Easter highlights...

Our friend dropped off this beautiful loaf of bread on Easter morning, and it looked so pretty with our Easter eggs, which we dyed with red cabbage and tumeric.

We had blueberry muffins at our favorite bakery before church.

Egg hunt at Oma's...
Live music!  Henry especially loved the accordion.

We had a beautiful day.  Christ is Risen!

"Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness.  A great silence because the King is asleep.  The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began...He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep.  Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him--He who is both their God and the son of Eve..."I am your God, who for your sake have become your son...I order you, O Sleeper, to awake.  I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell.  Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."

Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross

1787, Franz Joseph Hadyn (1732-1809)

"I was requested by a canon of Cadiz [Spain] to compose instrumental music on the seven last words of our Savior on the Cross.  It was customary at the Cathedral of Cadiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances: The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness.  At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began.  After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words and delivered a discourse thereon.  This ended, he left the pulpit and fell to his knees before the altar.  The interval was filled by music.  The bishop then in like manner pronounced the second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse.  My composition was subject to these conditions."

-Joseph Hadyn

We've had a busy Holy Week and I have felt harried at times but a highlight was the performance of this piece of music at church for the tenebrae service on Wednesday.  There was childcare (hooray!) and the string quartet was performed by two parishioners and their friends.  In between each sonata, one of Christ's "words" (such as "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do") was read.  If you need any Good Friday music to listen to, I highly recommend it.

My spring break:

I spent the day at a wonderful quilting workshop, an early birthday present from my parents and Andrew.

We spent a lovely (though cold) week in Maine with my parents.

We visited the zoo!

And we played quietly at home.