We had a little frost last night.  My weather station registered a low of 32.2F but there was a little white frost on some surfaces this morning.  Today was nice for working outside, but the black flies are pretty bad.

I want to share this link sent to me by Henretta Splain who has family in Italy.  Henretta's cousin Anna Maria's daughter, Cristina, now lives in Brooklyn, New York.  Henretta says Cristina is a wonderful cook, like her mom.  Here is a short video of her demonstrating Italian cooking.  Thank you, Henretta, for sending the video to me, and thank you, Cristina, for allowing me to post the video on my blog.  I have a feeling there are lots of Joe's Pond people who will appreciate watching it - and probably have their own traditional methods of cooking Italian.  

I have finished the stone steps except for two small stones needed to complete the top one where it joins the existing walkway.  I'm looking for stones shaped just right, and may have to trim them so they'll fit, but in the meantime, the heavy part is complete.  All except the "landing" by the driveway.  I had to borrow some stones I'd already laid in there, so now will fill those spaces, but it will require some re-working to get everything level and even.  It's kind of like working a jig-saw puzzle.

The riding lawn mower wouldn't start when Fred wanted to mow the lawn last week, but Harry (Harry's Small Engines, Walden, Vt.) got it fixed and back to us yesterday, so Fred was able to get the whole thing done.  The lawn was looking pretty shabby.  Now I need to mow the walkway with the push mower, but with all the work on the steps and rebuilding the deck, that will have to wait.  Meanwhile, there are plenty of flower beds to weed and mulch, and ground to smooth and seed where I "borrowed" the stones for the steps.  Complicated, I know.  I have been accused of rearranging landscaping like most people do furniture.  Actually, this time it's mostly a process of downsizing and finding ways to achieve easier maintenance.  I'm paying for it with sore, stiff  muscles, but once I'm finished, I'll be able to enjoy it for a while without much work - I hope.  

The crab apple tree is loaded with blossoms and the scent is everywhere.  There are bees around, but I haven't seen any  humming birds yet.  Usually they buzz me when I'm working outside or come to the big window to announce their arrival and remind us to get the food out, but I haven't seen or heard one yet.  I guess we'll put the feeder out anyway and they'll show up.  There is plenty of natural food now the apple blossoms are out - and we have lots of daffodils and cherry blossoms, so they probably are going about building their nests without worrying about food. 

Just a quick reminder for Joe's Pond folks - our spring meeting is this Saturday, May 27, 10 a.m. at the pavilion.  This is a special meeting as we'll present the prize money to Emily Wiggett who won the Ice-Out Contest this year.  We also have 2018 Ice-Out tickets ready to distribute.