Happy Easter Everyone

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

In my last post, I wrote that Harry and I would be going to Church on Good Friday, that is if you waded through my froggy encounter first.

I wrote about collections of miniature crosses and the fact that a friend of mine had made me a lovely model of one, hand crafted out of stained glass and held together with lead and soldering, just like the church windows of old, in a tiny sort of way.

I am writing this after just coming back from The Good Friday Service and our church was decorated with these displays, so it was no surprise to me, to learn that most of the time was spent emphasising The Cross and how Jesus died for me........ and for you too. Forgive me if you are not Christian........ I am not stuffing this down your throat, just telling you of my interpretation of the Good Friday service and the service that will be so different on Easter Sunday.

So during this morning's service, we were invited to come to the front of the church, where there were two baskets of tiny wooden crosses...... each one of them skilfully carved out of a chunk of wood by some one somewhere, unknown to me.

By taking a cross we would have a lasting reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

When I got home, I wondered if I would have enough crosses of my own to illustrate this post (as I like to use my own photos.) My glass cross will still be on display in church until Sunday when I can collect it. So off I went for a little search about the house and I found a suitable Easter card, a couple of crosses on chains, a letter opener in the shape of a sword that is still a cross, an earring, a minute bible with a cross on it, as well as the tiny wooden cross that I was given today.

I also have my celtic cross on the wall in the garden.

So I am constantly reminded of the message from this morning, but I really didn't need the reminders because the message is in my heart.

There are no bodies on our crosses because the whole point of the cross is.......... that Jesus didn't stay on it, but was put in a tomb and on the third day he rose again, so the Easter Sunday service will be a joyous affair.

There folks....... that is the whole point of Easter but we can also celebrate our rabbits and fluffy lambs and chicks and the chocolate eggs as they all are symbolic of new life.

Which leads me to say, I hope you all have a very Happy Easter, whatever your persuasion of faith or belief.

Lets hope the weather is dry and sunny and that we can all enjoy Springtime at its best.

Definitely my favourite time of the year.

The Main Attraction

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Just before the Easter holidays, my son, Sam asked me to accompany him and the grandchildren to a small zoo, which is situated in Somerset and naturally, I jumped at the idea. It wasn't the first time I had been there but it was my granddaughters' first visit.

We arrived as the zoo opened and the first thing we saw was the lovely peacock strutting about. There was an albino one too, completely white, but I didn't get to photograph that one as there were always too many people in the way of it.

The girls soon started rushing about wanting to see everything all at once! We raced here and there, looked at the giraffes, rhinos, buffalos, camels, emus and many other beasts, great and small.

These three capaburras remind me of rats or guinea pigs but they are not rodents at all but are related to hippos! Hard to believe, that. They look rather inoffensive sitting huddled together in a row. They are about as big as a small sized dog.

Meerkats are lovely little creatures and there is always one on the lookout while the rest of the group relax in the sun. Apparently, they live in a tightly organised community and each one has a place in the hierarchy from the highest position to the most lowly.

Well after all those exotic animals, what do you think held our interest for the longest amount of time?

This ewe had started to give birth right in front of us and naturally we didn't feel we could move away until she had delivered her baby safely. I had never seen a sheep give birth before and found the whole thing fascinating.

One lady ran to get one of the workers and after a while three girls dressed in green overalls stood observing nearby, occasionally speaking on a mobile to report or query progress. The birth took about twenty minutes from the time we first noticed it. I felt rather sorry for the ewe as she keeled over to push hard. Eventually the little lamb slid out and after she licked it clean it began to stagger to its feet and the helpers left.

However it began to dawn on all of us who were still watching that she was having another lamb but this time she seemed to be really struggling. Another three people arrived, one of the men seemed to be in charge and with the help of the other two holding the sheep steady, he had to pull the lamb out. The new arrival was very limp and still and at first we all thought it had died. The helpers rubbed it and shook it gently and we were all getting quite upset, when suddenly there were little twitching movements on the ears and feet. Quite soon afterwards, the tiny black headed sheep staggered to its feet and joined its completely white sibling who now had wool that had fluffed out a little bit and it seemed much stronger than the other newly born twin.

I was enthralled by the births and I know that Crystal Jigsaw sees this kind of thing many times over, being a farmer's wife and she might well smile at me going over the top with this account. However, I was truly moved by this brave sheep and her lambs.

Out of all the more exotic animals....... this ewe and her babies had me enthralled for over an hour and as I write this account, I am still feeling quite emotional!

Photostory Friday is hosted by Cicely and MamaGeek.