Shades of Spring

 It was so Spring-like yesterday that the Boy and his buddy not only made a visit to the local ice-creamery, but then played tennis in the street.

We couldn't persuade any kids to come with us to Pine Hollow Arboretum.  The Girl says she's waiting for the cherry blossom.  The place is still in need of a bit of colour, but it was good to get back there (although it was very squishy underfoot).

Waiting no more

Just about a month ago we were still waiting for Spring.  Although there are still traces of snow and fairly substantial remains of ice up at Thacher Park, in general Spring does now seem to have arrived.

Bring on the leaves and flowers!

A muddy run and a farewell gathering

The Man went off and did his 5k trail run this morning, and came home caked to the knees in mud.  It sounded to have been a gruelling race, but he came in tenth (out of 105) which was quite respectable.

This afternoon we have all been round chez Exiles - which is soon to be chez someone-else-entirely, I suppose, as our friends will all be moving out of the house and away to Maine next week.  Today was their goodbye party, and very nice it was too.  The Exile was again called on to perform an act of heroism in our service - not an epic airport run, this time, but he kindly pulled a tick out of the Man's back with some special tweezers. 

There was much happy chatting and snacking.  As every guest left there were hugs and farewells to the hosts.  I went through the motions of that, but must admit that I am deeply in denial.  Although latterly we may really have only seen each other every other month or so, the thought of there not being those great friends just down the road who truly understand what it is to be us living here... Well, sorry, but I'm not even going to think about it.

April showers

As anticipated, today was a lot like yesterday in terms of busily driving around with my house-buying friend.

And apart from that, tonight the basement is alive with the sound of 6th Graders, as the Boy has a few friends round for a sleepover.

We've had warmer weather all week (hooray), and the last remnants of winter snow may be washed away overnight by rain.  The Man has signed up to do a trail run tomorrow - alas, it may be rather squelchy under foot.

Extremely cheap at three quarters the price

I'm helping some friends who are trying to buy a house.  No, I wouldn't necessarily have picked me as a house-buying spirit guide, but there you go, apparently someone has faith in me.  Without exactly planning it that way, today has been a long and busy one with a lot of driving around. Tomorrow may be a bit the same.

With less ambitious purchases in mind, I visited a dollar store yesterday.  It was having a closing down sale, so everything was 75c.

Cake expectations

 The Girl had a birthday today and now she is (drumroll): fourteen!

She particularly requested sponge cake with jam and cream, and that is was she got - my first attempt at baking one, and it was not bad at all, if a little tricky to get yer chops around. 

Many thanks to all who sent birthday greetings.

Numbed by numbers

The Boy has brought home one of those sheets of maths questions which are always so puzzling.

In one question Bernadette buys three sweaters and four sweatshirts and "the sign said four sweaters for $63.80 and three sweatshirts for $41.85" - which just prompts you to wonder, what kind of a weird store has pricing like that? And why must Bernadette be so awkward in her purchasing choices - will the special offer still apply?  If it even is so special. Who knows?

Another question begins: "Penny has 20 chocolate chip cookies and 16 peanut butter cookies."  As one of the Boy's friends quipped on Instagram, "Penny wants to go easy on the cookies..."