Easter has come - and gone too

The Easter celebration is over for another year. I never got to go on the Procession of Witness on Good Friday because an elderly lady had fallen and cut her leg quite nastily on something at church  and I was the chatty distraction while her leg was cleaned and dressed.  Then when we got home again, I mentioned something about the two Sunday morning services and my husband said, " Oops, I forgot to tell you that I said that we would prepare and serve the breakfast following the early service...".  Did I say that he was taking the early service as well?  And since we had been at a different church on Palm Sunday, nobody had thought to put out a sign up sheet so I had no clue how many we were catering for...  Sunday was a great day but so very, very busy.  I went shopping on Saturday and decided that I would prepare for 40 people with an extra box of cereal and an extra loaf "just in case".  And I got it about right.  We also went down to church and set up the tables and chairs and cutlery and organised as much as we could.  Then we were down first on Sunday morning to get the urns on etc.  My husband led the first service and afterwards I beetled out as quickly as possible to the kitchen and boiled the eggs while everybody had their cereal.  I had detailed somebody else to stand over the toasters and keep refilling them. The same kind person supervised clearing away afterwards because I had to move on to the next thing.

Then before I had quite finished eating my breakfast, the music rehearsal started so I had to rush up with my toast still in hand.  Ever tried singing with a mouth full of toast crumbs?  Don't, because it is not a pretty sight : ).  My husband picked up his guitar and he started a nose bleed.  A mega fountain (ok too much info, I know) which kept going for just short of half an hour.  I got him out to the gents where there was a plentiful supply of absorbent loo roll.  It is somewhat difficult being a lady and needing to go into the gents...  I got another man to keep going back to check up my husband but my mind was not exactly on the rehearsal much and especially so as time went on.  We had finished by the time my husband came back to us with a very soggy shirt where he had tried to wash out the front.  And the gents looked like a mass murder had taken place in there.  Then after that service we had jacket potatoes and salads (prepared by somebody else : ) ...) and we made my husband sit down for a while.  Then there were all sorts of games and I made my husband sit and watch lots rather than joining in.  After a while he admitted that he had a tremendous headache and was glad to sit out and just watch.  And after we had cleared up and tidied, we went home for a peaceful evening and early to bed.

My farmer friend went home then too - and then rang me to tell me that they had gone out to the hens and found that something (probably a fox) had got in and killed them all.  What a sad end to a lovely day.

On Monday, my husband was right as rain and just as well because he had promised to go and help a friend move some furniture.  That took all morning and he came home with a present of a bag of wood for the woodburner.  What a nice way to say thank you to us!

This morning, my husband had been detailed to go and help our daughter and her husband to lay some floor tiles.  While he was out, I happened to open the front door and heard the joyful sound of a chainsaw being used close by but out of sight. Then I saw a man come round the corner with a wheelbarrow full of logs...  I grabbed a key and rushed off to see what was happening.  The council had sent a team round to cut all the branches off a tree on the pavement that they wanted taken down as it was starting to lean a bit too much.  In that road, the trees had been planted a long time ago, so they were big but they are not really a suitable type to grow on a narrow pavement and close to the front windows of the houses.  There were two men standing to the side with their wheelbarrows and taking the pieces of branch as they were offered.  I was asked if I wanted some too, so I rushed back for our wheelbarrow and joined the queue.  I ended up with four heaped wheelbarrows worth of lovely big pieces of branch which will be wonderful.  I'd have been happy to take away some of the smaller branches too but the treecutters shredded them.  One of the other men told me that there is a tree being taken down in the next road tomorrow so I'll be listening out for that chain saw music : )

A lot of wood is better for drying out for two years rather than just one before burning and we are filling up our garden with wood.  My husband has built several wood stores with pallets (airflow) for sides and and some lap fence panels as a roof to keep off the rain.  We reckon we have enough wood drying for next winter and we are now working on the winter after.  It is not all brilliant wood like we have acquired today, but it was all free, which is very important.