Do Rabbits lay Eggs?

Not coming from a religious family Easter had little spiritual significance. Our celebration centered around the basket + the Dress.
I of course believed in the Easter Bunny ( I didn't find out till High School biology that rabbits don't lay eggs).
But I liked the Easter Bunny. He was much easier to please than Santa because I didn't have to worry if I'd been naughty or nice.
He just hopped in with a basket overflowing with candy and weird synthetic grass. He left the Dress hanging properly with shoes + purse and was gone.

So each year through the mid 1960's the Dress was the main event.
It was always pink or some Spring pastel, loaded down with flowery trim, rough scratchy petticoat or other lavish decoration.
To complete the ensemble - patent leather shoes  (usually white), matching purse,white gloves + some kind of hat or bow.

My sister and I would spend Easter morning giggling, twirling and admiring one another.

But the Big Reveal usually became the Big Disappointment.
Easter dresses are stiff and itchy.
The shoes are new and tight.
The gloves made my hands sweat and I could never think of anything to put in my purse!

That was a long time ago and Im so glad Ive come to understand that I dont have to be naughty or nice, have the perfect dress or a purse full of interesting objects to celebrate God's gracious love for me and all the world. His sacrifice on the Cross clothes me forever in garments that dont decay, fills my emptiness and never disappoints.  This is the Joy and Promise of Easter.


 

A Lasting Impression

I knew this woman.

She began as a copy of a magazine image but soon she became frighteningly familiar.
I recognized her features and detached gaze.
I remembered her high style and clicking stilettos.
Once again I felt her penetrating eyes as my knees started to buckle under her stare.

She was a stealthy woman- always coming up from behind.
Never saying a word but leaving a lasting impression as her titanium grip cut off the blood from my bare arm, red polished nails squeezing until I submitted.

 She had no tolerance for for gaiety, talkativeness or childish views on life.

Her name was Mrs. Walker.
She was fierce.
She was my 2nd grade teacher- 1963.

Circles from the Crooked Eye gallery

12x14   YES canvas
Watercolor + twinkling h2os
Learned that " measure twice- draw once" is a proverb for a reason.
Had fun with my first watercolor abstract

The Homeliest Baby

I feel like Napoleon Dynamite.
I've been working on my skills.
I have the usual domestic goddess skills- cooking, cleaning + caregiving but I thought Id dust off some very old + unused skills like Creative Writing ( remember that High school class).
To begin this skill you must write. To write you need a writing prompt aka " the word that gives you an idea."Then start writing all the things that pop into your head!
Todays word was HOMELIEST. Not just plain old homely but the IST form which means the highest degree of homely.

I had an instant vision but I didnt think it would be nice to write about it, so instead I went through my list of friends and family to see if any of them qualified. Some are strange looking but none homely.

I guess I have a large tolerance for non- beauty since I tend to gravitate to genetically altered canines like dachshunds and bug-eyed Boston terriers. Maybe that makes me more generous in my judgement of homeliest. And it brought me back to my first idea- the Homeliest thing I ever saw was a baby.

Yes I hear you saying " oh thats mean- every baby is beautiful to God + its mother."
Thats true and Im sure his mother didnt even notice. But I did!

It was 1975 and I was no longer a Valley Girl from Calif. but a new military wife living in San Antonio Texas.We lived in an apt building not far from the base with a dozen or so other lonely young brides thrown together for a few months while our Airmen were finishing up Tech school. The days were long. No car, no money and lots of time. The perfect ingredient for friendships and learning how different people are in our vast country.

And that is where I met him- the homeliest baby.
His mother was a Southern girl who waltzed around our building in her terry-cloth robe +fuzzy slippers, pregnant belly hanging out along with the cigarette dangling from her mouth. She cussed up a storm, ate whatever she had a hanker-in for and was delighted when we gave her a baby shower.

Then one day she disappeared. Rumor had it she'd gone into labor. Without cars and the only pay phone down on the corner the brides + I would have to wait till she came home.
And 3 days later she arrived. She rushed up the stairs without allowing us one peek at the bundle she was carrying but shouting back the promise " I'll be right back!"    
And when she returned she stood like Princess Di waving down at the crowd beneath her balcony and  to our  horror did a Michael Jackson. She unwrapped little 4 day old Danny, dangled his 6 lb 4oz body over the railing for us all to see.
I dont know if he really was the homeliest baby ever because I had never seen a newborn in all my 19 years but the shock of a spindly limbed, wrinkled, hair covered screaming baby left a life long impression.
Never saw little Danny again but he and homeliest go hand in hand. Im sure he turned out just fine but has a lifelong fear of heights.

Did you ever misunderstand your parents English?

I think one of the funniest things about childhood is all the adult sayings that kids misunderstand.

Being raised by my Depression Era grandparents and hearing sayings that ranged from the 1920s-1940s-
  I grew up very confused.

When we'd come home from a day on the town my Gramps would open the door and say "Nobody's home but us chickens"
What? We dont have chickens- we live in downtown Los Angeles!

After dinner- " Save the bones for Henry Jones"
Did I have an Uncle Henry I didn't know about and does he have a bone collection?

My morning wake up shout was " Up and Adam"
It made me wonder why Eve's husband had to get up as early as I did.
Later I found out it was Up and At Them.

I did finally find out  "What in the Sam Hill " means.

So if you see a tomato with lovely gams
Dont get the screaming meemies.
Just mind your potatoes  and pipe down because it might be ethel in disquise
So tell it to sweeny cause ish kabibble!

Thats my great -great Uncle Eddie 1927

The Lunch Box

Does anyone have fond memories of their school lunch boxes?

Back in the 1960s lunch boxes were a status symbol for most school children. It wasn't about designer clothes or what stuff you had but how you carried your lunch.
Lunch box design was simple and usually had a matching thermos. They had designs of the popular cartoons or TV shows like Rocky+ Bulwinkle, Yogi Bear and Gunsmoke.

I was usually in trouble most of my school life. My motto was "what would happen if..." and that was the springboard for some wonderful idea I had. Most of the time my teachers would just sigh and make me go into the closet for punishment ( or maybe give them a break). The closets back then were more storage room / coat closets and to be sent there was the highlight of my day! I had coat pockets to dig through,cupboards filled with art supplies,fresh paper, unsharpened pencils by the case and the ultimate pleasure- Checking out my classmates school lunches.

This was like a day at the art museum and on top of that I got to see which kids got the good stuff for lunch like chips or cookies.

For most of my school years I was relegated to second class lunch box carrier because my Depression era Grandparents couldn't imagine why a brown paper sack, a sandwich wrapped in wax paper and a handful of carrots weren't sufficient. Forget the breakable thermos because there was a perfectly good water fountain in the hall.

So Christmas of 1965 was a real celebration when I finally got the longed for BARBIE+MIDGE vinyl lunch box ( no thermos). I could strut my baloney sandwich and carrots in style.