Mmmm, fire.

We don't do Easter, but Pix Patisserie dropped the magic words: "Free chocolate."

We were so there.

Sunday we got in line early for the egg hunt at Pix, and when the doors opened we ran in to find a little plastic egg. (Sadly, we were only allowed one per person.) Inside each egg was a coupon - I got a free chocolate, and Keith got a free macaroon. The shop was a madhouse so we decided to go elsewhere for breakfast; it was a cold and windy morning, but we walked a few blocks down to the Detour Cafe for breakfast and a kiwi-strawberry mimosa. We'd brought the paper, but wound up just doing the crossword puzzle together over breakfast, which doesn't sound like a huge fun laugh but actually was.

After breakfast we went back to Pix and decided to use those coupons after all. So I ordered a rosemary mocha and a chipotle chocolate, and Keith got a port macaroon. We read the rest of the paper and lingered for awhile and then went back home to light the fireplace.

Our fireplace has been getting a workout lately, as the weather has turned cold and damp again, and our furnace is broken again. As I type this morning, it is 58 degrees Fahrenheit in this house. I'm in my socks, flannel pants, and hoodie, with a blanket over my lap and a space heater running. The upside to a chilly house is the increased love we're getting from the cats; they're so happy to snuggle up to a warm body that I'm getting kittycuddles all day long.

We did get some gardening done on Sunday afternoon as well - we worked up the soil in that weedy strip along the south side of our property, where our seven-foot-tall fence of grapes grows in summer. It needed a ground cover, but it was too long a strip to plant starts, so we scattered wild strawberry seeds all over. It'll be a couple of years before the strawberries really take over, but that's fine, we can wait. In the meantime we planted some cultivated strawberry starts under the roses by the porch, and some parsley and thyme there too. All are thriving.

Lana is still setting, but we expect baby chicks sometime this weekend. And at that point I guess we'll have to move this space heater to the garage, because it really is too cold for baby chicks to make it out there. Spring is doing the best it can to get going, but winter's not going without a fight.

Thank goodness for the fireplace.