1965 Steve with Easter bunny and candy |
I found few photos of Easter, many more of Christmas.
We and everyone we knew and many we met spent most Easters at the Kikers' farm in Newcastle. Sam and Helen Kiker were parents of my dear friend Ella and the extended family of all of us was huge. Nearly 100 of us gathered there every year on Easter and other times; Helen would cook a huge ham and a turkey and we all brought many dishes and ice chest filled with beverages for the massive dinner. It was a fun time and we all knew that; maybe we never thought back then that those days would become memories. This was the Newcastle farm we would eventually buy from Sam and Helen as they aged and were intent to selling off when we were intent to move from the suburb of Fair Oaks; none of their children were interested in buying and we were "adopted kids" as they called us, so they sold to us and we moved to the orchard/ranch/ acreage.
1971 Easter at Kikers Farm Steve, Karen and kids |
Oh, all our dogs which we all brought to the farm had to be corralled so the kids could first search for eggs that the men hid and sprinkled all over the field, arranging easier egg areas for the youngest children to find and so on. After the kids were done, the dogs were loosed and headed down to the field always finding leavings. You will notice all the cars in the huge drive and road. Sam drove the kids to the pond in the back of a cart hauled by the tractor. Along the way they all sang, Sam's special song, "Alfalfa Hay"
One last photo of an Easter many years later, 1990, and now many years ago. It is one of my favorites with the glow of the sun shining through the trees looking down the hill off the back deck, Newcastle.
1990 Easter sun Newcastle, CA |