easter 2014 - a whole week late

i am busy, busy, busy. i forget to take pictures. and when i do, i forget to post. here are a few easter highlights.

finally, the snow melted and my snowdrops appeared, just in time for the holiday. as soon as the flowers have gone by, i'm moving these bulbs to a place that gets sun!

lemon meringue pie. i've wanted this since january so i promised myself i'd make it for easter dinner. the last time i made lemon meringue pie, i forgot to bake the meringue and i served it to visitors from spain who could not speak english. to say the woman was puzzled is putting it mildly. "mer-en-gay???" she kept asking me. "si!", said i. 

carrots cut like flowers. because i don't have anything better to do at one in the morning on easter sunday!

confetti remnants in the yard from a the first annual confetti-egg celebration. the little girl read about confetti eggs in school and had to make some. she sure had a good time breaking them and watching the confetti fly!

and yes, my annual easter balloon was delivered in secret. again. 

i am blessed with a very good friend. :-)

april woodpile

not much left, and last night there was snow. 

this morning, cold and wind. 

but last night, i heard the first peepers of spring!

palm sunday

i go to mass and i get my palms for this year, flat and fresh and clean smelling. when i was a kid, i always thought palm-sunday-palms came from jerusalem since they symbolize jesus' procession into that city. at an older age, i figured jerusalem would be out of palms pretty quickly if they supplied fronds to all the catholic churches in the world so i decided they just came from the middle east somewhere. in my adult life, i just didn't question where they came from. but now, i know! on a tulip-buying trip to my local florist thursday, i found her standing at a counter covered in palm leaves, cleaning them with a white washcloth. palms come from the florist?? i asked in disbelief.  no, she said, palms come from mexico. and of course, it makes perfect sense.

pranked

a late april fool's day gift from the little girl. not a brownie, but a brown e. she thinks it's absolutely hysterical - and she almost got me.

needful things II

always, i've loved to burn candles - candles everywhere, all over the house! i like the light, the ambiance, the scent, the way a flame quiets the soul. but over the years, i've cut back on candles a lot. they sometimes leave soot on the ceilings. so much of the candle is wasted after the wick is gone and wax remains. and most candles have a link to petroleum products which feels wrong to me. i've replaced lots of candles with the newish battery operated ones and, from a distance, they'll suffice. but the one candle i won't give up is this soy one that i found years ago. heavily and heavenly scented, clean and slow burning, no waste, and i reuse the jars after they're cleaned. it's my other needful thing, my guilty pleasure. i allow myself one candle a month and burn it mostly at night, after the dishes are done and the kitchen's cleaned and dark. while i write or read or work nearby, the scent drifts out to me and the flickering light calms me. 

my order had arrived when i got home too late last night, and i waited until this morning, until i had my tea, to open the carton. i unpacked my april candle first and lit it, and the scent of a maple filled the kitchen. there were other candles as well - lavender lemongrass, chamomile, basil & berries, lemon drop, and for september - indian summer. before i stashed them away, i opened each surprise and i sniffed, a heady preview of the scents of my summer nights! 

robins!

robins, all over my yard! so many robins! in the patches of brown grass and earth, in the crabapple, all over the compost pile. there's so much birdsong and activity this morning, it makes me wish i had gone outside sooner.