Sunday, March 28, 2010

one week till Easter




The daffodils are out - but I have no pictures! We have more this year than last, though. Daffodils, that is.


You may recall we had a daffodil planting party in the fall - here's the link and while I'm linking, here are some pictures from last year's daffodils. They look much the same this year - although somehow we seem to have only two varieties this year: bright yellow big ones and white with pale yellow slightly smaller ones. I'm thinking perhaps the more unusual ones I marvelled over last year are later bloomers?

Oh, but the really pretty one from last year has succumbed already to the depredations of a toddler, who snapped off that bloom and clutched it in her chubby fists to bring inside and float in a bowl of water.

We had a lot of toddlers here yesterday - six, counting one mostly out of toddler range and another, just entering it. I'm not used to this! It was fun though. Luther was hard to convince that these were not exquisite play toys for him - the wind-up running and shrieking tots were very hard for him to resist! He stole their toys and periodically knocked a few kids sprawling when he got a chance. . . . He's sleeping now, gathering his energy.

Meanwhile, I found my copy of a Haggadah for the Passover Seder - the last supper of Jesus. I was astonished to see that it was illustrated by Leonard Baskin! I grew up with a painting by him of some other guy - or was it by some other guy of him? I can't remember now. It's always been a favorite of mine. It's of a face, but as a child, i thought it was of two kids and a maypole.

Yeah. Don't ask. It was years, though, before I could see a face in the frame. I still love the picture.

Anyway - Baskin did the illustrations for a Passover Haggadah, and I have a copy. Here's a link to look inside.

Yes, we'll incorporate some Passover elements into our Easter celebrations this year. I'll never forget the first time I experienced a Jewish Seder. It drove home to me the profound connection between 'Judeo' and 'Christian', something both sides tend to forget.

Meanwhile, I've mostly finished Elizabeth Zimmerman's green sweater - mine's off-white - and I'm working on a white bathroom mat from Glampyra's yarn made from T-shirts! Very cool stuff. I have pictures.

Later.

___________________
*illustration above is from "My Objection to Being Stepped On" By Robert Frost. Wood engravings by Leonard Baskin, 1957

1 comment:

Maman said...

Wish I knew the name of that daffy, it's always been a favorite of mine, too. I think the Works will come up a bit later; you seem to be getting the results of the Nov. planting right now....they're a bit earlier. I love the white guys.....particularly in huge drifts. They're better left in the ground tho; they don't do well as cut flowers. And the "guy" whose face you grew up with by Leonard was Thomas Eakins,
a celebrated artist in his own right.