Easter Sunday, 1959

46f/7.8C, overcast after a night of rain. Yesterday's high was 87f. Crazy weather.

Our family in 1959, probably the Easter photo that year as Stephen, the baby, was born in January.

Patent leather shoes, vaseline-polished,

white lace-timmed anklets,

wide-brimmed hat freshened from last year 

with tiny fake flowers, a ribbon 

to tie under my chin--

crinolines of stiff tiered nylon net,

dress a cousin's hand-me-down,

ironed and new to me,

pale blue with a white collar--

hair pin-curled, held

with pink and blue barrettes;

clean white gloves,

a little pocketbook to hold

my hanky and my pennies

for the collection plate.

It was ritual: the getting ready

on Easter morning,

the two-block walk to church

to sing joyful "He is Risen!" hymns,

then home.

The table set for breakfast

with an Easter basket 

at each child's place, 

gleaming, enticing

candy riches

which could not be touched until

after eggs, bacon toast, tea.

Ah, the anticipation! 

Jelly beans and squishy peeps,

chocolate eggs and a big

chocolate rabbit

all just the prelude 

to the sugar-fueled adrenaline rush

to find the first, the best, the most

eggs tucked under boards, into bushes,

some never found, some

found by the dog and devoured,

leaving only shells for seekers.

The rest of the morning--

being quiet while weary parents

napped after Bunny duties.

We sorted jelly beans, trading the licorice

for anything, even yucky green ones,

trying not to eat all the chocolate,

and eating all the chocolate,

believing in the miracle,

believing in the magic,

believing all the world

was fair and good

on Easter day

in 1959. 

Me in 1959

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Friday

70°f/21°C, showers in morning, then warming to 80°and sunny.

It was booth day today, but we only got one location done, as we left later than usual. Larry went morel-hunting again, but came up empty this morning, although he did find 2 small ones along the driveway on the way home. At the booth, I was moving along quite well until someone came in to buy this table and chairs. 

Yay! Of course I had to unload all the things on the table. I just packed all but the cake stands into a tote, to deal with next time we are there. Now we need to hurry up and get another table in there, or some other piece of furniture. But I am glad to see this go to a new home, and the people who bought it were thrilled. I recognized the husband, a local singer of contemporary Christian music, so we had a nice chat about his recent performances. The table used to belong to one of my banjo-playing friends, who was given it by a fiddle player, so the table's musical life continues. Kinda cool.

A nice surprise the gardens: asparagus is coming up! Yum, yum. It's early, like everything else.

We stopped for a late lunch at a local pizza place that has an outside dining patio.  I am always a fan of all fresco dining, especially in this little place with its view of our lovely courthouse. A family came out and sat at another table, and the young man noticed Larry's Marine Corps shirt, which of course got them into conversation, as the younger guy was a former member of our Navy. When he mentioned that he and his wife owned a couple businesses in Spencer, a town about 25 miles from us, I had to ask which businesses, because we like visiting that town and shop there pretty often. "The Cash Saver grocery store, and another old general store," he said. 

Well, I love Cash Saver, and get regular emails and Facebook messages from them. As we talked, I mentioned that back in my hippie days we were friends with the commune on the hill above Spencer, known as the No-Name Tribe (because they couldn't agree on a name). Turned out that this man knew many of the former community members,  and that his parents had been friends with most of them! What fun to hear about people i had not seen in years and to hear how the children of the Tribe had turned out---all very successful and thriving. Talk about memory lane. I often say that Wsst Virginia is just one small town, really, because everyone seems to know everyone else.

Not much else to write about, except that I tried Tylenol PM last night and wonder of wonders, had a great night's sleep! What a gift. And tomorrow we are off to the New River Gorge National Park and Hawk's Nest State Park. I want to walk a bit on the Endless Wall trail, and Hawk's Nest is having a ramp dinner, which Larry is really excited about! So it should be a fun day.

And in honor of the late Bruce Taylor of the Oddball Observations blog and his weekly Friday Funnies, a couple good West Virginia funnies from Facebook this week.

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My absolute favorite volunteer fire department is not even in my county, but they post the funniest good advice I have ever read. So, click here to read their advice to "holler heathens"!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Hot

66°f/about 19°C. Mostly clear, breezy. Heavy rain and thunderstorms yesterday evening and during the night.

Interspersing this post with random flower pics today. A new tulip for us this year 

87°f expected today! This is ridiculous. And then next week it is supposed to be down to 29°, again. I think we will scrape through without frost damage,  as we are higher up and the cold usually settles in the hollers.  But you never know...all the fruit trees are in bloom, or have already dropped their blossoms.  Everything is greening up and leafing out much too fast, thanks to the little hear waves we've had and are having right now. 

Late daffodils

And lush! Oh my goodness. The weeds are springing up like crazy, plants that normally don't show their faces until mid-April are up, the tulips are blooming and fading just as fast because it's just too hot. I know that we who garden are rarely satisfied with the weather, but this year I think we have just cause to complain. Mother Nature and her hot flashes,  grrrr. 

...and a late crocus, blooming despite being dog-trampled

We spent the day working outside yesterday, getting another 22 bags of mulch down, with 8 in the truck. I am not sure itgoing to help with weed control this year though, as the weeds seem to have come through winter I fine fertile and are thriving. Indeed, everything looks like it's had a big dose of nitrogen, which I suppose it has as snow is said to bring that to the soil. 

Hellebores are still going strong, and I noticed several new plants this year.

Even with the weird weather and the weeds, it is just so incredibly beautiful right now, like an impressionist painting. This morning's sun on the rain drenched grass made it look like a fairy land. Then there is this full moon that is making the night as bright as day. Such richness.

Little Montmorency cherry tree we planted last spring is in full bloom.

Speaking of richness, we have been cleaning out the chicken coop. Stinky! But lots of great garden fertilizer. I wanted this done soon because we gave to wait a month before we can till and plant where this manure is spread---it's "hot" manure, very strong in nitrogen which can burn up plants. Rabbit manure, on the other hand, can be used right up against them with no harm. Larry has procrastinated so long about getting this job done that I finally started on it myself yesterday, and made a good dent before rain and hail soaked ne to the skin, and lightning sent me indoors. I paid for it last night with miserable shoulder pain, but at least it got Larry motivated and he's finishing the job as I write this. 

These deep purple tulips are some of the few I have that return every year. These have been coming back for at least 15 years. They don't spread much, and the blooms are smaller than when I first planted them.

As for me, I got the hydrangeas and roses cut back this morning, and that's about it for me outside, until this evening when it cools down. I have plenty to do in the house, because I tend to neglect it once the outside work starts. I just don't want to come in when it's lovely like it has been the past few days. But today's heat will keep me in, for sure. Windows are open and the fans are going so it should stay fairly comfortable. 

These tulips were planted 3 years ago. They're so pretty, but so floppy. What am I doing wrong? Several of my tulips are like this.

I contacted a solar energy company today, called Solar Holler. They will install a system for no money down, so I am curious to see how much it will cost us monthly, if it's even feasible in our location. Sarah's system works quite well for her, so I am hopeful. If it's not much more than our current monthly bill, I would like to go for it. It's funny, but in the 70s I was really into solar energy and even tried to design our house to use passive solar energy, and built a solar food dryer and solar cold frames for growing lettuce and greens under glass, using stones as the frame. My ex wasn't as interested as I was, so I dropped the idea of building solar panels for the house. But today, solar has gone mainstream, just like brown rice, yogurt, yoga and all the other "hippie" stuff. I guess we were just ahead of the curve.

A new tulip this year, and it just wants to flop over too. But so pretty!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.