T.G.I.G.F.

Good Friday! I have always loved Easter weekend, especially when my family gathers to host its traditional "Waifs and Strays" party, which will be at my house this year. But I even loved Easter the years Hubby and I spent it alone in San Francisco (the highlight being the year we opted for Easter jazz service at the Church of St. John Coltrane). Out of nostalgia for my favorite Easter parties -- and blog posts of one year ago -- I think I will make a batch of Silver Palate Toffee Bars. But family, friends, and even toffee bars won't change the fact that it is going to be FREEZING here in the Rose City this weekend. At least the forecast no longer calls for snow like it did yesterday, but the low temperature is supposed to get below freezing. Yikes! My Easter bonnet will have to be a wool ski cap! So when my friend Mike Brown sends me articles like this one about his vacation rental and concierge business in Costa Rica I wonder how one web-footed friend from the Pacific Northwest ends up living in a vacation paradise and I end up bundled in fleece on Easter weekend? The closest I will be to tropical sunshine is cracking the cover on Basil's Dream, set in Bermuda. And maybe the family can start a new tradition of Easter mai tais.