"It has come!"

It is as if a green mist were creeping over it. It's almost like a green gauze veil.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is one of my favourite children's books and I especially love the edition illustrated by Tasha Tudor. The book speaks of the joy of Spring and renewal that I hope you enjoyed over the Easter weekend.

We had beautiful weather, family visiting from Burlington and lots of good food. And with two egg hunts for the kids (one supplied by generous neighbours), they got more than enough chocolate.

I hope the bunnies don't find the parsley... 

St. Paddy's Day Green

Green is sprouting everywhere.

The bottom vegetable patch

Pretty messy. If you look closely you can see the weeds coming back. But, you can also see where the asparagus plants are; they haven't started to green yet.

And chamomile has self-seeded everywhere.

Leeks that were left in the ground to over-winter have come back.

















Lemon thyme is one of my favourite herbs. It's tenacious, smells great and I use it in cooking.

My peony is coming back. I moved it last year and am hoping for blooms this year.

My dad keeps asking if I've ordered my seeds. I really need to get on that!

Lemon squares = Spring

Lemons squares taste like Spring.
Spring is about renewal.
Renewal is just what I did with my good friend Christina.

She came for lunch today. We hadn't seen each other since well before Christmas. We had lots to catch up on: new and old houses, weddings, age spots (even though we are NOT old), keeping fit, what our kids are up to...all the things girl friends share.

Besides a good chat, we had good food. Broccoli/bacon/cheese salad, corn bread, fruit salad and lemon squares. Yum!

Lemon Squares

1 Cup	flour
½ Cup	butter
¼	sugar
1 pinch	salt

Cream butter and sugar.
Blend in flour and salt.
Press into a 9x9 inch pan.
Bake at 350° for 30 min.

1 Cup	sugar
2 Tbsp	flour
juice of 1 lemon
finely grated lemon rind
2	beaten eggs

Whisk ingredients together and pour over base.
Bake at 350° for 25 min.

Sift icing sugar over top while lemon squares are warm.

So here's to Spring and lunch with my good friend Christina.

Spring has sprung

at least it's starting!

While out walking the dog we saw the first flowers in the neighbourhood.

I checked around our maple for some shoots but none yet. I hope the squirrels haven't found my bulbs!