Having a three-day weekend just days after a week of Spring Break seemed downright sinful! Friday evening we had dinner (party of 7!) at Zipps, where I’m absolutely in love with their buffalo chicken hot wings, fries, and cold pints of Hess IPA (I know, my appetite is like a college-aged boy’s). Seriously. On recent Friday nights, I’ve been a black hole for french fries and beer. There isn’t any left for anyone else, sorry Tempe! And chickens, save yourselves! I’ll be eyeing your wings for my next meal! (Have Frank’s Sauce, will travel.)
Bright and early Saturday, we were at the community garden. What a freakin’ mess. You leave a garden unwatched for three weeks and crazy stuff will happen. Because of our ridiculously high temps in the 90s in February, all of my lettuces either wilted or went to seed. I could have cried. Adieu, my dear arugula! Sweet dreams, crisp mesclun! Apparently sunflowers reseed themselves each year—who knew? Sunflowers had sprouted to a height of two feet, no lie. Amazing. I pulled out most of them because they were covered in little black bugs. The good news? Sweet peas were blooming, smelling like spring. It felt great to dig in the dirt, admire the other gardener’s plots, and make a new friend who I’ve seen for years but never met in her job as a librarian at our Sunset Branch library down on the corner. So nice to talk gardening, books, libraries, and philosophy with you, Trish!
After gardening we finished up the Most Dreaded of All Tasks: Taxes. I added up our donations and the sum of all costs at our rental property near ASU, while Hubby located and tallied all our W2s, the 409s, and the WD40s (ha). We threw it into an envelope with a hope that we won’t be in a twizzler when the accountant looks it over. *crossed fingers*
We had a very low-key Easter Sunday with Eve and William present for a late lunch of Spaghetti Carbonara with sides of sour dough bread, asparagus, salad, and apple cake. When our children were little, we would attend church with my in-laws and do a fancy restaurant brunch, but personally I’m happy to be done with that tradition. It was so exhausting! Easter was never a occasion in my childhood home. My Catholic cousins got fancy dresses and Easter egg hunts, but I got none of that since my parents were not religious. At best, we’d join the rest of the family at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for late afternoon Easter dinner. When we became parents, Hubby and I made Easter egg hunts in the greenbelt near our house for our children . . . until they were too old to want to participate. I have hopes to recreate that event with grandchildren someday.
This year’s relaxing, beautiful Easter Sunday with our kids was a gift. We played with the pets, chatted about every little thing, and ate too much chocolate from our Easter baskets. (And yes, even though our kids are all grown up, we still give the Easter baskets.) We watched with interest a large swarm of bees swarm and leave and return and do their “bee thing” in the corner of our back yard all afternoon. For years we’ve had bees visit us, sometimes staying long enough to make honey that pours out of our fence, and other years, staying briefly before moving on to greener pastures. And we at this Apple Cake.
Apple Cake
Cheers, Darling 