halleluiahs and hailstones

I spent all of my grade school years in a  pre-Vatican II catholic school. Latin masses, richly traditional ceremonies, were weekly experiences and sometimes several times a week. It was never Christmas without Advent, and more importantly, never Easter without Lent and especially Holy Week. Much has changed in every possible way since then. But the deeply ingrained traditions of those formative years have left an indelible mark on me. Easter was always my least favorite church service. But Holy (Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Eve were the best. Easter lilies and any hymns that repeat alleluia make me cringe. Can't tell you why. It just is for me. Baskets with plastic grass and rabbits made of chocolate. Colored eggs and egg hunts. I never really understood.
The shops around here were selling hot house Easter lilies last week. And all that other stuff too. Ugh.
On Easter morning I was blessed with another sort of trumpeting flower. Three of my amaryllis bulbs saved their blooms for now. Normally they come out of dormancy around the Christmas season, certainly by the start of the new year. Not this year.

The flower shown below is from a bulb that never slept this winter. Last fall when I brought them all inside for their nap, I discovered a third flowering stalk coming on it and had to let it have its way. I kept it growing after that bloom to restore the bulb expecting to let it sleep in spring. But it had its own ideas. Yes, a 4th flower stalk in 15 months. I just find this amazing.

And there are 4 flower buds on this stalk. The size of this flower is dinner plate. Now that's what I call an alleluia!

Yesterday we had our first thunderstorm of the year. It got so dark just before dinner that I had to turn on the lights. Then a torrential downpour and this...

This morning there are still a few small piles of hailstones in my potato pots and at the end of the downspouts. I spotted no damage during my walk about this morning. And I'm truly grateful that I didn't set out my veggie babies on Monday when we prepped some of the beds. More unsettled weather ahead with possible hail and an appearance of the word tornado on our National Weather Service forecast. I imagine the heavy rain that fell last night helped to put an end to our fire danger. Last Wednesday there was a field fire very near here that caused me to stop and think how fragile life can sometimes be.