Well, it’s Easter! The family came down for the day, and to have dinner. Here’s the table, all set and ready to go.

  And the trifle, which came out very well. That’s two layers made up of sponge cake slices, spread with raspberry preserves, topped with canned peaches (and some of the syrup, to soak into the cake), and then a generous portion of raspberry-flavored cream custard, made the day before so there’s plenty of time for the flavors to meld and for everything to soak together. Yum! Everyone liked it (although my niece, who’s not a fan of custardy things, didn’t like the cream part), and almost everyone asked for seconds–which is a good thing, for a dessert!

  Here’s Chappy, digging into his Easter “basket.” (Which was really just a plastic bucket with a couple new toys, covered with tissue paper.) He has had a really wonderful day, today. First, well, new toys! He also got a cream cheese container to lick out (one of his favorite things to do–we leave the lid on and then hide it for him to find . . . I’m running out of good hiding spot!). We humans had pancakes for breakfast, and he had a tiny one on top of his dish. He got a new milk carton to play with . . . and, much as he likes “real” toys, milk cartons are by far his favorite thing to play with–the plastic kind that skitter across the floor and can be chased and chewed and carried. In fact, my sister brought him a gallon-sized one, a size he rarely ever gets to play with–bigger and more challenging to carry! There was also dinner in the dining room, from which he always gets a sample–a slice of London Broil, in this case. Then there was the playing. LOTS of playing with my nephew, my brother-in-law, my niece . . . my poor dog is doing his best imitation of a rug right now, completely zonked out. We’re supposed to get pouring rain tomorrow, but I don’t think he’s going to miss that walk at all.

  On the fiber front, I wound my Brooks Farm yarns into two very big balls of yarn. (The top one is really more Coral than Pink in real life.) This was especially challenging because the Coral mohair did not want to stay on my ball winder! I’d be winding along, and suddenly a ball of yarn would be flying through the air! It took three tries and a much slower speed of winding to get that second ball . . . which explains the rounder, looser shape to the ball–it’s not nearly as firm or structured as the other one. (It’s pretty obvious which yarn has been working out, huh?) I plan to knit these together into a shawl of some kind, but I haven’t decided which stitch pattern I want to use, yet. Something really simple, to show off the gorgeous colors, but something just a little bit more interesting than stockinette stitch.

  And to end, a photo of Chappy from this morning when he was waiting for my sister-and-family to arrive. Note the cute “top not” of a curl on top of his head . . . I love that curl!

And, oh yes, Mom wanted to say thank you to everyone for their kind comments about her cross-stitching . . . so . . . thanks from Mom!

• Tags: Baking, Family, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Happy Easter //