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Submitted by Leila Case

“It’s Easter time and time for eggs and time for eggs is Easter time.”

That little ditty has been around as long as I can remember. This is Holy Week celebrated by the Christian world leading to the joyful celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Sunday. We’ll worship at Calvary Episcopal Church in the morning and the day also includes Easter egg hunts.

As a child growing up in Atlanta, I remember getting up early and walking out on our front porch in my pajamas to see if the Easter Bunny (aka by father) had stopped by with a gaily decorated basket and hidden colorful hardboiled eggs in the grass. The weather was always chilly with dew still on the grass but that didn’t spoil by quest for the hunt.

When I was about seven or so I decided to walk to my friend’s house and look for Easter eggs in his yard. However, my father saw me when I was about half way down the block and asked where I was headed. I replied, “Little Frank’s. I want to see what the Easter Bunny left him,” I said. “Leila Larendon come home this minute,” my father said. Dutifully I returned.

After marrying and having children of my own, the tradition to dye hardboiled eggs on Saturday morning before Easter Sunday continued for years. Shortly after day break, we slipped out the front door with the gaily decorated baskets hid the eggs. The baskets were always filled with a chocolate bunny, a small kaleidoscope (I haven’t seen these in years), lots of candy and other sundries.

Margaret, our middle child, always found the most eggs much to Helen’s and Mark’s disappointment.

The children outgrew egg hunting but we still dyed the eggs and everyone received Easter baskets, however, when they were in their early teens I decided it was time to include more age appropriate items. One year I tucked small cymbidium orchid corsages in the girl’s baskets and omitted the chocolate bunnies. Big mistake. Margaret pouted. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Happy Easter Day!

Meanwhile, Mark and Anne Barrett of Leslie, our son and daughter in law, spent spring break in New York City and Gay Sheppard was in Spain.

The Barrett’s had an awesome time in NYC from uptown to downtown, midtown and all around.

Coincidentally, Terri Joiner and her daughter Sydney of Americus were also there and the foursome gathered for dinner one night. Highlights was touring the fantastic Intrepid Space, Air and Sea Museum; Little Island at Pier 55, an artificial island park in the Hudson River west of Manhattan adjoining Hudson River Park. They visited One World Trade Center Observation deck called the Edge at the Hudson Yards that offers a panoramic view of lower Manhattan; toured the Museum of Natural History where they spent more than three hours viewing the displays and after lunch took the subway to Little Manhattan for the Hamilton Happy Hour – no spirits but points of history of the area. That evening they had dinner with Lexi Chokes, formerly of Americus, who now works and lives in New York and her roommate at Stout on John Street. While there Lexi’s brother Athan Cheokas who also works in New York stopped by to say hello. After dinner Mark and Anne accompanied Lexi and her roommate to Gramercy Park where they live and enjoyed an after dinner drink at historic Pete’s Tavern. They toured Rockefeller Center including Top of the Rock; Bryan Park and the NYC Public Library known for its interior architectural details in the Rose room; the spring flower show at Macy’s on Herald Square, where 15,000 live flowers were on display throughout store; and on Mark’s birthday they enjoyed a food tour featuring five different restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen. On their final night, they dined at Bice Cicucina, an authentic Italian restaurant.    

Gay Sheppard had a wonderful time in Spain where she joined their granddaughter Tinsley Sheppard, a student at Davidson College, Davidson, N.C., where she is majoring in pre-med and Spanish major who is in a semester-long study abroad program in Madrid, Spain. Tinsley is the daughter of Chan and Ginger Sheppard. Gay was accompanied by Katie Sheppard who is married to their son Chan and their daughters Margaret and Michaela of Lexington, KY.

Gay says their visit was a wonderful opportunity for Tinsley to serve as their tour guide for she speaks fluent Spanish and was their interpreter throughout the trip. Her classes are held in Spanish and most of them take place in museums and certain historic buildings. Among these is historic Prado Museum in Madrid – an art museum featuring the work of the famous artist Raphael (c 1500s), Ruben, Greco, Goya, Picasso and Velázquez. Tinsley has a class there often and ironically the President of Spain was there one day while she was in class but she didn’t get to see him.

The group attended a Flamenco show which was spectacular and showed such emotion in their dancing, toured other sites in Madrid, Segovia and Valencia before returning home.