Easy Easter

Melvin's hat and a favorite book that a friend gave me many years ago––"Heart's Delight Farm"

Ida's mint––used in our iced tea––made an easy centerpiece.

This Easter was one of our most memorable––even the kids, all three of them, said so. Perhaps it was because it was the first holiday we shared together at Chickabiddy Cottage (where, with a few tweaks, we're trying to figure out if we can move permanently––but at least for the summer months). Or because it was the first holiday we shared with our daughter since Christmas 2007. Or because it was just effortless (even Betty and Duncan provided our dessert!). No fussing. No Easter decorations (despite my best intentions: next year?). No hauling out old china or silver (most still packed). Not even a bouquet of spring flowers!

Joberta and Anna share a "hoot."

Perhaps it was because we just sat around the big old English farmhouse kitchen table for hours with some of our Kentucky friends. No, we didn't go to church but we praised, prayed and felt blessed all the same after what I would best describe as a contemplative Lenten season.

Joberta brought the Cupcake wine!

Our daughter is staying at Chickabiddy while she is here and every meal we have had there together has been wonderful. We sit around and talk before and afterwards: often on the porch. Or read or play. We have no TV, phone or internet at the cottage. I intend to keep it that way. Across the street and up the road a bit from our doublewide, it is the needed domestic center of our farm life. As Addie says, "You can look out any window and catch a view." And the breezes find us and gather off the knob. There are much-needed vistas and new and changing horizons. It truly does provide a needed escape from life's distractions while allowing us to communicate with each other––or for me to see what's going on at the farm while working away inside. [Soon my office will be there, too.] I can even holler out the door when a meal is ready or visit when someone stops by. For the first time in a long time, I feel at home. Settled. Dare I say, even permanently so?

The kids pitched together and decorated the Easter cakes––
a lamb and a rabbit from old tins that my mother used to use.

Thank you Betty and Duncan for making dessert so easy this year!

I can not sing enough praises for Betty Crocker® "home style" Fluffy White icing: it is like Seven-Minute icing, which can be difficult to make (or make quickly), and all you have to do is add boiling water! [It's also fat free.] Our cake was a Duncan Hines® lemon cake: moist and tasty––and easy.

The Remains of the Cake and the delightful Cadbury Creme Egg, one of England's greatest exports!

We are so enjoying our family time altogether again. Even though our daughter
is thriving in her own life "back east," her presence is something I miss throughout the year.

The festal lamb––our son requested it again for his 11th birthday just two days after Easter!
The only difference in the menu was that we had mashed potatoes instead of oven-roasted.
Oh, and he got a "from scratch" chocolate cake with homemade mocha icing. (Sorry, Betty.) 

You come back when you're ready!

Catherine