knitting class. This young lady had wanted to learn to knit for a long time and now had one of the master knitters sharing her expertise!

Our champion crochet master here teaching these gals how to make a curly scarf in 30 minutes!  It's too easy to be true!!! I couldn't believe it!

Beautiful spring day!

The daffodils, quince are in full bloom so spring has finally sprung! We are still getting some brisk evenings and mornings but at least the frost seems to have disappeared! It is supposed to be in the 70's by this weekend!
After I finished our Bible Club at Rivera School, I picked up Gary and took him with me to get him out of the house. We filled my car with gas, went into Costco to get some bacon bits, dried fruit- prunes, apricots and blueberries for me to snack on, some chocolate covered pomogrante goodies for Gary plus his supply of Dr. Pepper.We enjoyed some free samples and one of our retired cafeteria cooks at one of the schools was giving out samples of salmon burgers and were they ever good! So picked up a package and that will be our dinner Thursday night with fresh asparagus and a baked sweet potato. We are trying very hard to eat healthy, tonight we had barbecued chicken legs & thighs plus Chinese chicken salad. I also picked up a salad that is new and has broccoli, brussel sprous, cabbage, kale, chicory, dried cranberires, roasted pumpkin seeds, and a Poppyseed dressing. Our cafeteria cook friend says it is delicious so will have it with our salmon patties.Anxious to try it.
Gary's anxious for his upcoming prostate cancer surgery so will try to get him out of the house every day - he does eat dinner with us every night so that helps but needs to get out during the day too.

Julie & my birthday celebration this evening with delicious pizza from our favorite Pizza Villa!! I made the desserts - yum yum chocolate plus a lemon one and of course, an angel food cake!  That was always our official birthday cake that Mom made for us so had to have one! We had a great time - missed Mark & Dena and Emily & Elena - always hard to get everyone together so appreciate those who do come! We talked about our 2016 planned trip to take the WHOLE FAMILY to ALASKA for our 60th anniversary~!  They're all looking forward to it!

Dwarf Orange Tree 2012
Several years ago after no oranges, Larry determined he would cut down this tree unless it produced oranges. Lo and behold!  The following season and every season since it has been producing - and this year he counted 50 oranges!  For a dwarf tree this was a bountiful crop!  With temps forecasted to be in the 20's for the next several nights, we  picked all the oranges today and are storing them in crates in the garage where it is cooler. He had the tree covered with a light on it at night for several nights waiting for the oranges to attain their juicest flavor!  So here is the results!  We're checking on orange jelly, orange preserves and of course, we love orange marmalade!

Postive Report at Stanford for Gary
What great news as we heard the surgeon, Dr. Stenberg, view the MRI pictures and tell us how everything looks really good!  Gary had some questions and the Dr. explained them all reminding all of us that his surgery was just Nov. 6th so realize that when you cut into your head it does take 6-12 months to completely heal.  So that was very positive and the best news ever!  He expects complete recovery!  So now as Gary continues his physical therapy for balance, and learns to sleep with his sleep machine -it seems very possible that he can return to work by the first part of February with limitations. He is really looking forward to it. God is so GOOD!  We each take so much for granted and now realize how very much we have to be thankful for!  Thank God each day for all your blessings - make a list of them!

Enjoying a bit of the past. . . .

Old Fasioned Potato ricer & Mrs. Smith's deep dish frozen apple pie
When looking in the back of the kitchen cabinets I found the old fashioned potato ricer that we bought at an antique store several years ago. So I got it out, boiled potatoes for dinner and surprised Gary & Larry with riced potatoes!  Gary had never seen anything like it so was real amazed! It works just like I remembered it - so enjoyed them along with leftover roast beef with the gravy & added onions like Mom used to make.
Then when we got the ads for the week, I noticed an ad for Mrs. Smith's deep dish frozen apple pie and I remembered how Bud said that was the best apple pie and one they liked to keep in the freezer for a nice dessert if someone dropped in.So I went downtown and bought a couple - baked one tonight and it really is good!  I added some sugar/cinnamon on top as he said Elaine did and it is the closest to homemade I've ever eaten!  They were on sale for $4.99 at our local canned Food Warehouse.