Monday, 13 April '09: Easter Monday

Easter-wings by George Herbert (1593-1633)

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,

Though foolishly he lost the same,

Decaying more and more,

Till he became

Most poore:

With thee

O let me rise

As larks, harmoniously,

And sing this day thy victories:

Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne:

And still with sicknesses and shame

Thou didst so punish sinne,

That I became

Most thinne.

With thee

Let me combine

And feel this day thy victorie:

For, if I imp my wing on thine,

Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

* To imp - to graft on new feathers to the wing of a falcon

Sunday, 23 March: He is risen!

He is risen indeed! Easter eggs and newborn chicks remind us of our new life in Christ.

This Easter weekend was celebrated in two significant meals with family and friends. On Wednesday evening prior to the weekend, my daughter and son-in-law and friends shared a meal to commemorate the Last Supper. This is an old family tradition and we have shared this meal with the same friends for the last twenty years, skipping a year or two here and there. The meal starts with chicken soup and kneidel. The main course is roast lamb and potatoes and veg and our own butternut pie. We finish the meal with Greek pudding. As the leisurely meal proceeds, turns are taken to read a beautiful liturgy linking the passover as described in Exodus to the Last Supper of the gospels.

After glorious Sunday services at church I rushed home to put the finishing touches to another special meal. My son-in-law's family and his gran shared lunch with us and two close friends. We dined al fresco on the front verandah under the wide thatch eaves of Thatchwick cottage. Here is our table. The menu was cold roast chicken, Martha Stewart's potatoes baked in cream and butter, lentil salad and a green salad with fresh basil. Dessert was my plum tart delicately flavoured with almonds and decorated with nasturiums from the border near the oak tree.

Happy Easter to all bloggers far and wide!