Easter Sunday, PWYC

[Harriet]

‘Twas Easter Sunday.
The full-blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hoping we all have a meaningful day, whether we are at home or attending events that allow us thoughtful reflection. Perhaps looking forward and taking a moment to plan what we hope to see as our spring continues, efficient, but purposeful.

[Harriet]

Also, it's a small joy to bop around our village with a spring (smile) in the "step", getting where we'd like to go. Reassuring.

I've enjoyed the outdoors early, to welcome just enough morning light to photograph my dmother's specimen Dogwood and send the image to my children and in-law children as a 'good morning' today. Ds' family is quite a distance from home today, and seeing very different vistas, fishing at the Atlantic and sandy beach. So, I am sure they will smile.

Twins' has baked the flourless macaroons for Passover in her kitchen, different from the ones I have seen so often baked on baking shows. I can envision them.

I anticipate a very quiet Sunday for us. Still wondering if dd27 might be able to visit.

[CathyS]

Hi!

So happy to be able to get in easily today!

It will be a very quiet day here in our house.

I have clean laundry in the dryer that needs to be put away. I would like to wash at least one blanket today.

Two litter boxes are in need of attention. All 3 cats have had their nip for the week.

[Nancy]

Thanks for the work to get the board up and going again!
And it is very appreciated!
I talked to both kiddos yesterday & my dsis.
Not sure what today will bring in my day a quiet one is my plan and hope.
I'm sneezing quite a bit and am sniffly this morning.
Up just as the sky turns pink this morning before Sun rise.
40*/70* today's temps.

Neighbors usually have an egg hunt in their back yard teens have friends and family over.
Other neighbors had a bouncy house party for toddlers in their yard and a granny was there.
Next door to them young adults and other came for fun in their back yard. I could see from my back yard.

Decided not to burn branches b/c of above mentioned things.
Got nearly 10k steps in yesterday just doing regular walk plus one or two more blocks and
walked around my own yard. Watering and filling bird bath containers.

I am going to rest and take care of myself today.
I thawed out a rotisserie chicken yesterday for today's meals.

Got the hoses out and the nozzles too.
Still need to get the sprinklers out.

[Lady Maverick]

Good morning

So nice to be able to easily post again. Thank you Harriet, HRH & Twins for tracking & troubleshooting as much as possible.

Most of our family will gather today with focus on DH side of the extended family. There are many traveling from Texas to attend. DH has a very large extended family because many of his aunts/uncles had many (10+) children. Even after 5+ decades of being a part of his family, I still don't have all his cousins, spouses, children & grandkids names memorized and sorted in my mind who their parents are. I just asked DH how many there are and he estimated 200. We have some that live within 50 miles or so that we see and talk to fairly often. DH is having a good mental day and I am so pleased he will get to visit with everyone......even though I expect he probably won't remember it next month. DH does have great memory recall from the first couple decades of his life, so I expect seeing these cousins and talking about their times growing up together will be highly enjoyable for him.

[Twins' Mom]

So nice to be with you today!

I'll have to see if my short post from yesterday got through. I was surprised once when I got in, and tried to post, but we were at the river and the signal there isn't consistent anyway.

We had a lovely late afternoon into evening there yesterday. We're still Passover here - V had chopped liver, matzah, and cheese and we took the rest of the macaroons and four very fat chocolate covered strawberries from ds's contribution to the seder Friday night. In between appetizers and dessert we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner - had a short wait but had another couple join us - and we all went back to enjoy the evening for awhile on the deck. Will post a link to a couple of photos in Members only perhaps.

Today is thankfully a very quiet day, it's nice for me that a lot of things are closed. DH is getting a massage right now - she is working today.

More later....

[Twins' Mom]

How lovely to get here easily. Ds came over with his laptop and did his tax return online - he does it so he can ask us questions if needed. It's done and filed.

We had rain during the night and today's high will be 20 degrees lower than yesterday's. Tonight will be into the forties but close to 70 tomorrow. Yesterday I found meat for beef stew in the freezer - didn't realize I had it. Took it out to thaw and I'll do it in crockpot tomorrow. Can't get it thawed in time for crockpot today.

Dh bought garden soil at Costco for me awhile back. It's honestly not the kind I prefer, but I didn't say that. I want him to get it to the raised beds I have in the back - I got two tomato plants on Thursday, I'll wait until tomorrow to put them in the ground. Need to rig up protection from the ddog too, she likes to dig in any exposed soil. I had parsley overwinter and was going to use it for passover for the greens to dip in salt water - she dug it up while I was out of town. There were a few roots left which might regenerate.

I finally have CUOP-ed - Costume Lady so sorry to hear about Max. It's so sad when we lose our pets. Of course, it sounds like it was time, and I know he had a great life with you. The prayer you posted includes elements from the Jewish memorial prayer (from google ai):

El Maleh Rachamim ("God Full of Compassion") is a traditional Jewish prayer for the soul of the departed, typically recited at funerals, graveside visits, and memorial services (Yizkor). It asks God to grant perfect peace and rest to the deceased in the Divine Presence.

Key Aspects of the Prayer:
Purpose: It is a prayer of mercy and rest, often sung with a haunting melody to bring comfort to the bereaved.
Recitation Times: It is said during burials, on the anniversary of a death (Yahrzeit), and during Yizkor services on holidays.
Structure: It mentions the specific name of the deceased (and their father's or mother's name).
Core Request: The prayer asks that the soul be sheltered under the wings of the Shechinah (Divine Presence) and bound in the bond of life.

There are YouTubes of it with the melody online too.

Dh has gone out for a while to see about a bowling ball. I've been teasing him that it's his code for seeing his girlfriend because he does it so often. This guy he works with has a workshop in his home to plug and redrill balls.

[Harriet]

Sounds like a really happy day for him, LadyM.

My dmother used 3 x 5s to list names of the children of couples on both sides of my family, heritage and contemporary. She would file them in her phone/address card file box. It helped with large families. My ddad enjoyed kind of proving he was right in remembering various cousins, etc. It also helped that she could write smaller than the fine print in a contract.

Nice you had a visit from your son, Twins'. Sorry about the parsley!

[CathyS]

I am being so lazy today! I went back to bed after I posted this morning and slept for another 2 hours.

I just went out and brought in another bag of litter because I haven't done the boxes yet.

It's been overcast and windy all day. I wanted to stitch this morning but it was too dark. Right now I am doing a part with lots of black on the black Aida, so I need good lighting.

The blanket from the couch/sofa has been washed. Just waiting for the dryer to become available. I haven't taken the dry clothes out yet.

[Lady Maverick]

DH seemed to enjoy being with his extended family and gave many heart-felt hugs to cousins, nieces and nephews. DH requested to leave after a couple hours. I suspect he was mentally overloaded with being ON all the time. Overall, it was a wonderful celebration with family.

And just to be real.....it wasn't perfect. One of the elders said the prayer before we started to eat and something he said in the prayer offended DGS28 so much that he stormed out. I sought out DGS28 outside to see what happened (I honestly wasn't listening to the words in the prayer so was unaware). DGS28 was livid and dropping the F bomb as he passionately told me what was said in the prayer and his opinion of it. Then DGS28 refused to be under the same roof or eat with anyone who believes different than him. It breaks my heart for him to have this much hatred. DGS28 and I have always had different opinions about almost everything. Our relationship is built on our long conversations where we present what we believe without trying to change each other, eventually we agree to disagree, and still have a close relationship. However, now I don't know if DGS28 is willing to have a relationship with me in the future because I didn't join him in condemning the prayer said today. I'm going to give DGS28 time to cool off and see if he is willing to talk.