Roll Back the Rock: For He is risen, Alleluia!

Spring, especially the Lenten season, is a time for reflection -- of waiting and anticipating the miracle of renewal, rebirth, and redemption.

Not only humans wait with hope in their hearts -- our furry and feathered friends also wait, patiently and faithfully.

Every time my husband runs an errand, our black Lab Harley lies on the rug at the front door, his nose pressed against the etched glass. When hubby comes home, Harley bounces like a furry yoyo with a wagging tail. Talk about unconditional love!

Last spring, a pair of mourning doves and robins built nests out front. The robins made their nest in the lilac bush, which didn't offer a lot of shade. With the extreme heat last spring, momma robin disappeared; her faint blue eggs left unhatched. I thought she must've perished in the heat or been killed by a predator.

The mourning dove laid her eggs in a hanging planter on the porch, which offered a bit more shade. Despite soaring temperatures, momma dove did not venture far from her nest, and the male dove stood guard on the roof and in the maple trees, warning her when someone ventured too near the planter. Their faithfulness was rewarded with two hatchlings.

A few weeks ago two mourning doves paced across our rooftop and flittered on the front porch near a dirt-filled basket that was going to be seeded. To make their nest building easier, hubby hung the planter on a hook. Days later, the doves began making a home.

Now, another momma dove, or perhaps the same one from last year, is nesting in the plastic hanging basket. Last week's snow storm did not deter her from her perch. Neither do humans. When someone leaves or approaches our front door, her head pops up and she watches, with dark eyes --- curious, cautious, ready to call out or dive if someone ventures too close.

I didn't want to scare her off by taking this photo, so I stood at a safe distance and adjusted the lense to capture her sillhouette in the planter.

I'm hopeful that her patience and faithfulness will be rewarded.

Spring is a time of promise and hope for better days filled with life and love. 

Roll back the rock, dry up your tears, set aside your fears. For He is risen. Alleluia!

Count Down to Lent - Rosenmontag

In you've never heard of Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), don't feel alone. I'm married to a German immigrant, and I didn't hear about Rosenmontag until I lived and worked in Germany (in the Rheinland-Pfalz state) in the 1980s. My husband is a German immigrant from the predominately Catholic German state of Bavaria, where they celebrate Fasching before Lent.

Back to Rosenmontag, which has nothing to do with roses. Rosenmontag is a day to get crazy during the German Karneval (carnival) season leading up to Lent.

At the office where I worked in Kaiserlautern, the local German women took charge and made a big production of cutting the ties off of men who wore them to work on Rosenmontag. The men, of course, took it all in good fun and knew to wear old worn-out ties on that day.

In addition to the cutting of ties, there was lots of eating and drinking of wine and beer and schnapps (for its medicinal purposes, of course).

Prosit! (a German toast to your good health)