“It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.”
When I went to get the papers, I saw the shaded parts of the street still had frost, and the car at the house facing my street had a frosted back window, but I’m guessing the white rime will have a short life and disappear quickly as it is 40° even this early at 8:15. The morning air had that sweet smell cooler spring mornings have and it gave hint of the warmer day to come.
Consider this a Part II as I went to breakfast in between. The place was as crowded as it gets in summer, and I had to wait in line for a booth. My friend Pat with whom I have breakfast every Sunday always figures they’re people down for the weekend. I think the warmer weather brings out the locals earlier in the day. By the time we’d finished, the crowd had miraculously disappeared and five booths were empty.
Today is Palm Sunday. My mother used to keep her palm fronds behind the crucifix over her bed. I remember them there, the only things on that wall, from when I was a kid. The frond was so long it used to stick out from both sides of the crucifix. After mass on this day each year, she’d take down and toss out the old dry, brittle frond and replace with the new ones given out at the end of mass. I remember seeing all the people walk out of the church down the long steps each carrying a frond. I knew they were called palm fronds, but I thought they were named after the Sunday, and it wasn’t until I was a little older that I connected them to a palm tree, and it took a little bit longer than that to connect them to the liturgy.
Today is also April Fools’ Day. My mother would call and try to catch us, and my sister Moe was her favorite target as Moe was easily caught. The rest of us were a bit more skeptical, but my mother usually concocted a plausible story which we were hesitant to dismiss. She sometimes got us all. I used to try to fool my friends, and I could tell a whopper, as I had learned from the best, my mother, to make my story believable. I loved it when my friends fell for it. I’d yell, “April Fools’ Day,” and laugh and so would they. That was all you could do if caught!
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: April Fool's Day, jokes, palm fronds, Palm Sunday
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
April 1, 2012 at 11:04 am
I just saw a very interesting story on the TV show ‘Sunday Morning’. The National Fusion Laboratory, in Livermore Ca. has achieved sustained nuclear fusion using laser beams. This produced a very large amount of energy from a small amount of hydrogen, but it proved that we can achieve the same energy that powers the sun. This breakthrough will eventually be able to replace all fossil fuels for electrical power in the next ten years with unlimited clean supplies of hydrogen. This will reduce green house gas emissions helping to solve global warming and it will also reduce our dependance on foreign oil. This is a wonderful scientific achievement.
The above story contains small elements of truth taken out of context from the TV story. This is a fitting example for the first day of April of an election year. The half truths and other fairy tales have already started flowing from the mouths of the Republican candidates.
Have a wonderful April Fool’s day!!!
April 1, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Bob,
The Republican candidated have nothing to fall back on. Their last president spent 8 years nearly bankrupting this country, and they arekeeping a big space between them and him. The economy is moving very slowly so that’s what they grab on to as a political ploy.
Politics is sledom clean.
April 1, 2012 at 8:33 pm
I hope you caught the idea that the first paragraph was an April fool’s joke. The second one is just the sad truth.
April 1, 2012 at 12:55 pm
OK, so now thats been acquired where do we go from there?
Batteries that we wont ever need to bury in the earth as trash? Think of all those batteries we have dumped into the earth and theere they sit,decomposing in it’s soil,polluting the earth. If we dont pollute the air then we must be polluting the eath?
.
.
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWN65nAkk20&w=640&h=360]
April 1, 2012 at 1:00 pm
guess you cant win for losing. I’ll just let it all hang out.. HeHeHe
April 1, 2012 at 5:16 pm
morpfy,
“Keep an open mind, let it all hang out”
April 1, 2012 at 5:16 pm
morpfy,
I can’t even begin to list the ways we pollute the earth. Even something as simple as clay litter takes years to break down. That seems to be the way of the industrial world.
As always, thanks for the video!
April 1, 2012 at 1:20 pm
We’re having all kinds of weather today. Sunshine, rain, snow and hail together with a strong wind 🙂 it seems to be the same all over southern Sweden as well. So I’ve stayed indoors most of the time vacuuming the cottage and baking bread. No hard work but gives me the illusion that I actually work hard 🙂 🙂 🙂
Palms has never been especially common here these last millions of years 🙂 so here they usually use branches of willow instead. But we never save them longer than to easter to be honest, perhaps that’s protestant thing not to save them I mean.
I’ve never been good at April fools things and I usually don’t fall for them either, a bit boring actually because it can be fun to be fooled if it is a good one 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
April 1, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Christer,
Our day was in the mid-40’s, but there was no wind so it felt warmer.
I did my usual dump run and picked up a few groceries, but that was it. It was a quiet day.
There aren’t any palms this far north so they bring them in from somewhere else. Technically the old ones are supposed to be burned to be used on Ash Wednesday.
Enjoy your evening!
April 1, 2012 at 4:26 pm
20 somethings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWNLhptltBg
Cheers
April 1, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Minicapt,
That was wonderful. I’d forgotten that scene.
April 1, 2012 at 4:43 pm
I was a bad boy once. . . only once. I hid my Mother’s favorite Siamese in the downstair utility room and raced to her room to say he got out while I was opening the door to warm up the car. She freaked out. I watched her walk the neighborhood until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I banged on the bay window on the second level holding the cat until she saw us. She even asked where I found him. When I said “April Fools” she was very unhappy. I wonder if she ever forgave me.
April 1, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Z&Me,
I couldn’t believe you were ever a bad boy, but there you were toying with your mother’s affection for her cat. Bad, bad, bad!
April 1, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Bob,
I knew it was, and I knew your second paragraph was an explanation of the first.
April 1, 2012 at 11:07 pm
I’m having special homegrown spaghetti topped with killer giant tomatoes and holy swiss cheese for dinner. It’s one of my favorite dishes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZdQqh9jvB6w
LilyDark ( who IS she?) is trying to wave but she’ in a fit of giggles after reading all the posts.
April 1, 2012 at 11:08 pm
DId Lilydark’s message get in, testing….
April 2, 2012 at 10:48 am
Lily/Lori,
Don’t you see it?
April 2, 2012 at 10:50 am
Lily-Lori,
I have a picture of the spaghetti trees, but this is the first time I’ve seen the travelkog. It’s wonderful!
How was your dinner?
April 2, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Excellent. I had trouble signing in again, which is why lilylori tested it. Think I’ll have some leftovers for breakfast and then nap with Jewels.
April 2, 2012 at 1:17 am
Thanks for the catch up, Kat. As usual, I’m late and have to spend some time doing just nothing but enjoying myself, reveling in both your rememberies AND mine.
Its interesting to see (read) what a life is really like. I’ve spent so much time traveling over the years that it is good to get back to that again.
Thanks again and see you in a week or so.
Carl
April 2, 2012 at 10:26 am
Carl,
I love reveling in memories. They remind me of how I got to be be me. I’m so glad mine help reawaken yours.
My life has been more than I could ever have imagined and for that I am forever grateful!
I am so glad you visit! See you next week!!
April 2, 2012 at 8:37 am
Kat:
April 1st (yesterday) was my 65th birthday–no foolin’!
Our grandaughters came over on Saturday, and we took the kayak out on the pond. They each made me a coffee mug and painted it. The older one, Olivia, will be 8 in two weeks. She is student of the week this week, so I gave her a decorated gourd for show-and-tell. This is a Bolga (Fra-fra?) gourd, with designs on the outside of chameleons and turtles and frogs, used I believe by girls about to marry, who want to dye their arms. They load the gourd with dye and soak their arms. You may even have one in your house. We also have a balaphone from Ouagadougou, which they like to play. Some of the round gourds are cracked and fragile, and the leather bindings are dried out. Our sunroom has two leather cushions from Bolga, as well as other items we bought in Bolga , Accra. and Tafo.
Ghana has given us a whole treasure chest of memories to be passed on to our children and grandchildren.
April 2, 2012 at 10:31 am
Bill,
Okay, how did you get so old? Mine 65th will be this August so I am considerably younger than you!
I do have handcarved gourds from Ghana. One has cracked, but the other seems to be doing well in its old age. I have an old owari board, Ashanti stool and some really old adinkra stamps. I still have several fugus from Bolga and lots of cloth from back then. I treasure all of them.
The current trainees should be warned that Ghana will forever be with them. It doesn’t let go.
April 2, 2012 at 11:10 am
P.S.
Happy Belated birthday, Bill!!