Open Thread: LKB’s Easter Fare
I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter, Passover or whatever spring holiday you celebrate! We had a wonderful family Easter Sunday dinner (“dinner” in the Mid-western sense of the word…1:00 pm) and I took a few photographs to share with you all:
This is my version of a caprese salad that I made for the dinner. It’s sliced fresh Mozzarella, tomatoes and Basil leaves in Balsamic vinegarette on a bed of spinach and spring greens surrounded by fresh asparagus and different varieties of olives.
Here’s a yummy fruit salad made by my sis-in-law.
Here’s my plate of food, which includes ham, a potato/potato chip cassarole, the caprese salad, a deviled egg (of course), corn and a slice of homemade cinnamon raisin bread. (Note the adorable “peep” placeholder!)
And here’s a lovely Easter table which added to the warmth.
I hope all of you had a wonderful time today!
Delicious!
A little giggle for anyone up late tonight. It may be old but it was a first for me (could be useful the next time you find yourself next to a politician on a flight:
“Smart little girl.
A congressman was seated next to a little girl on an airplane so he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if youstrike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”
The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the congressman. “How about global warming,universal health care, or stimulus packages?” as he smiled smugly.
“OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff -grass. Yet, a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flatpatty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”
The legislator, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence,thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”
To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss global warming, universal health care, or the economy, when you don’t know shit?” She went back to reading her book, and the congressman had nothing else to say the rest of the flight. “
ROFLMAO !!!!!!!!!!!!!
priceless.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1635102.php/Former-Palin-boyfriend-to-write-tell-all-book
Levi’s tell all book: “Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin’s Crosshairs”
Correction: “Moose in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin’s Surveyor’s Symbols”
No matter what others say (since when do I pay attention to them?), I think Levi decided to wait to write his book when there were other authors to put surveyor’s symbols over. This way, he’ll only get 25% of the flying monkey poo flung his direction. And people think he’s not bright!
OMG !!! watching Franklin Graham getting raked over the coals by Lawerence ODonnell … Graham just rolling around in circles !!! bhahahahah!!!!
Talk about “talking points”!~ He sounded like Jerry Falwell pouring forth Christian evangelical
stuff, not answering the questions.
Re: Rush Linbaugh’s ridiculous “Waht would Jesus take?” question. Have you ever heard of anything so silly?
Rust Limpaw is looking for validation of oxy-contin. Jeebus was a druggie?
Sheesh. I am hungry! We either need a food forum, or you all need to hush up!
If this keeps up we will need a DIET forum! Lol
I know I have said this before, but we do have a food forum! Actually, we’ve filled a few threads to the top with foodie comments and recipes- here is the latest-
https://themudflats.net/forum/index.php/topic,9137.0.html
Some peeps have even put up photos 🙂
Linda started it!
Ok so, on the way home from work I caught an interview with Amy Stewart, the author of Wicked Bugs. More than once I said “wow” check it out:
http://www.amystewart.com/wickedbugs.html
asparagus memories…
picking the wild asparagus by the canals on the western slope of colorado when i was a kid
sushi traditions…
every christmas eve going to a sushi bar began when son went to universit;y and came home for the holidays
Every Spring the good people from town will drive the gravel roads in search of wild asparagus. Most of them know where it grows and when it is available. Sometimes several vehicles will stop in the same place during the day. Around NW Iowa its more asparagus and less mushrooms.
Hello, Everyone. All this talk of foods, along with the lovely visuals, is making my mouth water. Glad to see everyone enjoying the Spring/Easter/Dyngus celebrations, and by now I guess Merrycricket’s work day is over, so she can rejoin the ‘festivities’.
Today I spent quite a bit of time enjoying the pictures from the WH Easter Egg Hunt, some of which were quite cute.
http://theobamadiary.com/2011/04/25/egging-them-on/
I would like to visit any of you who grow and like asparagus, and have you feed me the good stuff. My late parents, who were Depression-era, poor kids, thought canned asparagus was the last word in luxury. When I think of the stringy-mushy stuff, I still gag. I haven’t eaten it since I had to, probably some 52 years ago. It has to be better than I remember!
I drove to the next town over, past a raging brush fire, to pick up my elderly aunt and uncle. We had our Easter lunch at the local Japanese restaurant; he had eriyaki beef, she had a Bento Box dinner, and I had 8 different kinds of sushi. Sometimes, making a new tradition is fun.
I don’t grow it but I do love to eat it. I buy the very thin spears, break them off near the bottom of the stem (they’ll snap at the point where the stem becomes woody) and steam them for about 4 or 5 minutes. A little butter, salt and pepper and yummm!!!
They taste NOTHING like that nasty green mush of my childhood!
Steaming asparagus is good, but grilling is better. Use very thin spears. Toss them gently in a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill about 2 minutes, turn, grill the other side two minutes, then serve with crumbled blue cheese on top.
This is the BEST way to enjoy asparagus!
Lotf of good and better ways but this way is the best!
So……………now you have something in common with Bald Eagles. Grrrrrrrrreat. I need to know if the late Duke and Mick are behind the putting up of Burma Shave signs around several Iowa counties lately? And what happened in Antarctica? Don’t leave me hanging too long. I got doctor visits to attend to.
The Duke has been a Faithful departed for several years now, and was functionally illiterate anyway, though he was good with wiring sound systems which is why Freddie and The Dreamers hired him to begin with. And I don’t think Mick has been in Iowa since his encounter with the chief of police’s 15 year old daughter back in 1968. So, I doubt they’re in cahoots about the Burma Shave signs. The Duke was convinced that his second cousin once removed, Robert Scott, had actually gotten to the Pole first and that the Norwegian had covered up the evidence. He decided to go down and investigate on his own, relying on purported original records Scott had cached under the actual Pole itself. I had to go along to make sure that his medications didn’t freeze and that he stayed on them. Alas, my late husband had in mind a red-and-white striped barber’s pole, the kind he regularly saw in Picadilly, so the expedition was not a success.
I was about to say just hand me a fork and I’ll pull my chair up to the the plate in the first photograph.
Then I saw the second photo and decided that my chair needed to be equidistant between the two!
I was supposed to visit my nephew’s house for Easter but the kids were sick so we’re postponing until next Saturday. I’m not sorry I missed the germs but I AM sorry that I missed the homemade carrot cake! 🙁
I ended up with leftover beef stew which was really good, but somehow didn’t have quite the right appeal for Easter dinner. Maybe next Sunday I’ll make some holubtsi (stuffed cabbage) and cook up some kielbasa…better late than never! It’s just not Easter without the smell of kielbasa in the house!
I always thought I hated asparagus because the only kind I ever tasted as a kid was the smushy stuff in a can…blechhh! Then, only a few years ago, I decided to try steaming some and I am seriously hooked on the stuff now. Yummm!
Leenie – you cracked me up. I had the very same reaction to the first two pics. I was all ready to just invite myself in and sit right between those two dishes and help myself.
Also, Mom used to feed us the canned asparagus in a can and it was just loathsome. Then, 6 or 7 years ago ex forced me to eat some that she had picked up at an outdoor market and then steamed with some lemon and butter. From that moment on I was an addict . When spring rolls around I will sometimes literally dream about it .
I also missed out on Easter dinner makings yesterday but my sister just stopped by with a few small pieces of the fresh marjoram Easter sausage and some kraut pierogies. I’m thrilled! And next week I’m planning to do a big batch of golumbki / holubtsi / stuffed cabbage. ( do you do yours with raw hamburg and let it steam with the rice ? )
ummmm…
I’m going to pretent that I entirely meant to phrase it, ” canned asparagus in a can”, for humorous effect.
yep.
did.
( yeah. same with “pretent ” )
🙂
I cook the rice and add the raw meat and spices to the hot rice. The first time I made it myself, my sister gave me directions over the phone and told me to add the spices “until it smelled like Grandma’s house”. I was only 3 when Grandma moved off the farm and in with my aunt, so I didn’t know HOW on earth I was supposed to remember that! You can’t taste it because the meat is still raw so you have to go by smell.
Sure enough, I kept adding the spices and…Eureka!!!…Grandma’s house! It’s amazing how smells can be such powerful memories even after 40 years and from the nose of a toddler!
A woman I worked with last year wanted me to give her a recipe but I couldn’t figure out how to translate “smells like Grandma’s house” into directions that she could follow!
Do you use tomato sauce on top? My family just bakes it covered tightly with foil with some beef bouillon in the pan so it bakes and steams at the same time. When I was a kid, my father would render salt pork to put on top, but that’s like putting a cork directly in your aorta so we don’t do that any more!
Your guide to all things Dyngus in Buffalo :
http://dyngusdaybuffalo.com/
It’s quite the time!
Sure sounds that way. Thank you for the link.
The Dyngus Day celebration got underway early this morning and Buffalo is now in full swing. The world’s largest celebration complete with a parade and over 50 venues with polka bands, dancing , lots of food and drink and general frivolity and merriement. The dancing and food began at 10am and parties will continue on until 4am tomorrow. There’s a reason we’re the Dyngus Day Capital of the US !
Linda – I’m jumping on the asparagus nom-nom train. Looks fabulous! It’s been too expensive this year at the store and the outdoor markets aren’t open yet. I might have to dig deep and splurge at least once. And that fruit salad is a very happy thing, indeed.
I think the best I can do from my kitchen today is a fruit cup and some rye toast. Must plan
a grocery trip !
Wait for the farmer’s markets. Then reward yourself.BTW,in case I missed it,what’s a Dyngus?
Linda, that all looks so yummy. It’s hard for me to plan a dinner for Easter now. One daughter doesn’t like ham and the other has become a vegetarian. So your salad would have made her very happy. We had a roast with oven roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, a tossed salad and a fruit salad. It was all very tastey but I really like the look of your asparagus salad. Fantastic!
Cool. Looks yummy Linda.
We had roasted sugar snap peas with olive oil and waaaaaay too much garlic. Basically it was “have a little peas with your roasted garlic”…
The idea is to soak our blood with garlic so the giant misquitos don’t like us.
We’ll see if it works. The first of the year misquitos are always HUGE. Like flying black helicopters with a poker aimed at the middle of your forehead…
Not the black helicopters!
Hi mudpups – Just dropping in to say “hello” Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, it’s still cold in South Dakota even though it’s in the 50’s today, that pesky old wind makes it feel a cold lower. Who knows we could have snow or hail later today, The one thing I’ve learned about being here is that the weather is very, very unpredictible so when you get nice weather you need to make the best of it.
Tigerwine i wish I could share lots of asparagus with all who want it. Most of it is given away to neighbors and some townfolk. I didn’t get any for myself last year. I give away tomatoes and spuds and onions and lettuce and gooseberries and whatever else I grow. I used to raise laying hens and I would find out which neighbors wanted broilers and I would raise them and sell those at cost. I wish my growing season started when yours does,even though I can hardly walk. I just got my onion plants in the mail Saturday. They should have been planted already.Good luck gardening and my sincerest hope you stay healthy and happy. I can’t bestow the Lord’s bl;essings on anyone. I am not a believer as such.
You have gooseberries? Oh, I am so jealous. My favorite berry in the world.
My eldest sister in Florida asked me If I would try to grow some gooseberries and then send her some. Well I started with threee “Pixwell” plants about 5 years ago and the bushes have spread nearlt thirty feey across my garden. They also have half-inch long thorns that are carnivorous with humans. One July I sent her over thirty pounds of berries. These will get as big as marbles or bigger and get a pink blush when ripe. Fairly sweet and don’t really taste like gooseberries. They make your mouth pucker when they are green. They really produce,too. I have some pictures in my screensaver from two years ago of them when they are green Your welcome to all of them you can pick.
What does one do with a gooseberry?
I make gooseberry preserves. I love them because they aren’t so sweet. I just don’t do real sweet stuff. Gooseberry pie is TDF!
No matter where we have lived, I have always had gooseberry bushes. Until here. Can not, can NOT get the things to live. I would love to find some native to the region bushes and plant them, but can only find hybrids. My friends at the local farmer’s market are on the lookout for me, so I know that sooner or later I will have bushes of my own!
I tried for years to grow blueberries and they wouldn’t live until I started to give them a handful of aluminum sulphate,which increases the acidity of the soil. Every year I give my gooseberries a handful of the stuff. Its a white,granular looking stuff you get from greenhouses or seed catalogs. Sure perked up the blueberries and turned the leaves green right pronto. Unfortunately, by the time I figured out how to get them going,I got tired of working with them and took them out. Doesn’t hurt the gooseberries that I’ve seen. You could try it sometime. Is a little spendy. Good luck if you try it.
I have tried. I am a Master Gardener and have tried everything in my magic book. From talking with the serious experts at UofI, it seems as if the air around here is filled with a rather particular fungal spore that spells death to hybrid gooseberries. I had already figured that out, but it was nice to have a back up! One day!
Mike – your personal blessings are fine with me!
Looks wonderful!
We had a lovely outdoor BBQ next to the pool. Encheladas, home made bread, cookies, grilled veggies and tri tip, carrot cake and lots of See’s candy.
What a yummy dinner. Love kiwi fruit. Loaded with V-C. My grandson cuts kiwi fruit in half, and eats it with a spoon.
Just wondered what dressing was used with this fruit salad?
I don’t think any…it was just wonderful fresh fruit in its own juice.
Sweet springtime salad on a plate, Linda. 🙂
One of our hens lays large eggs with pale green shells, and the rest lay varying shades of brown. Pretty to contemplate and delicious, also, too, with yolks so rich they are almost orange.
Drought conditions here in the forest. My biggest garden space from last year is now the flock’s biggest dustbath. Oy, vey. Send some rain my way, eh?
I’m still wandering in the Passover desert, eating the “bread of affliction,” wrestling with my angels and my demons, seeking freedom, preparing the mikveh (ritual bath…my “starter pool” will be clean and filling with cool, clear water soon).
Passover ends after sunset tonight. I’ll enjoy pizza and an apple cinnamon donut to celebrate, with a dark chocolate chaser.
spring break stretches before me
ahhhhhhhh
L’Shalom,
thatcrowwoman
Glad to have you back. Hope you did the needful and keep them “peeps” in line.
Great Heavens if I knew you needed cool,clear water I could have sent you some. My water heater was flooded again until last night we got it cooking some more. I am not up on religious stuff and mostly not interested,so I don’t want you or anyone else to be put-off if I come across as indifferent or even good-looking. Have the best Monday of your life and follow it up with the best Tuesday etc.
Come take some of our water, please. We are in day two of river flood (Mississippi), and it is going to stink like the back side of a fish market in about a week.
I live in a bog, my dear, and would happily send you some moisture if I could! Having a Sheltie with an amazing fluffy coat is definitely a curse in my area…he has to get washed almost every time he goes out!
Not a problem,get rid of the bog. Hope this helps.
Try the amazing new product: BogAway!
I’m boggled!
Love that game!
i’ve been having thoughts of you crowwoman.
crows and ravens and blackbirds, oh my.
i wish i’d thought to post this delicious passover chocolate treat recipe that i used to make for family.
it is soooo decadent that one observant acquaintance of mine refused to eat it stating that no way was it kosher. t’was though.
Please, post!
Heavens I’d —- to find a woman that could make goulash or mac and cheese from scratch.
*waves*
Don’t know goulash, but I make killer mac and cheese!
Such a beautiful salad Linda!
I only recently realized it might be possible to grow asparagus HERE!
Did you know that?
Trying very hard to think about what is possible to grow here instead of the opposite.
Lots and lots of info about Alaskan agriculture and farms here :
http://snras.blogspot.com/
with lots and lots resources to help make possibilities into reality.
Happy salad!
Happy Spring!
Linda, what I miss about your blog is your documentaion of your garden and all you were growing. Your political writing is first rate and is shown both here and there, but you were an inspiration with the gardening.
Thanks so much…I have it on good authority that you may see some of those gardening posts on Mudflats this summer 🙂
And Alaska Pi…I tried growing asparagus last year but the variety I used required too long of a growing season. I’m going to try and find some already-started asparagus plants this year at my favorite greenhouses (Dimond Greenhouse is one) to try again.
One thing I did decide…I’m not growing my glorious artichokes this year. While they are great fun, the heads are very small and they take up a HUGE amount of gardening space!
I second NSWFM comments 🙂 Also AK Pi when it comes to goodies we can grow here.
I got some beautiful asparagu roots, certified, and they will go in the ground shortly. I figure if they need a little extra ‘help’ I will hoop them in the late winter, early spring, then let them fern out after they are done for the season.
Our determination to grow more of our own, so we can just have it versus any other reason is growing all the time. I also know your local AK farmers are open to suggestions when you buy at the markets or farms. They are a great bunch of ‘explorers’ 🙂
Thanks for sharing, helps keep me motivated!!
I am wondering if you all can grow Brussels Sprouts? They are my favorite vegetable, due to horrible parental bribing when I was little. I still hope for extra time on my horse, Flicka, if I eat all of my serving – even though I now love them, and Flicka (get over the name: this was in the 1950’s for goodness sakes) has been gone for over 50 years.
My mom has an asparagus bed at their house…
A remark you made in passing and Ugavic asking if we had em here is what made me start looking!
🙂
That looks yummy, and I’m sure everyone enjoyed it. I grilled wild-caught Alaskan salmon, then we had grilled asparagus and roasted Roma tomatoes in an olive oil/caper dressing, strawberries and kiwi, plus a pasta salad, grilled Portobello mushrooms… it was cool and rainy, but I grill in all kinds of weather. More rain today- not typical Denver weather, but we’ve been in a severe drought and need the moisture.
Happy Monday, everyone…
I don’t want to be a pest,but,I have volunteer roma tomatoes in a raised bed where I try to grow onions. Every year I’m stuck with lots of romas I can’t get rid of and onions that don’t get the sunlight they need because of tomato shade. In a perfect world you good folks would zip in on my personal helicopter and take all the asparagus and tomatoes and other garden stuff you wanted before my chopper flies you back home.You just wait til I win the lottery. Sign up for chopper rides today while there is still time.
I’m signing up! Send me home to NYC with bushel baskets of Romas!
A challenge to all Mudpups! With all the brough-ha-ha about birth certificates, out of curiosity, I dug mine and my husband’s out, just to see what was on it. I honestly didn’t remember what they looked like!
Well – Massachusetts did me proud. Must be what they call the “long form”, complete with green embossed seal and a geneologist’s dream. Had my parent’s names, ages and even occupations
and home address.
Now, I must say that if Obama had to prove anything with a birth certificate like my husband’s, he might be in trouble. All the state of PA issued was a form about the size of a large index card, with just the parent’s names, no other info like mine had. The kicker here is that the baby’s first name is not even on the certificate, since he was not named until after he went home. Evidently he didn’t need one until he got out of service and went to work for the phone company. At that time, his mom had to sign an afidavit verifying what his name was, etc. Good thing, since he was really vetted when he became an Air Traffic Controller – FBI, even. (No, he never fell asleep or went on strike!)
My challenge: Go dig out your BC, and tell us what you find!
Hawaii’s official birth certificate is the document statement of live birth. According to their people the long forms haven’t been used for years. In Iowa they used to give the baby’s name weight,length place of birth and at one time your baby couldn’t leave the hospital until it had a proper name. I’m to lazy to dig mine out. I’ll see if its listed on the internet.
BTW LKB- fruit salad looks yummy and my asparagus hasn’t “peeped” their heads out of the ground. Too cold yet. But lord does I have lots of it.
Mike, I envy you your “lots” of asparagus! Love the stuff. I remember one year a local farmer brought us a dishpan full of pencil thin asparagus. My husband and I didn’t even have to cook it, it was so tender. We just took some of it and munched on it raw.
I figure I have to have 3 things to eats lots of in the month of May: strawberries, asparagus and Vidalia onions!
We have maybe another two weeks of asparagus season here. Oh, how we love it. We have it three times a day during these wonderful weeks!
I’ve said all along that the birthers wouldn’t like mine. I was adopted and the doctor forgot to file the one with my adoptive parent’s names on it till about three weeks later. It has my name, their names, and the usual stuff. But the original birth certificate with my birth parents’ information is sealed and I don’t have access to it, not matter what Donald Trump says. My parents left all of those papers to their lawyer who handled the adoption and he died a long time ago. My mom told me that she asked the lawyer to cover up all the document except where they needed to sign. She didn’t want to see a last name of the birth mother. In her mind, I would be more hers if she didn’t attach some other name to me. Who knows where any of that ended up, because I never found it in my mom’s stuff when she passed away. And I decided a long time ago not to try to look. Satisfying my curiosity was not worth hurting my mother’s feelings. Without a last name, if I apply for a certified copy of my birth certificate, I get the one with my adoptive parents listed in the spots for parents names. Good enough for me, and good enough to get a driver’s license, get married, and get a passport.
What I do know from working in Medical Records at the hospital when I was in junior college is that there was a lot of personal information on birth certificates back in the 60s, besides their place of birth, birthdate and address. Mothers were asked how many pregnancies they had had, how many live births, still births, miscarriages. Getting that information was part of my job, and that was the part I found uncomfortable. It felt intrusive to ask a woman all of that. I’d guess that someone else thought so too, because I don’t think that was information I was asked when our daughter was born in Wichita.
So if that is what is on an original long form, it’s possible that someone might not want to share all that information with the world, as it really is none of their business and doesn’t prove anything about the baby’s citizenship status. After all, it only matters where the person was born and the date, not detailed personal information about the mother’s previous pregnancies.
And I think it’s much to the credit of most states that they don’t put all that personal information on certified birth certificates any more. The birth certificate for my youngest who was born in Washington state looks just like the one that President Obama has from Hawaii. And she’s never had any trouble proving she’s a citizen either.
I’m looking at 2 long forms from different cities in Massachusetts. One for myself and one for spouse.
Here are the “blanks” that are filled in:
name of child
dob
sex
name of father
maiden name of mother
place of birth-one has specific hospital and the other just lists the city
residence of parents
father’s occupation
mother’s occupation-only one asks for this
birthplace of father
birthplace of mother
date of record
Both have seals and are signed by the city clerk/town clerk of the year the record was requested. One is handwritten and one is typed. One of the copies was requested in 1997 and one in 1998. Only one has a notation of the volume, folio and record number which I guess is the location of the original official record. One is embossed and has a red ink seal and the other has a gold foil seal.
Sounds like the one I have, Laurie! I wonder of MA still issues those.
I got mine in 1970 because I needed it for a passport. It cost me a whole dollar. Bet that’s not the case now!
My husbands certificate, the longer one, also had a box checked for LEGITIMATE which I found interesting.
Parents names / address / birth order (twin) / number of other living siblings ….
I have the copy that they gave to my parents when I was born in 1960. It looks pretty much like the President’s, except it’s from NY and says Certificate of Birth Registration on the top. On the bottom there are lines for immunization records, which I’ve never heard anyone else mention but they’re empty on mine anyway. On the back it states that this certificate can be used as proof of citizenship as long as there’s a raised seal on the front. I’ve used mine to get my passport and for all sorts of other things and never had a problem. Hmmm…maybe I was really born in Kenya and don’t even know it!!!
Wow. I’m very impressed that you still have the original document given to your parents. I bet you are extremely well organized.
President Obama provided the correct birth certificate. End of story.
What a lovely table and yummy looking meal. Thanks for sharing that with us. More rain today and I think part of the reason why everyone is so grouchy is because they have mushrooms growing in their shorts!
In the meantime, look at what bloomed here over the weekend: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DV4_1zrCG0nQ&v=V4_1zrCG0nQ&gl=US
Have a great day all! I’m off to work.
Ohhh, that’s much too pretty to eat, Linda! Your holiday meal must have really been something!
Cricket – what’s this link supposed to bring up? All I get is links to other You Tube stuff. I want to see what’s blooming!
Dang! It’s the corpse plant at OSU’s greenhouse. Huge beautiful plant that blooms once a decade and smells like roadkill.
Here is a photo, article and video of the corpse plant, merry- everything but the smell 🙂
http://www.thelantern.com/campus/everyone-wants-a-good-stink-1.2190512
Thanks Boodog! that’s the one.
Now let’s get on to spring. It still seemed a wee bit cold out today.