Happy Easter!!!

This is the Sunday after Good Friday.  This is the day of light, renewal, new life and joy.  During Lent, I came across a series of reflections that made use of my Advent Wreath (and candles).  So each Sunday during Lent, one more candle would be extinguished to signify the coming death of Christ.  Each blackened candle also encouraged me to contemplate the ills of our world.  Today, I relit all six candles to symbolize the full light of the world as shown in our resurrected Christ.

As I'm sitting here with my candles full of light, I'm also listening to a radio station from Newfoundland called OZFM.  On Sunday mornings, they play jigs and reels which both my husband and I love to listen to.  I found this station streamed online thanks to a fellow from my highschool days.  He mentioned it on facebook a year ago while I was undergoing my chemotherapy and feeling in the dumps.  The jigs and reels, which I have always loved to listen to since being a child, lifted my spirits at that time.

My earliest memories of jigs and reels I think are from my childhood.  It may have been at dances that we attended with my grandparents at the local community centre.  I know for sure I heard this genre of music as my grandparent's contemporaries "clogged" at various fairs and community events.  Clogging seems to be a dying art/dance form because I certainly haven't seen or heard of any groups that currently perform this style of dance.  For many years, I didn't hear any jigs and reels at all and I forgot about them.  Then my daughter came along and at a young age showed an interest in highland dancing.  The first time I heard the various jigs and reels that she performed to, it was like coming home.  There was the distant memory of similar music and the joy it brought to my heart.  I truly believe that the tug I feel each time I hear this music is the faint echo of my Scottish and Irish ancestory.

I have really digressed here but the music certainly reflects my positive and joyous mood being it is Easter Sunday.  I've been fighting a terrible sinus cold/flu for the last 10 days.  It has really knocked down my energy levels and it has been difficult to meet my teaching responsibilities.  I also had to make a trip to a friend's mother's funeral on Thursday.  It was a day of 4 hours of driving.  So much as I wanted to attend my Good Friday and Easter Sunday services, I've not felt well enough to attend.  However, isn't it amazing that on Easter Sunday I have awakened feeling a little better!  So here's to the celebration of Easter!!

This is the first year that we have not spread chocolate eggs around the house for our teenagers to find.  However, I did set out chocolate for them at their place settings on the table.  Normally, I would have gone to church and then we would spend the afternoon relaxing or walking at the local conservation area.  Today, I'm just relaxing at home as I still don't have the energy to go out and about.  We're going to slow roast a smoked ham with a glaze.  I'm going to make scalloped potatoes and some maple glazed carrots to go with the ham.  For dessert, I made a white cake yesterday and I'll serve some frozen fruit over the top along with a drizzle of maple syrup.

So to all my friends, family and followers of this blog, Happy Easter and may you be blessed with the warmth of family and the renewal of life in our risen Jesus Christ.