MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

 Yup, you guessed it.

It's TAX DAY!

It's that joyous time of the year when, unlike yesterday, we have to figure out how to pay for all our sins of the previous year.

It's a wonderful day for Certified Public Accountants.

Not so great for the laggards who have put off the pain until the last moment.

One of the wonderful advantages of being a very old man and of having very little income is that I filed, electronically, as soon as I received the necessary forms in the mail.

Back around February 1st.

And, while I neither have to pay the Feds or receive anything back from them, I do get a pittance from a couple of state returns.

So I'm done early and (moderately) happy with the results.

For the rest of you, Happy Tax Day!

Easter Dinner went (relatively) swimmingly yesterday with the addition to our table of The BRD.

SWMBO did her usual stellar performance in the kitchen and the table was creaking with delicious comestibles.

Your Catalyst, the congenial host, forgot (once again) to take any  pictures so you will just have to use your imaginations.

As part of my atonement however I will share with you a photo sent to SWMBO from Devastating Diane.

That is something over 100 cinnamon rolls she baked for a "mini" brunch after Easter morning services at her church!

Diane is just about a month from celebrating her 90th birthday!

Can someone please find this woman and get her out of the kitchen!

I'M READY

 It is the day of days.

The day when SWMBO takes over the kitchen and prepares a feast.

After the last such day she vowed she would never do that again.

She said at her age and with her decades of self-imposed kitchen slavery she was done with it.

And yet.

And yet.

Here we are again.

This one is a little different.

As I have related, I made a dessert cake and a batch of dinner rolls.

But still there is the ham, the scalloped potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the relish plate, the deviled eggs.

So while she goes at it I will try to serve as her sous chef and her dishwasher and her errand boy.

But mostly I'll just try to stay out of her way.

After all, I have to rest from my labors.

Actually, that's my daily bask in the sun as I try to replicate George Hamilton's tan.

And contrary to belief, those are not horns protruding from my temples. 

It's merely the back of the chair.

ONE MORE THING

 I have tried to take a teeny bit of the load off of SWMBO when cooking for "a holiday".

Granted.

It sometimes puts more of a load on her.

As I have pointed out many times, I am a very amateur cook.

And she's been cooking for over 60 years.

So mistakes happen on my ventures into the kitchen.

Like . . .

. . .well, let's not linger on that.

But I try.

And sometimes I succeed.

As in these dinner rolls I made for the Eater Extravaganza.

They're not bad but they look a lot better when I crop the photo, 

don't they?

Regardless.

We tried a couple of the lesser ones with a tad of margarine and 

they're pretty damned good.

I think they'll do.

CAKE

 Easter Sunday.

Or as I have renamed it, Eater Sunday.

I know, I know, I'm a heretic.

Be that as it may.

This heretic spent hours in the Taylor Family Bakery Kitchen Friday.

Most cooks would have spent about half an hour.

But I'm not most cooks.

I'm a beginner.

So it takes me a lot longer.

But here's the result of my labors.

Looks kinda unimaginative, doesn't it?

Here's a bit of a better look.

But for the big reveal, one I did not trust myself to do, I called in the

Master Chef, SWMBO, aka Judy.

And she, masterfully, did the honors.

Yes!

It's my very own (first) Pineapple Upside Down Cake!

Voila!

Happy Eater!

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

I'm here, a little late, but here.

The sun is shining and for those of you marking Passover or Easter or both, the time is at hand.

Does this mean Spring is finally and truly here.

Let us hope so.

And now let's open the Humor Bank and see what's in there.

Now the time has come for you all to concentrate on having a marvelous weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(ah, yes)

CATALYST-SPEAK

 

(Wacky Wally read my mind when he sent me this)

IT'S SO WHITE!

 Recently I was reading a blog I keep up on written by a youngish fellow (in his 60's) in Sheffield in the U.K. (England, actually).

He had a post about Lebanon, Kansas, which he identified as the geographical center of the contiguous United States.

I commented to him that if he had gone to the geographical center of North America he would have been around Rugby, North Dakota, which is about 120 miles straight east of the town where I grew up.

Today I was surprised to find that he had done a post on my home town, Stanley.

He learned and related that the town, with a population of something over 2,500 people, is a tad less than 99 percent white.

Well, I do remember that there was only one African-American man living there when I was a kid and the population was only around 11 hundred.

There were some Native Americans but I don't remember if any of them lived in Stanley.

I do remember, thinking back, that it was a pretty-much Opie-like existence (as in the old Andy Griffith television show).

All of which brings me to an email conversation I had the other day with another blogger friend in the Seattle, Washington area.

She (Margaret) was saying that the mountain passes in her state were getting hammered with a blizzard, meaning lots of snow.

Which brings me to a conversation I had this morning with a cousin in North Dakota (only about 60 miles from my home town).

She said they were expecting a blizzard to hit at any time and the forecast was for up to 30 INCHES OF SNOW!

Now that's white!

And may I remind everyone that this is nearly mid-April?

I told her I was very happy that I now live in Arizona.

This is about the only white I relate to these days.

That's an ornamental pear tree just a couple of blocks from where I now live.