Happy Easter

Photos don't get the color well

I hope everyone had a lovely peaceful day spent with family and friends.  Mine was very nice, quiet and with a welcome respite from the winds we have had lately although they are set to return tomorrow. By the way, while it was ugly and I did not get out much early this past week, the mesquites came out! It is always so miraculous to me that overnight those bumpy and ragged bare branches suddenly come alive with delicate little leaves in the most beautiful shade of green I can imagine. If spring is a color, that is it! So I know we are very unlikely now to have a frost as they almost never get caught.

Easter is rather early this year. My late husband's birthday was March 30 and I recall several times I was able to make his special birthday cake on Easter and for both celebrations. It would be a two layer white cake with lemon pudding in the filling and lemon frosting on top and sides. I'd scatter coconut on the top and maybe add a few candy eggs for decoration. After over twelve years it is a memory more pleasant than sad now.It was just one of those special little things in a family that you cherish.

As a child and teenager I didn't go to church a lot. My parents were both raised in the Methodist Church but Dad had gotten disillusioned and had no interest in attending anything except a rare wedding or funeral. Mom still held her faith a bit more and did take us some. In Clarkdale, AZ where we were living when I was about 12 to 16, the pastor of the small Methodist Church was a woman named Bertha Mae White. She was a lovely, warm and caring person and always tried to do special things for the youth. I sang in the choir for awhile and attended a few other activities. Then she left and we quit going.

Going through old pictures, I came across one that I am sure was an Easter Sunday. Mom, my brother Charlie and I were dressed up to go to church and Dad took a picture of us, several actually but this is my favorite. Another cherished memory. My dress was aqua polished cotton, and like so many I had was made by my maternal Grandmother. "Mama Witt" was very good at sewing and bless her heart, may she rest in total peace, she made me so many nice clothes. I loved them all.  I think she also made my coat but memory of it more vague. I passed my mother's height at about age eleven. She was about 5'5" and I once claimed 5'8" although I may have been a smidge shorter than that. I'm going to guess Charlie was about six here which would have made me fourteen. That would have been 1957,

No question I inherited my love for sewing from both my grandmothers as Grandma Morgan was also a fine seamstress and used the skill to keep her three daughters in nice clothes. Only one of them took after her in that habit but it certainly came down to me.It's only the last few years that I have quit making many clothes, mostly now doing quilts and such instead of wearables.