Two dinners on Easter Sunday - My house - The Deming House - Poem: He is Risen

 My lamb stew has been simmering for two days.

Lamb cubes from Whole Foods -3 cans Rienzi plum tomatoes, sans salt - carrots, onions, garlic, umami beans, celery, and a heaping of Red Wine.

Scott and I loved it!

 A nap after lunch - gosh, I was tired - and then a walk at the Pennypack. Was thinking of writing David Robertson, the director, and saying Loads of people today in your back yard.

 Wore these sneaks when I went to the kids' house.

No one liked them.

Bubby! cried Max when I walked in.

He likes snakes and has em on his T shirt. He's holding Grace's sunglasses.

After dinner, I put on the sunglasses, walked into Grace's room where everyone was gathered and said, Help! I'm blind. I can't see a thing.

Bubby, laffed Grace. You've got my sunglasses on!

I told Max - who wants to be either a Snake or a Lizard or a Fire Truck when he grows up - that I saw a snake when Scott and I were walking on our street.

What I didn't tell him was that the beatiful open-mouth snake lay dead in the middle of the sidewalk. I touched him to see if he'd move, then lifted him up and tossed him into the mulch pile so critters can eat him.

Caw Caw, says the vulture.

 Max is going thru my backpack.

Paper, he said when he pulled out some pads.

Pens.

"More pens!" he cried.

 He has very deft fingers. The Easter Bunny brought him an Easter basket filled with plastic eggs. Each egg was filled with a different treat - jelly beans, a Reese Peanut Butter Cup, and a Hershey's Kiss.

In an experiment, Max is pushing the spilt jelly beans off this stair and into his hand. Nicole agreed that he has and she used the word kinesthesia.

She's been subbing in Special Ed all over Bucks County and loves it!!!

 Dinner time! Superb food. Ham, mashed taters, green beans, mac/cheese, and a biscuit left over from b'fast Dan made.

 Max, said Mom. What's your full name.

Max Abacus Poopie! he said.

We cracked up. The boy is hilarious. His dad's son.

Dan was doing the dishes. He remarked on all the processed foods ruining the planet like the Keurig coffee containers.  I told him in the book I'm reading The Man from Beijing, one of the main characters Birgitta, from Sweden, takes a trip to Beijing on a hunch, seeking the killer of 11 people in a tiny town in Sweden.

When she arrives in Beijing, she can scarcely breathe, the air is so toxic.

You'll get used to it, they tell her.

We waxed philosophic, Dan and I in the kitchen, when we were all alone.

With Nudge the cat, he reminded me.

We are so fortunate, I said to Dan, who is recovering from laryngitis. He hopes he won't have to go to a doctor.

I touched his shoulder. You'll be fine soon, Dan. I said. He's still my baby boy and I worry about him.

We have homes, jobs, great families, people we love.  And, I did NOT say, Jesus died for our sins.

 

Jesus died for you and me, is a "poster" Grace drew. And who is Jesus, I asked. Grace looked at Nicole.

He's the son of God, said Nicole.

Grace repeated it.

Listen to For Unto Us A Child is Born. Commercial first. 

HE IS RISEN

I open up my red door
where the choirs proclaim
He is risen
He is risen

Black crow from Nancy's lawn
Gray jacko from Bea's back yard
Woodpecker on the last of my maples
Cardinals swooping hither and yon
beneath the infinitude of gray sky
and sleeping Full Moon

He is risen
He is risen

Watcher of the skies,
I stand starstruck
on my little porch
smelling my lamb stew
in the kitchen
while my stereo plays
For Unto Us A Child is Born

Wonderful! Counselor!
The Prince of Peace!

My house is a place of
warmth, of life, of flowers
blooming on the window sills

My thanks ring out to
The Mighty God
The Everlasting Father
Hear my plea
Will there ever be an
end to strife and poverty
and hunger on this
earth?

The infinitude of the sky
looks down as one lone
dove dips his head
in the birdbath