Easter goodies

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Easter goodies

Easter goodies!

I have at least a few of my family's traditional recipes for nearly every holiday posted in my Grandma's Briefs Recipe Box. Not for Easter, though. I suppose it's because our traditional breakfast is the Easter eggs we colored a few days before along with blueberry muffins and sausage or bacon. Easter dinner has always been, like most folks, ham and the typical ham accompaniments. No recipes needed.

That said, I do have a couple non-edible Easter goodies on my blog. Goodies I've shared in the past, but the time is right to do so again. That would be these:

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Saturday movie review: The Hollars

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I have a soft spot for movies about messed up families. If dysfunctional families were a film sub-category, you know, like coming-of-age is, I'd have to say it's one of my favorites.

I don't simply have a thing for dysfunctional families. I come from a dysfunctional family. And, trust me, if a film were made called The Aukemas (my maiden name) and based on the Aukemas (my family of origin), it would not make for enjoyable viewing.

THE HOLLARS, though, is enjoyable to watch. Trust me on that, too. The dramedy puts fun in dysfunction and proved a pleasurable hour and a half with the Mom, Dad, and two adult brothers who make up the fictional Hollar clan.

the hollars on DVD

I give (most of) the credit for that fun and pleasure to John Krasinski. Sure, he played the youngest Hollar brother to perfection, but his acting takes a backseat here to his directing (he also produced it).

His first time in the director chair, Krasinski — working with a stellar screenplay...

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Jak sports a 'stache

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I'm not sure whether to attribute it to his determination to keep up with his two older brothers or to the limited amount of time I've had with Jak in his toddler years compared to how often I saw Bubby and Mac in theirs. But — gee whiz! — it sure seems to me my youngest grandson is maturing So. Much. Faster. than his brothers did.

A recent share from Megan confirms my assertion: The not yet three-year-old already sports a mustache.

toddler mustache with pudding

Okay, okay. You got me. It's obviously not...

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Psycho spring

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Mother Nature took advantage of April Fool's Day on Saturday to make much of Colorado think spring's arrival was but a joke and we were still in the depths of winter.

I shared on social media Saturday the wintery outlook from various windows around my place. Here, my Instagram share — three brief videos (click each photo a time or two to start the snow; click the arrows on the sides of each pic to go back and forth through the three):

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Saturday movie review: Gifted

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The storyline of GIFTED — about a bachelor raising his young and astonishingly brilliant young niece after his sister's suicide — had me braced for a sweet and sappy affair when I was invited to a free screening of the film a few weeks ago. You know, a predictable tale typical of television movies most often run and rerun on basic cable channels.

gifted movie

GIFTED surprised me by its lack of sappiness and degree to which it rose above and beyond my expectations. What made it so much better than I braced for? Could be the feisty and frank gifted girl of the title. Perhaps it's the handsome bachelor who proves himself far more than eye candy as well as the blunt and beautiful teacher enamored by the fella. Could also be the the one-eyed cat named Fred, the bitchy grandmother, the outspoken and overly...

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