HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM, AND WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO.....

First up, I'd like to say THANK YOU, from the very bottom of my cotton pickin' little heart, for all of your thoughtful words via Facebook and e-mail and phone, regarding the passing of our beloved cat Pee Wee......it really means a lot......

 Some non-cat-lovers would probably say "Get over it"; that he was just a CAT, for Heaven's sakes, but we love all animals, and shall truly miss our fat Pee and his sweet spirit..........

(doesn't this daffodil look like I stuck a plastic one in the ground? For reals, I didn't--it's the real deal!)

*******************

Spring has finally sprung here in the North Country of America, and with it comes a heck of a lotta work! Wink and I have pretty much spent the whole weekend sand blasting our decks (in preparation for staining), pulling weeds and mulching flower beds (Oy, my aching back!) in happy anticipation of the growing season ahead.

These new buds on our Red-leaf Maple make me so happy, every single year.........

Love potting sweet-faced little Pansies, for a happy touch of yellow on the porch (where the deer won't eat them and the frost won't kill 'em!)...........

Even the pesky Dandilions on the lawn make me smile (but I'll for sure get to you later, my pretties!).......

I love to bring a touch of the garden indoors...check out this centerpiece I created out of an old green serving tray, terra cotta pots (5 for $3.99 at Hob Lob!), gardening tools, a birdhouse and seed packets.....Really hoping I don't set the whole darned thing on fire!...

********************

Have you noticed a lot of these in the grocery stores lately?

I love strawberries, but they don't love me. As I get older (and older!), I've noticed that I've become increasing more allergic (lips swell up, burning mouth rashes, fun stuff like that) to certain fruits, especially citrus fruits and strawberries.

Life is SO not fair sometimes.

Anyways, I've found that I CAN eat strawberries if they're frozen in desserts, or cooked, like in jams and pies. I just happen to LOVE ice cream, so the other day I picked up a jumbo container and decided to make some ice cream for dessert.

First thing I do is puree the de-stemmed, halved strawberries with about a tablespoon of sugar in my food processor (a blender would work fine, too).........

Then I just add this puree to my normal ice cream recipe base of 2 cups 2% milk, 2 cups heavy cream, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. I also added a squirt of red food coloring to this, just so my strawberry ice cream would be light pink in color...........

Follow your ice cream maker's directions, and in a few hours time, et VOILA!.....

We like ours with a "little bit" of chocolate sauce........YUM!......

HAPPY SPRING TO YOU!

until next time,

Leslie

XXXOOO

*******************

TODAY I'M SO GRATEFUL THAT.....

***My brother Andy's heart surgery went off without a hitch....here's to better health, Android!

***We finally have a date for my parent's 50th Anniversary party--August 18th! Cannot wait to see everyone out there in Kolly-fornia...

***Our wonderful realtor Richard, who is trying his DARNDEST to sell our home!

ODE TO PEE WEE...........

                                       

R.I.P.

Pee Wee Willard

1998-2012

********************

We had to put our beloved 14 year old cat, Pee Wee, to sleep yesterday. His demise came upon us rather suddenly....he was normally the happiest, chubbiest, purr-iest cat you ever done seen.

Kidney failure is a Witch with a B............

Here are a few fun facts I'll bet you didn't know about him:

***Pee Wee Willard was born in Sonora, California, and he drove (well actually, we drove...he didn't have his license yet) all the way across the Unitied States in the back of an SUV, to his final home in upstate New York.

***Pee Wee Willard weighed 19 pounds, and when he jumped off of the bed, the whole house shook. For reals.

(Pee Wee tried to get along with most dogs)

***Pee Wee Willard was bulimic. I am not kidding. He was known to regularly "binge" on his kibble, then "purge" it back up. Thank God for wood floors, paper towels and 409!

***Pee Wee Willard was an agorophobic. The above photo is pretty much the closest he ever got to going outside. The world was just way too scary for sensitive Pee........

***Pee Wee Willard was all about love, and didn't have a mean bone in his chubby body....his bliss was cuddling up next to whoever was on the sofa or in bed.....

Rest in peace, our red headed son.

We love you!

Mom, Dad and Abbie

XXX000

THE WILLARDS TAKE PARIS, PART TROIS!

(Is she smiling, or frowning? I wish I could have gotten closer for you, but I am telling you now that you should be VERY impressed that I got this photo at all--the crowds were horrific, so this was taken by reaching my arms up waaay over my head, going heavy on the zoom, saying a prayer to Nikon and snapping away!)

*****************

Today I was 23 minutes into my hellish 45 eliptical workout when (horrors!) I realized that I hadn't finished up my very famous THE WILLARDS TAKE PARIS series--so sorry to leave you hanging like that!

I've been a bit hyper-manic lately. Springtime does that to me.

 So much to do!

May is going to be busy, busy, busy:

Little Miss Thing will be coming home for summer, mid-month.

We have an Open House tenatively scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, which will hopefully result in an offer on our home (please oh please!).

LMT's and my summer job as the official gardeners to the STARS (for the business my husband runs) starts up again in a few weeks. Which involves a ton of work, but is so much fun I can't stand it.

I know there's more on that list. I just can't remember right now--heck, I can't even remember what I had for lunch, not 2 hours ago.....

********************

There is a lovely blog here on "Cyberspace", you know, the "World Wide Web" (I say that just to irritate my kid) that I stalk on a regular basis, and it's named The Cottage Nest. A darling, darling spot in the Universe. You can get there by clicking HERE. The blogstress, whose name is Jen, is traveling to Paris to celebrate HER anniversary soon, and asked me to give her a few pointers for a smooth trip.

That just cracked me up. Because "smooth" travel is SO not what I'm known for!

Well Jen, we were only there for 8 days, but we did in fact have a pretty smooth trip this time (well, except for the crappy weather towards the end, but hey, waddya gonna do?), probably thanks to some wonderful advice given to us by friends and family. Here's what worked for us:

***Learn the very most basic French. Oui. Non. Merci. Bonjour. Bonsoir. Au Revoir. Parlez Vous Anglais?

***In most restaurants, in my limited experience, the toilettes are located in the basement.

***When entering a business, ALWAYS say Bonjour or Bonsoir. It shows respect and courtesy, and is expected.

***Our daughter taught us this one: when sitting down at a cafe, always ask for a caraffe of water (Un caraffe de eau), which is free. Otherwise, you will end up paying a bundle for bottled.

***Gratuity is always included at restaurants (and taxis, I do believe)--LOVE THIS!

***Do not drink or eat on the Metro--a major faux paus, I'm told (no wonder I got such dirty looks with my Starbucks!)

***On the street, do not attempt to smile at or say "hey" or make eye contact with the locals--I guess this is VERY typical American behavior, and they will think you are a big old geek. (I had a very hard time with this one!)

***On your first day or two in Paris, take one of those touristy double-decker bus tours (you can pick it up at Notre Dame)....these are really the best way to get a good, overall view of the city, and you can jump on and off whenever you want to, all day long. Well worth the money!

***The boat tours on the Seine are also a very convenient and inexpensive way to get around the city.

Hope those few tips help you, Jen!

***************

As I mentioned before, the last few days of our trip were chilly and rainy (totally brought the wrong clothes!), but before the rains really started, we took the Metro to the Montmartre neighborhood. Which is the hilliest area of Paris, complete with incredible views of the whole city............check out the "funicular" that takes lazy-butt girls like me up to the top of the hill.............

And here's what is at the top...the famous Sacre Coeur cathedral.........

Amazing city views.......



The lovely streets of Montmartre..........

The Moulin Rouge!.......................

******************

Of course, we could not leave Paris without visiting some of the museums. Our daughter is so fortunate: included in her tuition is FREE admissions to all of the museums in Paris! One day, she took us to the Musee D'Orsay, which is housed in a grand old train station. I don't have any photos inside this museum, as they weren't allowed, but OH the joy of standing mere inches from Van Gogh's self-portrait! From Monet's Water Lily Pond!

Words cannot express how very VAST and overwhelming the Louvre Museum was...we picked a rotten day to go, as it was rainy outside and every single tourist in Paris had the same idea, but oh well. Here are some shots from when we were waiting in line to get inside...truly breathtaking!............

The famed I.M. Pei pyramids, up close.....

Endless hallways of art, jam-PACKED with art lovers!.............

Here's a little friend of mine, named Venus. Venus De Milo, to be exact....

Egyptian antiquities, galore...........

******************

OOPS!

Hey Jen! There are a few things I forgot to mention earlier......

***Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in France drives teensy-tiny cars, because gas is seriously about $10 a gallon there. So if you rent one, find the smallest car you can, like one of these.........(I am not kidding when I tell you that we did not see ONE SUV over there, not even one!)............

***Another great way to get around is to "Velibe"-it. Velibes are bicycles that you can find to rent for the day on the streets, and they are cute as can be! Just watch out for those crazy cab drivers!

Well, I do believe I've shared the best of our travel photos...hope you've enjoyed your little virtual trip to Paris with me!

I'll be back soon with some wonderful new recipes to try!

XXX000

Leslie

THE WILLARDS TAKE PARIS, PART DEUX: THE EIFFEL TOWER, PARISIAN CAFES AND VERSAILLES!

Well now, guess I can check THIS one off of my bucket list, now can't I? Seeing the real Eiffel Tower, that is. Except I'd already been to the Eiffel tower, the REAL REAL one, just last spring, right?.............

Wait, wait...which came first, the faux Eiffel tower in Las Vegas, Nevada, or the faux version, in Paris, France???? Because I took both of these photos, and now I'm kinda confused..........

Bucket List? Check, check, check!

Oh my goody goody gumdrops I love my life sometimes!

Here's what you get when you ask a complete stranger (I secretly suspect she was sort of drunk) to take the Willard family's Christmas card photo....this photo seriously gives me vertigo! And just look at Wink's face! I don't think I'll be using this one, come Christmas, 2012...............

Here's what the underbelly of Le Tour Eiffel looks like, just in case you've never seen it from this perspective....BTW Wink wanted to take me to the top, via elevator, and propose to me, all over again,  just like Tom Cruise did with Katie Holmes when he oh-so-famously/romantically proposed to her a few years back, but the line was 3 hours long....SO not worth our precious time, we collectively decided............

Okay so that's enough of THAT tourist trap...now onto the MAGNIFIQUE street cafes of Paris, for which I have a huge crush! LOVE just sitting outside under wonderful space heaters, just watching the world go by. I've always dreamed of such places.......The first two, in one of our two favorite neighborhoods (the other being The Marais), St. Germaine.....



And here's where stuff gets funny: We've all heard about the notorious rudeness of French waiters....well, this guy just LOVED Little Miss Thing...even kindly paused to pose with her..........Hmmmm.....I wonder if he's single?..........

How cute is this?..............Je T'aime France!.........



Wink, ever the American, chooses beer--Me, bring on the French Chablis!......

*******************

On our third day in France, we took the train out to see the Palace at Versailles........I think I must have said something stupid (or embarrassing) on our 30 minute train ride out into the French countryside...what do you think?

The Palace at Versailles....there are just no words. So over the top...so much gilt and gold and glamour and glitz (and the gardens! my favorite part!)...so I'm just going to let the photos do (most of) the talking...........

Here's what happens when we try to catch a jump-shot, mid-air..........just ends up looking silly!.............Cuz that's how we silly Willards ROLL, baby!..........

This is all REAL gold--I swear on a stack!..............

(We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming to introduce the Princess of Versailles, Le Petite Mademoiselle Thing! Isn't she lover-ly?...........)

And the  King (we were promptly kicked off property, shortly after this photo was taken at the cheesy Versailles gift-shoppe).........



The Hall of Mirrors, where the Treaty of Versailles was signed--which I do believe ended World War II (or was it WW1?)............

And now to the gardens..........truly mind-bendingly beautiful!.......Check out the tulips...

Here we fooled Abbie into thinking she was kissing the actual BLARNEY STONE--I love tricking our gullible American youth!........



The "backside" of Versailles....

LMT thoughtfully picked us up a picnic lunch of fresh fruits, cheeses and baguettes at her local Farmer's Market, which we thoroughly enjoyed, lakeside...........

*******************

Here's to 25 MORE years of happily wedded bliss...LOVE you MORE, Wink Willard!.......

***************

See you soon for Part 3 of our fantastic Parisian adventure--including the Gardens of Luxembourg, the Montmartre neighborhood and, of course, the Loerve for a little bit o' Mona L.!!!!

XXX

OOO

Leslie