Easter, Passover and a full moon!

Cute deer from Red Grade Road a few summers ago

Yay!! It’s Friday! Not only that, it’s Good Friday and a full moon!  And for my Jewish friends, it’s the beginning of Passover at sundown tonight.  For me, it’s the last Friday happy hour we go to before we leave on vacation, too!  What an incredible day, eh?  Rob has half a day off today, as well, so that’s really great.  The only thing that could make this better is if it was a really warm, gorgeous day out to top it off!

Boy, yesterday, something lit a fire under my butt and I finally really started getting excited about vacation, in earnest.  Maybe it was going to the store to start stocking up on all of Rob’s junk food goodies for the trip that did it, I don’t know.   I also started all the deep cleaning I like to do before we go away on trips. I just hate coming home to a less than spotless house when we’ve been away for any length of time. Of course, it’s a losing battle with Thistle in the house with all her dog hair.  With this early spring, she’s shedding like no one’s business right now, despite me brushing her every day.

We also went for a nice walk at Mtn Plains Park yesterday morning, but that was a bit of a mistake.  You see, we live in town, and are protected by the prairie winds by all the buildings.  Well, yesterday, I was dressed in just shorts and a long sleeved shirt when I decided to take Thistle out for a walk. Like I said, it was really nice at the house.  Well, we got out to the park and there was a pretty chilly breeze where I parked the car at the lower end of the park. I figured it wasn’t too bad, though and off we went.  The first part wasn’t too bad because it was all uphill and I was working up a sweat to keep up with Thistle.  By the time we got to the top of the park, though, the wind felt like it had icicles in it! I ran into a couple of other ladies walking their dogs and they were astonished I was in shorts. I laughed and told them as long as I kept moving I was okay for the moment. One of them told me she was wearing long underwear and she couldn’t imagine being out dressed like me.  Well, the return trip to the car was awful!  The wind was blowing so hard in my face, I thought I was gonna get frostbite. I made Thistle run the entire way! Of course, since I was trying to get her to run, she decided she’d rather stop and smell every pile of interesting stuff she could. That was one long run down the hill, let me tell you. The good part was that I totally exhausted her and she slept most of the afternoon so I could get my housework and errands done.

I’m really missing not being back with all the family for Passover.  It’s my favorite holiday and my dad’s family really knows how to do it up right. My grandmother is an excellent cook or at least she was when we last celebrated 14 years ago back in Baltimore.  I keep forgetting people get older and she’s 84 now, so who knows if she’s even doing all the cooking any more.  My Aunt Desiree makes the best chopped liver in the world, in my opinion, and every year she puts it in flower pots and decorates the pots with a daffodil.  The last Passover we made it to, there were about 26 relatives in attendance and we had such fun hiding the matzoh and singing songs. Gosh, just writing about it, I can smell my grandmother’s brisket! I'll certainly be thinking about everyone back in Baltimore this evening. And for all my Jewish friends...I know One..one Light of the world! I'm also hoping that my Jewish cousins in Israel have a safe Passover this year.

Easter and Passover are always very confusing to me. I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t celebrate both, honestly. One is in the New Testament and one’s the Old.  Rob has never celebrated Easter, either, as his mother’s Christian church felt there was too much taken over by the pagans regarding bunnies and eggs and fertility.  So, his family also celebrated Passover, even though they are Christian. Personally, I just love our Creator and I don’t pay much attention to any holiday, as they are all made up by us, anyway.  I subscribe to the belief that you should live your life EVERY day as a holy day, not just certain days on a calendar.  Nothing irks me more than people who pretend to be pious once a week and wreak havoc on their fellow humans the other six days of the week.

Anyway, I have no idea what I’m going to be doing today as Rob has most of the day off, like I said.  If I plan anything on my own, he’s sure to come home and change it.  If the wind isn’t blowing too darn much this morning, I will take Thistle for another walk but I think I’ll stick to a town trail.  I haven’t been walking on the Clear Creek path part that winds through town in a while.  Did you know we have over 12 miles of trails here in town?  Pretty awesome for such a small place. You can actually walk on the trail system from I-90 all the way to the Bighorns, if you want.

Puffed up Sagegrouse - they should be out strutting about now!

Okay, time to get my butt in gear.  I hope you have a wonderful Friday and a great celebration this weekend, whatever it is that you celebrate!  I’ll be celebrating being alive and happy!