Happy Easter!

Easter Cactus

     The first long weekend of Spring and it was beautiful weather!  After the snow and frost and cold earlier this week, it was a welcome respite.  Good Friday (in France, it's Holy Friday, in Romania, Great Friday, in parts of Mexico, Friday of Sorrows, etc.), was overcast and was a perfect day to sleep in and have a lazy day doing not much to recuperate from the week and get rested for the remaining weekend's craziness.

Crocus. Where's Waldo the fly?

     I had a quick visit into Toronto on Saturday to see the fam-damily, and then spent Saturday night making dessert for Sunday lunch with CC's family.

Spring Offering

Hellebore aka Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose

   

Table Setting for lunch

     There were ten of us for lunch.  CC bought a Quiche Lorraine (named after the Lorraine region of France) and we served it with oven roasted asparagus, mustard beans, an olive and bacon aperitif cake and a big green salad.  For afters, we had chocolate Creme Brûlée.   Mmmmmm!

Aperitif Cake

Oven-roasted Asparagus

Chocolate Creme Brûlée

Freesia Arrangement

Tulips

     CC bought lots of flowers and did some quite beautiful arrangements.  The lunch was a big success - everyone enjoyed the food and there was lots of laughter.  Back to work tomorrow.  Ugh.

Firsts

or, if you're Daffy Duck, "firthtth"!  Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and lots of folks were out in t-shirts and shorts avec doggies and/or prams getting a good dose of vitamin D after a long, cold and bitter winter.  My latest jdpegs are, I hope, just the beginning of what's to come...

First Magnolia blossom

First Christmas Cactus bloom

First variegated Crocus 

First non-fly pollinator

The first signs of Spring!

At Last!

Snowdrops

Aconites emerging from "the white stuff"

Clivea basking in the sun

Where's Spring?

Tulips in front of painting

   It's still cold outside and there's still snow on the ground.  Worst of all it's the end-of-winter kind - muddy, icy and exposing the garbage it has hidden all season.  What we really need right now is some colour in our lives, courtesy of cut flowers and flowering plants.

Azalea in bloom

My favourite Christmas Cactus

Different Tulips, same Painting

African Violet

     There, don't you feel warmer already?

A four-letter word.

Snow.  What did you think I was going to say?

CC clears the snow on the path to the compost

Half-buried chimney pot

Submerged Urn

Valentine's Day

Chocolate Hedgehogs from Purdy's

     I took today off work, not because it's Valentine's Day, but because Monday is a holiday and I wanted an extra-long weekend.  I haven't been sleeping particularly well this week so it was a bonus to have a bit of a sleep-in.  CC bought some chocolates from Purdy's, in Oakville, earlier this week just for today.

Dried Cotton

     Instead of buying roses, I bought some dried stems of cotton for us to enjoy.  I like how unusual they are and the fact that they will last a lot longer than roses.  They were wrapped in red paper, so they definitely looked Valentines-ey!

Grilled Calamari

     CC and I aren't big celebrators of Valentine's Day, but seeing as I was home from work, we decided to go out for a nice lunch at Bin 23.  It wasn't terribly busy, so it made it more intimate and we didn't have to yell over the din of the other diners.  We each had a glass of white wine and shared an appetizer of grilled calamari which was served with a grilled lemon slice, arugula and olives.  Delicious!  We then followed up with the Rainbow Trout entree, served with perfectly grilled vegetables and sweet potato frites.  There was no room for dessert, but we knew there were chocolate hedgehogs waiting at home for us.  All in all, a relaxing and romantic day off.

Rainbow Trout

Instagram

     Recently, I joined Instagram as yet another outlet for my photography.  My cousin G., in England, is on it a lot and she posts pictures of the brownies she makes and sells, so it's another way for us to keep in touch.  My user name is jdpb82, so feel free to follow me there.

     Late last year, the Research Institute at the hospital I work at moved into a brand new building, the PGRLC.  My lab is located on the 19th floor, so there are many wonderful views to take in, especially from the lounge that looks out onto Bay Street.

Snow Squall