"Spring is Sprung..."

As a gift for the first day of spring, Mother Nature gave us...winter.

Well, at least a chill night, a wonderful sleeping night. It got down into the high 30s and will be typically March and blustery all day, but the sun is streaming in the window.

I started laughing at the ad for Singulair on the Weather Channel page: "Which of the following outdoor allergens do you think might affect you? Grasses. Trees. Weeds. Outdoor mold." Uh, yes. :-) Or as James puts it when anyone asks what I'm allergic to: "Look outside. Is it green and growing? Then she's allergic to it."

Will Easter Be So Early Again?

Tamra sent these neat facts through Christmas to the Max:

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).

This "dating of Easter" is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above, Easter can actually only be one day earlier—March 22, but that is pretty rare. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives, and only the most elderly of our population (95 years old or above!) have ever seen it this early. None of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! The last time it was this early was 1913 so, if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that! The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year.

Just the facts:

• The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228—220 years from this year.
• The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285—277 years from this year.

Egg-citing

I finally have all my Easter decorations up except for a garland. My St. Joseph's Day altar received short shrift this year due to the early arrival of Easter; everything is already packed back up in its box. In its place, a simple "Spring" wooden placard, a china flowered sheep, a small square basket and a Mary Engelbreit container on end, a chick, an Eastery Victorian-looking resin of an Easter bunny riding a sheep, two lambs, and a Lego Easter bunny, plus three plastic eggs. There is one more decoration, but I will not put it up until Easter Sunday: a simple resin cross. On Easter Sunday I will also replace the spring flag with the Easter flag, which also has a cross on it.

The stuffed Easter animals—Rupert and Leonard, the two rabbits; Chickles the chick, and Baasley and Baabsey (don't look at me, I didn't name them...LOL) the two little sheep—are on the hearth.

I also decorated the Easter tree while I was waiting for something in the wash (and swept the stairs, which are everlastingly in need of sweeping or vacuuming), so the foyer is "together" as well.

Signs of...Ugh...Spring and the Upcoming Feast

I can barely contain my enthusiasm for the approaching pollen season and hot weather.

Not. :-)

While James was dismantling and "re-mantling" my poor benighted computer, I finally took down all the winter decorations (I knew I was going to forget something, and I did: all the garlands. Where I will fit them I don't know, especially the one with the pine cones and frosted needles, since the boxes are crammed full.) I have the boxes of spring and Easter things out, but have little enthusiasm to put them up.

I did put my St. Joseph's altar on the china cabinet. I put one of Mother's tatted doilies down, and then the base, which I painted red with a small circular copper-colored base on top which the St. Joseph's statue sits on. He is flanked by grape on one side, olives and figs on the other, with citrus fruits and breads in front, and a scattering of filberts and almonds around that. It's not this, but then what is? :-)

Incidentally, St. Joseph's Day is being celebrated on the 15th this year due to the actual date (the 19th) falling during Holy Week.