Day 32 - April 24
Listening to: Holiday
Thought for the day: He takes men out of time and makes them feel eternity. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

You have your frilly Easter dresses and then there is the tic-tac-toe jump suit. Thank goodness I had no clue that apparel mattered on Easter when I was four. At least I am sporting a stuffed duck as an accessory.

The older I get, the more I reminisce on holidays. Today is no different. This picture brings back memories. When I was a tic-tac-toe tyke, we spent Easter Sundays at my Great Grandmother’s farm. She had a bazillion acres and big spooky house filled with antiques. When it came time for the perfunctory Easter egg hunt, my cousins and I were relegated to the upstairs of the spooky house while the adults hid eggs. One year, we went into one of the bedrooms and clamored on top of a giant feather bed that hadn’t been slept in for years. Opposite the bed was a dead relative's photo collection on the wall. Their eyes were intense and piercing. The Alpha cousin (you know what I’m talking about if you have cousins) insisted their eyes were moving. That’s the year I decided I was done with the perfunctory Easter egg hunt at the farm. I don’t think I ever participated again.

Day 33 - April 23
Listening to: Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail
Thought for the day: The only thing missing from this wonderful 4-day weekend of mine, IS YOU!!!!

Easter Bunny! COME BACK!!!! I didn’t get to tell you what I want for Easter!!! What happens when you sit on the Easter Bunny’s lap? I have never had the privilege. Is it a Santa Claus-type deal where IT asks you what you want? I say “it” because ………… what gender is the Easter Bunny? The thought of sitting on the lap of a super-holiday, gift-bearing, genderless-hero is kind of creepy. I think growing up I always referred to the Easter Bunny as “he,” but the Easter Bunny in this pic walked like a female. The “Here Comes Peter Cotton Tale” ditty implies the Bunny is a he. I guess that’s the only clue I have to work with here.

6 year old Kris: Easter Bunny, I’d like a stuffed animal and some chocolate.

43 year old Kris: Easter Bunny, I’d like a fireplace, a boat, some chocolate, a good bottle of wine, and friends to share it all with. (ya’ll proud of me for not asking for a man with teeth?)

Day 34 - April 22
Listening to: The Metro
Thought for the day: I am forgiven.

If it snows next week, ya’ll can blame me. I freeze dried my winter clothes today, or at least that’s what it looked like. I put my winter clothes away in those nifty air sucking space bags. I think I have an addiction to the bags. I’m wondering what took so long for someone to market such a genius idea. Space bags are one of those inventions that borderline on stupidity in their simplicity, like wheels on suitcases and post-it notes. It makes me wonder what other simple ideas are out there.

Update on the bird nests that I wrote about yesterday: two momma birds have returned to their nests. The remaining nest in question has 3 eggs in it. I’m hoping.

Day 35 - April 21
Listening to: Think
Thought for the day: “If I can stop one Heart from breaking I shall not live in vain If I can ease one life the Aching Or cool one Pain Or help one fainting Robin Unto his Nest again I shall not live in Vain” ~Emily Dickinson

I spent the day slaying the beast that I call The Hedgerow from Hell. Typically, I only trim a foot off the top and I do so in June. I decided this year to take advantage of cool weather and cut the beast in half in April. As I brandished the hedge cutter, blades gleaming in the sun, I had no fear. And then it happened. I spotted a bird nest (this never happens in June). There was an egg in it. SOB!!! I cut around the nest. My woes were not over There ended up being THREE nests. I don’t know if the momma birds will come back or not, but I had to try. The thought crossed my mind that I may potentially be a baby bird killer, but then wait……………… I eat eggs all of the time. Does that make me a mass serial baby chicken killer? I think too much.

Anyway, I’m hoping a few of my neighbors will read this and understand why my hedge row has small sections that are uncut. It looks really funny.

Day 36 - April 20
Listening to: Someone Save my Life (still on Elton)
Thought for the day: My weekend starts………NOW! Long weekend-gasm alert!

The cow goes moooooooooooooooo. The pig goes oink oink. What kind of noise does the cowboy pork chop make? YEEEHAW-Oink? Anyone else fascinated with the See-n-Say as a kid (I was)?

I don’t know what was wrong with me today. I either experienced some cyclic hormonal thing or my brain thought my stomach was the size of Kansas. I was hungry ALL DURN DAY!!! As you know, tonight was Wednesday Dinner Club night. We went to Longhorn Steak House. Yeah, not a big deal, but with national debt-sized hunger a leather shoe would have been tasty. Thank goodness Longhorn doesn’t serve leather shoes. I ate the cowboy pork chops. The chops successfully shut down the hunger hound camped in my brain, so Longhorn gets no complaints from me! As you can see, it was a two-fork night!

Day 37 - April 19
Listening to: Island Girl
Thought for the day: After one year as vice pres., two years as THE pres., and two years as recording secretary......... I hereby make a motion that I can now hang up my McGavock band responsibilities hat. Can I get a second?

I call this picture “Kris Dressed Like Elton...FAIL.” I am posting it because I know it will make a particular person who had a bad day today laugh. The photo is from one of my dance recitals back in the 70s. I performed a routine to Elton’s “Island Girl.” We all thought I looked like Elton when in fact I looked more like Raggedy Kris. I wish I still had the glasses though.

Day 38 - April 18
Listening to: Love the One You’re With
Thought for the day: Love My Easter Bunny (Mom)

How it is possible any of us ever believed in the Easter Bunny with basket bonanzas on display like this one in K-Mart? At least Santa’s shenanigans are a bit more covert. All I know is I always wanted one of these commercial concocted baskets chock full of chocolate and a toy. I never received one. The Bunny in my life (aka Mom) was always generous, but I still longed to see the masses of shiny cellophane glimmering in the morning light when I ventured into the room where the Bunny left the goods. I’m grateful my Bunny never gave into my childish wishes and commercial trickery because I still have ever single stuffed rabbit, lamb, and duck ever given to me on Easter morn. I doubt I could say the same if I had been the recipient of a store-bought basket.