We had such a good day yesterday. We had babka for breakfast and went to the division of motor vehicles and renewed Pk's driver's license and then ran some errands. We put up the traditional balloons and crepe paper and waited for Em and Jim to arrive so we could go driving through the woods.

I spun some of the softest merino ever while we were waiting for them and started some yarn for a pair of socks for my cousin. Although, they may wait as I lust after a pair that Bells has just started that is made for handspun. I have to spin some yarn just for me which I haven't done yet. I have made handspun things for other people but not for me. I wonder why that is? I do that with the knitting, too. Except for the socks. I make sure every other pair is for me. I like them way too much to give them all away!

I caught my kids fooling around and ended up with one of the best photos of the day. Em does not like her photo taken but I wanted one of the three girls. I like the fact that they are all laughing as they try to make Em hold her head up for the picture. It was a fun day. It's the first time all of us (along with Jim and Kate's bf Patrick) were all together in a long time. We drove our favorite route through the forest and discovered that the cold weather and ice and snow had left the road more rutted than usual. It was a bumpy ride for a while. The river was unusually clear and I loved seeing it in all it's green, grey and brown-ness. We stopped at Batsto and used the facilities (very important after all that bumping around) and then came home for dinner and cake.

The cake was delicious. Angel food cakes from a mix come out very high and light and they're good. Cakes made from scratch don't rise as high because there are no stabilizers in there but they taste so much better. If they didn't use so many egg yolks, I'd make them from scratch all the time. Fortunately, I had two bread recipes that use egg yolks at hand so I used all of them.

Roxie asked what babka is. Babka (Babba) is the Polish word for grandmother. So, babka is grandmother bread. (this comes from my Polish cookbook which I bought when I was in college and knew PK and I were going to be a couple for a while. His mother's name was Orzechowski)

The recipe I use is Peter Kevin's mom's. She died before I met him and I like knowing that I am using her recipe. It's delicious and usually only gets made at Christmas and Easter. I made one this year because he asked for the angel food cake. I also made a swedish braided bread that I learned from an exchange student over 30 years ago. It's just bread made with milk and butter and egg yolks and braided. Very delicious.

And I finished the Ina Ga Da Vida ( I think I spell that differently each time I write it!) socks in time for Pk's birthday. They are beautiful. The colors are perfect for him and they are warm and soft.

He wore them right away and pronounced them perfect.

Tomorrow is Em's biopsy. I'm glad it's finally come so we can find out what's going on and when they are going to take that thing out of her body. She will be asleep for the procedure and then out of it for the day. Then we wait. I've had biopsies done before and the waiting for the results is the worst part. She has some other tests to be done but I think they are mostly to help the doctor decide the best way to proceed. The biopsy is the one that tells us it's benign. I stubbornly refuse to use the M word. She is holding up admirably and I am so proud of her. It would be very easy to hide in the corner and suck your thumb but she is going on with her life as best she can. I'm just waiting for her to tell me she deserves yet another pair of handknit socks for going through all of this! If it would make things easier, I'd make her 100 pairs. If only it were that easy.....