Friday the 26th: Eggs

 This is another one of the crocheted eggs and then a Limoges porcelain egg container from a friend in Wichita.

 

 

Thursday the 25th: Music and Eggs

 *Our friends the Bauers once gave us these crocheted and starched handmade eggs, one for each of us; I currently have three of the six.

*Music is solos on Saturday but then switching to Motown until our concert on May 6.

 

 

Wednesday the 24th: Food and Eggs

 *Another glass egg, another candle egg: I think the candle egg is actually made of smaller chunks blended together.

*Last night I tried German Potato Salad with sausage instead of bacon and added sauerkraut. Sunday was chicken soup in the crockpot. Monday I made crispy potato cubes to go with mini meatloaves from the freezer. Friday I'm going to make my mom's waffles.

 

 

Tuesday the 23rd: A break for puzzles

 This is puzzle...3 or 4...for the year, our first 2000 piece puzzle. It has a timeline along the bottom for the establishment of the national parks, pictures of each park, and a map with their location in the middle. It probably took us about a month to finish.

 

 

April 22: Saints and Eggs

 We have Saints again this week!

4/23: Two choices, St. Adalbert and St. George. St. George is the one with the story about slaying dragons, and he is a patron of England. St. Adalbert was a bishop of Prague.

4/24: St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen was a German Capuchin friar martyred in Germany. Early settlers in Western Kansas built a huge beautiful church dedicated to him, now also known as the Cathedral of the Plains in Victoria, KS.

4/25: Today's feast is for St. Mark the Evangelist, so there's a Gloria at Mass. St. Mark is the credited writer of the shortest gospel.

 *More glass eggs, a dark blue and a 70s orangey egg.

 

Friday the 19th: More eggs

 I received the bunny from my Aunt Bonnie when I was born, and it's been on my dresser or in my egg collection ever since. The other egg is a candle, never lit, that has a stained glass pattern.

 

 

Thursday the 18th: Music and Eggs

 *Glass eggs are probably my favorite besides blown eggs. These two, one old and one new, catch the light beautifully throughout the day.

*This week we had solo competitions, concert, state music festival, All School Mass on Friday, and a Jazz Summit next Tuesday. Today is a mental health day with a haircut and feet soaking.

*Mass music is going slowly as my music directors have not been very good about getting out music after the Easter holiday. Hopefully they pick it up before June, or I might be quitting some of those parishes.

 

 

Wednesday the 17th: Eggs and Food

 *We grilled for the first time on Sunday, burgers and bell peppers. I tried farfalle with asparagus, browned butter and almonds. It was maybe a little overbrowned but still very good. That's all I'm cooking because it's a busy week.

*This large Polish glass egg was a gift from a sibling's in law many years ago.

Tuesday the 16th: Eggs

 Today's eggs: my sister made the top one for me from a ceramic egg, and the bottom egg is another blown and painted egg from the Czech Village in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

 

 

Monday the 15th: Eggs and Saints

 *There are no saints this week! St. Anselm would be on Sunday but it's a Sunday of Easter, and he's a memorial, so he is trumped.

*The first egg my sister made for me, it has a green undertone and then silver paint on top. The other was a gift from someone I accompanied for their state competition, it's wire work and paint on top of ...maybe Styrofoam.

 

Friday the 12th: Eggs and Food

*Two more handmade eggs from my sister, both blown and painted by her.

*For Divine Mercy Sunday we made our own chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy. All of it was quite tasty. For the rest of the week we had leftover brisket chili, homemade granola parfaits, and pasta with sauteed veggies. If the weather cooperates we'll do grilled burgers this coming Sunday.

 

 

Thursday the 11th: More Eggs

 The top egg is a combination of white paint and wheat; the second is drops of paint along with actual punctures in the egg.

 

 

Wednesday the 10th: Eggs and Music

 *Young Adult C bought this for me at the zoo when he was little and went there with Grandma one afternoon.

*I have two Masses on Sunday and don't have the music yet. We have a concert on  Monday so we are doing final preparation for that. I have solo competitions on Saturday along with Chamber Singers. Next Wednesday is large group festival, and then I can breathe.

 

 

Tuesday the 9th: More Eggs

 These two eggs are an old and newer egg. The top one is a sugar egg, decorated on the inside, that a classmate and her mom made for me in 1995 while at high school. My mom has one too, I think, but she might have gotten moisture in it. 

The second is one my sister bought for me at a garage sale. The back is very plain; I think it's originally a toy for young girls.

 

 

Monday the 8th: Saints of the week and more eggs

 *Eggs today are both decorated with pieces of wheat, the real egg is blown out and colored and then pieces of wheat are pasted to the surface.

*There are some saints again this week! Today is the Solemnity of the Annunciation, moved from March 25 (Holy Week) to today, outside the octave, to make sure it gets celebrated. This is the day Mary said yes to the Angel Gabriel to bear Jesus.

*April 11 is St. Stanislaus, a Polish bishop. He died in 1079 and is considered the first native Polish canonized saint.

 

 

Friday the 5th: Wooden eggs

 Wooden eggs used to be used for darning socks and to help hens roost, but now they are crafty. My sister painted this one silver and added my name to it. I think it predates my marriage, so at least 23 years old.

 

 

Thursday the 4th: More Eggs

*Today's eggs are all real eggs that were decorated; the top right is painted, bottom right is colored wax, bottom left is dyed and then scraped off (I think), as is the top left which is also waxed on top of that for sheen.

 

 

Wednesday the 3rd: Easter Food for the Win

 *We are eating this week too (Fry Bread with taco meat, chicken lettuce salad, and parmesan polenta) but Easter was the best. I made Danish Puff the night before for breakfast. Lunch was Spanish Tortilla. Supper was Buttermilk Brined Chicken, Roasted Asparagus, and a Lemon Tart. It was a beautiful food day!

 

 

Tuesday the 2nd: More Eggs

 This egg is more than 10 and less than 20 year old in my collection. I'm pretty sure it's a ceramic with a wheat pattern etching that my mom bought at Kansas Originals, near Wilson, KS.

 

 

Monday the 1st: Saints of the Week and Eggs

 *Happy Easter! We celebrate the entire week as if it's Easter every day. That means no saints are celebrated this week, just Easter, Easter, Easter.

*I'm also going to try to share all of my egg collection this year. This egg is from 1988, I made it in Girls Scouts (ceramic with paint) and obviously, painting is not one of my skills. It's one of my ugliest but oldest eggs.

 

 

Friday the 29th: Good Friday

*Good Friday is both one of my favorite and least favorite services. It has several unique parts: 

It begins in silence with the minister laying prostrate in front of the altar.

The liturgy of the word contains another choral reading of the Passion, this time from the Gospel of John.

This is followed by the longest petitions of the year, at least 12 of them, with a time for kneeling in prayer in the middle of each one.

Adoration of the cross follows, either as a procession through the congregation or as the cross in repose in front and everyone comes one by one to venerate.

This is followed by an abbreviated communion service with no consecration.

We end as we began, in silence, with no more services until the sun goes down on Saturday.

 (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

See, my servant shall prosper,
    he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him --
    so marred was his look beyond human semblance
    and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man--
so shall he startle many nations,
    because of him kings shall stand speechless;
for those who have not been told shall see,
    those who have not heard shall ponder it.

Who would believe what we have heard?
    To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
    like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
    nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
    a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
one of those from whom people hide their faces,
    spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
    our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
    as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
    crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
    by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
    each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
    the guilt of us all.

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
    and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
    or a sheep before the shearers,
    he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,
    and who would have thought any more of his destiny?
When he was cut off from the land of the living,
    and smitten for the sin of his people,
a grave was assigned him among the wicked
    and a burial place with evildoers,
though he had done no wrong
    nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
    to crush him in infirmity.

If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
    he shall see his descendants in a long life,
    and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.

Because of his affliction
    he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
    and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
    and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
because he surrendered himself to death
    and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
    and win pardon for their offenses.