Sugar Camp

Temperature 35 degree f. It was a bit chilly. We needed to find a staghorn sumac to make the stile(straw for sap to drip out of tree). Lola is punching out the corky center. Then drill a hole in the maple tree. Pop in the stile. Taste fresh sugar water from the tree. The trees weren't letting the sap run out as quickly as last year. But it still tasted just as sweet. She also tried her hand at sawing a log for firewood. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Ballet Sneak Peak

We had a peek at the ballet production coming later this year on the parent observation night. It was such a lovely treat. Lola has really improved over the last semester. Graceful and more animated, also more focused and attentive. 

Center Girl

Nature finds

Take a close look and what will you see 

A treat from the ground or a bird or our tree

Tree's are so generous as most people know

They kindly spare leaves and shelter birds from snow.

What's most fun about rocks is the surprise they keep

Ordinary and round but some perfect for sleep.

However, those clever rocks that have secrets of past

Will capture one's curiosity and share stories at last.

cp

Enchanted forest

Imagining Fairies really living in these darling little houses was quite easy. Lola thought this particular one would be nice for her fox family. Such sweet, little houses among the beautiful fragrant flowers.

Penguin parade

What a fun day to take in the zoo! They had a penguin parade and there were foxes on leashes! The elephants were even enjoying some sunshine.

Cool cactus

Part of visiting the Conservatory in the middle of winter is warming in the desert house. Here are some cool cactus we found. Mom particularly likes the barrel cactus.

Pretzel and pie

Since Coop was snowed out we had a fun morning of making Prayer Pretzels for Lent. The resulting yeasty bread was so delicious, we might make it again next week. Later in the day we made up some cherry tarts in honor of George Washington's Birthday:)

50th birthday

50!

 We had a birthday lunch for Virgil. It was nice to view his past 5 decades through some 50 photo collages. We also read some headlines from 1963(see below)For lunch, we had some cajun favorites topped off with the lemon blueberry cake. 

Headlines From 1963

President of USA ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy ,Popular tv shows- My favorite Martian, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, Petticoat Junction, songs: It’s my Party, My boyfriends back, Pop Artist Andy Warhol gain national notoriety, 200,000 people march on Washington to hear Dr Marin Luther King Jr speech,Michael Jackson is 5 years old singing with the Jackson 5

*January 1 1963- Alabama Crimson Tide defeated Oklahoma sooners 17-0 Orange Bowl

*January 6- The musical Oliver debuted on Broadway

*January 7 - The price of mailing a letter rose from 4cents to 5 Cents

*January 8 - daVinci’s Mona Lisa is displayed for the first time in the US in Washington DC

*January 26- The Baseball league voted unanimously to increase the size of the strike zone “to space above home plate which is between the top of the batter's shoulders and his knees when he assumes his natural position". 

*February 12- Construction began on the Gateway arch in St Louis (over 2 years to complete)

*February 18 1963- James Virgil Prewitt born, John Travolta turns 9 years old, Vanna White turned 6 years old, Michael Jordan turns 1 day old

*February 24- Tiny Lund wins the Daytona 500 , Richard Petty finished 6th

March 5 Patsy Cline killed in a plane crash

*March 6 First woman in space

*March 21 Alcatraz is closed because it cost twice as much to operate as other federal units

*March 30 The first direct dialed trans-Atlantic telephone calls were mae beteween the UK and USA

*April 1- General Hospital - the guinness book of world record holder for longest running soap opera first airs

*April 7- Jack Nicklaus wins first Masters

*April 8- Lawrence of Arabia wins the Oscar for best picture, Best actor goes to Gregory Peck for To kill a Mockingbird, Best Actress Anne Bancroft - the miracle worker

*May 4- Chateaugay won the Kentucky derby 

*May 8- Dr. No ~the first James Bond film premiered in US with Sean Connery as Agent 007

*May 15 Grammy 5th year- winners- Record of the year Tony Bennett- “I left my heart in San Francisco, Pop group- Peter Paul and Mary for If I had a Hammer, Best female Ella Fitzgerald for Ella Swings brightly with nelson, Best r&b Ray Charles for I can’t stop loving you

*June7- Rolling Stones first single released in Uk “Come On”

*June 11 Govenor Wallace stood in the door of University of Alabama to protest integration

*June 12- Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor has world premier

*July2 -The ‘greatest game ever pitched’ Giants vs Braves- 9th inning 0-0 ended in 16th by a home run from Willie Mays

*July- Zip codes were introduced nation wide

*july 5- shortest record for briefest session by US Senate meeting began at 9:00 am and ended 3 seconds later

*August 28 Martin Luther King Jr gives “I have a Dream” speech  

*September 16- Malaysia is formed 

*October 18-Virgil Prewitt turns 8 months old

*November 18- The first push button telephone is made available to AT&T customers

*November 15- Volcanic eruption under the sea near iceland creates the new island of Surtsey

*November 22, President Kennedy Assisinated 

*November 29 the Beatles release “I want to hold your hand”

*December 6 Beatles also begin tradition of releasing a Christmas Album 

*December 7- instant replay is invented and used on the Army- Navy game

*December 25 Walt Disney the sword in the stone is released-18th animated film

50th Birthday Party

Chocolate bananas with almonds

Bananas

popsicle sticks

melted chocolate

Almonds 

freezer

Yum

Lemon blue berry cake

I always like to try to make new cakes. When my husband decided he wanted a lemon blueberry cake for his special day. I googled images for that and found this very thorough recipe for one. It took me pretty much all afternoon. And one note I would make is to start with the preserve first then mix the cake. Because I had already whipped up the cake and had to let it set while I took half an hour to make the preserves. But it is truly one of the best cakes I have ever made. So light and lemony with the fresh preserves was a perfect combination. The icing was tasty to me however my daughter said it just tasted like butter. See next post for the finished cake.

Is that a baby or a cat?

This sweet little cat has been such a blessing to us. He will let Lola hold him all day and he just purrs and purrs. What joy in our little skunk.:) 

Daddy's birthday

The President was not the only person who had the day off on February 18th:) Our birthday boy had the day off also:) We took him out for some fresh air at the driving range. He had a great time giving some pointers to the future of golf. It seems she may be more inline with a future soft baller:) We also swung by the zoo to see the peacocks and baby giraffe. It was a sweet break in the weather for some fun in the winter sun.