Sunday, April 12, 2020

A Different Kind of Easter



Easter Sunday evening. A quiet day at home. Church via the internet. Phone and Skype calls to loved ones and friends. At 7 pm we, along with several other households on our street, go out and bang pots and pans in support of our frontline workers. It's become a time to chat for a few moments, and to check in with each other. 


With the strange way we are all living these days, I wondered if I should just let tradition go. No, I decided, let's find new ways to celebrate. So on Good Friday I baked Paska Buns, an airy rich yeast dough with a hint of citrus topped with buttercream and sprinkles. It's a tradition from my Mennonite heritage. 

Tim and I delivered plates of Paska to our local families, along with a few Easter treats, and a large manila envelope to be opened only when instructed. We enjoyed a short visit on the porch of each home. 


Early Saturday evening we met via Zoom, the three Island households, and the one on the mainland. It was fun to see everyone together. The three older grands disappeared after awhile, then returned with costumes on - a butterfly, Superman, and a mermaid who later changed into a dragon. Little Iris clapped her hands and waved and tried to grab the computer. 


This is a corner of my unkempt garden. Our son had the idea of a virtual egg hunt, so Tim and I thought about it, and came up with a plan. I took five photos of our garden, and in each photo there are five eggs hidden. I put copies of the photos in the manila envelopes, and emailed them to the mainland. Everyone was instructed to open and look at the photos at the same time. Can you find the five plastic eggs in the above photo? There is one each of blue, orange, pink, purple, and green. It was a fun activity to do together. 


I spent much of Saturday and Sunday working in the garden. The weather is sunny and warm and some garden seeds planted a few weeks ago are finally sprouting. The first centaurea montana - wild cornflower - is blooming just now, with many to follow. 


This evening I made dinner for the two of us. Ham, potato gratin, carrot souffle, roasted asparagus, and a rhubarb cream cheese pie for dessert. As we sat across from each other at the table, we reflected that it was the first Easter ever with just the two of us. We've always been part of larger gatherings no matter where we were. 

As odd as this Easter is, it's made me think differently about the first Easter when Jesus' followers were utterly bewildered by the way their world had been turned upside down. Fear, uncertainty, confusion were part of their world. Then, the Resurrection - another topsy turvy event that rocked their world, but brought hope to life. 

I loved Queen Elizabeth's first ever Easter message, in which she said, "Life and light are greater." By God's grace we will get through this. 


I leave you with a little bouquet from my garden - candytuft, grape hyacinths, lemon balm leaves, and that one cornflower blossom that I recklessly clipped to bring indoors. 

Have a wonderful week! I'll be back to teaching on Tuesday, but hope to spend tomorrow working in my garden again. 

25 comments:

  1. Lovely little posy - I do like tiny sprigs of this and that much more than big bouquets. Sounds as if you are finding new ways to celebrate and maybe a quiet and peaceful day is the new celebration.

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  2. Love the sound of your virtual egg hunt. What fun. My cooking mojo is a little jaded at the moment; time I got back to it. Hope your week is full of good things. B x

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  3. It has indeed been a very strange Easter with many firsts for us not least the Queens speech. All we can do is make the best of it like you did. I loved the virtual egg hunt, such fun. Take care and stay safe.

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  4. What a good idea to have a virtual egg hunt. I couldn't find one of them!
    It has been a different Easter, but not necessarily the worse for being different.

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  5. Though different, it sounds wonderful! You were so clever with the hiding of eggs in the photo.(I only found one.) And I love that you made your Paska. That’s one of my newer traditions and, alas, I let it go. Happy times in the garden today and Happy online teaching.

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  6. I love your little bouquet, dear Lorrie, and your Easter table. Everything looks delicious. Holidays are so difficult just now, we celebrated our Passover through zoom and I missed the family all gathering together. Stay safe!
    Amalia
    xo

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  7. Thank you for flowers, so pretty! Such a lovely post Lorrie and, like you and Tim, we were alone for the first ever at Easter. We missed doing the egg hunt and cooking a large meal - had salmon, asparagus, new potatoes with parsley sauce, and strawberry shortcake!

    Storms here today, a tornado just touched down about 15 miles from here - praying there are no deaths or injuries!
    Stay safe - Mary x

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  8. What a clever idea to do a virtual egg hunt! I found four eggs in your photo, couldn't find the green one.

    I always think its important to celebrate special days, even if we are alone. Your meal looked delightful, and you'll not have to cook for a few days!

    No garden work for me today. Its raining steadily here, and is supposed to rain all day.
    I hope you get a good garden day!

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  9. How wonderful to do things with your family this weekend. That makes it special and makes a few good memories from this difficult time. Take care and stay healthy! Hugs!

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  10. Dear Lorrie,
    Can't find all of your Easter eggs. You always have so many wonderful ideas. You Easter egg hunt must have been a great success. Only you could have thought it up. Does your family know how lucky they are?

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  11. Happy Easter!
    What a beautiful fun thing to do with photos.
    I found pink, orange, purple. No clue to green and blue.

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  12. What a good point you made about the disciples world being turned upside down after Christ's death. I felt sure last week that it was no coincidence that Holy Week came at the time it did in our new confused and frightened time. So much to be grateful for in that timing. Your Easter dinner looks so delicious! And your virtual egg hunt with the grands is precious, something to be passed down in family memories.

    I hope you have a wonderful day of gardening, Lorrie.

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  13. Those Paska Buns look so good. It's been years since I have made Paska. So school is back in session for you? We have been told the schools will remain closed till September .

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  14. I appreciated that message from Queen Elizabeth, too. Life and Light! Good for you for continuing the tradition. I'm sure your family appreciated it. What a fun way to do an Easter Egg hunt. We so enjoyed our extended family zoom time where everyone was muted but the family sharing. One at a time we shared our high, low, and "Buffalo". That was a funny experience we've had during the "virus". Happy Easter to you and yours.

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  15. Glad you had a lovely, albeit different, Easter weekend. The virtual egg hunt was a great idea.

    Your Easter dinner looks delish! This is the second post to feature RA's Lavender Rose (Sandi also shared her Lavendar Rose china in this week's post).

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  16. Oh, your Paska buns look SO good! Being a military family Easter wasn't really that different for us other than not attending services. Most years we have been far from family. One can always celebrate if happy in their heart! Be well dear one.

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  17. Thank you for the bouquet, the wise calming words and the incredible photos :)

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  18. Hello! I am glad you were able to have a nice Easter. It was definitely different. Ours was nice. So glad I could go to virtual church and take communion. I love your idea of the egg hunt. 😊 You take care. Kit

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  19. Lorrie, your posts never fail to inspire! So much beauty in your photos . . . the beauty of God's creation as seen through your lens, the beauty of a delicious (I am sure) home-cooked meal and the traditional Paska buns, the beauty of creative connection with your dear ones, the beauty of encouragement. Thank you!

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  20. Yes as Cheryl said, inspiring! Loved your Easter egg hunt! So much creativity comes out in hard times I think. Your dinner looks wonderful, and I saw you in the zoom taking a photo--just like I do!

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  21. It looks like you made the very best of celebrating Easter under the circumstances. Love the idea you came up with for a virtual Easter egg hunt. Now I must go back and find the two eggs that I missed (blue and green)! I hadn't really thought about that it was the first time for the two of us to eat Easter dinner together...just us two. But it never really felt like that for us, since we Zoomed with the rest of the family while we all ate dinner. By now you are out of your garden and back to thinking about your students and their education during this Covid experience. Take care!

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  22. I loved reading about your Easter, Lorrie. Your paska buns sound heavenly, and meeting with your local families for a bit, must've revived you. The Easter egg hunt was a clever idea and fun for everyone ( I only found 2!!). My youngest son and DIL invited my one son and I to come spend the night last Saturday, and we broke the shelter in place, and went. They've been working from home and Harper and Hayden hadn't been anywhere, so off we went, and we had the best time! The little ones were so happy to see us, and we were happy to be there. My son cooked a wonderful Easter breakfast and dinner. When I came home, I watched my church service that I had recorded, which was lovely, but so different to not be there. Hopefully, things will change soon. This is so abnormal for social beings. I must say that Your Easter dinner looked fabulous, Lorrie.

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  23. Beautiful photos as always!!! Thank you for the joy they bring

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  24. Lorrie - I do think it is important, especially at times like this, to keep traditions alive. They help us stay grounded and connected. The idea of the virtual egg hunt was quite creative! (and I think I found all the eggs) Your reflection on this Easter compared to the first Good Friday and Resurrection is spot on. I have other friends that have been observing how much this pandemic is helping (forcing) us to re-focus. A silver lining to be sure. Enjoy your garden time - love the spots of color since we are still in "mud" stage!

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  25. I just loved reading how you celebrated Easter! You egg hunt really was such a good idea! I had fun looking. Not sure if I found the blue one. Your bouquet is so pretty too. Is candytuft the tiny bunch of white flowers? I'm on the lookout for what to plant in our new garden.

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Thank you for your comment. I read and value each one, cherishing the connections we can make although far apart. Usually, I visit your blog in return, although if you ask a question I try to contact you directly.

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