Credit to Joy for the above photo :)

Yesterday I promised to write up the Photo Safari Report for last week's hike.   It was such a great hike or actually a series of hikes, all of them in the same place, Mayakka State Park.  Joy and I drove (well technically she drove, I passengered) to a good place to hike, then of course we hiked around and took photos and then drove to the next great place and so forth.  So it's not one long hike, it's more a lot of small ones.  Still counts tho!  I guess therefore, I will call this one the Lotsa Hikes Hike.  That'll do.

It was, once again, an absolutely gorgeous day and perhaps because of that (?) we saw so much more variety than usual, meaning this time, it's not just birds :)  Oh there were birds, no question, but a really nice variety of them instead of mostly one sort.  What is it they used to say?  Oh yeah, Variety is the Spice of Life.  It's also the spice of photography!  

I may as well post the birds since I was just talking about them.  There were birds throughout the park, from the very first moment we passed the Ranger Station until we went back out. We were surrounded by all sorts of songs. Sometimes it's hard to find them even though you can hear them very clearly!  But if we are very patient and just stand in one spot, keeping our eyes peeled, eventually they usually reveal themselves.  So many different colours and sizes and personalities!  Love it.  Here is a sampling:

But we saw so many other wonderful creatures. After awhile you stop being surprised and just  accept the possibility that a dragon around the next corner would feel logical and reasonable ;)

You know that some trees really catch the attention of my eye and my camera.  Sometimes it's just one spectacular tree on it's own, other times it's a grouping:

Even thought there were flowers and interest foliage all around us, I took surprisingly few photos of them, so today, just a small handful:

I don't want to leave out my newest category, the black'n'white captures.  The smoke, by the way, we saw from quite a distance away and we assume (though one should never) that it was a controlled burn in another part of the park.  At least that's what we hope it was!

No rando's today!

I guess that's a wrap for the Lotsa Hikes Hike!  Hope you enjoyed it.  There is another hike planned for later this week and who knows what I'll have to share with you afterwards!

Hope everyone is happy and healthy and having fun!  
​
Hugs all 'round.

Normally today I would be writing the Photo Safari report from last week, and at some point, it will be written.  It was a great hike and I look forward to telling you about it.  But today I wanted  to write about quilts. Mix things up a bit.

Historically quilting of some sort has been going on for a long time.  A really long time.  Historians suspect that it goes back to dates like 3400 BCE.  Wow!  They don't know specific dates of course but that's the estimate.  Close enough for me.

They do know that quilting was brought to Europe by the Crusaders in the 12th century.  One of the oldest examples of quilting exists in the museum in Russia that has been dated, by the experts who do such things, to somewhere between 100 BCE and and  200 CE.  The quilted scrap was found in a Mongolian Cave!

In America, quilting was a very common practice in the 17th Century and forward. Interestingly (to me anyway) Colonial Quilts were not made of scraps or used clothing. Nor were they used as bed coverings.  Instead they were art pieces, used to decorate their homes!  It wasn't until the 19th century that scrap quilts used as bedcovers became commonplace.  That was a surprise to me!

Why am I talking about quilts?  Well certainly not because I make them.  Lord knows that my sewing skills are rudimentary at best and scandalously horrible at worst.  As many of you are aware, I struggle to replace a missing button.  Quilting is Way out of my wheelhouse.  

I do love them though and I always have.  They look cozy and homey and comfy. They are colourful and soft and beautiful, functional pieces of art!  Which is why Tim and I chose a (very thin) comforter that appears to be a quilt for our bed.  We've had it for a long time, nearly 30 years in fact.  And it still works.  Occasionally I think about replacing it but I haven't found anything I liked quite as much and so it remains.

Joy, on the other hand, makes beautiful quilts.   And she makes the process look as simple as breathing. It's not of course, she just makes it appears that way.   Our grandmother (our Nana) also made quilts.  Why I did not inherit that gene I do not know but our mother didn't either.  My genetic pre-disposition goes more toward cookies than quilts.

Luckily for me, my sister  loves me and I know this (well I already knew this) because she has now made three  (Three!) quilts for me.  Wow!

The first one is a patchwork quilt which I am a huge fan of.  I am familiar with the provenance  of almost every scrap of fabric used.  Either I was told where it came from or I was actually with Joy when she bought it.  I cannot make a quilt to save my life, but I love helping to choose the fabric so Joy often brings me along as a second set of eyes.   I love the randomness, the variety of colours and patterns and the occasional surprises along the way.  When I first received it I spent quite some time just getting to know it, marveling over each fabric, rejoicing in the sparkly bits and loving the stitched in surprises.  

Also luckily for me, Joy believes in using quilts, not just packing them away for safe keeping.  This first quilt was pressed into service as a chair cover once the kittyboys came to live with us.  They are particularly fond of one of our barrel chairs and rather than constantly chase them out of the chair we decided to cover it instead.  It works ;)

Here is the quilt as a chair cover:

And here it is, in all it's glory, tossed over the kitchen table so you can really see how beautiful and intricate it is:

The one day out of the blue, Joy surprised me with another quilt.  The pattern for this one is a jigsaw puzzle. I have no doubt that she just about went crossed-eyed putting this one together but it was worth every single eyedrop needed. I adore it!   The jigsaw quilt was used a lot two years ago when I spent a lot of time in and out of various surgeries and recovering and pretty much lived on the sofa for awhile. 

This quilt cuddled me and kept me safe and warm while I healed.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, it spend most  of it's it's time on a shelf in the Console Table below the Television.  No worries, there are glass doors so it can still be seen and admired.

But this is how it looks spread out on the kitchen table. Fabulous!   You can really see the jigsaw pattern.  And I especially love the backing on this one.  Who, besides Joy, would have thought to use this fabric?  It's perfect!!!

The third quilt is quite new to me.  Joy brought it over last week.  I actually knew this one was coming.  Joy wanted to make a Christmas Quilt for me but not a traditional Christmas Quilt.  She struggled to find a pattern. Not that she generally sticks to patterns, but often uses them as inspirations or jumping off points for her own designs.  Sometimes one pattern can be adapted into something else entirely.    But this time 'round, nothing came even close, so she had to design this one entirely on her own. And oh my gosh, the results are stunning!  

Sadly, I couldn't figure out how to get a photo of the entire quilt. It was Massive!  And  Magnificent!  What you don't see in this photo is that the white background has tiny white snowflakes and sparkles. All of the white fabric is sparkley! I adore sparkle :)   Each tree is completely different from any of the other trees.  The trunks are different fabrics as well.  Sometimes the trees over lap each other a bit, exactly as happens in nature.  They even overlap the border a little here and there which I especially love!    It's a forest of fabric trees!

The quilting is done in swirls that represent the wind and the rain and the snow that falls in the forest.  When you think of all the hikes that Joy and I have done in forests I think this perfectly represents not just our love of nature but also the time we spend together.  And Christmas, it could be Christmas too, why not?  Christmas Trees grow in the forest...!!  AND  at least one fabric is Christmassy.

There is one delightful whimsical surprise on this quilt too.  Way down above the border on one end is this:

How cute is that???  

I am well aware that quilts, much like aprons and punctuation are considered old fashioned and very out of current style.  Do you want to guess how much that matters to me?  If you guessed Not At All, you would be 100% correct!  

I wear an apron every time I cook, I use punctuation constantly, always and correctly and I adore Quilts!  

How many times have you heard that old saying, "With Age Comes Wisdom"?  I cannot begin to count how many times I have read it or heard it throughout my life.  I think I mostly, it was when I was much younger.

It became something to aspire to, something to look forward to. " When I'm older I will be wise".  Mental images of owls that looked a lot like Albert Einstein came to mind.  I pictured myself sagely nodding and answering questions and the crowd hanging on to my every word.   Or at least entering my golden years with an uncanny ability to select the best, fastest moving line in the grocery store.  Practical Wisdom.

And then I do something abysmally stupid and then I wonder when exactly this aged wisdom will begin to kick in.  

By way of example: About a month ago now,  I was cleaning baseboards (my first mistake obviously) when I had a little oopsy.  So picture this:  there I was squatched down carefully wiping down the baseboards under the part of the kitchen island that overhangs so that a person can sit at the counter.  Got it?  Good.  Then when I finished, I - still squatched over - backed up and in one quick movement stood up. All fine and good except that I hadn't yet cleared the overhanging countertop.  ouch.  I whammed my head full tilt into the granite and I tell ya, I saw stars, moons, suns. and all of the constellations I think.  

Tim heard the bang and came running in and found me sitting on the floor under the counter, with my hands on the ouchie part of my head and he brought me an ice pack immediately, got me to a chair to just sit then asked what happened.  When I told him, he just shook his head.  It's not the first time he has rescued me after having done something less than brilliant.

I was fine, thank you very much, but I felt very stupid.  And I said, to myself, "either I'm not yet old enough to be wise or the wisdom gene skipped a generation" and I went on about my life. 

But then yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about food.  Varieties of foods.  What foods we do and do not care for. And  she suggested that perhaps I ought to try a particular food again rather than just say that I had it once (long ago) and didn't like it and therefore have no desire to eat it again.  And I responded that I know myself quite well by now and I know, without a seconds hesitation that if I didn't like it then  I will not like it any better now thank you very much.   

There was no heat to my words, just a strong, firm, unshakeable conviction.  I delivered my words with a smile and a small laugh.  Neither of us was angry with the other.  We continued our conversation about other things.  But afterwards, it dawned on me that rarely in my life have I been so very confident about anything.  There was not one single doubt in my mind that what I was saying was true.  Hmmm. Interesting.

Now let's add to that.

This blog that I write is out there in the blogiverse.  Anyone of several billion people who are online can access it.  Which means that they can also comment on it.  And they do.  Most of the comments are kind, supportive and interesting and I greatly appreciate every single one.  But every once in awhile I get pushback from someone who takes issue with what I say, or how I say it.  It used to bother me.  It bothered me a lot more than it should have.  I wrote long letters of explanation and apology to these total strangers which sometimes caused them to write again, meaner, worse things.  And I fretted about it far too much.  I questioned if I had any business writing a blog in the first place.

Fast foward to today and I don't do that anymore. If someone doesn't like what I write, it's such a pity and what a shame.  But hey, life is fraught with disappointment is my attitude.  And then (a surprising new thing)  I never think about it again.

This goes for other internet sites that I am on.  I'm not on many but there is a photo site that oddly gets some people riled up and a few q & a sites that engender far more lashings that are strictly necessary.  

I no longer worry about whatever they have to say. Sometimes I don't even read anything mean or negative.  But when I do, I shrug and move along in my day and never give them a second thought.  In an unusual move,  recently I did respond to someone who disagreed with me.   And it wasn't even what I said, it was how I said it that he objected to.  And I responded that, basically, I cannot please everyone so I have decided to please myself.  That what I wrote pleased me and if it did not please him that perhaps he shouldn't read my responses.    And I wrote those words with no malice or ill intent, but with great confidence in myself.  

Wow, I have come a long way baby.  This is the same person who has spent 70 (almost 71) years basically apologizing for existing.  I apologized for everything all of the time whether I had any control over the situation or not, somehow, everything seemed to be my fault and therefore, I apologized.  And when people said to stop apologizing, I apologized for apologizing. 

It was ridiculous.  And it was sincere. I felt terrible for whatever awkwardness or discomfort or distress that other person was expressing. Even when I had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

If anyone challenged anything I said (or wrote) I was certain that they were correct and I was wrong and I would withdraw my statement and apologize once again.  

I am not sure why things have begun to change for me but they absolutely have.   Suddenly for no reason that I can figure out,  I am beginning to see things more clearly.  Including that old saying about age and wisdom.

I think perhaps the wisdom we gain in older age isn't just life experience type wisdom (although there certainly is that).  I think, maybe, the wisdom we achieve is in truly knowing ourselves.  Finally after all these years, I know what I like and what I don't, I know who I am and who I'm not.  I know what my dreams are, what my skills are, what my failings are  and I have no difficulty sharing that information (when pertinent) regardless of how anyone else feels about it.  They can question me, doubt me, chastise me, scold me, turn their backs on me, but it does not change who I am or how I feel. 

And I make no excuses or apologies for it. There is not one doubt in my mind that what I said was exactly what I intended to say.  Awesome.  And about dang time.

I will continue to do stupid or foolish things now and again because that too is part of who I am, but I am no longer embarrassed by it.  Much like Popeye, I yam who I yam and I'm okay with it.  I am old now and in one of the ways that is most important, I am wiser.

I think I got this.

What do you say we start off the week with another Photo Safari Report?  I'm calling this one the Awesome Hike, because it really was.  Near perfect conditions, those being, hardly anyone else anywhere around, sunny skies, cool temperatures, loads of things to see as we hiked along and of course, Joy and I hanging out together.  Always a bonus.

I'll start out with the flowers because there have been so few for the past howevermany months.  Spring is definitely here if the floral varieties in Preserves is any indication.   Most  wildflowers are yellow for whatever reason, but on this hike, most of the ones we saw were pink! Awesome! 

And it follows, naturally, that if there are loads of flowers, there will also be a lot of insects!  I cannot even begin to tell you how many butterflies, dragonflies, flying stinging things and creepy crawlies of every size and colour we saw but I only was able to capture a relatively small number (comparatively)  of photos.  All Dragonflies!  Insects are small and they move very quickly and that's my excuse.  Anyway, insects:

There were so many birds! So Many Birds!  It was like a birdie convention!  At first they insisted on only being on the side of the trail that had us shooting into the sun.  Not good.  But eventually I got a few good ones in all directions :) Yay!

And that leaves only the rando's.  It's a very strange lot today, a little of this and a little of that. The flotsom and jetsom of photos.

Oh wait, that's not all.  Since I've been leaning toward black & white photography recently, I decided to add that category to the Photo Safari Reports.  Hope you don't mind. 

So I guess that's it for this time 'round.  Thanks for joining me on the Awesome Hike.  Wouldn't it be fun to come along live and in person some time?

Wishing you all a spectacular Day!

​

It's Spring!  And 'tis the season for Spring Cleaning, right?  It's tradition!  It is a very very old tradition as it so happens.  As far as reseacherers who look into those sorts of things can tell, it goes back  about 1000 years!  Wow!  It appears to have originated in Iran as Nowruz, a Persian  Festival celebrating their New Year. Which apparently is (or was?) in the Spring.   There are also mentions  in ancient Jewish Tradition connected with the Cleaning of the Home in preparation for Passover which is also in Spring.  Thus was born, the Spring Cleaning Tradition!

In a more practical fashion, it just makes sense that in the times before wonderful modern conveniences such as HVAC systems and vacuum cleaners, when people had very small (and rather dark) homes heated through the long winters by fireplaces that as soon as the temperature outside was warm enough. people would open doors and windows and begin to clean.  Everyone  would be enthusiastic about airing out their homes and scrubbing them thoroughly!  Real wood fireplaces are wonderful, giving off a cozy heat and ambience like mad but they are a filthy business.  If you've never experienced one I'm hear to tell you that the wood, the smoke and the leftover ash is just  plain gross !

Nowadays, most of us are lucky to not have to rely on wood burning fireplaces to survive the winter.  So in modern times, the idea of Spring Cleaning maybe not be actual cleaning but something related to it.  At least that's how it works in our house.

Our home is clean. I clean all the time.  Once a week I do a big clean and before company comes I do a bigger scrubadub clean.  And every single day I find myself doing something cleaning related.  Tim and I are both tidy people so the house is always picked up.  "A place for everything and everything in it's place" isn't just a saying, it's practically my motto!  I have always found the "clean as you go" method works well.  Doesn't take much time and the mess doesn't pile up.

BUT there is always something that needs to be tackled at least once a year.  And for us this year, there were two things.  The first was the Utility Room.  At one time it was a very small garage.  Now it's the place everything goes that we dont' know where else to put.  Which can be an issue.  It's also where the HVAC system is, the big freezer and the washer/dryer.  It's storage for paint cans that we may need to use again at some point, Tim's many tools,  Coolers, folding lawn chairs, luggage and Christmas Decorations.  I keep all my cleaning supplies and tools in that space along with extra light bulbs, work gloves, air filters and other various odds and ends that really have no place in the house.

And it's an easy room to ignore. Nobody sees it but us. So it's easy for things to get stacked up and spread out with the promise to "get to it later".  Well later finally arrived this past weekend.  We put on our grubby clothes, hauled around both garbage can and recycle bin and rolled up our sleeves and got to work.  Oh my!  We threw out soo much crap.  Went through every single bin and box, re-organized, and in the end, vacuumed the entire place.  It looks so much better now.  I wish I had thought to take a "before" shot because you cannot appreciate how good this looks incomparison to how it looked before.  Suffice it to say that it would have been embarrassing!  Here's the "after".

Whew!  A lot of work but a job well done!

The other Spring Cleaning task we took on was sorting out the pantry.  You've all seen photos of my pantry before. I love my pantry.  It's big enough to hold, not only my baking cart, but shelf after shelf of everything that doesn't fit in the kitchen.  Canned goods, baking supplies, spices and oils, cases of water, giant pastry boards, vases and platters and serving dishes, griddles and roasting pans and kitty food!  That's a lot of stuff.

I tried, oh how I tried, to keep is sort of organized.  But life happens. And oddly shaped boxes and cans and containers of many sizes made it hard to keep related stuff all in one section.  To say nothing my shortness being a factor.  If I had my druthers, nothing would be higher than I can reach. But that means the shelves would end about half way up the walls which is a horrible use of space so there is also a step stool in the pantry which I use on a daily basis.

I have found that there are some things which, once opened, and partially used, cannot be stored in their original container.  Things like flour and sugar for example.  Once opened, it needs to be transferred to another container both to stay fresh and not spill.  Humidity here is a real issue with product longevity!  I used a LOT of zippy bags for that.  And while zippy bags do work, they dont' stack well and they are slippery and like to slither off the shelves from time to time, the buggers.

The soltion was Containers. Lots of Containers. Containers of all sorts of sizes and shapes.  I now have those containers!  Labeled Containers!  Airtight containers!  I am so excited about them!  Happy Dance!  These are just some of them.   I do love a good container.  Things to put things in bring me joy.  The labels are the cherry on top of the Sundae.

You cannot really see it here, but there are containers behind the front row of containers and with the smaller ones, I can stack them making excellent use of space!  I love when that happens.

Tim even got me selves that go on the shelves to make more/better use of the shelves!  That's confusing. I'll just show you a photo

I didn't take a photo of it but there is also a stepped shelf for smaller things like spices and herbs.  It is glorious!  

In fact, it's so successful that I've thought of a few other things I could put in containers and we may get more of them!

The bonus, which I didn't think of at the time is that, because the containers are clear,  I can easily see what things we are low on now to put on the grocery list instead of thinking, "I'll make Oatmeal Cookies. I see that we have an oatmeal container in the pantry",  only to begin the cookies and find that there's not nearly enough in the original box!"

I've already added to my next grocery list all of the things I didn't realize we were very low on!  YAY!

Anyway, so that's our version of Spring Cleaning.  If it's not yours, or if you've given up the tradition entirely, well that's just fine.  But this is the way we do things at Casa Humphreys!

We enjoyed doing it and we're glad it's over 'til next year!

​Hugs all 'round

Ready for another Photo Safari Report?  This one will be a little different.  The photo above is probably my one and only really good picture from the hike.  I honestly don't know what happened.  I guess, for me, it just wasn't a good picture taking day.  It happens.  The same way sometimes no matter how hard you try, it's not a good baking day.  You did everything right, but the product quality just wasn't there.  Oh well.  Consequently, I'm calling this one the Crappy Photo hike.

It was a GREAT hike, please make no mistake there.  It was a perfect hiking day, actually.  The sun was shining but the air was crisp and cool, the preserve wasn't crowded and Joy and I had, as we always do, a great time just hanging out together.  We saw a lot of things that were very photo worthy too.  And we always say that some times it's enough to have just seen it.  Getting a picture is just icing on the cake.  Well this time around, my cake is mostly icing-less.  Sad but true.

I'll show you a few of the not great photos and I will even add a little commentary. I think we can all agree that the following photos are more laughable than postable:

Dagnabit!  Oh well, it is what it is what it is.  I did get one almost clear flower photo.  One.

It is a little sunglared.  Maybe it would look better in black and white?:​

Actually I did get a few bird photos that weren't butts or blur. They aren't spectacular, but they are at least recognizable as being of birds!  It's the little things:

There were a few relatively non-blurry as well, though I will say, due to their teensy size, getting a really good picture of an insect is tricky business!

Randos?  Naturally.  I almost always have those uncategorizable photos for you.  And most of these came out fairly well.  Maybe because they know they are my favourites:

And that's that.  The Crappy Photo Hike.  Great hike filled with beautiful things, but not very many good pictures.  Maybe you were able to at least get a giggle out of my lousy pictures today! I hope so!  If you can start a new week with a chuckle, that it not so bad :)

​

Behold this magnificent beast!  Howdy do to my new vacuum!  Ain't he a handsome devil!

Our old vacuum, may it rest in peace, was 10+ years old and apparently in vacuum years that's the same thing as being Methuselah.  I did look it up (of course I did) and it seems that a decent vacuum that is properly cared for generally lasts around 8 years so our old one did it's time and did it well.  Mostly.  Well right up 'til the end anyway.

I remember when we first got it, I was so impressed with what a great job it did. But as we all age, we slow down a bit.  It happens.  That's just real life I suppose. Even with appliances.

It's not as if I over-used it.  I dont' really like to vacuum so I usually only do it once a week.   And I only do it the once a week because while I don't like vacuuming I do like a clean house.  And mostly, we are clean and tidy people so it's not horrible.  It's not as if our home is a Hazmat situation. Just well,  in my mind there are two levels of clean.  Day to Day clean and Company Clean.  Our home is always day to day clean.  I know people who vacuum every single day.  Their homes look amazing all of the time.  Our home looks............lived in. Not horrible.  It's acceptable.  But definitely lived in.

Since the kittyboys came into our lives however, we have a new demon to battle.  Fur.  My hair is everywhere as it is.  And now that my hair is longer, there is all that much more hair that I am forever finding and picking up to throw away and muttering to myself how I don't know how it is that I can lose that much hair every day and not be bald.  Now we have two kitties worth of fur to add to it.  Me oh my.

The old vacuum, which used to do such a great job, objected.  Strenulously.  It had gotten to the point where before vacuum each and every time, I had to tinker a bit.  If there was so much as one strand of hair wrapped around the roller it would refuse to pick up anything so I would have to stop and cut it away.  A hole cropped up in the hose which I repaired with electrical tape and that would occasionally have to be replaced.  Sometimes the vacuum just needed a break between rooms.

Recently, after I finished just one room, the old vacuum just plain stopped.  It said, nope.  And I said, "I am so over this".  Tim immediately began researching (of course he did) and then ordered a new vacuum for me.  Gotta stay ahead of the dirt!

Once it arrived I couldn't wait to hit those carpets!  It's just area rugs not wall to wall carpetting but still, they are pretty big and that's where the dirt shows the most.  I had to empty the cannister after tackling just one area rug.  Mercy!  I can only conclude that the old vacuum was not doing much of it's job for longer than I realized.  I would be embarrassed except that you just  don't know what you don't know.  Y'know?  

Three cannister emptyings later, the place was looking pretty good!   This new vacuum just about sucks the colours out of the rug.  Dirt doesn't stand a chance.  Those Bissell folks know what they are doing. I LOVE my new vacuum cleaner and so does the house!  In all honesty, I still don't enjoy vacuuming, but I do love the results when it's done.  This place is looking good :)

And bonus points, the kitties are enjoying the box it came in.

The old vacuum is dead.  Long Live the New Vacuum!  Woohoo!

Happened to catch this shot of some random person in a bunny suit, standing on the side of the road waving to passersby this weekend!  

Happy Easter to ya!  Hope yours was lovely and either as traditional or as non-traditional as you prefer.    Ours was of the Non variety.  Tim cooked hot dogs on the grill, I made macaroni and potato salads and opened a tin of baked beans which made a perfectly fine picnicky sort of meal with a gingerbread cake (completely with real whipped cream) for dessert.  

Why do you suppose it is that holidays seem to center around food?  Every single holiday I can think of has food as a centerpiece. Thanksgiving Turkey, Christmas Roast (or whatever you family traditionally does), Easter Ham just to start out!

The various candies for the various holidays:  The first candy I think of when Halloween rolls around is Candy Corn.  I dont' care for it at all, but it's the one that pops into my head.  Tradition!  Christmas is Ribbon Candy, which, now that I think of it, I don't like either.  Or Candy Canes !  I can deal with the occasional Candy Cane.  Valentine's Day of course are the heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates.  Easter is jelly beans.  And we all already know that I only eat the yellow ones, but they are still jelly beans so they count!

Independence Day is picnics (followed by fireworks) and Memorial Day is all about cookouts as is Labour Day and I think I'm running out of holidays here. Oh wait, New Year's Eve/Day.  Hmmm   I have no food association with New Years.  Correction!  Black -Eyed Peas!  When I lived in Texas I was told to always eat Black Eyed Peas on New Years' Day for Good Luck.  Whew!  For a second there, I thought  there was a non-food holiday and that will not do!

Maybe the holidays are food-centric because Holidays are a time for family and/or friends to gather together and celebrate.  All celebrations should involve food, don't you think?  We eat together, we drink together, we talk and laugh and enjoy!  

I actually looked this up to make sure I wasn't making a leap that had no foundation to it.  Turns out I was correct:

"Food has always played a significant role in celebrations and holidays around the world. Beyond its basic function of nourishment, food holds a deeper meaning in many cultures, symbolizing traditions, beliefs, and rituals."  according to momentslog/cuisine

Celebrations are about happiness and food makes us happy!  Meals should be a joy and a pleasure and when that pleasure is shared, it expands exponentially.   The old "Love is food, food is love" adage seems to hold true.  

I know that when I cook and bake for my family and friends, it is an act of love.  I am providing you with nourishment because "I care about you, I love you, I want you to be healthy and happy!" 

So while there were no easter baskets, no chocolate bunnies and no easter egg hunt at our house (mostly because there are no little ones in our lives), there was food, there were people that we love, and there was a lot of talk and laughter.  

It was traditionally non-traditional but it was good.

Hope yours was too