Laramie, Wyoming

For the first day in four days we had little to no wind!  HURRAY!!!  I have been along I-80 from Sacramento until we turn south towards Kansas City so many times in my life.  Driving west many times one fights wind...no so today, the wind was light...it was a good drive.

 

This is one of my most favorite "man made" features along I-80.  It is the Lincoln Monument, a memorial to the Lincoln Highway.  The monument commemorates the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth by the state of Wyoming in 1959.  Before Interstate 80 was constructed, the
Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument in Wyoming was located at the highest point of the original Lincoln Highway on Sherman Summit (or Sherman Hill), east of Laramie, at an elevation of 8,640 feet.  It was placed there on October 18, 1959, and was later moved in 1968 to its current location at a rest area on I-80. The highest elevation on Interstate 80 is
8,640 feet (2,633 meters) above sea level, located at the Sherman Summit in the Laramie Mountains of Wyoming...not far from this monument.

 

The details in the face and head are remarkable, especially for a monument which is nearly 70 years old.

We have stopped for the night at the Albany County Fairgrounds.  This is a self serve site, has about 15-20 sites, all with water, electricity and dump, and we are the only people here...in fact, other than a couple who were walking a horse, we have seen no one.  There is a self-serve kiosk, which includes a QR Code that will direct you to a site where you can put it on your credit card.  Cost is $40.  There is a train track a 1/2 mile away...we have heard no trains (been here for 5 hours so far.)

Tomorrow, Salt Lake City to see more family.   

Hope you have had a wonderful Easter Day....He has risen...HE has RISEN indeed!        
  

No Bunnies, No Eggs, No Guests, But HE STILL AROSE

 

Can you remember the days of being young at Easter time?  Typically started out with Palm Sunday, then having a week off from school (when the school district coordinated it correctly), then a church service for Good Friday, followed by decorating eggs on Saturday.

 

On Sunday, after church, we would be given a basket, with green fake grass inside (but not as nice as this basket...many times it was just a plain looking basket).

    

And in the grass we would hope to find some Jelly Beans and one or two delicious (gag) Peeps.  Yes, as a kid they tasted great...now days, not so much so...

 

After church, and after Easter Dinner, the HUNT would begin.  We would look for the painted hard boiled eggs, and especially for the plastic eggs.  You never knew what would be inside the plastic egg...perhaps a note, perhaps a few little candies (ie: Jelly Beans), perhaps a few coins or a even a dollar bill.  Of course, the 'older kids' (all my brothers for instance) had to be told which area of the yard was theirs, and which was for us younger kids...otherwise, us younger kids would not come up with any plastic eggs.

 

Can you remember your first chocolate bunny?  I can..it tasted good, but I was disappointed that it was hollow, but it didn't take away from the taste.  I nibbled on it for a number of days.

 

And later in life I was introduced to the Cadbury Eggs. Oh WOW, those are to die for, especially certain flavors.  They have 25 different flavors!  Not even sure which ones are my 'favorite', because after all, how can you have a 'favorite' when they all taste so good.  Here is a list of eggs from over the years: Chocolate Creme Eggs, Orange Creme Eggs, 'Berry' Creme Eggs,  Mint Creme Eggs, Dairy Milk with Creme Egg bars, Creme Egg Fondant, Creme Egg ice, Holiday Ornament Creme Egg, Mad About Chocolate Egg (Australia and New Zealand), Creme Egg Pots Of Joy , Screme Egg Pots Of Joy, Creme Egg Layers Of Joy, Peppermint Egg (New Zealand), Giant Creme Eggs, Creme Egg Splats, Screme Egg - for Halloween, Screme Egg Minis, Fudgee-O Egg, Oreo Cream Egg (Canada). Introduced in 2016. Filled with a white cream centre containing Oreo cookie crumbs, Ghost Egg , White Chocolate Creme Egg.  What you DON'T see is a COCONUT Egg...just the more reason to like Cadbury.  COCONUT and Chocolate?  Hershey burned me more than once with their Almond Joy Bars and their Mounds Bars...it took me awhile (a number of Halloweens) to realize that they BOTH had Craponut in them.  Yes, CRAPONUT, that is how much I don't like Coconut!  Don't need to worry about that with Cadbury, as you do with See's, Mrs. Cavanaugh's, Chirardelli, Godiva, etc.

 

Hard to talk about Easter without talking about Miss Ann.  She was the Children's Librarian at the Pine Bluff Library for decades.  A few years after I arrived in Pine Bluff, Miss Ann told me to "expect a surprise" when I got home from church the Friday before Easter.  We got home, and Miss Ann and one of her Easter Bunny Helpers had hidden Easter Eggs for my three kids.  It has been  15 years since Miss Ann passed...I miss her to this day.

     

 

As one gets older, being raised in the faith, Easter becomes less and less about Chocolate Bunnies, Cadbury Eggs, and especially a lot less about Peeps.  It is a very special day, a day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  This year Easter, or Resurrection Day as it is known by many Christians, is a day where families were unable to gather, unable to celebrate together.  There were no community Easter Egg Hunts, and most could not attend church except through the Internet.  But it was still a memorable day for us believers.  I hope that you too have had a good day today.  As for us...our Boneless Leg of Lamb is still cooking, and we should be feasting around 5 pm.  Little did I know back then that Lamb was better than Chocolate...

Ninety Years Old

At Sister’s House in Citrus Heights

   

Both mom and dad have birthdays in April…dad’s was on Sunday, an April Fools baby.

To celebrate the occasion, we thought “wild turkey” would be in order…but alas, them critters are hard to catch….so….

Black Angus was our secondary choice.  Saturday late afternoon, before they are too busy, those children and spouses who were able to attend, took dad there for his favorite…Prime Rib.  Pictured left to right are Marcia, sister Patti, sister Sandy, Arny (behind Sandy), mom, dad, Rochelle (Roger’s wife) and just out of the picture to the right, brother Roger. 

    

On Sunday we gathered again for an Easter – April Fools – Birthday dinner.  Easter has fallen on Dad’s birthday only four times in his lifetime, 1934, 1945, 1956, and 2018…and will do so again in 2029, but dad says he does not want to be around ‘that’ long…which is understandable. 

We asked permission from the Fire Department to put 90 candles on the cake…but they said ‘no way’.  I think there are 90 sprinkles on it instead…

    

In the upper left picture are dad’s brother’s two children who were able to attend, Richard (far left) and Barbara (next to Richard), along with Richard’s wife Marci, and Roger’s wife Rochelle.  Barbara lives in Italy, and I had not seen her for many years, and it was the first time she had met my wife Marcia.  In the upper right picture is my son Michael (far right behind dad) and his wife to be Anna (July wedding) to the left of Michael (his right, picture left).  In the bottom picture is Arny’s mother Euleda (left) along with my mom and sister Patti.

Above, Sandy and Arny, whose home we all gathered at, enjoy talking to Marci and Richard, who live in the Santa Cruz area…and Marcia and I plan to go over to their place in early May for a few days as part of our May excursion. 

   

And now that I got these two in the blog, I think I got a picture of everyone, although Roger only got his arm in a picture.

When I took mom and dad home, mom asked me to get a picture of their front door…the Independent Living Facility had decorated it for Dad’s birthday…so sweet of them. 

Unfortunately, Sunday also brought with it some sad news.  Marcia’s cousin, through her first husband, Sophie, passed away.  The above picture is from October 2016.  Every year we have driven through Fort Smith to visit with Sophie, who was 95 years old.  She will be missed, but we know she is no longer in any pain, and with our Lord.  Prayers to her family and friends who are mourning her loss.  We still plan to stop in Fort Smith to see her son Jim and wife Pat later this summer/fall.

Easter Time

Easter is always a special time for us…which is why we like to try and stay in town through Easter each year.  With it being so late in the year this time we almost did not stay this year, but glad we did.  It essentially started for us on Thursday.  My last post talked about having breakfast with Cousin Mary…but that night we had dinner at Mama Maria’s, our favorite Greek Restaurant, with another cousin of sorts, Ginger.  It has been nice for me to get to know Ginger better this winter…her husband, who is a cousin of Marcia’s, passed away in November from cancer.  We felt blessed to make it home to see him before he passed…and we have had dinner with Ginger a number of times this winter.  Anyway, at Mama’s the waitress Marie, Greek Orthodox as is Ginger and as was Marcia, talked about how she is sick and tired of eating beans.  You see, for 40 days the Greek Orthodox observe a very strict fast…many call it the “Great Fast”, because it last so long.  Here is a quick breakdown of the fast as found on the Internet:

Week before Lent ("Cheesefare Week"): Meat and other animal products are prohibited, but eggs and dairy products are permitted, even on Wednesday and Friday.
First Week of Lent: Only two full meals are eaten during the first five days, on Wednesday and Friday after the Presanctified Liturgy. Nothing is eaten from Monday morning until Wednesday evening, the longest time without food in the Church year. (Few laymen keep these rules in their fullness). For the Wednesday and Friday meals, as for all weekdays in Lent, meat and animal products, fish, dairy products, wine and oil are avoided. On Saturday of the first week, the usual rule for Lenten Saturdays begins (see below).
Weekdays in the Second through Sixth Weeks: The strict fasting rule is kept every day: avoidance of meat, meat products, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil.
Saturdays and Sundays in the Second through Sixth Weeks: Wine and oil are permitted; otherwise the strict fasting rule is kept.
Holy Week: The Thursday evening meal is ideally the last meal taken until Pascha. At this meal, wine and oil are permitted. The Fast of Great and Holy Friday is the strictest fast day of the year: even those who have not kept a strict Lenten fast are strongly urged not to eat on this day. After St. Basil's Liturgy on Holy Saturday, a little wine and fruit may be taken for sustenance. The fast is sometimes broken on Saturday night after Resurrection Matins, or, at the latest, after the Divine Liturgy on Pascha.

 
The restaurant was pretty quiet, and Marie (Waitress) had a good moment to converse with us.  Oh she was just DYING for a steak, and she said that at 12:01 am Sunday morning she was going to cook herself the biggest steak.  “I told my ma to get me the biggest steak at Sam’s Club, nothing else…just the Steak.  I am going to cook it myself because if I let her cook it, it would be too well done.”  She also talked about when she was a young child how she had a pet lamb for a week…she loved the little lamb…which mysteriously disappeared over Easter Weekend.  “Must have got loose and ran away” her parents said.  Marie said it wasn’t until many years later that she realized that the lamb did not run away…  We all had an enjoyable chat with Marie, and about the lent, and at 7:30 when we left, we were about the only ones in there at that point. 
 

 

During the rest of the weekend we were busy getting things ready for the trip.  On Friday we attended a great Good Friday church service, and on Sunday, of course, we went to the Easter Service.  The church was packed!  And granddaughter Allisa, who came to visit us a little over a week ago, drove over from east Tampa area just to say goodbye.  After church we got Bubba, drove the motorhome over to the RV park nearby us, and then got dinner ready.  Kind of a tradition for us to have lamb chops for Easter.  Marcia’s son John, who we had lunch with on Saturday, was invited over for lamb chops which, unfortunately, some needed about 2-3 more minutes on the grill.  Oh well, you can always add fire, you can’t take it away if you over cook them. 

 

Monday we head out…staying at a Cracker Barrel or a rest area the first night.  Still lots to do to get ready…

These Shoes Are Made For Walking

Yes, another “song” oriented posting….don’t know what’s getting into me.  I know, however, where my feet have been the past three years.  Shortly after we got married, I picked up this pair of sandals at a local Palm Harbor shoe store.  I had not had a pair of sandals for like, ever….at least 30 years or so.  Well, after three years, these sandals are just about finished…. regulated now to dirty jobs, they will need to be kept in one of the holding areas near the front door of the motorhome. 

About 18 months ago I purchased this pair from Amazon, same brand as the one above, but different style.  I wear these to church, and keep them in good shape.  I wanted to buy ones like the ones I already had, but could not find them…even back at that same store in Palm Harbor.  But a recent search on Amazon found the exact same style shoe, but different color, at Amazon.  They came in just before we left for Houston.

As you can see….same shoe, a bit tighter because they are not “broken in” yet, but give me a few months and they will feel just right.

Why is it that shoes that look like this….feel so right?

Well, a little over a month ago we were checking items off our list for our Alaska trip…now we have lists of items that need to be done in short order for our trip back to Texas, then Arkansas, then California.  Big difference is, anything that is not “absolutely needed” can wait until we get to California.  If the Ford Dealership can work us in, I want the new motorhome checked out before we leave.  A few items will be ordered through Amazon with 2 day shipping, and I am sure a trip to Camping World will be in order if needed.  And, of course, a visit to the DMV to get it licensed and registered.  Soon, the real fun will begin.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter…we enjoyed ours with a great service at church, a wonderful breakfast at Lucky Dills, a very nice visit from Marcia’s Grand-daughter, and a quick visit to the new motorhome.  (Of course, just had to share the video of my oldest son’s “double bird”….as a Florida graduate she got a kick out of his loyalty to SEC rival Arkansas.)  After today’s well deserved “day of rest”, it is going to be a very busy week.  Doubt I will ever catch up on the many blogs that I normally follow, but I try to glance over them the best I can.