Wednesday, May 26, 2010
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
It doesn’t matter that I’m the mom of young adults, or that it’s May, or that I’ve vacuumed the floor and cleaned the house at least 150 times since Easter, I am STILL finding Easter basket remnants, including that plasticky grass stuff floating around the floor.
We have a plethora of family traditions one of which is Easter baskets, which I’ve been bestowing upon my offspring their entire lives, evoking the sing-songy melody accompanying the nursery rhyme, “A-tisket a-tasket, A green-and-yellow basket.”
As an aside, did you know that Ella Fitzgerald recorded “A-tisket, A Tasket,” in 1938 and it was an extremely successful signature song for her? Can you believe it? (See lyrics and link below for fun. And it’s ALL fun, isn’t it?)
Okay, I’m not sure which of the aforementioned items are unbelievable: That I’m still finding Easter detritus around the ‘ole homestead, that Ella Fitzgerald recorded this nursery rhyme as a successful song or the fact that I knew Ella Fitzgerald recorded “A-tisket, A-tasket.” (I went on to discover that Ella's song, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1986.)
Now, how to transition smoothly from famous nursery rhymes turned into even more famous songs back to finding decorative Easter items around the house on the “off” season.”
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
It doesn’t matter that I’m the mom of young adults, or that it’s May, or that I’ve vacuumed the floor and cleaned the house at least 150 times since Easter, I am STILL finding Easter basket remnants, including that plasticky grass stuff floating around the floor.
We have a plethora of family traditions one of which is Easter baskets, which I’ve been bestowing upon my offspring their entire lives, evoking the sing-songy melody accompanying the nursery rhyme, “A-tisket a-tasket, A green-and-yellow basket.”
As an aside, did you know that Ella Fitzgerald recorded “A-tisket, A Tasket,” in 1938 and it was an extremely successful signature song for her? Can you believe it? (See lyrics and link below for fun. And it’s ALL fun, isn’t it?)
Okay, I’m not sure which of the aforementioned items are unbelievable: That I’m still finding Easter detritus around the ‘ole homestead, that Ella Fitzgerald recorded this nursery rhyme as a successful song or the fact that I knew Ella Fitzgerald recorded “A-tisket, A-tasket.” (I went on to discover that Ella's song, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1986.)
Now, how to transition smoothly from famous nursery rhymes turned into even more famous songs back to finding decorative Easter items around the house on the “off” season.”
Hum…sooooo…these items just keep turning up.
TRANSITION.
At our house we have a junk drawer, a junk closet and what is rapidly shaping up to be a junk room. Darned if every time I try to get into any of those, the plastic Easter eggs don’t come popping out as though some steroid-hopped up hen is pelting me with them.
Over the years I have accumulated so many Easter baskets, it looks as though I could open one of those specialty stores where you always wonder what possessed the owner to wake up one morning and say, “THIS is the day that I make my dream happen by opening up a store that sells only Christmas decorations.”
I’ll tell you how that happens. What you don’t see is the day before and all that preceded the realization. The Christmas decoration enthusiast had a family that grew up, left home and all she got were the stinking Christmas decorations. One day she was standing in front of her junk drawer, closet, room, looking at ALL of those leftover decorations, knowing she needed to get rid of them, realizing she couldn’t just bag them all up, so what’s the alternative? Open a store and sell the stuff!
One of my jokes with my kids is that we’ll probably all be in the rest home together and every March/April I’ll have my aide deliver their baskets to them at “the home.” Only, even as I say that, this year feels different.
I know that my basket giving days may be at an end because my excitement level with the basket-giving has eclipsed the excitement level of my little darlings. Rather than hope for early grandparenthood or the opening of a retail store selling all things Easter, I’ll probably just do what any red-blooded, soon-to-be-empty-nester, mom yearning for days of yore, write-what-you-know scribe would do:
I’m writing a column as I eat old Easter candy I found at the bottom of one of the bunny baskets as I hum, A-tisket, A-tasket, A green-and-yellow basket, wiping my eyes periodically because I have “allergies.”
Lyrics:
A-tisket a-tasket
At our house we have a junk drawer, a junk closet and what is rapidly shaping up to be a junk room. Darned if every time I try to get into any of those, the plastic Easter eggs don’t come popping out as though some steroid-hopped up hen is pelting me with them.
Over the years I have accumulated so many Easter baskets, it looks as though I could open one of those specialty stores where you always wonder what possessed the owner to wake up one morning and say, “THIS is the day that I make my dream happen by opening up a store that sells only Christmas decorations.”
I’ll tell you how that happens. What you don’t see is the day before and all that preceded the realization. The Christmas decoration enthusiast had a family that grew up, left home and all she got were the stinking Christmas decorations. One day she was standing in front of her junk drawer, closet, room, looking at ALL of those leftover decorations, knowing she needed to get rid of them, realizing she couldn’t just bag them all up, so what’s the alternative? Open a store and sell the stuff!
One of my jokes with my kids is that we’ll probably all be in the rest home together and every March/April I’ll have my aide deliver their baskets to them at “the home.” Only, even as I say that, this year feels different.
I know that my basket giving days may be at an end because my excitement level with the basket-giving has eclipsed the excitement level of my little darlings. Rather than hope for early grandparenthood or the opening of a retail store selling all things Easter, I’ll probably just do what any red-blooded, soon-to-be-empty-nester, mom yearning for days of yore, write-what-you-know scribe would do:
I’m writing a column as I eat old Easter candy I found at the bottom of one of the bunny baskets as I hum, A-tisket, A-tasket, A green-and-yellow basket, wiping my eyes periodically because I have “allergies.”
Lyrics:
A-tisket a-tasket
A green-and-yellow basket
I bought a basket for my mommie
On the way I dropped it
I dropped it, I dropped it
Yes, on the way
I dropped it
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market
She was truckin' on down the avenue
Without a single thing to do
She was peck, peck, peckin' all around
When she spied it on the ground
A-tisket a-tasket
She took my yellow basket
And if she doesn't bring it back
I think that I shall die
(Was it red?)
No, no, no, no
(Was it brown?)
No, no, no, no
(Was it blue?)
No, no, no, no
Just a little yellow basket
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