Preparing for Easter

I think of the garden after the rain;
And hope to my heart comes singing,
At morn the cherry-blooms will be white,
And the Easter bells be ringing! ~Edna Dean Proctor, "Easter Bells"

Today I will wrap up my contract at Willow and prepare to resume my place on the Willow Board. It's been an interesting run - not the easiest consulting contract I've done but it has had its rewards. More than ever, I'm inspired by the work Willow does and immensely proud to be a part of such an important organization.

Tomorrow I will devote to preparing for Easter weekend - my biggest part of which is Good Friday dinner for eleven. Our friends Marg and Bob are in Turkey so they won't be joining us, nor will Gail who is in Victoria working on her MBA at Royal Roads. But Gail's husband Frank will be joining us, as will Jonathan, Cath and Stan, Nancy, Brian and Geraldine and their daughter Amy. I'm usually a little more prepared than I am this year and have my table theme all worked out far in advance. But other demands on my time and attention have distracted me greatly these last couple of weeks. I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet, but I will work it all out tomorrow. I haven't even figured out a menu beyond the fact that the main course will be fish. Last year I did a Hawaiian menu - macadamia nut crusted snapper, but I think chances are I will be serving a very basic salmon dinner as I can do that meal in my sleep. The weather is very promising with a prediction of sunny skies and a temperature of 23 degrees.

Tomorrow afternoon I will drive to Guelph and pick Jacob up for the long weekend. He has made no special meal requests in spite of my offer to take his order but rather says everything and anything I make will be better than the food on campus. I can hardly wait to see him. I've begun gathering a few items for his Easter basket on Sunday. He's never been a big chocolate eater so I think I will buy jelly beans and gummy candy to add to the collection of beers from around the world that I picked up earlier in the week. Last weekend Merv picked up a new toaster oven to give Jacob to start off the kitchen supplies for his new house.

I'm also hoping to have time to get the pedicure I didn't manage to schedule last week. It is sandal weather and my feet are a mess.

Happy Easter weekend to one and all.