Oh Robin,
My sympathies! … except for the part where I hope this means you’ve still got decent snow cover. Thanks so much for telling us what has befallen you. Knowing an actual person whose zone went down instead of up helps make (at least a part of) Ms. Kaplan’s argument real: because the new map is more accurate, some places got assigned to colder, not warmer zones. Other than you, it sounds as though it’s the folks in the mountains out west who got pushed backwards the most. Also, the part where you say “I knew deep down,” strengthens MY argument (in the coping link): almost everyone has a personal climate zone – or zones – depending on exact location, shape of terrain, adjacent buildings etc., and that’s the only one that really matters.

Hi Ladleah,
Wish I had some reassurance, but I don’t. And I’m afraid proximity to Canada isn’t going to help all that much, especially in the unseasonably hot spring followed by horrid frost department. Interesting question about Ms. K – maybe you ought to ask her, so we can all flock out to get some of whatever it is. That fact that it’s her job to remain unrattled may have something to do with it, because she is for sure living in an area (environs of Washington DC) that’s really getting hammered by all this and I don’t mean politically.

Welcome, Robin,
I’d say go for it! Fresh cherries will no doubt be even more wonderful, but the canned ones are plenty good enough to make this a very dangerous pastry.

The pie looks delicious. I have often wanted to try a Shaker lemon pie. Someday I will.

Condolences on the calorie counting, Ali. Also good luck. Never seems to work for me, at least not compared to just cutting out simple carbs (aka flour and sugar, unfortunately). That does of course cut many calories but more importantly leaves me free to ignore numbers and eat whatever I want of meat and dairy, nuts and vegetables.