Finally things have started to green up round our way… just a little.
After a long dry summer and even drier spring before that we actually had a little bit of rain towards the end of March and I can now see the odd tuft of green grass in our ‘back yard’ among the dirt and dead brown stuff that used to be grass. Driving around the area some of the paddocks have a definite glint of green to them… you couldn’t call it ‘growth’ because it is so short and sparse but it at least looks a little green from a distance instead of the brown we have been seeing for months and months.
Summer has officially gone. Not only by the calendar but it has also gotten cold. Daylight saving is over and there are not more long hot days and nice balmy evenings that I love so much. We’ve even had the fire going a few days this week… mostly just to take the chill out of the night air or to dry the clothes (we have totally funky clothes racks that hang up in the roof either side of our wood fire heater – thanks Jen!). At least the days are still sunny for the most part, unless it rains which we don’t complain about and the last of our summer veggies are still hanging in there. But it is definitely Autumn… which means Winter is only round the corner. Yuck! I hate the cold!
It makes it kind of hard to embrace the whole ‘Easter Vibe’ I think. Since we are not religious and I am not keen on the girls eating loads of chocolate or junk (yes I am a mean mother and my children have never eaten an Easter egg! Mind you they only just this week found out what was inside the pretty paper!) and since it is not spring here… I kind of get confused by Easter!
I guess it used to be just a nice extra long weekend to spend with family, but the Baldy Guy works shifts which don’t respect public holidays so he is working part of the Easter weekend anyway.
I like the idea of getting it together with some kind of ‘family tradition’ for the girls and us, but eggs and bunnies don’t seem to make any sense at all to me. Now pumpkins… we have heaps of them almost ready to be picked and stored.. now that would make sense! Autumn leaves and warm jumpers, the last of the summer harvest, yes… those things make sense. But since we seem to follow the northern hemispheres traditions and the shops are full of chicks and spring flowers… it all seems kind of weird.
So for now I will just embrace the hot cross buns… I have been doing so whole heartedly since they appeared in the shops not long after Christmas and will spend this weekend on a last ditch attempt to eat as many of them as possible before they disappear until next January.
Happy Autumn, Happy Spring, Happy Passover and Happy Easter…. or just Happy Day if you are still confused on the matter like I am! :)
Yeah the whole spring, fertility renewal thing doesn’t make sense because as you say it’s hemispherically incorrect LOL. Easter was stolen by the Christians; it was originally the festival of Ostara which was about rebirth of the sun after winter-but that’s in the northern hemisphere! In Australia we’re celebrating Mabon around this time which ties in with the Autumn equinox. Mabon is the completion of the harvest festival which begins with Lammas in February, so you’re right on about the pumpkins! I must say however, I’m afraid we (the kids and I) also celebrate Easter as a hommage to the most holy gods of chocolate LOL..
Happy “whatever” day to you too!
I *love* those clothes racks that hang from the roof – Dh’s cousins in Scotland have an original one hanging in their original really old house – I love it!