April Fooling Easter Halloween and More

This year's hoppening day was the convergence of April Fool's Day and Easter Sunday, very rare. How rare? From "Easter falls on April Fools Day in 2018: How often does that happen? …":

For the first time since 1956, Easter Sunday falls on April 1 - or April Fool's Day. Since 1900, Easter has fallen on April Fool's Day only four times - 1923, 1934, 1945 and 1956. It won't happen again until 2029. … Easter generally falls between March 22 and April 25 each year. … egg hunts, family gatherings and visits from the Easter Bunny, who leaves treats in children's Easter baskets.

Were-Rabbit for April Fool's Day/Easter Sunday and Halloween

A weirdly appropriate item to use this year was the Burger King Curse of the Were-Rabbit basket, which came out around Halloween 2005. This basket promoted "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)".

From "Clay Time: Wallace & Gromit's U.S. Romp" (publish date October 2, 2005):

Wallace and Gromit are asked to protect a small town from night-raiding rabbits who chomp people's prized vegetables…. Prepare for Halloween buckets, ….

Thoughts back in 2005 about the were-rabbit might not have extended to 2018 and Easter. Think rabbits and Easter baskets. And having Easter and April Fool's Day made that Sunday even more cutesy, imho. The basket did double duty this year. (I gave a friend my basket so her grandchild could tote it for this year's Easter/April Fool's Day and Halloween. If I'd only had the foresight to stash away some 2017 Halloween candy, …)

What Else Hoppened?

During a walk in the neighborhood last week, I spotted symbols of differing occasions at one house. Christmas-themed, to be sure, but a rabbit (Easter symbol) and winged dragon (Halloween symbol) are unusual. If the homeowner also laid out some hearts, shamrocks, and American flags, the display could cover six holiday seasons.

Speaking of shamrocks, during yesterday evening's walk, I spotted a snowman balloon that made me think of St. Patrick's Day. The hatband has a sprig of hollies and berries, but could probably look appropriate with a shamrock or leprechaun around March 17 in cold areas.

Circling back to an offbeat symbol, how about a fangy snowman, or two? Spotted them during yesterday's walk. Imho, their faces look more Halloweeny scary than Frosty friendly.

Heck, why not just have Halloween inflatables and lights up starting in September? F'rinstance, "Christmas Disney Inflatable 5.5 Santa Jack Skellington The Nightmare Before Christmas Airblown Decoration" is available at Amazon. Another inflatable, fangy like my finds, is "Gemmy Bumble Christmas Inflatable Fabric 1 Multicolored".

April Fool's Day and Sunday, no Hoppening Easter Bunny)

My tshirt's design shows a footrace for April 1, 1990. That day was a Sunday ("Sunday 1 April 1990"). It was not, however, Easter Sunday. "When Was Easter Sunday in 1990?" shows that date was April 15. This site provides dates for Easter Sundays that you can click for links up through 2047 and also use the calculator for an unlisted year.

Want another calendar source? Astronomical Society of South Australia's "Calculate the Date of Easter Sunday" includes links to Easter Sunday dates that span six centuries (18th through 23rd). Speaking of astronomy, the following is my 2018 April Fool's story, which I sent out to a select audience March 31.

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March Madness Under a Full Moon (Awoooo!)
 
The March astronomy meeting triggered a melee during a speaker's Raspberry Pi Astrophotography: LinGuider presentation. A precocious youth blew a raspberry during the discussion about the Raspberry Pi, then exclaimed, "Where's the pie!" The youth's father, embarrassed and angry at his son's outburst, went full Homer and started to throttle the boy's throat, growling, "Why you little …!"
 
Another audience member, shocked at the physical interaction, threw his pocket pen protector (PPP) at the dueling pair. The plastic envelope started to float harmlessly towards earth, but somehow picked up an air pocket, then veered and jabbed someone nearer the PPP thrower. The unintended target, enraged at the jab, shaped a hardcopy celestial-events handout into a paper plane, then hurled it toward the PPP thrower. It missed, and instead pricked yet another audience member.
 
Within minutes, handouts, spectacles, smartphones, laptops, and soda cans ranging in fluid capacity from empty to full flew everywhere. Police were summoned. Dozens were arrested and escorted into a paddy wagon under the full-moon evening, presumably arraigned and released in time to attend the next month's meeting.

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APRIL FOOL'S DAY! Actually, the speaker's March 1 presentation was very well-received. Lots of questions, answers, comments, suggestions.

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This article brings me to the end of 2018, having hopped from and to a few special occasions this year. Happy Holidays!

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For more articles about Halloween, enter "Halloween" in the search box at the upper left of this window. Or find and click "Halloween" link at Partial Index of Keywords section (just below Popular Posts section).

A Convenient Cake Mix Cooky Batch--Easter

This article is a sibling recipe to my Valentine cooky recipe. This simple recipe requires only 4 ingredients:

• 1 box vanilla or otherwise light-color cake mix
• 1/3 cup of oil
• 2 eggs
• various-color sugars

Note: The stated weight for a standard-size box of cake mix is 18.25 ounces.

The following baking equipment required:

• cooky pan(s)
• pastry blender
• bowl
• measuring cup
• measuring spoon(s)
• small rubber spatula
• small cooky cutters to create indentations
• cooky spatula to lift and transfer baked cookies
• cooling rack for done cookies

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pour the cake mix powder into a medium-large mixing bowl.
3. In a bowl or large cup, mix the oils and eggs.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the larger container and use a pastry blender to stir the ingredients together.
5. Complete the process as follows according to the cooky size and number you want (larger/fewer—40 vs. smaller/more—50).

Flat-tablespoon Method (Shown in pic strip at article title.)
Yields about 40 cookies.
1. Use a round tablespoon to scoop the dough.
2. Flat-scrape the excess with a rubber spatula.
3. Use the spatula to turn and drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet.
4. Flatten and spread the dough using the bottom of a glass.
5. Sprinkle color sugars over the dough disks.
6. Press cooky cutter shapes all the way through the dough disks.
7. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Domed-teaspoon Method
Yields about 50 cookies.
1. Use a round teaspoon to scoop the dough so it looks more than rounded and less than heaping (about a 2-teaspoon measure).
2. Use the spatula to turn and drop the spoon's dough onto the cooky sheet.
3. Flatten and spread the dough using the bottom of a glass.
4. Sprinkle color sugars over the dough disks.
5. Press cooky cutter shapes all the way through the dough disks.
6. Bake for about 8 minutes.


6. Use the cooky spatula to lift and transfer the done cookies onto cooling rack.

Note: Using a cooky shooter is also suitable for dispensing the dough. If using a shooter, sift the powder before mixing in the wet ingredients, in case there are soy "pebbles" that can clog up the pattern disk(s).

The cookies are soft right out of the oven; the edges become slightly crunchy after a few minutes.