Late Winter Days & A Gathering

Hello, friends.  I hope these late winter days have been good ones for you.  One morning, I saw this sweet one resting on the cat bowl on the porch.  Last week, I canned garbanzo beans and vegetable broth.  The majority of canning lids were reused, including some that were on their third round, and all sealed.  I'm not encouraging anyone to do this; only sharing my experience with it.  I made golden paste for the pups and suet for the birds.  For a dinner, I made our roasted green beans with baked potatoes and sauteed garlicky spinach.  Another night, I roasted our first asparagus with roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potato fries.  The first of our tomato seeds are starting to sprout, with 11 up, as of Sunday morning.  I harvested lettuce and broccoli, some of which was used in a peanut noodle dish, and  J harvested a cabbage.

I stopped at Hallmark after a nearby appointment, and picked up a few cards, along with my free card.  At the grocery store, grape tomatoes were .50 off, oranges were $1 off a bag, coconut milk was 2/$4, brussels sprouts were $1.99 off, and I received the 5% senior discount on my total order.  I was then able to pick up evaporated milk at Dollar Tree, and the cat treats our kitty especially likes.  Laundry was dried on the clothesline.  J had requested beets from the grocery store.  I'll roast them another night, but first cut the greens and sauteed them with lambs quarter I had frozen, to have with black bean burgers and home fries.  Another grocery stop, I got avocados for .79 ea.  Several books were requested from the library.  Some of our frozen figs were added to oatmeal.

All that recent deep cleaning was inspired by a family gathering, which was held here on Saturday.  It's always an encouragement to clean, when I know there are a lot of people who'll be visiting, lol.  There were 16 of us, a mix of mine and Joseph's families.  Though it was chilly, the sun was shining, the little ones were excited by the chickens and gathering eggs, we gave tours of the various goings on here to whomever asked, and we ate well.  I sent the littles home with a dozen eggs, and leftovers home with a couple of others.  I cut a few redbud branches for my sister to try and root.  It was a lovely day.  St. Patrick's Day marked 16 years since J and I's first date.  It was nice to have a gathering of our loved ones to celebrate.  I plan to take a well-deserved rest Sunday evening, and will get this post up Monday.  Wishing you a Happy Spring, friends!