Crumbs in the icing

I've been making a lot of cake lately for get togethers. My go-to is a chocolate cake with fluffy almond icing that I once blogged about here. For this particular version, I baked two 9 x 9 pans but then decided to take the biscuit cutters to them. I made little layered tea cakes topped with candied rose petals, which may sound fussy but it wasn't. I think that's because I've come to terms with the fact that there will always be things like crumbs in the icing. And what, really, is so bad about that?

Ancient moment

My mom took these photos a few years ago and I've always loved them. I think these photos may have even been what finally inspired me to buy my own camera. Because I wanted to be ready should an ancient mossy turtle decide to climb on top of a hay bale and sit there for a spell. Because there aren't any words for what that looks like -- it's something you have to see.

Photos by Sharon Simpson

Wander where you will

Carpet of trilliums.

Killdeer egg hiding in plain sight.

Fancywork anemones.

It's been a late spring, but once the flowers start blooming it's easy to forget they weren't always there.