Kicking It: April showers

Today it’s raining. You know, the civilized way it does here in California. It would be called a drizzle in Kansas or any other place in the middle west where every drop of precipitation is accompanied by ear-racketing thunder, hair-straightening lightning, followed by torrents of liquid cascading to the earth. Now that’s rain.

Here in North County, nature is a bit more polite. She just mucks up our last carwash and streaks the kitchen window, all the while, “the rain” barely registers on my husband’s electronic rain gauge. Which is probably the funniest gift to a San Diego County resident. Right? A rain gauge. What was I thinking?

Still, it does have an alarm which will forewarn us, should it detect a 2-inch downpour within a 24-hour period in order for us to prepare for the oncoming surge of water cascading down the street from the hills above us.

Meanwhile, the poppies are enjoying the spritz. Our California state flower is standing proud and in full bloom around the property.

We actually reseed poppies in our low-water-based landscape. Each spring they magically appear in clusters around the yard, which is a beautiful reminder that Easter is just around the corner.

Do you remember Easter as a kid? For us every Easter morning started the same way.

It always began by tearing through the living room in search of the Easter baskets hidden by “the bunny. ”Naturally, as the youngest of three, I ended up with the smallest basket without fail.

I can still conjure up images of that cute little chocolate bunny encased in a cellophane bag secured by a ribbon, tucked into a yellow & pink multicolored woven basket – overfilled with shredded green paper grass, topped with bags of jelly beans and yellow marshmallow chicks.

The anticipation of tearing into the treats was heightened because I had to eat breakfast first and then put on my brand-new-still-on-the-hanger Easter dress.

Do you remember getting a new Easter outfit every year? I do. First came the itchy new pair of lace-trimmed panties, topped by the full slip with lace around the armholes and ruffles on the hem. After the dress came the white lace-topped anklets before slipping into the brand-new-still-in-the-box pair of black patten, toe-pinching-slippery-soled Mary Janes that would squeeze my feet until I got back from services.

In fact, the entire Easter outfit was impractical for a squirmy 6-year-old. Who decided to make little girls wear scratchy crinolines, under a ruffled skirt, attached to a too-tight bodice, with a hat which had an under-chin-elastic strap worn over pain-staking-combed-long-blond curls?

Even so, apparently, I was the darling of the congregation.

No one noticed that I squirmed the entire time trying to ease my body from all of the starched underpinnings.

Easter falls on the 17th of April this year. Which is the time-honored signal to tuck away the clothes of winter and bring forward spring and summer wear.

Oh, I forgot, it’s Fallbrook.

That means we only need to move a few things to the back of the closet, and bang, we’re done. Unlike the colder climes…we really only have one all-season wardrobe.

While “April showers bring May flowers,” we should embrace the words of singer-songwriter Roger Miller, “some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.”

Happy Easter Bunny!

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal can be reached at [email protected].