I Would Do Anything for You (Foster The People)

For months, I have been calling Colin my Snuggle Bunny because, when we are together, he is the best cuddler, burrowing himself into my chest, neck, the crook of my arm.  For Easter, I bought him the above shirt, and gave it to him today, explaining that it was Colin and Lala... 💖

We went over to Sarah's this morning; she had already done an egg hunt with him in the apartment.  I cooked and brought vegan sausage patties, mini-JustEgg quiches, and crescent rolls; she made roast potatoes and provided mimosas.  The boys are working and therefore were unable to join us (sad face).  I wore my bunny slippers and bunny ears, we decorated bunny cookies, and Sarah had a playlist in the background which included Van Morrison, Tori Amos, Tom Petty, Ani DiFranco, and others (we raised her right... 😍 )

Home now, and ready for a nap (too much champagne and sugar!).  Lifting a glass to gratitude, rebirth, and renewal... 🍸

SONG:  I Would Do Anything for You by Foster The People

BOOK:  Snuggle Bunnies by L. C. Falken, Lisa McCue (Illustrator)

POEM:  Love Song by Rainer Maria Rilke

When my soul touches yours a great chord sings!

How shall I tune it then to other things?

O! That some spot in darkness could be found

That does not vibrate when’er your depth sound.

But everything that touches you and me

Welds us as played strings sound one melody.

Where is the instrument whence the sounds flow?

And whose the master-hand that holds the bow?

O! Sweet song—

QUOTE:  "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is now." ~ Chinese proverb

Beautiful World of Mine (Eliza Gilkyson)

Today is Easter Sunday.  I am not necessarily a proponent of the religious aspect, but I do appreciate the metaphor of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection... a bit odd in that this virus has most of us in hibernation mode, and our Spring may not come until late-summer.

However, rituals are touchstones and our sweet Sarah is embracing the holiday, especially because Colin is at an age to really appreciate.  Yesterday they dyed eggs, she put together an Easter basket for him, and she even made a bunny cake, traditional in our family for decades, beginning with my mom, segueing to me, and now Sarah.  My mom would actually pluck straws from her broom for the whiskers, I used bamboo skewers, and Sarah creatively came up with licorice Twizzlers.  Would have loved to be the proverbial fly on the wall when Colin first saw it!

They, and the boys, will come over about 10 am, and we will do a social distancing egg hunt, followed by bubbles (blowing as well as popping!), playing on the golf course green (which Colin thinks is his own private sandbox), and using sticks to draw in the sandy path.

Not bad for Plan Q...  :-)

P.S.  A few hours after I initially posted.  Our kiddo with his basket of eggs.  HEART!!!

SONG:  Beautiful World of Mine by Eliza Gilkyson

BOOK:  A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy Pfeffer, Linda Bleck (Illustrator)

POEM:  The Way Wings Should by Rumi

What will
our children do in the morning?
Will they wake with their hearts wanting to play,
the way wings
should?

Will they have dreamed the needed flights and gathered
the strength from the planets that all men and women need to balance
the wonderful charms of
the earth

so that her power and beauty does not make us forget our own?

I know all about the ways of the heart - how it wants to be alive.

Love so needs to love
that it will endure almost anything, even abuse,
just to flicker for a moment. But the sky's mouth is kind,
its song will never hurt you, for I
sing those words.

What will our children do in the morning
if they do not see us
fly?

QUOTE:  "The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope." ~ Wendell Berry

Mary Catherine's Ash Wednesday Journal Entry (Christine Kane)

Hey, peeps (sorry!) - now for the lighter side of Easter (this picture just begged for accompanying text... :-)

Just in Time for Easter (and Beyond): The Famous Marshmallow Peeps
By Hally Z., published Apr 04, 2007

Has anyone not heard of those little marshmallow candies called Peeps? Well, the squishy Marshmallow Peep has a history spanning over 50 years. Back in 1953, when the chocolate-making Just Born Company bought the jelly bean-making Rodda Candy Company, Rodda also produced a marshmallow candy that was squeezed out by hand from a pastry tube, then colored yellow, decorated, and made to look like a newborn chick. Rodda had been producing these chicks since the 1920's. From start to finish, the "pre-Peep" manufacturing process took a total of 27 hours. Just Born, intrigued by Rodda's marshmallow chick, brought in special machinery to speed up production. Nowadays it takes only six minutes to create a Marshmallow Peep, with two million produced each day.

The Marshmallow Peeps chicks stood alone as an Easter treat item until the late 50's, when Just Born decided to start making seasonal Peeps for other holidays. Pumpkin and cat Peeps were produced for Halloween, and evergreen trees and snowmen were produced for Christmas/winter.

By the 1980's, due to increasing consumer demand, bunnies as well as chicks were being made and sold for Easter. In the 1990's, new Peeps chick colors were introduced, such as lavender and blue, in addition to the old standbys of yellow, pink and white. Then, in 1999, a completely new product came along: Vanilla Crème Flavored Eggs, which were the first flavored Peeps products. In 2000, Strawberry Crème flavoring emerged for Peeps Hearts on Valentine's Day, and then later for Peeps Eggs on Easter. In 2001, Peeps Cookie Flavored Cutouts appeared for Christmas, and in 2002 Peeps Stars made their debut (for summer), along with the first-ever cocoa-flavored Peeps Bats (for Halloween). For the Peeps golden anniversary year of 2003, Just Born submitted a Peeps float to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. And, as if that weren't enough, for Easter 2005 the Peeps chicks were placed into chocolate eggs, bringing together the original products of the Just Born and Rodda Candy Companies.

The rest of the article can be found here... and more peep stuff here - some people have entirely too much time on their hands!

SONG: Mary Catherine's Ash Wednesday Journal Entry by Christine Kane

BOOK: Peeps: A Candy-Coated Tale by Mark Masyga, Martin Ohlin

POEM: Peep Haiku

seemingly harmless

their artificial colors

make some men go mad

QUOTE: "I prefer to regard a dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy and extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavor that lasts." ~ Graham Kerr

Stained Glass (Danny Schmidt)

Today is Easter Sunday - being a "recovering-Catholic"-turned-UU, I haven't celebrated the holiday in the religious sense in quite a while, but I do appreciate the spiritual tradition of rebirth/renewal/
reawakening (see Thursday's post) as well as the opportunity for loved ones to gather.

We've always had family rituals and those are still in place, albeit tweaked - I used to put out baskets for the kids, filled with candy and a book, stuffed animal or toy. As they got older, the chocolate remained and the treat morphed into a CD or DVD - now that they're "grown", I give each the Ferrero Rocher box in the shape of a bunny and a card with $20!

I'm cooking mahi-mahi with mango-peach salsa, wild rice, green bean casserole, squash casserole and croissants and will provide red and white wine - Sarah will bring dessert... and we'll eat on the patio about 2 p.m.-ish (since Rob has to work at 4). It's a shame Eric wasn't able to make it home again so soon after Spring Break, and we'll miss him - I'll boil a dozen and a half eggs, we'll color them sometime during the day and write his name on one... :-)

Please make a point to read the lyrics of today's song - when I first heard Danny's music three years ago, its brilliance was unmistakeable, and drew me in to discover more...

Happy Easter... however you celebrate, whatever your beliefs...

SONG: Stained Glass by Danny Schmidt

BOOK: Easter Everywhere: A Memoir by Darcey Steinke

POEM: The Discipline of Craft, Easter Morning by Judith Harris

No use going hunting for angels,
for a Christ in the tree-mops,
a Moses winding his way up the mount
into the fire of God’s fresh stubble.

There is just a serious rain,
a steady crutch for the air,
colder than any April should be.

I am up to my neck in chores:
the cat needs more food,
my daughter’s clutter piles up like ant hills,
I fold her little sleeves, ghost by ghost.
What melody springs from the heart so well?

These lone trees can’t be dazzled by sun today,
they have such tremors like the Pope’s.
Lost loons pitched into sky folds,
their crusty buds just blinking
as if to test how fierce the light is.

They sag and meander from their stems,
they bleed from transparency.
Needless or hopeless, as overused fountains,
they are my metrics, my fortitude;
plants with lemony grass spigots
that will never go dry.

QUOTE: "Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal. It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown." ~ Author unknown, as quoted in the Lewiston Tribune