spring

Easter Thoughts

Here it is the Saturday before Easter. Dee and her granddaughter Danielle are busy in the kitchen making Easter pie. It is an Italian tradition to have Easter pie for the Easter meal. It is basically sausage, eggs, flour and a crust. We bought twenty dollars of ricotta cheese yesterday and Danielle is bringing the sausage and eggs. How many pies will they make? Too early to tell. I would guess four or more.

Reflecting on my past Easters. I was born and raised a Catholic. I remember the forty days of Lent. No eating meat on Fridays. During Lent having to fast, the last two meals could not be more than breakfast. You were supposed to give up something for lent. Just like making a New Years resolution. I gave up on both and no longer even think about them. Stations of the cross every Friday during lent. You were reminded many times you were a sinner, and it was a job to get to heaven. Dressing up for Easter service and a family meal after. The churches Easter guidelines have eased up quite a lot.

The Easter Bunny was around with the Easter egg hunt. You had to hard boil the eggs and then color them. Does anyone do that anymore? All I have seen is the plastic-colored eggs. Surely some of the eggs were hidden so well they weren’t found until the middle of summer.

Easter has become commercialized so much these days and the real meaning of Easter is becoming an afterthought. I just saw that the president just banned religious-themed designs from White House Easter egg art contest. So many American traditions are on someone’s agenda to change or remove them.

ANYWAY!

Inserted after our Easter Dinner. I am so blessed.

I am Ready for Spring

After months of cold, snow and being shut in more than what I like, I am ready for spring. The days are getting longer, and I am getting excited about the warmer days of spring. I like the spring. I enjoy watching the trees and bushes preparing to green up. Since we have moved, I do not have much space for gardening, but I still get the many seed and flower catalogs for me to thumb through and think of flowers and vegetables. I enjoy watching things grow and many days I just go out to see how things progress. Last year I did not have very good luck growing tomatoes but that did not stop me to attempt growing tomatoes again. The other day Dee and I went to Dollar Tree, and I happened to notice some seed packets. I had to buy some. I am not sure where I am even going to plant them, but I just could not pass up the good deal. 

Spring is just a happier time for me. Winters are hard for me to stay in. I am glad when I am able to get out and enjoy the outside without freezing my tail off. My attitude changes and it is just a better time in my life. That is one thing I really like about the Colorado weather and that is the many days of sunshine this area has. I remember when I was in the army in Nurenburg Germany for about 8 months. In those eight months I do not think the sun was out more than 2 weeks for the entire period I was there. This was from December to July but even the springtime was cloudy and overcast. The Nurenburg weather was not my favorite. I guess I will be a Denverite the rest of my time.  

I am sure there are other things that happen in spring, but I just can’t think of anything at the time. I guess I am stuck on the weather. Dee has asked me if I am writing about my duck. So, I will write about my duck. I won a duck at a bazaar when I was young. This was a recently hatched duckling and I enjoyed watching this duck grow up that summer. I made a cage and the duck stayed in the cage during the day and at night I would pick up the cage and the duck would follow me into the garage. The duck would stand on the paper. The duck waited for me to put the cage over her. This duck knew the drill. Also, I dug a small pond and would fill it with water and watch the duck swim around and have a ball. This duck gave me many fond memories. 

SPRING IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR!