Easter

It's been years since I've even been aware of Easter. But, this year, everything seems to be very Easter-ish. Including the delayed opening of the gym. I can't get to the pool until 9 today which means I have an hour and a half to kill yet this morning. I'd get up now but I'm still finishing my coffee and I have a warm, soft kitty stretched out over my feet.

I do think that I'll leave early enough to make a pre-swim grocery run. But even with that, it makes no sense to leave here before 8. It's now 7.

When I was little, Easter was huge. Really huge. I lived in North Carolina which, in at least the 60's, observed Easter Monday as a state holiday. We were a church going family - protestants. Palm Sunday was big but Good Friday was just a preparatory day. Saturday was all about making sure your Easter outfits were ready to go and maybe getting a head start on Easter dinner.

We always got full and total Easter outfits. Dress, crinolines, shoes, socks, underpants, a perky little hat and matching purse. (The hat and purse lived for that day only but the rest was intended to be our Sunday School ware until late Fall.) There were Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets. It was a BFD kid wise.

But, also adult wise. After Sunday was done, Easter Monday was the first big social deal since Christmas for adults. The Easter Monday tea dances started in later afternoon and were a really big deal. My parents had a large social circle and loved to party so these Easter Monday tea dances were right up their alley.

When I moved out of North Carolina, I ran into Catholics and learned about Ash Wednesday and Lent and even more and different Easter stuff. But, as I moved west, Easter kind of faded. Minnesota was mainly Lutheran and they low keyed everything. And by the time I got to the California Bay Area and then Seattle, Easter disappeared until this year. No clue why it's so prevalent this year. I've been asked more than once what my plans for Easter are. ??? I don't even know what the options are - Easter egg hunts?? Very curious.

Once I get my swim done, I'll be spending the rest of the day watching a baseball game and making more dolls. My perfect day.

Today's Basket

Previous baskets

The Rest of Easter

I got my swim in and it was a good one. And I got to the grocery store and I forgot milk. Then I got home and discovered that I am out of plastic wrap. I have 4,597 different sizes of zipper lock plastic bags in all sizes but no plastic wrap. So next shopping list has now been started. Sigh.

I actually thought I'd go get a shared car and run to Grocery Outlet and get both but had a bit of a shared car fail there. I did get in a brisk walk for my trouble though. I needed it, too. It's rather chilly out mainly due to wind. Glad to be in and warm again.

Tonight is breakfast for dinner tonight. I wasn't hungry enough for breakfast at breakfast and I had a light lunch. Tonight will be a spread.

Today's dolls.

One more Easter-ism

Something badrobot68 said in a comment made me remember one more Easter thing from long ago...

I went to a Moravian high school. Moravians were really big on Easter. Christmas and Easter were their two biggies. They laid low the rest of the year. They were also really into the Easter sunrise service at the cemetery.

Moravian cemeteries have only small (14x14ish) marble squares laid flat over the grave. All exactly the same.

The week before Easter, our entire school was in charge of scrubbing all those damn squares out in the cemetery so they would be all spic and span for Easter. Not fun. Wonder if they still make the high school girls do that. I'll bet not.

Oh and in the late 50's and early 60's the days before Easter saw the selling of dyed baby chickens - purple, blue, pink, green - and small bunny babies... on the sidewalk outside Woolworths. Very very popular.

Ok, that's it for Easter. I'm moving on to whatever is next... Memorial Day? We didn't do Memorial Day in the South. We did Jefferson Davis' birthday instead.