Easter Morning

Shamrocks in the yard capture the spirit of Easter . . .

Delicate, and brimming with possibility.

Donald Cottontail

A reworking of a popular Easter song, "Here Comes Peter Cottontail," composed by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins.

Resurrection

Good news for those of you who occasionally doubt the events of Easter Sunday.  According to an item placed in The Butner Creedmoor News (NC), a "Visit With Jesus" was held this past Saturday at the First Baptist Church of Butner.  Pictures with Jesus were available for $3 each.

Take that, Doubting Thomas.

And happy Easter to all.

Easter Monday

We don't know how this tulip showed up in our yard or where it came from. It blossomed one day, unbidden and solitary, a small miracle during this season of miracles. How reassuring to realize that new life can spring up apparently from nowhere.

Resurrection

Yesterday afternoon when I found in our woods five baby opossums clinging to life on their dead mother's body, I didn't know where I'd find help on Easter Sunday. Who would be open on a holiday? The Triangle Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic, thank goodness.

As a part of its mission, the clinic "provides care for sick, injured, and orphaned native North American wildlife" and is open every day. Running on the usual non-profit shoestring, the staff and volunteers tend to squirrels, turtles, rabbits, native birds, snakes, and just about every little creature you can think of.

A far different enterprise from the pageantry at Duke Chapel, where I had attended Easter services earlier in the day. An inspiring and humbling sermon I heard for sure, but not quite as humbling as the modest animal clinic that took in five two-month-old opossums destined otherwise for death.

The natural world, it turns out, assures us that the Easter story will be told over and over again in infinite variety. How fortunate that we get to play a part.