First of all, there's the news of the day of course .. the Corona Virus. I haven't said much about it but it's started to get a closer to home at the moment ..
We've officially reached a pandemic by now, and most states in the US have cases too. Funny enough .. Idaho is among the view still unaffected!
Also, as of this Friday, Trump declared a 30-day travel ban for Europe!
I have a ticket to fly to Holland for the end of June ... we'll just have to wait and see!
Also, daylight savings time went into effect this last Sunday. Two weeks earlier than in Europe!
OK Maxine, I agree, but .. really! Why are we still doing this? Not a fan!
In the meantime, blossoms are still popping everywhere you look at the moment. 
The ones in the picture above are next to the river, and are presumably from Apricot trees. They have a slight pink color to them, especially when they just emerge.
Most of the ones I see are from the Wild Plum's though, and they're literary all around us!
This is a big one, about halfway up the canyon, and the ones below are all on the edge of the meadows alongside the gulch ..
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| So pretty! |
They're actually little bulbs .. and the one on the right is an (even tinier) Redstem Filaree or 'Storksbill', a member of the Geranium family.
As I said in my previous post, the birds are starting to stir and are enjoying the warmer weather.
Both very common, but after a very quiet winter it's so nice to hear them starting to sing again.
By the way, the lark (according to my audubon field guide) says something like "too tee too tiddleyou" and the kingbird "kit' and 'kit-kit-kiddledit". Ha! Just what I thought too ..
The house is progressing, a little slower than what James would like at the moment, but sure.
He really could use one skilled carpenter in his crew, since all he has at the moment are very young inexperienced kids, but it is what it is, there just aren't any around here ..
They've been working on readjusting/checking the trusses that they put up so everything is nice square and straight, and they finished installing the smaller ones around the dormers.
There's now a floor on the second floor .. comes in handy!
Even in the weekend (Sunday) this guy keeps on 'working' .. or playing with big machines .. it's a guy thing ..
I've spend quite some time in front of the TV this week, since I discovered we have the 'Olympic channel', which telecasts speed skating!
Being Dutch, skating is in my blood, and to be able to finally watch some of the races is so exciting!
"We" won both the men's and women's All-round Championship titles, and quite some individual ones too ..
As I said, it's in our blood!
I baked a little this week, using the last of the blackberries we picked last summer for a blackberry pie:
It came out surprisingly good. This pie is often very 'wet', oozing juices as soon as you cut it, but this one stayed up nice and firm .. a winner!
I also tried my hand in preparing some morels, that were gifted to us by Jesse, one of our employees!
These (wild) 'shrooms' were picked around here last spring, and they can fetch as much as $15 an ounce in a good market!
They came dried, so I first had to soak them in some hot (salted) water for about 15 minutes ..
When they're nice and soft, you cut them lengthwise (they're hollow) and than you fry them in some butter.
I found them a little disappointing, not much flavor. Not bad, but not very special either. Oh well ..
Next time (hopefully we'll find some ourselves this spring), I'll be adding some garlic, and some creme for a little bit of a sauce.
And last but not least, I captured last Monday's full moon through the plum blossoms next to the RV .. rather fairy tale-like, as my mother mentioned ..
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