Party memories!

 We set up tables in our new patio, not many as we needed standing room for the guests. This inaugural party was to celebrate the engagement of our son and his fiancee. The guests were their friends  and a few relatives.

 Our friend, Harvey made some wonderful food, like this caponata.

 Their friend Carole made them some delicious cupcakes.

 Harvey stuffed all of these pea pods with creamy cheese. Really pretty, right?

 This was a whirl of people going by. Everyone seemed to have a nice time, our son and NDIL enjoyed seeing people they hadn't seen in years, friends from childhood and college. 


We were happy we could host this, we were happy to meet their friends, and see friends of theirs whom we hadn't seen since they were very young. We're now adjusting to post-party life.

Sunday, we took a walk to a local place for brunch, and came upon this curious site on the next street. Today, when I mentioned it to a friend at the Farmer's Market, they said that it was someone joking about The Rapture. Oh, I get it! I didn't at the time. I thought it was an art installation. Silly moi!

Los Angeles

Here's an assortment of images from my L.A. trip. My sister and I made cupcakes for mom's first party. We were very pleased with the way we decorated them. I even used one as a prop to show off the tiny tree (friends' Maddy and Fil's Christmas card) which I'd had tucked into my card case. Mango, my sister's cat, was enjoying a siesta on my coat. The Victorian building is such an odd site in the San Fernando Valley, every time we go past it, I'm struck by the strangeness of it. I took this image of the palm trees as I waited to board the Flyaway bus from Van Nuys to LAX for my flight home. I enjoyed the warm weather (80 F - 28 C) and visiting with family, and seeing Mom be so happy with the attention she received on her birthday.

Life in New Jersey

Tonight, I cooked up a bunch of veggies with garlic and Italian seasonings, and some cheese ravioli, which Ron added sauce to, and with a salad, this made an okay dinner. Ryan had to eat something else because he's allergic to eggs (the ravioli had eggs in them,waaa,)





but
Ryan was happy cleaning out the bowl we used to make vegan cupcakes from the great little vegan cupcake recipe book.
This is an excellent cookbook even if you aren't a vegan. You can see the cupcakes on Ryan's Vox blog. He took photos and wrote his blog himself. He's 7! Check it out.

A nice day....

Last Sunday, while Ryan was visiting, we took a walk over to Monument Avenue for the annual Easter Parade, which is not a parade but a BIG walk around. People and dogs, many in fancy hats, just walk down one side and up the other, with the median park area filled with booths and activities. It's a lot of fun. There are bands set up on porches, Morris Dancers in the street, jugglers, clowns, food, and in general a happy atmosphere. We liked this lawn decorated with fake eggs of all sizes and a fat bunny. Later, after our family headed back to New jersey, we stopped by our friends' house and they had made these cute cupcakes. Susan was happy to tell us that she'd used her new paper cutter, we thought on the coconut, but it was to make the duck napkin fit the tray. We had a laugh over that. Okay, so we laugh easily and at little things.