John came home in time to catch at least half of the weekend. We had a late supper when he got back – a simple one of pork pie paired with a leafy salad in my big maple thrift-store-find salad bowl.

The next day was rainy and windy. A perfect setting for Skye taking her naps on John’s chest, Spectre taking his naps at John’s feet, me catching up on filing from my mad dash to get the taxes done last week and Mom Silkman wading into the morass of John’s travel laundry (God Love Her!).

For a lazy Sunday supper it was leftovers with a brand new salad and afterward, a new (delicious!) take on peanut butter cookies while we watched an old movie.

Every once in a while, I love this kind of weekend.

I read somewhere a long time ago that “the perfect desk” had a few fixed elements:

A light
A clock
A framed picture
Flowers

By that calculus, I’m missing half of what I “need.”

The clock is easy – I’ll take care of that soon.

The framed picture will be even easier.  I know just the two people (and Labradog) who will fill it beautifully.

I promise.  I did have a post planned – one that adequately and reverently addressed the glory of this most Hopeful of Holidays in the Christian faith.

But in the end, I was too happy to be serious, and by the time I sat down to write this, I realized it would have to be fairly casual anyway by the time I got to the dinner pictures – church clothes had long been exchanged for running gear (us) and PJs (Skye).

So, on this Day of the Resurrection -  He is Risen! – I decided to embrace my inner 70s child that is really never very far away.

Subtitles thanks to England Dan & John Ford Coley.  They said it way better than I could have:

Name your price – A ticket to paradise…
I can’t stay here any more – And I’ve looked high and low.
I’ve been from shore to shore to shore.
If there’s a short cut I’d have found it -But there is no easy way around it.
Light of the world, shine on me…

Love is the answer.
Shine on us all -

Set us free -
Love is the answer.

And when you feel afraid – Love one another…
When you’ve lost your way – Love one another…
And when you’re all alone, Love one another…
And when you’re far from home -

Love one another.
And when you’re down and out – Love one another.
And when your hopes run out – Love one another
And when you need a friend…

Love one another.

Happy Easter, Everybody.

Peace, Out.

We keep Christmas all the way through Christmastide until Epiphany around here. I suspect I’ll post our menu for Twelfth Night (January 5th) and I will be very sad when our tree comes down on the 7th.

In the meantime, we’re still enjoying the Season – warm fires and our grandmother’s teeny-tiny, brass candlesticks (filled with red candles, rather than my customary blue or white) on the mantle. I like the mood of this picture, but it kind of cracks me up, too – maybe it’s the little Korean horse’s snout on the bottom right – or maybe it’s the fact that Spectre’s stocking is bigger than anyone else’s.

Indeed. I shy away from resolutions – I call them goals. I’ve decided that this year, I want to be a woman my husband can be proud of and a woman our *daughter* (PINCHING MYSELF!!!!) can look up to…I call it the Year of Refinement. Let it begin.

And for those who might have been curious about what our dessert was for our New Year’s Day supper? We kept it very, very casual this year. We just cooked off a few of these little delicious darlings.

Have a wonderful New Year, everyone.

Love,

Skye’s Mama

He’s 13 years old, now. He has made an appearance every year in my house as part of the Christmas decorations.

This year, he’s perched on top of the beer glass cabinet (doesn’t every house have one?) facing…

Well…north, of course.

…sans the horrific red showroom shag carpet, that is.

Next picture, will be with this beautiful couch, in our house!

One of my favorite sayings from my grandmother is:  “Life is a Special Occasion.”

So light your candles. Use your pretty things everyday – don’t wait for that “special occasion.”

(And, if your candles are in sconces that you rescued from a dark outdoor corner of a thrift shop in Tampa Bay for roughly $10 apiece, then so much the better for you!)

…of scruffy beard, baseball cap … and a pink blanket.

Never thought I’d see the day.

Of course, now that Skye’s here, it seems the most natural scene in the world. 

 I am definitely a candle person. I light one every night when I’m cooking and use my candlesticks at night during supper.  Candlelight in a cold climate somehow seems even cozier and better.

As I came through the foyer on my way upstairs the other night, I saw that John had lit the three pillar candles on top of our Craigslist find – a Danish Modern hutch that we love. Its original owner came from New York City – and she gave it to her granddaughter in St. Petersburg, Florida, which is where we caught up with it.  

And now, 50 years on? It’s sitting on a stone floor in the middle of the Black Forest.

Welcome Home.