Showing posts with label Snow in April. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snow in April. Show all posts

Thursday, April 03, 2014

Nature in our back yard, and a lot of others right now

Gray or speckled snow mold, proper name Typhula Blight.  (Or mould. Canadians can't decide how to spell that one.)  It's a mycelium that appears when the snow's been on the ground too long.  It's showing on a lot of lawns right now, as the snow disappears.
It's sort of pretty, in a weird, Spanish-moss sort of way.  It doesn't kill the grass, just damages the blades (and then hides for the summer).

Are you seeing this where you live?

(Photo found here)

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Saturday shopping: snow and the Salvation Army

1.  Weather: wind and snow.  People, this is not right.

2.  We stopped at the Salvation Army thrift store this morning.  Their book section was a mess--they don't even try to organize them, and the prices range from dirt-cheap to outrageous.  Which means you can totally luck out, or come away with nothing.

I guess this was our week to luck out:

The Once and Future King, older Dell paperback

The Writer in the Garden
Carrots Love Tomatoes, by Louise Riotte
Roses Love Garlic, by Louise Riotte

Picture books:
Enchantment in the Garden, by Shirley Hughes
Hattie and the Wild Waves, by Barbara Cooney

Handel Classic Hits CD
Chrissa Stands Strong, an American Girl DVD (for Dollygirl)

A sweater for Ponytails
A top for Mama Squirrel

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

A strange but still productive week

The weather here is still on and off--mixed snow, rain and general gloom.  Sore throats and general malaise have several of the Squirrels not up to doing much this week. 

However:  so far we have managed to:

make a quart of yogurt (this is a good home ec lesson for days when you don't want people sneezing all over the ingredients--just one person has to actually handle the milk and starter)
make a pot of pepperoni-lentil-beef broth-carrot soup, good for what ails you
start a jar of lentil sprouts
make a big pan of orange-coconut-almond granola (we're short on boxed cereal)
bake gingerbread
wash a bunch of laundry
fold a bunch of laundry
iron some grab-bag fabric for sewing
read half of Plutarch's Life of Solon (that was Mama Squirrel)
listen to a good chunk of the audio book of Number the Stars (that was Ponytails)
read several fairy tales from The Fairy Ring (that was Crayons)
turn more plastic spoons into little people (Crayons)
keep reading The Book of Three (Mama Squirrel and Ponytails)
finish Daddy-Long-Legs (Mama Squirrel and Crayons)
"But there is a different kind of virtue, the kind that children know about, the feeling of self-worth and happiness that comes from purely personal achievement.  The kitchen is just about the only place in the house where a whole family can re-learn this kind of virtue, where there is comfort, joy and enormous pleasure in doing something simple together, and then enjoying it together."--James Barber, The Urban Peasant