letter from Aidan

lovely brocolli salad

brocolli, (cut up small), carrots, currants, walnuts, mayo, pineapple juice, salt, celery seed, cider vinegar, pepper

The Republic of Sun by Melanie Greenhouse

I learned to dye these eggs with onion skins from a singer Reet Hendrikson from Estonia.

I pledge allegiance to the crocuses
of the United States of America
and to the Republic of Green Grass
on which I stand, barefoot,
toes wriggling in the dampness where
just moments ago,
worms coupled and doubled themselves.
One nation of friends seated at a table
beneath a blooming tulip tree,
indivisible and radiant in spring's
spotlight,
with liberty and herbal tea; scones
-both blueberry and strawberry-
and Justice, Jude, Janice, Rhonda,
Herta, Sue Ellen, and Edwina.
Such an ensemble would make Justice grin
from sea to shining sea.

Animals and knights

here's Aidan Murphy up to his antics

birdsong

Still have snow here in VT but the birds are a singing and saw my first robin already.

renewal

poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

This was read by our paster, Lise Sparrow on Easter:

Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth
What you held in your hand,what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness....
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out in the day to mail letters and purchase bread,only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend.

Spanokopita

1 pkg. fillo dough, melted butter or olive oil
1 large container cottage cheese
feta cheese
1 small container ricotta cheese
2 large bags frozen spinach
6 eggs
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper
In a large pan saute onions and then spinach till moisture somewhat evaporated. Mix in eggs and cheeses in same pan. In a large lasagne type pan, layer the fillo, dotting with butter or oil, ( about 6 sheets) and then spread half the filling. Do about 6 sheets more, spread rest of filling and finally the last sheets of the fillo with lots of butter spread on top. Bake about 1/2 hour or so at 350 degrees till browned on top.

life and death

Two powerful speeches:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. (about 15 minutes)
*****************
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8577255250907450469&pr=goog-sl
This video is a reprise of a professor’s last lecture, done for the Oprah show, because she can arrange these things. (About 12 minutes)

Happy Easter