Happy Friday!

The hens were generous today. They gave my daughter two eggs. My daughter wasn't expecting very many eggs. So this has come as a surprise. The hens are sweet and funny.

I didn't grocery shop this week. Maybe you can relate -- when we have a big holiday meal, we often have so many leftovers that there is no need to buy more groceries for a week or more. In fact, I haven't gone anywhere since last Sunday's church service. Now that feels odd to think I didn't leave the neighborhood. The furthest away I went this week was a few houses down from us to visit with the chickens while my daughter added feed and changed their water.

I've continued working in the vegetable and flower garden. Today I planted half of the tomatoes. I'll hold back the other half for a week, as a just in case measure, just in case we get pouring, cold rain, or the critters do damage. I've been planting flower pots with seedlings that I started indoors. This year I started petunias, violas, marigolds, and nasturtiums for flowers. The begonias over-wintered in their pots in the garage. I brought them outside a couple of weeks ago, and they are just now beginning to break the soil.

Today's post isn't just wandering thoughts. I also have a question for you. How do you feel when your grown children give you an expensive gift, or an expensive-for-them gift? Sometimes one or a couple of our kids will give us something that we feel costs more than they should spend on us. We want them to save for their futures. My two daughters bought some glassware for me for Easter. I saw them in the store and thought they were lovely. But I also noted the price tag per glass. They're not super expensive, just expensive for my daughters' stage in life. Oh but they're lovely and go well with our spring dishes. Anyway, I've had a difficult time with this gift. How does it make you feel to be on the receiving end of your grown children's generosity?

I can't believe we're up against the weekend already. What will you do to make this weekend beautiful? I plan on taking a long walk to see all of the neighbors' spring flowers and flowering trees, having a cup of coffee outdoors in the morning, baking a batch of rhubarb muffins, and potting more flowering seedlings on Saturday.

Dinner was exciting at our house tonight

The elderly hens that my daughter is caring for have given us 4 eggs so far. I used all 4 eggs in a Denver frittata, basically a Denver omelette baked in the oven.

The yolks were darker colored and more mounded once cracked into a bowl, as compared to grocery store eggs. My husband thought the eggs tasted richer. We all noticed how yellow the egg part of the frittata was.

The hen with the issue appears to be improving slightly, without any extra care from my daughter. Between my daughter and I we know exactly zilch about hens. Thank goodness for the computers, both for finding information and for the ability to email the hens' owner while they're traveling.

Last night's dinner was also exciting, but for a completely different reason. Yesterday was my husband's birthday. In our house, the birthday person gets to choose what we're doing to celebrate, including what's for dinner and dessert on the birthday. My husband chose Mexican food and a Rice Crispy Treat cake for dessert. Yesterday wasn't the big celebration. It was just the four of us. Our big joint birthday celebration will be this weekend, with our son and daughter-in-law joining the four at home to celebrate both my husband's and my birthday. My husband took time off work for part of the day yesterday. What he really wanted to do was go to Value Village, then play a board game in the afternoon/evening. We are so easy to please in our household.

I've been getting the vegetable garden planted this week. Monday I seeded the carrots. Yesterday I planted the kale seedlings that I started indoors. And today I planted the cabbage and Brussel sprout seedlings (also started indoors). I will need to keep an eye on the garden this year. I saw 3 rabbits on our property this morning. Although some of the garden beds have wire fencing, a couple of them do not.

Have you had the opportunity to eat very fresh eggs before? What's been your impression of fresh eggs compared to grocery store eggs?