Since I came from a family of six children and married into a family of seven, plus an infinite number of cousins, holidays through most of my life almost required crowd control and enough food to feed a village. Easter always involved a gathering and some kind of Easter egg hunt. But through the years, my family has become far-flung from Arizona to West Virginia, and of course there have been losses.
This year, my weekend consisted of driving to Kewanee, Illinois to help my oldest son Andy finish painting his kitchen. Andy is a sucker for old houses and this one has been quite a project. Much of the progress he had made was wiped out Christmas Eve when pipes in the upstairs bathroom burst while he was gone for two days. Ceilings and hardwood floors were damaged, as well as paint, etc. It has been an uphill battle with tasks that needed to be done in a certain order: Don't sand and refinish the floors before fixing the ceiling and painting, for instance. He thought the kitchen paint and woodwork could just be touched up, but the paint was not an exact match so it was better to do the whole thing. The trim is formidable with five doors, two windows, mopboards and trim around the ceiling.
But even thought it was a small fraction of my family, we still managed a ham, sweet potatoes, and salad on Sunday. The chaos in the house necessitated perching on stools at the island but we did clear most of the painting supplies off first. We didn't have an Easter egg hunt because one of his three dogs, Gracie, an Australian shepherd, thinks anything round is something to chase. Every time we'd take a break and go outside to enjoy the fine weather, Gracie would race around to collect her old softball or blue rubber ball and leap up on the porch to drop it at my feet. I think she liked that I couldn't throw it as far as her master.
True to tradition, Easter brought fine spring weather--even more appreciated after the winds, tornadoes, hail and storms of the last few weeks. Time to get some yard work done, and, as soon as the battery issue is solved with my camper, dewinterize and clean it so I can haul about four totes of stuff from the attic to restock it.
But even thought it was a small fraction of my family, we still managed a ham, sweet potatoes, and salad on Sunday. The chaos in the house necessitated perching on stools at the island but we did clear most of the painting supplies off first. We didn't have an Easter egg hunt because one of his three dogs, Gracie, an Australian shepherd, thinks anything round is something to chase. Every time we'd take a break and go outside to enjoy the fine weather, Gracie would race around to collect her old softball or blue rubber ball and leap up on the porch to drop it at my feet. I think she liked that I couldn't throw it as far as her master.
True to tradition, Easter brought fine spring weather--even more appreciated after the winds, tornadoes, hail and storms of the last few weeks. Time to get some yard work done, and, as soon as the battery issue is solved with my camper, dewinterize and clean it so I can haul about four totes of stuff from the attic to restock it.
RSS Feed