Easter Two Thousand Eleven

Hallelujah, He is RISEN!!!

"Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right..."
– Phillips Brooks, "An Easter Carol"
 

 Let's start with dessert then, shall we?

Let them eat cake.  Gluten-free Double Chocolate Trifle with fresh blackberries (I'll post a proper before-it-was-dished-up photo in an upcoming post), and Aunt Tom's Italian Cream Cake (pity about the name, though; Aunt Tom?  Reeeally? Scrumptious as this cake is, the unanimous vote is that the responsible party needs to have their head(s) checked...).

Fleurs.  My friends keep a lovely garden, don't you think?  I am always in awe of green thumbs.  It was a beautiful, albeit windy day!

"'Twas Easter-Sunday. The full-blossomed trees
Filled all the air with fragrance and with joy."
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Spanish Student
 

 Entrées.  Lots of colours and textures!

 Cheese.  I really ought to write an ode to it someday (professing my lifelong-love for its creamy, supreme goodness), especially after trying a new variety with chives in called Double Gloucester Cheese.  Trust me when I say that it was positively divine.

 Grilled vegetables.  Nearly everything tastes better grilled.  (Well, there are a number of things I can think of that you wouldn't want near a grill, but you know what I mean, right?)

"Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness."

– Floyd W. Tomkins

Appreciating the little details.  This has to be one of the prettiest wine labels I have ever seen (besides the fact that it's very Trinitarian).  It should be saved and scrapbooked or framed!  (Gracias a los Españoles por este full-bodied blend; it went well with our meal, though the Bogle Zin was my personal fave of the day.)

"We live and die; Christ died and lived!" 

 – John Stott

Brothers.  I love these two to pieces.  I admire their ever-evolving/improving sense of style.  I love that they can make me laugh without even saying a word (they are masters of hysterical expressions and dance moves).

Wimbledon is on the left, Pembleton on the right (brilliant nicknames, yes?  These titles hail from many years ago... Ask me, and I'll tell you!).

Friends.  This one came out super cute, albeit a tad blurry.  Yours truly on the left, with my adopted little sister, Christina, on the right.  Sweet Nina has surpassed me in height (she has the ideal model body: tall, leggy --which reminds me, I need to photograph her for her future portfolio!), so it's a wonder that I somehow look taller in this photo... It must be the rocking retro beehive helping me out?!

Our party's hostess keeps a lovely garden, don't you think?  I am continually in awe of my friend's prodigious "green thumb", and her impressive memory of flora and fauna (both, of which, she inherited from her German parents, who take their gardening as seriously as the Brits do!  Oh, and I just like including the fact that they are Deutsche, because I am half-Deutsch myself).

Such a clear view out over the Bay.  It was a beautiful, albeit windy Sabbath!

Well-spoken words from Miss Brontë:

"There is not room for Death,
Nor atom that his might could render void:
Thou - Thou art Being and Breath,
And what Thou art may never be destroyed."

– Emily Brontë