Hate to be a spoilsport here, but since so many of those beloved to me have passed away at this time of year, I just want to get past it and move on. The time around Easter has become no time to celebrate for me.

But I'm not all doom and gloom. Years ago, my favorite part of Easter was when my father would hide eggs for me to find in our back yard in Houston. There were certain "standard" places he would hide them, and I can still see them in those places in my mind today. But he would always find a few "surprise" spots to place them as well!

One of my all-time favorite pictures is of my dad dying Easter eggs as a young father, and he is quite handsome and young in the picture. We always used Paas color, the kind where you dissolve dye tablets in vinegar. To this day, when I smell vinegar (and the ocassion comes often at work when I use acetic acid), I think of Easter.