Meatball pizza

This is one of the better pizzas that I've made. If you read Ken's blog, you know that he made Swedish Meatballs a few days ago with great success. So, talking about what to do with the surplus, we hit on the idea of putting them on pizza. We cut a dozen meatballs in half for our pizzas. I made my usual pizza dough (enough for two pizzas), then topped each with tomato sauce, dried oregano, some comté cheese, mozzarella, mushrooms, black olives and, of course, the meatballs. We devoured them.

The first of two meatball pizzas. Yum!

Most of yesterday was sunny and beautiful, if not a little chilly. It is still February after all, at least until midnight. March is a notorious month for unsettled weather in France. wind blown rain (sometimes snow) squalls are the norm; they're called les giboulées de mars (March showers -- the equivalent of April showers in the US).

Sepia

I applied a sepia treatment to one of the photos I took out in the vineyard earlier this week. If you look closely, you can see our little hamlet in the distance.

Sepia gives this photo a rich old-timey look.

I'm making a grocery run this morning. We don't need much, but I wanted to get a jump on the weekend shoppers. Winter vacations are still on and the stores get crowded on the weekends.

Let them eat cake

I tried something new (for me) the other day. We had (and still have) a bunch of yogurt in the 'fridge that needs to be eaten. Ken suggested a yogurt cake. I found a recipe for a ground almond/blueberry variety. It calls for fresh blueberries, but it's too early in the year to find those. Then I remembered that we had a nearly empty jar of blueberry preserves in the fridge, so I finished that up by spooning it onto the cake batter and using a wooden skewer to make swirls (I've seen this technique on tv and in other recipes). It worked more or less well, depending on which part of the cake you look at. It all tastes good, though.

The wine from the Ardèche region was for lunch. It also went well with the cake.

The big rain came through yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. You know how the tv weather people like to hype up the possibility of bad weather.

Overcast

These are the clouds that moved in on Monday morning in advance of the weather system we're under today. Rain came in some time in the night and this morning it's still raining. It should be all over later this afternoon.

Walking the dog on a winter Monday morning.

I had some technical difficulties with file handling this morning. For a while I was convinced that I had lost a bunch of photos. Ken helped me look for them but, as time went on, I convinced myself that they were gone. Then I found them in a misnamed file folder. D'oh!

Westgate

This photo was one of my "rejects" after a trip to upstate New York back in 2016. But with the help of software, I was able to find some redeeming qualities. This is the Westgate district of Albany, a little less than three miles from downtown. A set of my grandparents (do grandparents come in sets?) lived near here for most of my life. I also lived nearby in my first-ever apartment after leaving home back in '77, so I'm familiar with the neighborhood.

Looking easterly along Central Avenue (NYS Route 5) toward downtown and the Hudson River, May 2016.

There are a lot (!) of car dealerships in this part of town.

We're expecting a lot of rain on Tuesday. And just when the ground was starting to dry out a little.

While we're at it

This photo is from the deck, looking west and a little north. Easily recognized are the two apple trees. Just beyond them are the oregano patch and the vegetable garden plot. It will soon be time to cut down last years oregano stems to make way for new growth. In the foreground are some of the numerous patches of cyclamen that come up each spring here and there. The primroses will follow a little later.

Spring is just around the corner. I hope.

Today is Tasha's eighth birthday! She has a grooming appointment next week. Boy, does she need it!

Here comes the sun.

Reader Mitchell asked where the sun was in yesterday's photo. Just after I took the picture, the clouds parted, so I got this view. It didn't last very long.

The sun rises at 7h46 this morning. Not that we'll see it. But we will see three more minutes of daylight.

It's raining this morning and we're expecting light rain most of the day. So much for the sun.