backyard chickens and horse mugs

It was incredibly dreary today. Dark and really cold. We spent the morning warm inside a church basement taking a workshop on backyard chickens. There were a couple of live chickens there clucking away. You can raise two basic kinds of chickens: "layers" for eggs, and "broilers" for meat. I was surprised when one of the first questions was "Can you eat the layers once they stop laying?" Apparently, they are tough, so you can only use them for soup stock. Which seems a sad demise for a creature that has provided you with so much protein over its short egg-producing life.

The second part of the day was spent at The Sweden Shop and the Tre Kronor restaurant which was a birthday treat. I heart the Sweden Shop, it has all this Marimekko stuff which I can't afford, but love to look at. I did indulge in an imported Swedish "Dala" horse" mug–I used to have one of those small wooden horses as a child.