Hoppy Easter

Hoppy Easter!

Today is Easter Sunday, and we are having a quiet celebration at home, just the two of us. Yesterday our community had an Easter Egg Hunt for the grandchildren of residents, including a visit from the Easter Bunny and a food truck serving pizza. We went to pick up our pizza at noon, and decided to say hello to the bunny. Why not? I admire that our lifestyle director is trying to make the most out of keeping us entertained during a pandemic.

Our pickleball club here has regularly scheduled mixed doubles play on Sunday afternoons, and I decided not to cancel it despite the holiday. We normally have 12 or more players on Sundays, but so far I only know of 7 who are coming today. The weather is perfect and it should be 72 degrees at 3:00, so we will have fun despite the low numbers.

Speaking of pickleball, the lifestyle director asked if I would be willing to put on a beginners clinic since we have so many new people moving to the community. I have already done two of these since our club formed in August of last year, and that doesn't take into account the people with whom I have done one on one instruction. It will take place next Saturday, and I limited registration to 12. The event filled in less than a day, and the wait list of 20 is maxed out. Wow! That number even surprised me, and I know how many people have been asking me about learning how to play.

We currently have 65 members in the Pickleball Imagery Club, and I expect that number to grow as we bring these new players onboard. I've been the President since the club formed, and it has become somewhat of an unpaid part-time job for me. I'll need to recruit more people to take over some of my tasks as the year progresses. We did come up with a club logo and offered merchandise earlier this year. The items were marked up slightly to raise money for the club. We anticipate needing to purchase things for pickleball down the road, such as windscreens for the courts. The sale was a success, and a second offering of shirts and hats will be coming online this month.

Pickleball Imagery Club shirts

So another Covid-19 holiday has arrived as we wait for this vicious virus to either be eradicated or enough people to get vaccinated that it won't impact our lives in such a huge way. Happy Easter to all who celebrate this blessed day.

Easter Staycation

Easter sunrise

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, and what an odd one it was for sure. We got dressed at 6:45 and walked down to Sunflowers Point to watch the sunrise. It was lovely, and the only sun we saw that day as storms rolled through the area later in the day. It was a beautiful spot to sit and contemplate the significance of the day.

We decided to have our Easter meal at noontime, because why not? For us the traditional meal is ham, baked beans and scalloped potatoes. Usually there are rolls as well, but since COVID-19 hit you cannot find frozen bread of any kind in the stores. I would make my own, but there is no yeast to be had either. It was okay, because Jim made a lemon pound cake for dessert so we really didn't need any additional bread with the meal.

Easter dinner

During the afternoon we watched the Pope celebrating mass in Rome, then Andrea Bocelli performing at the Duomo Cathedral in Milan, Italy. There was an organist with him, but otherwise the church was empty as were the streets surrounding it. This whole situation is quite surreal, but his music was just the uplifting note that I needed. From there we switched gears to the broadway performance of Jesus Christ, Superstar. Talk about a divergence in musical styles! This new production takes great liberties with the staging of the original show, as do a lot of productions these days. The cast wore modern clothes and used cell phones and iPads. It was interesting, but I prefer the original.

I got a couple more masks made before the big storms hit here. We were under a tornado watch, so I decided not to be on the second floor of the house in case one hit. As it ended up, we only got lots of rain and some high winds. I had no idea I did not leave tornadoes behind in Missouri! Here are the new masks for the neighbors a couple doors down.

face masks

One of the many things that has been hard with having to stay home is getting enough exercise. We walk when the weather is good, and Jim has been biking nearly every day with a couple of the other guys. I've been doing some online yoga classes. This morning we went to YouTube for a low impact aerobics class. It was challenging but doable. Just one of the many ways our lives have changed due to the virus.

But we are healthy and happy, and I know we have a lot to be grateful for so I try not to complain. As Scarlett from Gone with the Wind said "after all, tomorrow is another day."

Weekend Highs and Lows

The Better Business Bureau office in St. Louis had a paper shredding event last Saturday at one of the local malls. I had a stack of papers that I have slowly been shredding over the last year or so with my underpowered paper shredder. But with an event this size, I decided to tackle the file cabinets to see what we could get rid of in one fell swoop. In addition to our personal taxes dating back more than seven years, I had old bank statements for the kids as well as all the check book registers dating back to nearly when we were first married. I also inherited all of my dad's paperwork, including his medical and financial reports. He died in 2004, so I could have safely disposed of these many years ago. Ahem...

boxes of paper

By Saturday morning I had five cardboard boxes filled with papers of various shapes and sizes. The event ran from 9-12, so I decided to arrive around 9:30 to avoid the crowd. Ha! On my way there, a lady in a huge Lexus SUV decided she wanted my turn lane in addition to her own, and despite me laying on the horn she continued to come fully into my lane. It's a good thing I was paying attention since she obviously was not. That was the second time in a week that I nearly got creamed by someone. Come on people, vacation is right around the corner and I want to be in one piece for it!

waiting in line

Arriving at the mall, I could see where the shredding was taken place, so I turned left into the parking lot where two volunteers were standing in their bright colored vests. One of them asked me if I was there for the event, and when I indicated that I was he directed me to pull behind a stopped SUV up ahead. It wasn't until that point that I realized the line of cars was snaked through the parking lot west of where I had entered. No problem, I figured we would have to wait our turn and then they would let our group move ahead at some point. Well, that didn't exactly happen. The other cars continued on uninterrupted, and I'm sure they thought that our lane had just arrived and was trying to butt in. One man was particularly vocal and yelled out at us that some people didn't want to wait their turn. He had no idea how long we had been waiting. In hindsight, they should have had all cars enter at the same place to avoid any misunderstanding, road rage being what it is and all. Any way, we finally were allowed to proceed, and once at the truck volunteers grabbed the boxes out of your car so I didn't have to lift a finger - just my tailgate. Easy, peasy...

paper shredder

I returned home to finish cleaning for Easter Sunday. Normally my sister has everyone over for dinner, but she has had a rough start to the year health-wise. I knew she would not have the stamina to clean and shop, much less cook, for a dozen people. So I volunteered to host at our house. I wanted to get everything cleaned on Saturday so I could focus on cooking Sunday.

pineapple upside down cake

Everyone brought something, so that helped a lot. I made my dad's pineapple upside down cake using his special pan, and it was like having him in the kitchen with me. Then I prepared the bone-in ham the way he used to, covering it in cloves and later pineapples and cherries along with a glaze. I was able to put the potatoes and the ham in the oven at the same time, which only left the rolls at the end. Everything worked out perfectly, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal together. After eating the cake and/or the peanut butter pies my sister brought, we broke out a game of Code Names. It is easy to play with a crowd as you divide into teams, and is so fun. Andy had brought it at Christmas, so we were familiar with the rules.

baked ham

All in all, it was a nice day, and I am so grateful that we have some family in town so that we can celebrate the special events together. I just wish the kids lived closer so they could come as well.

Clean Up Crew

tree crew

We were fortunate to be able to find a tree service who could come on Saturday and remove the fallen oak. It was an added bonus that he was a couple hundred dollars less expensive than the next higher bid. He came recommended by a neighbor, and his company is insured so we felt comfortable accepting the bid. Our neighbor was having concrete poured for his new walkway and steps on Monday, so it was imperative that the tree be removed before then.

the aftermath

The tree crew made short work of getting the limbs off the car so that it could be moved out of the way. Unfortunately the large limb somewhat crushed the roof of the car. I am not sure it will be feasible for it to be repaired. Speaking from experience, if the insurance company decides to total the car, no one wins. I hope they can fix it. You can see from the top picture that the excitement in the neighborhood drew quite a crowd. I'm sure these guys aren't used to having so many people watch them work. They finished up by mid-afternoon, and nothing was left but all the gouges in the grass.

Mirassou Moscato

It was nice for us, too, that the work was done on Saturday. We had nine people over Sunday afternoon for Easter dinner. It was such a beautiful day that we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I mixed up a batch of Moscato Limeade Punch from a recipe that I found on Real Housemoms. It is really good, but I felt like it was a little heavy on the limeade flavor. So I added an additional half bottle of moscato to the pitcher. It went from good to great! In my estimation, Mirassou makes the best moscato, so I always have a couple of bottles in the wine rack. This was a tasty punch recipe that I will be making again.

My niece brought a layered taco dip appetizer, and my nephew brought deer sausage and cheese. I balanced that with a veggie tray. I prepared a ham, scalloped potatoes and rolls, and my sister brought baked beans and deviled eggs. She also made an adorable cake for dessert. I am not a personal fan of peeps, but the cake was really good underneath all the peeping. It was a Hoppy Easter, for sure.

Easter Cake

April Fool's Day

Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait to make up tales to tell your friends and parents, barely containing yourself until you could shout "April Fools!" I miss those days...The only thing that came close today was a post on Facebook from Pudd'nhead Books stating that they had been bought out by a conglomerate, and then listing all the changes they would be making. It was pretty funny, once my internal "April Fool" gave a shout-out.

I'm really happy to say goodbye to March and all the crappy weather it brought this year. Let alone being depressing with all the cold, gray days, it was a hideous month for our composting business. Every year I forget how stressful it is to get through the lean months, hoping that we don't have to lay off any employees. It's disconcerting to be responsible for feeding other people's mouths. April is off to a glorious start, weather-wise and business-wise, so I feel we have turned the corner. Hope that doesn't make me an April Fool after all.

We are heading out tomorrow to Chicago to be with Katie for Easter. We need to begin looking at apartments for her to live in next school year, and this weekend worked out for all of us. It is a happy coincidence that I will be able to deliver her Easter basket in person. I have a couple of fun items in there this year.

Our wonderful house/dog sitter will keep Kirby company at the house while we are gone. He loves Kaya, and the feeling is mutual. Everyone should have a good weekend. Happy Easter!