Thank Goodness, It's Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving, From our House to the House of Orange!

Tulips and Happy Easter With the Family Tree in the Ozarks

Butterflies love our tulip tree

I need to plant tulips in our new yard next fall — note to self — realizing this spring our yard is tulip-less with the exception of a tulip tree. We've moved.
I plant tulips because I'm descended from the land of tulips and I love their waxy petals and vibrant colors, which I see as nature's reward for enduring the dreary rains of March.

I've always been wistful about seeing the tulip fields in Holland. Tulips in Arkansas are quite the opposite because it would take an earth mover to plant a field of bulbs. Official planting instructions for tulips suggest you dig a hole for the bulb, six to ten inches deep. However, in Arkansas, we say, "Plant six inches deep or until you hit the first rock."

Anticipating Easter and all the joys it brings with the celebration of God's resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, and all the promises of new beginnings and eternity the resurrection brings, I paged through our Easter album from 2012, and thought you might like to glimpse our celebration.

Chocolate covered strawberries and Easter cake pops by Amy & Gwen

We're big on desserts. Wendy reserves a table for desserts, served with dessert coffees, chilled drinks, and coffee frappé; and places the traditional lamb cake in the center. Along with chocolate-covered strawberries, cake pops, and lamb cake, there were pies and cookies and more chocolate.
Wendy and Greg hosted Easter. They go all out, planting spring flowers, decorating, and cooking. Greg is a grill master, and the men prepare the meats. This year the menu included prime rib (thanks, Jeff and Lisa) and grilled chicken (thanks, Greg and Wendy).

Everyone arrives in church clothes but moments later, they jump into jeans and shorts, ready for fun.

There's cousin time for visiting ....

After much preparation, dinner is served!

Everyone dives in, children first.

Easter dinner is in full swing. The children eat picnic style in the tree house or on the deck or trampoline ... escorted by Copper.

 

The Easter Egg Hunt follows quickly!

  

 Drew plots his strategy, should he go right or left, wondering, Are there any eggs left to find? Afterwards, it's to the trampoline again to open the eggs and share their stash.

 

Lastly, we veg out, visit, play games, and count our blessings!

The French Quarters Celebrate Fat Tuesday at Mardi Gras

Miss Bearnadette caught some beads at the Mardi Gras parade on Fat Tuesday, New Orleans!

Mardi Gras has nothing to do with the Braaksma family tree that I know about, but I had to post this little image in the spirit of the season. How can a Dutch girl who loves spring with its tulips not love Mardi Gras colors - purple, gold and green - colors that look perfect on tulips.

I love purple tulips enough to have ordered hybrid purple bulbs years back, but they really didn't thrive in Arkansas. My red and yellow tulips come up readily each spring, but the purple tulips abandoned my yard within a couple seasons of planting. Happily, my demure purple crocuses greet me each spring.

I'm working on some images from the 22 Olympics in Sochi and the Dutch skaters in their orange speed suits, dubbed by the media "The Orange Crush" after they amassed a stash of medals in speed skating.

I hope to post the orange-suited Dutch skaters soon - until then, Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Happy Valentine's Day 2014

Happy Valentine's Day! When I think of Valentines and hearts and candy and cupids, the song "Stupid Cupid" by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield pops into mind and never leaves. It makes me feel like a teenager because of course that's what I was when it became famous. I still feel like a teenager today whenever I hear that song.
Happy Valentine's Day to all the romanticists and young at heart. Love is the essence of all happiness. 
  

Happy New Year 2014

It's 2014. Happy New Year!

For New Year's, my clever friends were posting little flipagram videos on Instagram to bid farewell to 2013 and hello to 2014, so I decided to make one from my 2013 photos. 

I was an hour into the process and was about to jump ship and not finish but completed the video out of pure stubbornness. I limited myself to 84 photos, which was the hardest part.

After spending two hours on a self-absorbed video, I nearly felt guilty for wasting time, but in the process I realized all of the wonderful moments I've shared with friends and family during the year.

I was renewed seeing how much I have to be thankful for, so that I got excited about my first little flipagram and play it over and over again, reliving my fun year, and quickly uploaded it to YouTube (patricia wiskur), another first for 2014 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LZ8IILPKSc)!

  Follow me on Instagram at patriciawiskur, as no snazzy nickname came to mind when I registered.