This past weekend we went on our annual twig hunt for the Easter Egg tree. Normally we come back with a selection of different sized branches, but this year we actually found a fallen branch that looked more like a little German Christmas tree. So, home it came with us to be decorated.
The woods are very slowly starting to come to life. Daffodils are peaking their crowned heads up, polka dotting everywhere with sunshine yellow. We came across 2 muntjacs who were making their way down to the pond to drink, they saw us and leaped and bounded in the other direction. The smaller one, however, stopped behind a tree and just watched us for a little while as we watched him.
It was cold on Sunday, so even though we were bundled up we didn’t last long in the woods the damp just oozed in to your pores. But the smell of fresh earth and clean air was so nice after a winter of not being able to walk in the woods, it wasn’t too long though before we headed home to decorate our tree.
It was bigger than we thought! The scale of the woods made our little branch look “little“. It wasn’t until we got home and tried to get it through the door we realized we had a problem!
After some laughing and cutting down the longer branches and trimming away some of the bottom we finally got it up. It is my first bit of Easter and there will be more to come this week. If the sunshine won’t be outside, I can at least bring it inside!
My husband loves to hang the eggs on the tree. The first year we were married I found a German Easter Egg kit to dye eggs with. We searched and searched for white eggs since the grocery stores here only carry brown. Eventually, we found some lighter colored ones and after carefully blowing them out we spent an afternoon dyeing them.
He had never dyed an egg before, as this is not a British Easter tradition and it was such a delight to watch his sweet face light up as he hovered over his little pile of eggs making sure they changed to just the hue he wanted. That is how it should be, the simple things should never cease to please us!
Anonymous says:
Hello there! I just found your blog via Allsorts. Just working my way back through your older posts and noticed your foxy encounter and the screaming you heard. We have tons of foxes around us here in Kent and are used to the quite alarming racket they make – sometimes its when they are playing but mostly it’s when they are mating!!!! Months after that the dog foxes start to get brave and come right up to the house to get food to take back to mum and cubs. One we nicknamed ‘Sausage’ and he would lie down and wait at the back door for his plate of sausages and whatever was on offer. Soon after proud dads appear with cubs in tow and a very thin, worn out mummy. Then before we know it the screaming starts again and the whole cycle begins again! Well I’m off to carry on reading. Have a very Hippity Hoppity Easter, Debbs
March 31, 2010 — 9:16 am