Happy Passover and Happy Easter...

If I can think back about a 100 years ago, when I was a child, I can remember with fond memories, my late grandmother "Noni" making the most delicious tasting pastry on Easter. She would make this special Easter Bread, with the actual egg embedded in the center of that special tasting bread. I can hear her even now..."Manja (eat) Ralphie! Manja!" I didn 't need much coaxing. Heck...None of us did.

She also had the Italian nougat candy Torrone. My favorite.

That wafer, almonds, and sweet tasting candy would give us all cavities. But it was worth it. Well maybe not. Our dentist at the time was a sadist I swear. I used to imagine him him working in the Nazi death camps. He would actually sneer at us for wanting Novocain. Bona fide lunatic. Years later when he passed, I remember feeling a sense of total relief for all the children who were lined up to spend time in his mini torture chamber.

But back to my late and loving grandmother. Noni, I have a feeling that there is a Big Easter dinner planned for you on Easter in heaven, and I would not be the least bit surprised if the big guy himself was attending. Who could blame them? You were the best cook on the planet.

After you passed Noni , my mother "Eva" became the best cook.

Funny, how all of our mothers and grandmothers are the best cooks in our lives. Unless you are from one of those rare families where dad, or grampy, does all the cooking. In which case, they are the best cooks. Who's the best cook in your family?



And being raised in an all Italian religious family, I have not lost sight on what this day is all about for most Christians. It is the single most important day in the entire Christian world. The celebrating of the resurrection. "Christ has risen."

When people have asked me throughout my life, if I could pick a day, and time, to be able to Time Travel, what day and time would I pick...? I always think of this day. The third day.

Not sure if I would be mentally prepared by what I might witness, but I would think this day, and this event, would be very high on most Time Travel destinations. Maybe I'm wrong. But then again, maybe not. I would certainly like to be able to see for myself.

For my Jewish friends, this is the time to celebrate Passover.



Hey the exodus from Egypt is noteworthy as well. We all have our religious beliefs and backgrounds. And for most surfers, we all feel a special kinship to Easter and surfing. Not sure why that is...but for some reason, Easter and surfing go hand in hand.

But then again...most of the kids of the surfers I know are thinking only of one thing...and that would be.



Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies.

And I do not have a problem with that. Why not let them have their candy and eggs? It's Easter...lighten up everyone. There's more important things going on this world right now. Way more important. So let the kids be kids and hunt for their eggs.

Teach them to be good and to be equally fair with their brothers and sisters, and their peers and classmates.

Speaking of being equally fair...



I have no issues with any human beings on this planet, who are truly in love, and want to get married. That's no one's business but their own. There are way more important things to worry about, and stress over, than this.

Surely we can all agree on that.

The economy. The war(s)...those insane world leaders rattling their sabers every other day. That stuff is scary and real. Not whether or not gays want to get married. You kidding me?

Look at the calendar people. It's 2013. Not 1913.