Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter! And yes - I am using the same photograph I use every year, taken of me one Easter morning back when I was at my most charming best, on the back porch of our house in the South Side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago.  It is, after all, the only photograph I know for sure was taken on Easter.  In hindsight, we should have written "taken on Easter, taken on Christmas, taken on Saint Swithun's Day," etc. on the back of the photos,   but we didn't, so the heck with it.

The above photograph was taken in the 1950s, probably around 1957, when I was 4 years old.  Little did I realize then, living a carefree and happy life on Chicago's South Side, that one day my life would intersect with the family on the right, a photograph that was also taken around 1957, when the grandfather of the family, who I assume is the man on the right, started the Honey Baked Ham Company.  And how has my life intersected with this prosperous family?  I wound up buying a quarter pound bone-in ham and au gratin potatoes form the Honey Baked Ham Company for 50 bucks. yesterday.  When I pay $50 for a food item, I feel I am more an investor in the company than a mere customer.  It is the cheapskate in me, I'm afraid.

In any case, the reason I bought the ham and potatoes was because my sister Susan called to say that my brother-in-law George was too weak to drive, could not get out to buy Easter dinner, and she did not want to have to cancel another holiday, which I was very happy to hear.  We have not celebrated the last two Christmases or last Thanksgiving. either, due to health issues, and so I was happy to pick dinner up.  But why do I always have to drive to Aurora, Colorado from Denver to buy a holiday meal?  Last Christmas I had to drive to Aurora on Christmas Day to pick up a rotisserie chicken from Boston Market to feed my friend Stuart and myself.  And this time I was on the same street, just down the block, since the closest Honey Baked Ham Store was in Aurora.  What gives?  Is this the only town in the state that doesn't celebrate holidays, or can't afford to take the day off?  If so, they are not getting a tip.  Nobody tips bookkeepers like me, after all.  And as I mentioned above, I am indeed a cheapskate.