Actually, Easter straddles two weeks - the first week has Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and the second week begins with Easter Monday, which is a holiday in Germany. This post is about the 1st week.
Here are some bits and bobs of Easter deco that I put up in my flat:
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| bedroom |
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| bathroom |
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| hallway |
On Monday (14 April), my maternal grandmother would have been 110 years old. In 2022, my Mum wrote a guest post about her mother; you can (re-)read that post here. My sister and I met at our Mum's that evening.
The day had started early with me travelling back from Offenburg to Ludwigsburg. A grey morning turned into a day sunnier and warmer than expected.
I worked at the office on Tuesday (15 April) and afterwards walked home from Zuffenhausen. It was again sunny and beautiful, and I was glad to have those couple of hours of walking after a busy day spent at my desk and in meeting rooms.
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| On the fields between Stammheim and Ludwigsburg |
Wednesday (16 April) morning saw me getting a badly needed haircut before work, which is feasible since my hairdresser's is literally just around the corner from my house. It was windy and cooler now, but remained dry, and so I happily walked to Benningen across the fields after work.
No walk on Thursday (17 April), which was wet, cold and grey - and that rain was so very welcome! In Germany, the Thursday before Easter is called "Green Thursday". In my region, it is tradition to eat Maultaschen on that day, and my Mum makes them herself every year.
My sister had flown to Nice/Nizza to spend Easter with our cousins in France, and so it was just me who turned up at Mum's after work. We were joined by Mum's friend R who lives on the ground floor in the same house, and R's brother.
Good Friday (18 April) was the start of the long Easter weekend. The weather was chilly, grey and windy, but after some rain in the morning, the day remained dry, and so my Mum and I agreed to meet at the bus stop in front of the palace grounds for a stroll.
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| Ludwigsburg Residential palace, as seen from a bench where we rested for a bit. |
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| The peonies were glorious! |
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| I love Bleeding Hearts, which in German are called "Tränende Herzen", weeping hearts. |
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| These are neither snowdrops nor lily of the valley. According to wikipedia, they are leucojum aestivum. |
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| My Mum perfectly matched some of the Easter deco in the park - or was it the other way round? |
We enjoyed our outing a lot and ended it with a meal of fish & chips (it was Good Friday, after all!) at "my" Irish Pub.
Travelling to O.K. on the Saturday (19 April) was quite adventurous and took about twice as long as usual. Let it suffice to say that construction work along the railway line meant different trains and other means of transport, and I missed one connection because I was following the railway staff's instructions. GRRRR!!!
On Easter Sunday (20 April), just like the previous couple of years, O.K. and I hosted a festive family lunch at the cottage. We made goulash from wild boar, served with mixed oven-roasted vegetables. The same Merlot that went into the goulash we also offered with the meal. For starters, we served filet of smoked trout with horseradish cream, rucola and a triangle of toast. Dessert was ice cream, and later in the afternoon, we had coffee and cake together (the cake was contributed by O.K.'s Mum).
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| This sumptuous Easter basket was brought to my bed on Sunday morning! |
Everything had turned out very well, and we enjoyed the food and drink as much as the company.
It rained all afternoon, but finally, about an hour and a half before sunset, it let up and the sun appeared. By then, our guests had gone home, and so O.K. and I went for a walk around the village in the beautiful late afternoon / early evening light.
(All pictures from the walk are O.K.'s.)
I loved reading about your Easter and seeing the pictures you've shared! The family lunch you hosted seems really exotic to me! In my part of the world a typical Easter meal would include ham, new potatoes in some form or another, deviled eggs, and spring produce like fresh asparagus and local strawberries.
ReplyDeleteFor many here, a typical Easter meal also includes asparagus, strawberries and eggs in some form or other. For meat, lamb is often served here.
DeleteWe just made it a "generally" festive meal :-)
I had an Easter tree. A custom I brought back from Germany.
ReplyDeleteYou mean you decorated a tree in your garden, or had branches in a large vase indoors? My Mum always used to do the latter, in a large copper vase from (I think) the 1960s or older, and on the branches she hung egg shells we had painted when we were kids, and other things. It was a bit like Christmas, when the old familiar things were brought down from the attic.
DeleteWhen my Dad's difficulties in walking and moving became more pronounced, she stopped putting the vase there in their open-plan living/dining/kitchen area; he needed more room to maneuvre safely.
Your mum and that Easter egg certainly did match each other in colour! :)
ReplyDeleteMy paternal grandmother used to have "bleeding hearts" in her garden. In Swedish we call them "löjtnantshjärta" which means "lieutenant's heart". Why they got that name I don't know!
Maybe because lieutenants (and all other military men) had more reasons than others for their hearts to weep or bleed, having to leave their loved ones behind when they went to war, not knowing whether they'd ever see them again?
DeleteBy the way, did you spot the Easter card you sent me a few years ago? I sent you that picture by email, too, but am not sure you still use that email address (yahoo) or my message went into spam.
I don't know how I missed that post that your Mum wrote about her mother. I just read it and it is very moving. What a great lady.
ReplyDeleteLove your photos but I really love the one of your mother in her bright pink!
Maybe when I published that post in 2022, you were very busy - you were still working then, weren't you?
DeleteThere were many "eggs" of the same size in that part of the park, all of them decorated differently, but when we saw the pink one, we simply had to take a photo of it with my Mum!
Your mum looks great in that photo. So colourful. I enjoyed reading about your Easter week.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rachel! She will be pleased to read that.
DeleteI meant to catch up with your blog yesterday but find that your profile shows as "not available" - I hope you have "hidden" your blog only temporarily.
I find it hard to believe you are following my blog via my profile. That is not the way to follow blogs. My profile is private for the time being.
DeleteI find it hard to believe you are following my blog via my profile. That is not the way to follow blogs. My profile is private for the time being.
DeleteFrom the first time I visited your blog (it must have been after I read a comment of yours on Pat's blog) I never saw the "follow" button there that I use to follow other blogs. Therefore, I usually simply went to your blog via your profile, for instance after you had commented on mine, or someone else's blog, like Steve's.
DeleteThanks for the photo of the leucojum aestivum. They are often mistaken for snowdrops, but their common name is snowflakes.
ReplyDeleteYes, that was wikipedia said, too.
DeleteSorry, not anonymous but Melinda J.
ReplyDeleteHello Melinda :-)
DeleteYour mum is very stylish! I am glad to read the name of those white flowers. I saw some here recently and thought they were giant snowdrops, though rather late in flower for snowdrops. I'm glad to be corrected.
ReplyDeleteShe is, isn't she! And you know, she does that no matter whether she's home alone with no plans to go somewhere or for an outing. People often compliment her on her outfits, and it is an integral part of herself.
DeleteGlad to have been of service with the name of these pretty flowers!
I love the bleeding hearts. Ours barely came up this year, and didn't bloom. I like your tastefully minimalist Easter decor! I've never heard of "Green Thursday." In the Presbyterian church, when I was growing up, we called it "Maundy Thursday," and I have no idea why!
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, I had never looked it up, although I am usually curious about the meaning and origin of such names. Now I have done so, and according to wikipedia, "maundy" is the name of the Christian rite of foot washing, which traditionally occurs during church services on the Thursday before Easter.
DeleteFor the German term Gründonnerstag (green Thursday), there are at least four different theories as to its origin.
It is always known as Maundy Thursday in Britain. It comes from the Latin for commandment. On Maundy Thursday at the last supper Jesus gave the commandment to his disciples to love one another, hence Maundy.
DeleteThanks, Rachel! Wikipedia gives many different names and even more explanations of the origin and meaning of those names. The origin from commandment makes perfect sense.
DeleteI'm having a Monday Morning catch up. And I've had a lot to catch up on.
ReplyDeleteYour Mum's outfit is, and here I'm trying to think of a suitable adjective, absolutely perfect for the occasion and surroundings. It radiates happiness.
I hope she'll come back here to read this, Graham - thank you! If not, I shall tell her tonight, as my sister and I will meet at hers after work.
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