Spring will drop by this week. The next few days will be in the 60’s, and we could hit 70° on Friday. Now, where did I put that sunscreen?

Today my dance card is filled. I have lists of errands and chores to do to get ready for my friends’ arrival tomorrow. My shopping list is long.

Yesterday I was watching YouTube, and there were pigs. Nala noticed them and watched until the pigs were gone. I think it was the first time she ever watched TV.

When I was a kid, I lived in a wonderful town, a town filled with amazing places. It had a dairy and cows. I used to bike there to watch the cows in the field. I remember the route from the barn to the field was often muddy and filled with cow prints. The cows were black and white and later I learned they were Holsteins. We had a zoo. It wasn’t very big, but it had an elephant, a young elephant. On one side of the zoo were the small cages where animals like raccoons lived. I remember the cages were wooden and painted green. It had a petting zoo. Nursery rhymes were the motif. I remember the clock, the Hickory Dickory clock. Picnic tables were under trees at one end of the zoo. I used to bring my lunch and sit at one of the tables.

We had a girl scout camp in the woods across from the zoo, Camp Aleaska. It had a huge room with a huge fireplace. Along the walls were storage areas which we could sit. They were where the cots were stored. The cots were the sort with canvas in the middle and wood pieces at each end to keep the cots upright. It had a kitchen and a bathroom. One room was off the big room. That’s where the counselors slept when we had overnights. The trees around the camp were tall pines. All the paths were covered in brown pine needles.

I walked the railroad tracks. Trains still ran back then. I’d put a penny on the tracks so the train could run over them and fatten them. The train station was brick. It was across from the box factory.

The world of my childhood has disappeared. The rail road tracks are gone. The station is still there and has been many things including an insurance office and a store with trinkets. The zoo is still there, far better than my old zoo, but there isn’t an elephant. The farm has no cows. It sells stuff like mulch. I don’t know about the Girl Scout camp, but I didn’t see the dirt road leading to the camp the last time I drove by it.

I never expected my town to stay amazing. It got bigger, way bigger, the way many places do over time. My sister still lives there around the corner from where my parents lived. I seldom visit.

Happy Easter!

Today is a pretty day. It is in the mid 40’s, but with only a little wind, it feels warm. The dogs are wearing their Easter bandanas. Nala is chewing hers and will not sit still for a picture in her Easter finery. Henry runs off if he sees a camera of any sort.

I am not wearing Easter finery. Today will be a casual day. I do have an Easter dinner. The first courses are clam chowder and shrimp. Dinner is ham with mango chutney, au gratin potatoes and roasted tricolor carrots. Dessert is a chocolate cupcake. A rabbit sits on top. I’ll eat around two, the universal dinner time on holidays.

When I was a kid, my Easter basket was always filled with goodies and small gifts. A stuffed animal stood tall in the basket. It was usually Peter Rabbit in his blue vest. I never saw girl rabbits. I guess they didn’t have a story the way Peter did. I still have a Peter Rabbit sitting in a basket. He is living the good life.

The bottom of the basket had green grass. It was plastic and stuck to any half-eaten chocolate.

We always got a chocolate rabbit. It was chocolate all the way through. The ears were the first to go. They were the easiest parts to eat. The body took some gnawing. The jelly beans were huge and strewn on the grass at the bottom of the basket. The other eggs were oval and filled with something white. They were hard and needed a strong bite. They too were on the green grass. The Peeps were always yellow. They were squishy.

When I was young, we lived in a duplex, and the kitchen was small. The table only had enough room for four chairs around it and one at the end. My mother ate at the counter. Even when there was room, she always ate at the counter if we ate in the kitchen. Later, we lived in a house with a dining room. The table always looked festive decorated for Easter. It groaned with food.

The flowers are blooming. Everything is awake. I saw a chipmunk this morning. Yesterday I saw a cardinal. This week will be spring warm even here on Cape Cod.