Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Pascha Sunday Night at Home


















After a beautiful Pascha and Agape Vespers,
we went home and I set up the table for our Pascha night dinner.
We always have food from our basket and this year had leftover 
chicken from earlier that day!
I used my Grandma's everyday dishes that I was given when she replaced
them with a new set, well over 20 years ago... 
We used her silver-plate silverware,
the rushnyk (the red, white and black cloth)
 from my Ottawa Ukrainian Mother, 
that she gave me for Pascha over 7 years ago,
the icon of the Resurrection, the big one, I made with a Kodak Machine in Ottawa 
and a dollar store frame and had blessed on Pascha, many years ago...
the smaller icon in the basket was +Patrick's... 
The tablecloth is one of two that I have that were my Husband's Grandmother's, 
we think... that I got from his Mother a few years ago... 
so lots of beloved family and church family remembered in our Pascha table...
and the multi-coloured roses that we always get on Pascha... 
And that was our Pascha night table this year... 
Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen!

Monday, April 29, 2019

A wonderful Holy Week and a Glorious Pascha


Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!!!
***
I have so much I wish to share with you all...
Holy Week was wonderful.
Pascha was wonderful.
Bright Monday we rested and went to local friends for dinner tonight
and it was a real delight.
This week is really busy but I hope to post again soon!
May Christ's Resurrection comfort our hearts
and may we desire Christ and His salvation and love
over all else!
Christ is Risen!
INDEED HE IS RISEN!!! 

Friday, April 26, 2019

Holy Friday & the Saving of Adam and Eve








The prayers of Holy Week are full of the most beautiful
and most enlightening poetry,
beyond all else...
The saving of Adam and Eve,
the saving of all of us 
who wait for Christ and look for Him
as the Bridegroom,
Who we meet on Pascha,
Who we long for.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Faith like a child...


This morning at the Holy Wednesday Liturgy,
a young girl (maybe 7 years old but small for her age)
came in and she went and kissed the icon of Christ on the stand
in the picture above.
Then she would cross herself,
do a full prostration
(bowing, in this case, in front of Christ, with face on ground,
hands in front, knees fully on ground)
and then kissed Christ again, crossed herself, full prostration.
She must have done this at least five times,
very seriously with deliberation, concentration, with the deep love and faith
that only a child can have...
It was beautiful...

Monday, April 22, 2019

Holy Monday, this moved me...


This picture moved me very much....years ago my priest in Ottawa taught us that a priest's job is to fully disappear and have Christ shine through them....like St John the Baptist said, He (Christ) must increase but I must decrease....you can barely see our local priest in this picture, but he is there, bowing fully down in front of the Altar during the prayers to Christ the Bridegroom. He is showing us the way in this picture, this instance.....

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Palm Sunday










Today was Palm Sunday for us in the Orthodox church. 
Holy Week is upon us.
I am glad.
I also don't feel ready.
And I am already tired... so I don't know if I will be writing much
this week but I do wish everyone a God-protected week
and a beautiful Pascha.
May God save us all and bring us to Christ's Holy Resurrection! 

Thursday, April 18, 2019

The Rest of the Visit, with one perfect sunny blue skied day































Tuesday was just the right weather,
not dripping hot, not cold,
sunny, blue sky.
The Munchkin and I went to NYC and told each other stories
on the PATH, on the walk to Mr Husband's work, while waiting for
Mr Husband to get out of a meeting that went over,
stories involving pizza, lots of Middle Earth via JRR Tolkien and 
later stories were inspired by the Hardy Boys :)
***
After lunch we took the subway to Central Park and walked to the
Central Park Zoo.
We saw a Grizzly Bear, a Snow Leopard, Seals, Penguins, a very 
brightly coloured social Parrot, and many other things. 
Then we had a break and, after some discussion,
as the Munchkin was tired from all the walking
(he was leading the way in the zoo!)
we decided to stick with the original plan,
which was to cab from the zoo to my NYC library,
where we had permission to visit and for the Munchkin to see
the children's library section.
He found, to my pleasure, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew (the 1950/1970 version)
books as well as the new Diary of the a Wimpy Kid, a series he loves.
I found A String in A Harp and we took these books home.
On our way to the subway, we went to a vintage Luncheonette and we 
split a small root-beer soda in 2 small glasses and the soda was made from 
the syrup and the soda water, really neat.
The Munchkin is really observant and has a strong geospatial ability...
he understood where we were when we were in the World Trade Center PATH station 
underground (it looks like a futuristic space station to me) and saw the
narrow window on top and realized immediately that one could see the
Freedom Tower ... he is a very intelligent boy, beyond his nearly 11 years!
Once we were home,
just after Mr Husband arrived home as well,
I made dinner for us all and then we played our
second game of Dominion.  
We helped the Munchkin at the beginning because he did not understand
how to use the Action cards and in the end he won the game!
Then we did short prayers, blessing the beds for sleep and
that was the end of the perfect blue sky ....
The next day was a grey day and it was 'finish the book report day'
and I worked along side of him, ready to help when he needed it.
I read the rubric sheet (wow kids do a lot of work compared to when I was in school)
and made sure that he completed all the requirements and explained them
if he did not understand them.
I did a lot of quick reading and helped him understand how to find the 
information he needed.  Part of the book report was about
the characterization and part of it was about the plot and at the complications in 
the story. It was a lot of work as the book was a historical novel about
WWII and the Soviets, so not easy reading to say the least.
 I would ask him questions based on the rubric requirements and the book. 
I often asked him what a page meant and talked it through with him in terms of questions
 such as what does that mean? 
And how would you write it? 
And then I would tell him, ok, write what you told me. 
Once he was done,
and of course we had lunch and cookie breaks and he read other books before
he did his school work (he read all of Spyridon's Shoes and finished his Wimpy Kid book)
and we played 2 more games of Old Maid before his Mother came
to pick him up...we had a lot of good talks with him and I was glad
we had that fun day in NYC.... 
After he left, Mr Husband and I went to our local upscale grocery store
near church and got some things.
And then, we went to the last presanctified liturgy at our local church
for Great Lent.
Now we are almost at Holy Week.
May God have mercy on us all!