Birthday Fun
This was a big week for us. Our wonderful grandson, Jack, turned 16 on Thursday. We were there, in Boston, the day he was born and all I can say is it was a very long day. There was also a huge snowstorm that dumped upwards of 36 inches of snow on the ground. He was a big boy when he was born. Almost 9 pounds I think. He was an engaging youngster and used to sing with me in the car, very loudly, all the time. We have had many adventures together and now I can hardly believe that he is this tall, handsome, kind and gentle young man. He has the most infectious laugh and a twinkle in his eye. He is smart, funny and very caring. All the things you could hope for in a grandchild. His grandfather and I called him early on Thursday morning and sang Happy Birthday to him. He didn’t make fun of our very off-key rendition of this famous song despite the fact that he has perfect pitch and he must have been cringing. He just thanked us and I could hear the smile in his voice. We gave him a new sleeping bag for his birthday and this is the picture he sent to us to show us that he really liked it. He will go off this summer to camp up in the northern woods and rivers of Ontario and I believe eventually make it to James Bay. He informed me that it gets very cold at night up there and he needed a much warmer sleeping bag for the trip. He does look very cozy in there.
So Happy Birthday Jack! And Happy Ground Hog Day!
Walking More and More
The weather has once again been spectacular. This has been a very warm winter for South Carolina. We missed last year but certainly the year before we had some serious cold weather in January and February. We have barely had any this year. A couple of days here and there but for the most part the days are over 65 and sunny. The nights are cool but not cold. Good sleeping weather. This week we upped the game again on walking. I didn’t make my 100 mile goal on Runkeeper – it was 88.8 miles but there are a number of reasons why. The first being that we were in Canada until the 6th of January and I was snowshoeing there not walking. Then we were in the car for three days and didn’t get many long walks in but we did get some shorter ones. When we returned to South Carolina I found my charger for my Fitbit and fired that right back up again. There is quite a difference between Runkeeper – which tracks the consistent long walks – versus the Fitbit which tracks all steps taken during the day. My husband says it tracks brush strokes when painting too??? Anyway, I put my Fitbit back on my wrist on the 10th of January and it logged all steps from then until the end of the month and came up with 140.7 miles for the 21 days. WOW! I like those numbers. So now I am going to have two goals per month. 100 miles on Runkeeper and 175 miles on the Fitbit. A challenge with only 28 days in February so I have upped the game. We are walking more in the morning, at a minimum an hour and half which is about four miles when you have two dogs along, and then a second walk in the late afternoon that is about a mile and half but the dogs are able to run free as we go out to Oak Island our version of a dog park. We are headed off on a trip for 10 days and that may cut into things too. However, at least with a challenge or a goal, I can convince myself to get out and walk even if I don’t really want to. The dogs are staying home so I won’t have them to walk, just myself or maybe I could say I have to walk John!!!
Food for Thought
The recipe this week is for a cake. Yes, you heard me right, a cake. As a rule I do not eat cake and certainly if I do it is going to be a homemade cake from scratch so I know what is in it. Well, we invited John’s cousin and family for dinner on Monday night and I decided that I wanted to serve dessert of some kind and cake just appealed to me. I actually really like to bake but don’t do it for obvious reasons – cake! I went through my new cookbook and found a cake recipe that sounded pretty easy and rather tasty. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago when I made it and took it to a gathering that we had through our Foyer Group from church. Since it was good it made sense to try it once again. It was made with Ricotta cheese and seemed to be pretty close to a healthy dessert especially if the pieces were very small. Her recipe said it made 8 – 10 servings but the way I cut it I was able to get 16 pieces. You only need a little taste as it is quite rich. In the cookbook she is using the Ricotta instead of butter. She recommends sheep’s or goat’s milk ricotta and also recommends that you get it from a local farmer and strain it yourself. I didn’t go quite that crazy. I found some good Ricotta at the grocery store and saved myself a day! I will, however, look for the sheep or goat version but in our local store it was not to be found. Also, use the full fat ricotta, the skim milk version is going to make a dry cake. The cake turned out perfectly and after a dinner of my crabcakes, Caesar salad, and green beans we had Ciambella di Ricotta served with a blueberry coulis and a touch of vanilla ice cream. Yummy. Here’s the recipe.
[mpprecipe-recipe:71]
Sunday Morning Scare
We went for our usual walk on Sunday morning and when we got home all seemed to be fine. I was in the shower and John called and said I think Miss Q is having a seizure – he was in fact right. I wrapped her up in towels and held her until it was over and then spent some time reassuring her it was all ok. Meantime we were trying to find an emergency vet on a Sunday morning – hmm. Three calls later we found one over in Port Royal right near our church. As it turned out I took her there and John actually went to church. The vet was great. She did all kinds of tests and couldn’t find anything wrong. Miss Q seems her regular self pretty much although I think a little sleepy but nothing really different. We are having a quiet rest of the day and every hour without another seizure is a good thing. So far so good. After losing four animals in 10 months I don’t think I could handle another one. My how we love our 4-footed family members. We will cross our fingers and hope for the best. We are off on an adventure for 10 days and I am rightly so, very nervous about leaving her.
What was really amazing is that our new puppy, Winchester (aka Wyke), alerted us to the fact that Miss Q was in trouble. He sat right next to her and was making very light barks that were not what he does when he is trying to get her goat or he needs to go out or wants to play. It was a very different sort of bark which is why John went to see what was going on. This guy is good!!!!!
