Happy Birthday, Morels

This month Dave and I celebrated his birthday at Town House Grill in Chilhowie, VA. It's a fabulous restaurant, the best in all of southwest VA, and they do an incredible job with delicious ingredients. As a special treat, we both had dessert and this is how his looked:

He had the chocolate bomb torte with melted center, fresh whipping cream and strawberries and Happy Birthday, written in chocolate, was a Very Nice Touch. Happy Birthday, Beloved...may you have many more!

By the way...sorry about all the photos in the previous post. Seems like Blogger was being a bit over the top. When they don't have the "done" button for me to click on, I think the photos haven't downloaded but, low and behold, they did!

Earlier this month we went morel hunting and gathered quite a nice bundle. Morels are wild mushrooms, available only in the spring and are quite the delicacy. They sell for huge sums of money both in restaurants and in markets but, for the person with the knowledge, experience and the patience they are available for free on the mountainside. Miss C. shows how it's done...she's quite the mushroom hunter and has, at a tender age, already years of experience.

Donna and Brian, her parents, have taken her on the mountains for years and Miss C. has an extensive resume of morel, ramp and 'sang hunting. She's not fond of snakes though and the woods rang with her shouts and shrieks when her Daddy stepped on a snake. It was an accident but he had to kill it because his foot broke the snake's back and it was cruel to let it live.

This photo is of Donna, Brian, Miss C. and Dave (in the background). We were taking a break by the underground river and caves.

We found a clutch of quail eggs but the mother flew off as we approached. I used the telephoto lens to capture this shot; she looks like she'll have quite the brood when they hatch. I wish them a long and happy life; in the mountains there are lots of predators and we saw bear signs over the ridge.

Spring time in the mountains is a wonderful time of the year. Yes, it means lots of work...after all the gardens need to be prepared, seedlings started, sheep sheared, fences and gates repaired and our neighbors are already cutting hay.

I love this time of year...my favorite time of year is...NOW and my favorite day of the week is...TODAY!

Go do something to make today special; go make some memories!

Blessings ~

~Dave, quite possibly the Very Best Husband in the World!

~free, wild food - morels, ramps, ginsang, creek lettuce and more

~supper, almost ready - fried cabbage, new potatoes and cantelope - and eaten on the porch with a beautiful sunset

~new friends - Hi Cat!

~almost more good life than is legal

~the Lost Arts Guild and all members