surprise snowy Saturday...

Pretty sky!

Someone forgot and turned winter on last night here in Buffalo! I got up this morning and it’s 26 degrees outside! It was really weird yesterday, the sun kept trying real hard to come out and be nice but the clouds kept gathering over the mountain.  We had only been at Happy hour about 30 minutes when it started to lightly snow.  We had a really great table of folks last night and weren’t really paying attention to what was going on outside until it was time to leave and by the time we did, we had to actually scrape ice and snow off the truck to see out the windshield to get home.  I’m almost dreading going out to look at all my budding hedges and blossoms this morning, I hope they made it through this little storm okay!  The moon sure is pretty out there, though.  It’s a beautiful, clear morning now. The inch of fluffy snow lying on the green grass and lightly settled on the cherry blossoms really is quite pretty. I just hope nothing's damaged. Hopefully, the snow actually protected all the young plants from the cold last night!

I spent most of yesterday afternoon making goodies for the cocktail hour and jarring up my Red Wine Syrup that I want to take along as little gifts for the people we are going to be staying with on our vacation. Gosh, that stuff is awesome and so easy to make!  I used to make it the old fashioned way, which required a gallon of wine and hours and hours of stirring.  I now have a recipe that uses xantham gum as a thickener and requires only 3 cups of wine. It only takes about 45 minutes to make.  The house really smelled wonderful while I was making it yesterday! If you’ve never tried the syrup, you are really missing out.  It’s good on just about everything. I toasted and seasoned up some sourdough bread cubes as one of the things for dipping as well as a bunch of nice hard cheeses and some ham (because it’s Easter weekend).  The sauce is even good on ice cream and pound cake. It’s a great way to use up those half empty bottles of wine, if you have any leftovers.  My friends all joke that they never have any leftovers, though.

We had a great time at the Moose last night. Our friends, Beth and Bobby, have finally returned from their snowbirding trip down south and it was so great to see them!  They left back before Christmas and have been hanging out down in Florida and Mississippi for the winter.  Beth and I used to work together years ago as bartenders and we always had so much fun together. Bobby helped Jason, our general contractor, build the addition on our house. Beth and Bobby also used to own the Cowboy Saloon here in town and I worked for them for a while there, too. It’s really great to have them back in town for the summer.

Today, we really have to buckle under and get everything ready to leave for vacation.  Rob has about 15 bags of yard waste we have to get out to the landfill this morning, from all the leaves and cutting we’ve raked up around the property.  I’ve got to get some serious packing done, as well. We aren’t going to have any time next week to get a whole lot done before we leave. All of Monday morning is going to be taken up because Rob has an appointment at the VA in Sheridan. That will be a good opportunity to get the rest of his traveling junk food.  I have to wait for mine until the day before we leave because it’s all fruits and veggies, unlike his. I’m getting so excited about the trip, I can hardly stand it! It’s been a long time since we had a real vacation. Usually, our vacation time is spent going back east to visit family.  We’ve taken a few small trips but not a nice long one like this one in ages and ages!

The turkeys are everywhere again!

Well, have a great Saturday and a wonderful Easter and Passover!  I hope that you get to spend it with the people you love most and that you are grateful to have them in your life! Remember, every day you are making memories, so make them good ones!