Happiest of Easter Thursdays! Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is truly Risen!
And welcome, April!
Isn't it wonderful that Easter lasts for fifty days? I wish the world was into celebrating Easter more. It is such a beautiful time of year - everything is blooming in southern California: roses, bougainvillea, the bauhinia or Hong Kong Orchid tree, lavender, ranunculas, wisteria, jacarandas, magnolias, pink lapacho or trumpet flower trees. *(I am on a mission to learn the names of some of the more exotic cultivars.) Nature is celebrating, if the commercial world is not. While I miss daffodils, tulips, hyacinth and dogwoods and crabapples and lilacs and peonies, and flowering fruit trees, I am beginning to appreciate the tropical flowering plants down here more. Gardens are much more colorful here than in Ventura, and are at their finest in honor of the Resurrection.
My brother-in-law and his family came down to help us celebrate the high holidays. On Saturday, we finally rode the ferry (or rather they did - I had to take our youngest son to altar server training for the Vigil, so I drove to meet them) to downtown and went to the farmer's market to end all farmer's markets in Little Italy. You never saw more hipsters in one place in your life. Lots of beards. Lots of dogs. Lots of artisanal cheeses and beers and lotions and meats and all other artisanal things you can market and sell from a table under a small tent to thousands of shoppers. My poor husband was exhausted by the time we returned. And then we discovered we had a flat tire.
So we didn't go on to the botanical gardens where we have a membership in the afternoon either. Instead we stayed home and colored eggs, and the kids got in the pool, and I failed to take many photos. But Easter joy swelled in our hearts as we dressed up, walked to Church, and gathered for the lighting of the Easter Vigil fire. The Mass was almost 3 hours long, but the kids stayed awake and sang the Alleluia with gusto. We welcomed a dozen new members to the church. It was a beautiful evening followed by a joyful morning complete with plenty of surgary treats and a two year old who was stunned to find candy in empty eggs and in her ownership. She sings Alleluia with the best of them. Some friends joined us for dinner and dessert to make the day feel even more celebratory - and I have decided that key lime pie is my new favorite Easter dessert. So many things to be thankful for. So many reasons to rejoice.
egg hunters
a small portion of the bounty, representing the glories of eternal life
Easter Sunday afternoon. No photos of everyone in their finery at the Vigil! The time is nearing for the 18yr old to cut his hair for graduation. He has been growing it since we moved - a battle I let him win.
Floral arrangement courtesy the neighbor's yard and the 16 year old's eye.
