haiku post

~~Lady Thirteen Photography

 

not a house or barn,
stone posts and barbed wire alone
and the town beyond

Easter baskets and boo boos

Vintage 1940s era photograph of two darling sisters
who slept with curlers in their hair and got all
dressed up for Easter. They are happily sitting
by their Easter Baskets on the back porch steps.
Little sister has a big boo boo on her knee. Big
sister is missing her two front teeth.
~~https://www.etsy.com/shopAndSoForth

Sorta like time travel, seeing this picture, I was flooded by mostly good memories of  Easter mornings, Easter Seasons long past,my past memories that go back to walking down the Main street of out town, seeing displays of stuffed rabbits and new clothes, with baskets of brightly colored eggs, and jelly beans, and most amazing was the giant chocolate egg that sat in the candy shop window.  Years later I would learn that the egg was filled with newspaper and covered with painted plaster.  I can remember walking hand in hand with my Dad, and he lifted me up so I could get a better look at that giant egg.  My Mother, who was a good cook, made homemade Easter eggs, maple, peanut butter, coconut for my Dad, fruit and nut, but not cherry which was my favorite.

In the weeks prior to the big day, I would get new shoes, a new hat, those were to wear to Church.  And when the big morning came, there would be a new dress beside the Easter basket.  And one year a new Easter basket covered in cellophane, and brimming with all sorts of  candy and toys, my favorites were the chenille chicks, I had a hen house full of them.  Even the handles were covered with chenille chicks and ribbons, I loved it.  and over the years that basket has been used and reused until it one year when I went to retrieve it was nothing but a heap of shreds and splinters, and repairs I had made to it.

One year I got skates  for Easter, and though I have no idea what happened to the skates, I still have a scar on my knee.   Another particularly vivid memory was walking with my Dad, enjoying the fresh spring air, we walked quite awhile, and paused to sit down on a low stone wall, he took two  brightly wrapped foil packages out of his pocket and gave me one, then he said "No, this one is for you, that's my coconut one." and handed me  a cherry flavored egg with dark chocolate, the best kind I thought.   Coconut has never been a favorite of mine. We watched the birds for awhile and then walked  home, it was getting chilly and the sun  had started to set.

I was blessed by having a truly inspiring first grade teacher, who one morning taught us how to fold and glue a square of colored construction paper into a box  and then  she fastened a paper handle onto it with staples.
Staple guns were almost magical to me in those days.   We left them on our desks and went to lunch, when we returned they were gone.   Afternoon recess came and after those much too short minutes were up, we returned to our desks to find, Easter Bunny, was sitting at the teachers desk.  We read a special story together and played a game, and each of us got our basket back,
filled with cellophane grass and candies, as we left to board the bus for the ride home.

It didn't take long for the sophistication of being in grade school to tarnish the magic of Easter, and it became  in no particular order, new clothes, Church and egg hunts with the cousins.  Easter was  also a long vacation from school, just before it was time to start counting the days until the end of the school year. 

Not until I had a child of my own did I again feel those magical moments.  The excitement of  finding eggs on a egg hunt, and finding not only a basket at his own house, but a basket of candy and toys at my parents house as well.  
And most important and special to me the walks.   Only now it was eating Cadbury eggs with 'Grandpa' and walking with him again, and seeing the wonder of  an emerging Spring through my  young  ones eyes.  

Happy Easter!



  






 
  

April's Full moon

The beautiful full Pink Moon of April, a magical and romantic moon, is tomorrow but tonight there will be an eclipse, one is sadly not likely to view it.  The sky is overcast and snow is forecast for morning, and I live in an area where only a partial eclipse will be visible.
I include a link with more information.
http://earthsky.org/tonight/shortest-total-lunar-eclipse-of-the-century-on-april-4-2015#.VRbu5EanvrA.mailto
and one to watch it on
http://main.slooh.com/

A faint glow in the clouds rising above the pines, this moon makes the transition between the cold months and its drawing inward, and the green and growing times, when ones life expands in the warming sunlight.  It's the Seed moon, Awakening Moon, Egg Moon, Frog Moon, Willow Moon, Growing Green Moon, Flower Moon, when the first flowers are see.  Perched between, the Breaking Ice Moon, Snow on the lake Moon, Wind Moon, Strong moon, and the Ostera Moon, Pascal moon, Moon when Nothing Happens, is the Sap Boiling Moon, Fishing Moon, Planting moon, and the Ashes Moon, when the built up ashes are removed from the hearth, perhaps? 

I could call it the Waiting Moon, waiting for the snow to melt, the ground to thaw, the rain to stop, the sun to come out and the rhubarb, walking onions and horseradish to sprout through the ground.
Today I watched a robin courting it's own image in a gazing ball and that perhaps this could be called the Quickening Moon, or Courting Moon.
Greening Moon, yes, winter weary and looking for green, tree buds and flowers, this year that is definitely my favorite name. so gentle reader  join me in dancing under  the full moon, even if you choose to dance in the Greenings Moon's glow through your living room window.

it snowed, no joke

 

 

 

 

Mother nature in her wisdom, choose to play and April Fool on us one Day early, it could have been much worse I guess.

So come for a virtual stroll around the grounds with me, and the birds who don't seem to mind the snow. That's my big mitt showing you the approximate depth of the snow.

The insulators didn't seem to mind it either.

while I on the other hand, was really surprised and not at all thrilled to have sweeping and shoveling to do.

I have to admit it was much prettier than the dirty snow and dead grass it was covering up.

Snow clings like frosting to the trees , and the bird song, which really seem out of place, is other worldly.

 

 

 

The smudge on some photos isn't something paranormal, it's a big fat snowflake!