hippity hop

when adah was at the airport this afternoon saying goodbye to cuncle kai, uncle darren, and pa, i took the opportunity to put away some of our easter stuff. i have no idea how, but the kid has accumulated a TON of stuffed bunnies and easter decor, and because she gets attached to things ("this is adah's!"-- three of her favorite words), i knew it would be hard to get those things back into our basement with her in the house. thankfully when she came home, there were enough distractions (first breastmilk, then having to feed three of her puppets) to keep her from noticing that i hijacked not only a collection of bunnies, but also swept through her room like a tornado, gathering arm loads things to give away to other kids. for a family interested in living simply, i often wonder how she has acquired so much stuff...

anyway, easter was lovely. liturgically vibrant, as usual, and very family-centered. the cold morning before easter we went to the garden to find beets, red cabbage, and nettles to use for egg dye, to which anne responded, "why can't we do anything normal around here?" i was super enthusiastic until i realized that the nettle color turned out to be a light pukey brown, not the bright green i hoped for, and we ended up using food coloring for a couple more colors. The familial entourage arrived just in time to watch the eggs steep in the natural dyes for a long time... so long that we felt longing for toxic chemicals of the good old days.

we started off the actual morning of easter in the emergency room because of the back injury anne acquired at work. i dropped her off and stayed until the bug was about to wake up, and left her with a tangerine and a salinger book-- not sufficient gems enough for having to miss the kid find the eggs. i ran home, filled the basket with seeds, carrots, celery, a toothbrush, and a stuffed bunny. christmas in march. it's april and we're still hiding eggs each day...