A Time for Giving of Thanks.... He is Risen!

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,

Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score,

It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow.

--A. E. Houseman (1859 - 1936)

There's something about a proper spring day that makes me aware of my many blessings--not the least of which are my faithful blog readers (all three or four of them!) and my Etsy customers. Thank you for being  you! 

It is a glorious, glorious spring day here in southwest Washington!  And while we no longer have a cherry tree on the place, it's still a joyous thing to have a truly springlike day at last.  Earlier in the week, we had snow (yes, again!) and hail, and I was beginning to think the trees around here would indeed be "hung with snow" for Easter. My husband's been out with his newly acquired tractor, taking out brush, and my youngest son and I have been weeding and edging one of the flower beds. Of course, the poms have been keeping us company.  They dearly love a diversion!

 

Yesterday, Wickham and Lollia had to go to the vet for teeth cleaning and, in Wick's case, an extraction as well. I was astonished to find out he'd already broken one molar and developed a small crack in another one.  No more antlers for him to chew on!  Now I've got a bagful of anti-plaque products and instructions to brush his teeth regularly, a practice that will go over like a lead balloon, I don't doubt.

Earlier this morning I tried a new recipe I found on the King Arthur Flour site--braided lemon bread--and the results look fabulous!  I can't wait to try it, but this is for our church's Easter breakfast tomorrow.  The filling is a combination of cream cheese and lemon curd....mmmmm!

I've got to dash--my son and daughter-in-law have just arrived, bringing my granddaughter Benita.  It's so odd to see her sitting up on the couch beside her grandpa, just like regular company!  She'll be crawling before long.  Oops--I just remembered, I've been sewing her a dress for Easter and I haven't finished it yet!  Oh, dear!  Well, she'll look just as fetching in it next Sunday as this Sunday.

I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow, remembering the greatest gift of love and sacrifice ever given--that of God's Son, Jesus Christ, who took on the punishment for our guilt and sin so that we could be forgiven and live with Him forever in heaven.  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)  He proved it, by rising from the dead!  Hallelujah!!  What a Savior!