“The King Cake tradition is thought to have been brought to New Orleans from France in 1870.” Wikipedia
This King Cake created at the Party Cake Shop in Brookline on the Boulevard where I got the Paczki last Thursday.
Here is a Traditional New Orleans King Cake Recipe made with yeast .- a brioche like dough https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/traditional-new-orleans-king-cake/
Sharon and Chuck celebrate their fiftieth anniversary today, January 24th, but the surprise party was last Saturday. Right in the middle of a winter storm.
Only a few people couldn’t make it due to the weather.
Kim and James planned the event and their mom and dad were definitely surprised.
When the caterers Tessa and Maria arrived with all the delicious food, despite the treacherous roads, we knew the party was a GO! Everyone had a wonderful time at Chuck and Sharon’s fiftieth anniversary celebration.
Once a schoolhouse, there was a slate blackboard where party guests wrote greeting with chalk.
Grandson Simon tied balloons onto the mailbox
Karon and Sharon
Charlie showing 5 and zero.
Tessa and Maria braved the elements to deliver the dinner.
Crosswalk Surprise Friendship Avenue in Bloomfield 
Important to be patient. I’m not.
Melt chocolate slowly on the lowest heat, don’t scorch or burn. Ruin a lovely rich bar. Managed that step but………Oh no.
The cake stuck! Not sufficiently cooled when tried to extricate the cake from the pan. Even with buttered parchment paper. 
Cake tester broom below. 
Glued together. Frosting saves the day. Butter and chocolate. No one even knows repairs were necessary.
Delicious.
Yes, it’s the moon AND fireworks at the same time. Columbus Ohio with the family last week for the gigantic fireworks display. We had a nice evening together.
it’s the annual effort to improve my fireworks photography.
And I am celebrating another year with my Fourth of July birthday today.
Happy Birthday to me.
May 26, 1976.
Here I am, new mom, holding firstborn Mark.
Here’s Mark in 2003 with firstborn Anna.
Remembering my bicentennial baby on his birthday, with love,
Ma
A wish for every happiness, always.
Cheers to the newly married royal couple.
Love one another is the perfect theme for the world.
Today I saw my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary (1939-89) champagne flutes in Mark and Erika’s China cabinet. Mark and Erika (2002) and Laura and James (2011) both used these flutes at their weddings.
I had set the alarm this morning for five AM but Grandma Mar woke up before then and texted me upstairs. We’re here together this weekend, watching the grandkids. We woke up the girls and they made it down to the couch. They fell back asleep, snuggled in blankets until we woke them up when the bride arrived at Windsor Castle.
Friends I know were watching snd texting from Florida and Pennsylvania. It was a very happy day. Wishing Harry and Meghan a long and happy life together.
When I look at this image I can hear the singing of “Haaaaa…” of Happy Birthday to You.
Jack, now 11, said I could post this pic.
His sisters put on every candle they could find.
And yes, there are three flavors of ice cream at the ready on the left. Mom, Erika, was videoing for family across the miles and isn’t in this frame.
Although I’m in Ohio, I got to experience a taste of the winter Carnaval Quebec in Quebec City today. What fun!
A group effort on the photography, thanks to Kristin and Rick.
Quebec City-today’s “temperature was a balmy 25 and yesterday a -2”
See their exhilarating toboggan ride video below.
Linda with Bonhomme -mascot of the Carnaval
“Bonhomme is the official representative of the Quebec Winter Carnival. Snow white, he proudly wears the red tuque and arrow sash of the heroes of our past. This living representation of the Québécois’ joie de vivre is represented by an Effigy modeled after him.”
Kristin (native Floridian ) framed by the intricate ice sculpture.
(Linda,I love your sockhead knit hat!)
Join my friends on a fast toboggan run!
You might remember the pie pin map at Grant Bar in Millvale when Kristin and Linda visited me.
