Blessed Easter

Easter makes me think of my grandmothers. Our family put a lot of store on going to church religiously and celebrating the holidays. Without a doubt we made the journey to Wishek for every Christmas and Easter and spent time at both grandparents house.
It was a time for treats, although they were nothing like today's baskets of goodies and constant stream of sugar - but real treats.
Things we didn't get except for the holidays - perhaps that is one of the reasons those days were both celebrated and anticipated by everyone. Okay, so sometimes we fought the fact that we had to spend the day at our grandparents house, but in the end it was a good thing our parents made us go.
We had a good meal and cookies. My grandma Kaseman's pickles were the biggest treat. They were so awesome. I am still working on perfecting pickles... so I am anxiously awaiting planting season, which by all reasoning should have been a few weeks ago, at least for the cold weather crops. However, it has been wet and rainy and there's been snow. But today, the sun is shining. Drops of water are glistening on just about every blade of grass. At last - we are going to see spring.
No doubt, if we had a mind to park our lawn chairs next to the iris patch, we would see them grow today.
I have a cactus rescued from a grocery store clearance table. It has been limping along for years now and I haven't had the heart to throw it out. It doesn't grow, it just sits there. Until this year. I do not know how plants know when it's Easter? Was it the gloomy weather? Was it the fact that Easter is almost a month late? Somehow this little cactus is going to reward my kindness with blooms. I remember only one other time that this plant bloomed for Easter. The buds are still closed, but I can't wait to see the pop. My other plants - a whole studio full of flats of tomatoes, peppers, lemon balm, two kinds of basil and one or two surviving ground cherries - need some sunlight too. Artificial light is fine, but they are getting a bit spindly.
So here we are celebrating spring and Easter - the most important day in the church. And it's sunny out today - I must go out and see what's come out of the ground. I'll get back into recipes as soon as possible. I am doing some experimenting with ice cream - yes I bought a small ice cream freezer, and a pressure canner... ummmm. I can taste the veggies already. It smells like a garden in my studio and when I brush my hands across my tomato plants I can smell the garden... Yeah Spring. Yeah Easter. Remember why we celebrate Easter - so we may live again like seeds in the soil over winter yearning for the light - Christ has risen... He has risen indeed.
Celebrating life - here is a video of my beautiful granddaughter...