M. Sullivan Photography Cooking, Family, Lake Superior, Photos, Weather

Life In A Snow Globe

When it began snowing again yesterday (Or was it the day before? I can’t keep track anymore.), a co-worker mentioned how the big flakes dropping outside our office windows made it look like we were inside a snow globe.  She was putting a comical spin on our unfortunate weather pattern of recent weeks.  The beautifully falling delicate snowflakes ended in over a foot of snow in our area by late this morning.  17.7 inches of snow was reported by the National Weather Service located just a few miles from us.  North of Duluth along Lake Superior, another area had nearly two feet of snow.

Frosted
Glazed
Covered In Snow
Spring In Our Backyard – Evening
Spring In Our Backyard – Morning
Sprinkled In White

I did find a little color to photograph.  It was the best I could do.

Special Delivery

Due to the storm that blanketed Minnesota in snow, Mike’s parents had to postpone their trip to visit us.  We had hoped to celebrate Karen’s birthday with dinner and birthday cake, but due to poor road conditions, we had to cancel our plans.  Unfortunately, the cake that I had baked to celebrate Karen’s special day would not stay fresh until we could reschedule our get-together.  We had to sacrifice by cutting and serving it tonight after dinner without Karen here to celebrate with us.  Happy Birthday Nana/Mom/Karen!  Your cake was delicious!!

Dark Chocolate Cake With Fresh Raspberries
From The Top

Don’t worry, I will make you another one when we see you next.  🙂

M. Sullivan Photography Animals, Cooking, Family, Garden, Photos, Weather

So Totally Random

I found a few photos that I took during the past couple of weeks.  They don’t individually create the need to produce a post on our blog.  Together, they barely culminate the need, but I figured, “What the heck, it’s Friday”.

Here’s a picture I took early one morning just before work.  I grabbed my company’s Canon point-and-shoot to get a photo of a pair of geese walking along the boardwalk next to the William A. Irvin in Canal Park.  Unfortunately, the geese didn’t make the cut as I liked this photo better.

Reflection

 

A month ago my brother was at our house inspecting our garden and trees in the backyard, offering some tips and advice.  We heard a number of different birds singing.  He said, “Did you hear that?  That was a cardinal”.  First off, I’m not sure why he knows what a cardinal sounds like and secondly, we don’t have nesting cardinals in Duluth.  Well, at least I didn’t think we did…until Sebastian and I saw this guy last week.

Mr. Cardinal
Mr. Cardinal II

I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see him in the sea of green grass on my lawn.  We have spotted him four times now and we also saw his lady friend.  We are fairly certain he and the Mrs. have a little family somewhere in our trees (or our neighbor’s).   I would love to see the kids, but so far we haven’t located the nest.

Guess who was back in the garden?  Seriously?

The Return Of Peter Rabbit

Too bad we spoiled his fun by planting the garden and putting up a fence around it last Saturday.  I’m hopeful that he’s too lazy to dig underneath.  There are plenty of other delicious things growing in the yard and in my flower bed to go through all that work.

I baked bread last Sunday.  Not like my Mom’s awesome bread that you want to slather with butter and homemade jam, but a more European loaf that is good with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh cracked pepper.  I made it to pair up with homemade broccoli cheese soup.  Too bad my timing was off and the bread came out of the oven an hour after we finished eating the soup.

Crusty Homemade Bread

 

I am looking forward to the long Memorial weekend.  I’m not so much looking forward to all of the rain in the forecast.  We already received 4 1/2 inches this week.  Baseball was canceled…twice.  Our backyard is like a big soggy sponge.  Keep your fingers crossed that the weatherman is wrong like he often is.  🙂

M. Sullivan Photography Cooking, Family

Date Night

The kids have been in the Twin Cities with their grandparents since Sunday evening.  They have had a couple of fun-filled days with trips to the movies, the Mall of America, amusement park rides and going out to eat.  Mike and I haven’t been quite as adventurous.  We have spent the past few days at work and one of our two full evenings alone, Mike was at board meeting for three hours.  We planned to have a date night last.  A night on the town – dinner, drinks, conversation.  After being gone all weekend and long days at work and in meetings, we decided to have our date night at home.  We never get quiet evenings without the kids.  Dinners are usually rushed and the meal is not always as appreciated by the kids.  We decided to open a bottle of wine, cook some good food and enjoy the music of our choosing.  Best of all, we were able to enjoy the evening in comfy clothes and it was much less expensive than going out.  We made the right choice.  Here’s what was on the menu.

Appetizer

French Bread w/Homemade Basil Pesto, Mozzarella & Tomato

 

Salad

Spring Greens, Pear, Candied Pecans & Poppyseed Dressing

 

Entrée

Risotto w/Italian Sausage, Spinach & Peppers

 

We were both so stuffed that I’m glad we didn’t bother making a special dessert.  We did raid the fridge at around 9pm and Mike found a piece of cheesecake that we brought home from Easter dinner and I nibbled on a sugar cookie bunny with white chocolate icing.  A nice way to end a great evening!