Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Easter Memory Circles

Easter is another happy holiday, brite, cheerful, saluting the arrival of spring. I found the pattern to these Easter Baskets in the Bernina website, under projects, illustrating the use of the circle attachment. Well, not having that particular item, I set about to readjusting the pattern to fit my own circumstances, and here they are.


Using my magic circle cutter, I used various colorful scraps of material, lined them with another circle of color, added the handles of lace, and the baskets were created. Put in a few candies, and wrap them up, to send out to my GROWN children, grandchildren and a few special people. I think that no matter how old one gets, a little bit of spirited childhood in our adulthood is good for the soul. I am sure the recipients think I am a bit "unjointed" BUT thats OK with me, secretly I think they like being able to relive their youth for a couple of seconds or so.


Easter according to Scripture is a time for reflection, to rejoice in rebirth, time for remembrance. For me its a wee bit sad, reflecting back on the times when the kids were small, sewing up the finest outfits to wear to Sunday Mass, coming home to watch them search for all the hidden Easter Eggs, cooking the Easter Ham, and all the Easter bakery items including the Lamb cakes that were decorated with the many candies of the season. Visitors would come over, and if the weather permitted kites would be flown, softballs to be hit, secrets exchanged, the skies were filled with laughter. Daffodils were in full bloom long with the tulips, and maybe even the many crab apple trees along the boulevard were starting to leaf out. It was springtime in the city, and colors were out to awaken the day.


Now many years later, far away from those happy scenes, Easter becomes just another holiday, that commemorates the spring time coming,. Out here in the North land, the daffodils have not peaked through the cold earth, and there is still snow along the wood lines. The tall brown grasses belie the fact that somewhere beneath their feet, in the frozen confines will be green shoots, awaiting the kiss of the sun and the embraces of the warm spring winds. The skies are cloudy, with a hint of the coming snowfalls yet to arrive. Mother Nature secretly playing games with us, knowing full well we are tired of the winter, bored with the snow clouds, and the loneliness of the naked trees allowing the winds to dance among the branches with the abandonment of young creatures.


Down in the newly cleared ravines, stands an old oak tree, that has been stung by a lightening bolt, chastised by the raw confines of Mother Nature,still standing tall, graceful, headed for the sky, unwilling to give up the years it has guarded the hills, even though its insides that held the secret chapters of the past, had been ripped from its bowels with a single stroke. it has refused to give up its place in the world, still offering its branches for the birds to nest, sheltering the many nimble four footed animals in its base, allowing squirrels to run up and down its trunk to harvest the acorns. It's leaves still carpet the floor each fall, adding nutrition to the soil below, and though time has taken its toll, it still has a purpose.


It is then that I realise that the lessons continue, even though we have gone through the ages of memories, there are still many more different shades of color to be explored, more interests to awaken, finding all the corners of life that are still waiting to be shelved in the memories of our minds. It is not a time of sadness, but a time of continuance, just like this Old Oak Tree, watching silently as the world slides by on the wind currents, gathering the riches beyond the rainbow, placing them in the circle baskets of time.