Easter Sunday...Present...and Past...

Easter was great.... We had all sorts of food...I always say, I'm not going to do as much, because we always have so many leftovers... but...I just seem to get out of control.... We had Ham...Grilled Rib eye...Shrimp... my secret recipe Baked Beans....Potato Salad...Fresh Fruit Bowl...Brie Cheese Melts...Vegetable Tray... Jello...with Fruit Cocktail...{Mom Always made Jello on Easter!} Rosemary Garlic Bread...Smoked Oysters...Key Lime Pie...and Loads of Easter Candy....Then...I topped it off...when I got home...to The Best Red Wine...I have ever had!{Landshut...Sweet Red {plum raspberry}   Rheinhessen} It's a German Wine...oh my...The sad thing is...I have had it so long..I don't know where it came from...

I so enjoyed the day, with the kids... and babies.... that are all growing so incredibly fast...

 After the kids left...I jumped in Sally... and went to Keystone... a tiny Burg...then, a mile and a quarter, out in the country... where my Favorite Easter took place... It was a moving experience...

Tho, the Old House is Long Gone...I see it, Standing Proudly, just as it did, the first time I laid eyes on it... 40 years ago....

I stood in the old driveway... and closed my eyes...I could so plainly hear the old screen door slam...and...for a moment... I could smell Mom's Fried Chicken...{as Only She can make it...} just, as it was That Perfect Easter Sunday... so long ago... yet...almost like it was yesterday....

When I turned back, to Sally...I caught a glimps of the old light poles, lined up, in the ditch across the road, from the House's Resting Place... that had been there, forever... so weathered...and worn..and wondered, if they remembered me...what they might say, if they could talk.... what they had seen...all of the Easter Sundays...over the past 40 years...

I wonder....

Love to Ya...

Barb C.

{Hope You All had a Most Wonderful....Easter...}

I bought this little old high chair...while shopping in Illinois, with Michael...I bought it to sell...It's very old...{mid 1800's} hand made... well constructed.....plank seat...has had numerous, very well done repairs...{has went through many, many children, in it's days...} But...it came in mighty handy, yesterday....I walked down to the shop, to retrieve it, so 'J' would have his own...his size...seat! He loved it! John said we had better keep it around a while...ahhh...I think he's right! and...It seems very comfortable, with all the old stuff, in the dining room.... Yeah!

I always pull out the Bread Plates, for a Gathering... These date from the 1870's... I put bread on them....or crackers... They are so beautiful...and seem to anchor the table...Family Dinners would be strange, without them...The top one says, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" and, in the cross, "Simply to the Cross I Cling" "Rock of Ages" and is patented Dec. 7. 75...., the bottom one, "It Is Pleasant To Labor For Those We Love" I have had these for years.... I always have some in the shop, for sale...I pick them up, no matter condition... the one with the Cross, I have used forever, has a chip, or two... but always serves, proudly...

As Sally and I were trotting towards home...the sky was so gray...{and has been it seems...for weeks....} then off in the distance, I saw this pure white...little cloud floating along... and had to capture it... the first thing that came to mind...There IS a Silver Lining...

Sally and I stopped, at a tiny, Old, Old Cemetery, not far from my 'Happy Place'... I parked Sally, the Sun, was briefly shinning... and visited every stone... It was very Humbling...

I saw Scout grazing on hay, in the pasture, when I rolled in...I grabbed a couple of apples, and went and spent a little time with him... he ate them down, in a flash...then, tried to eat my camera... He is such a Sweet Heart! There is something so Calming...and Grounding...about a Horse...They are Amazing Creatures...