AROUND AND ABOUT FROM 3-3-25 TO 3-9-25

This is our weather forecast for this week, from Monday 3-10-25 to 3-17-25

Hello Family and Friends, thank you once again for your encouragement. Here Is this past week’s daily journal. 

Monday, March 3rd, 2025: father and son were off out for the day. I enjoyed my usual pottering. Not much went on here but Gregg returned with a gift from one of the bookstores they visited. He always says books find you, you don't find them. He saw this one on a display table and picked it up immediately, looked through it and knew I would love it. He was right. It's a new one by Amy Tan and all the art is her own.

Tuesday, March 4th, 2025: 

We ran an errand today, I just went along for the ride and stayed in the car while Gregg went into the dry cleaners. I saw the leprechaun and unicorn again on our way home. This time there was an Irish flag.

Not long now before St. Patrick's Day but in advance I'll wish you: 

"Lá fhéile Pádraig Sona Dhuit" in Irish. 

According to Google it actually translates directly to "Happy Day of the Festival of Patrick to you".

• "Lá Fhéile Pádraig": Means "St Patrick's Day".
• "Sona": Means "happy".
• "Duit": Means "to you". 

This shows its pronunciation:

With it being Shrove Tuesday I made pancakes this evening. It was a tradition in my family when I was growing up, and is still tradition in the UK I'm thinking, to make them once a year (Brit friends please let me know if this is still going on). Mum always made it a lot of fun. She would toss the pancakes up in the air to flip them back into the pan on the other side, letting us have a try. Quite a few landed on the floor and nothing but laughter and giggles, and lots of happy times.

When we first met, Gregg told me he was surprised that pancakes were only made once a year, which he had found on the Royal Navy ship he was stationed with for two years. When we were first married and he asked if I could make him pancakes, I remember being very surprised that pancakes were made for breakfast, and often. It certainly wasn't Shrove Tuesday. 

I still make them the way my mother used to, something between an American pancake and a crepe, but more like a crepe, which fortunately he loved and still loves. We always served ours sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar over the top, and intended to make them that way today. At the last minute we found we had used all our lemons, and I didn't want Gregg to go out just for those. Maple syrup it was! I added blueberries on mine. 

Wednesday, March 5th, 2025: when we saw them last Sunday, our son and daughter-in-law brought pastries from a place called Chateau de Chantilly Cafe. Gregg enjoyed his very much - a fried croissant with a cream filling - and suggested we go over there this morning for breakfast. We are also checking places out when our overseas company visit us.  They will be arriving a little over a month from now. 

This is actually our second visit to the cafe, our first was last year. Visually, and I thought it a bit strange, as I looked at all the variety of delicious delights they offered, I found myself a bit overwhelmed. 

I couldn't decide on anything. I ended up getting what Gregg had come here for, a fried croissant with a cream filling. It was outstanding. Gregg also purchased a coca-cola and ordered a latte for me, except that he accidentally ordered me two. 

I was so annoyed!

And yes I am joking. My unexpected café au lait pour deux? Lovely, and so was that fried croissant. I was wired for the rest of the day. That silly face was after my dear other half asked me if I enjoyed the extra cup of coffee and that was my response. They are not small cups!

A big thank you to him for such a nice treat with my extra surprise, and the nice drive to get out here.

I would describe this place as shabby/chic. I am comfortable wearing a sweater and jeans. It is in an old building with tall ceilings. When son and daughter-in-law were there on the weekend it was packed out and they were lucky to get a table. We had no problem mid-week, and we always go on an off hour when people have gone back to work.  There is an upstairs for the overflow. We managed to get a parking spot right out front, so I left my cane in the car and used Gregg’s arm. They are open every day from 7.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.

On the way home we had a good old Virginia downpour. I took this photo between the window wipers going at full speed. I have quite a few which I deleted before this one.

We had a FaceTime with my brother-in-law in Germany, another nice long chat. I feel blessed that we have such a close friendship with him after all these years, and with such distance between us too. I am grateful to this technology that allows us to keep in touch, almost like we are all in the same room.  

Thursday, March 6th, 2024: father and son were out again with my blessing. Gregg left the house around 2:00 a.m. I did nothing special and pottered! He knows I enjoy my quiet time. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them anyway. They like to gadabout all over the place and I would slow them down to a crawl. My time went quickly and when hubs got home late evening, he caught me up on his day and I told him mine. He won! I can’t remember everything I did now, I just know the day went quickly.  

Friday, March 7th, 2025: I woke up to the wind howling outside. It was a little after 1:00 a.m. I could hear the sound of the tree branches whipping into a frenzy. It took me forever to get back to sleep. I could see the light of dawn coming through the shutters before going back to sleep.

The first thing I did this morning was look out on the deck. The only thing I could see amiss, was a small branch from the fir tree. When we first moved here, that fir tree was tiny and remained that way for years. I was told the roots hit the water table and from there on it grew and it grew, and it grew. It is way above the house, and we are going to have to do something about it soon, but unlike our other trees that had to be cut down, it looks very healthy. Someone quoted us $1,200 and because of priorities, don't want to do that right now as we have other things to take care of. It is a healthy-looking tree, and this price quoted was just for pruning. This seems to be the going rate and they certainly are very skilled. When the last man cut down the tree, he was like a lumberjack, shimmying up and down like it was no effort at all.

We picked up an item of clothing from the dry cleaners and that was about it for my outdoor adventure today. There was even more traffic around today.

Look what we saw on the way home? I think the leprechaun and his steed were a wee bit tipsy, or perhaps competing in a rodeo?

The more logical explanation is that with the wind last night, they were deflated.  I saw them flattened on the ground earlier with a couple of bicycles on top acting as weights. I think it was in the process of being inflated again.

Saturday, March 8th, 2025: I took one of my books down off the shelf and picked out a walrus to sketch. This book is not only educational, it has the most wonderful artwork inside, just like the new book Gregg gave me.

This is the one I chose. I remember seeing them once and they are magnificent marine animals. You can read about them at this link.

Here's my scribble sketch.

Nothing else of note today. We had a very quiet day, very relaxing.  

Sunday, March 9th, 2025: son just left at 12:30 p.m. He usually arrives between 8.30 and 9.00 with my coffee in hand and also a muffin. I look forward to his weekly visits. He and his dad will be getting together on Tuesday again. It's becoming a regular thing. 

I have a doctor's appointment coming up next week to see what's going on with this knee, as there are no marathons in my future until I get it sorted out. Not that there were any marathons in my past either, but it would be lovely to be able to get out on a good walk around my favorite places. I am very lucky, I have Green Spring Gardens as it's a short trip to where we park the car and is an easy, flat area.

It feels good to look outside and see the sun shining. 

I think I am going to end this week's around and about here. If something exciting happens I will add it before I publish. I have a feeling it's going to be all quiet, so at 5.13 p.m. I'll say bye-bye for now and until next time...

thanks so much for continuing to read through these things, always appreciated.