Preparations

I love hosting Easter at our house. Steve has hosted lots of family gatherings in this house, and it’s only taken me five years to relax and realize that there is an order to this and everything will work.

I like to do my cleaning ahead– on Thursday before the Triduum liturgy begins, and be quiet and slow over the next few days. Steve springs into action on Saturday, assembling large tables and every spare chair on the farm, doing the cleaning jobs I set aside for him (kitchen and living room floors) and on Sunday morning getting everything set up while I cook the ham.

This year is a bit challenging because of the snow– nowhere to put the plastic eggs outside. I’ve decided just to put them along the driveway and let the younger kids go out and gather them…

This is the season of “threes,” and it’s nice to have a three-day preparation. For our feast, Steve has made three batches of his cracked wheat dinner rolls, a dozen each day. Bread rising is also very nice to have going along during this feast… along with the hard-boiled eggs we turn into egg salad or eat whole on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. For dinner, salmon on a bed of lettuce with a citrus dressing. Everything feels light and quiet and good.

Today was a gloriously warm day, the first real spring day. All day long I’ve been trumpeted by the pair of sand hill cranes who returned midweek. I transplanted some arugula and kale out into the cold spring, and planted some beets and radishes. In their place inside I planted parsley, sage, basil and lovage. The tomato plants are just barely coming up, and I’m holding onto hope that the peppers got enough heat to germinate.

Check out my piece on Cowbird where I was able to post a recording of the sand hill cranes. I got close enough to one of them (below) to make him spread his wings.