Alleluia

It's been a glorious Easter here. Today it's even so warm I've had to resort to taking my layers of woollies off. The washing is drying rapidly on the line as I write.

Yesterday was a particularly joyous day. By the time I'd heard part of the Easter Service from Christ Church, Oxford, on Radio 4, I was ready to burst. There were just so many alleluias at the end. (It featured among other pieces Handel's "Alleluia" chorus.) It is strange how that single word - almost more a sound than a word - lifts the spirits.

I progressed to getting the dinner prepared. The meal the Fox cooked in the evening demanded cooked broccoli. Nervously I thought I'd have a go cooking it in the microwave from frozen. Success!

Then I got the Mean Machine out & made the short trip to church. There I met a lady who'd come by bus. The bus company had got into the celebratory mood. They'd bedecked the bus with balloons & every passenger had been given an Easter egg, just a small one.

I was amazed by how many people turned out for the service, far more than usual. Most weeks there are less than 50 people in the congregation, yesterday I counted nearer 100. Quite why this should be I don't know. Easter? The sunshine? People too short of money to go away for a holiday this year? The baptism that was to follow the main communion service? Whatever the reason it was good to see the church so full. The service books even ended up having to be shared between couples. I've never known that to happen at this church.

By the time I left, having sung a few alleluias, I found myself humming all the way home. My sense of well being was then increased after a gentle stroll round our back garden We've had a poor showing of daffs this year, but the narcissi are doing better. The polyanthus is providing patches of pink & yellow, smiling cheerfully at the world. The cherry tree is bursting into flower. The apple & pear trees are budding up - a potential bumper crop this year by the look of things. The spirea, which the Fox planted, is fast becoming a mass of white froth. The flowering currant is still covered in pink, past its best but no less welcome. New shoots & leaves are appearing everywhere. The horizontal juniper which I'd thought was dead last year, is showing fresh new growth so maybe it was just having a shed, a bit of a rest for a year, & is now returning to its full glory. The frogs do like to hide under its branches. Spring is definitely burgeoning in all its splendour.

Alleluia! Alleluia!