Venturing out...

I have been feeling a bit down lately. I am the type of person who puts a brave face on things and I am stoic by nature. However, lately, a few months of cancer treatment with related anxiety, daily trips to radiation therapy, the stress of insomnia, the assault of a head cold (on top of the usual stresses of life) have culminated to make me feel a bit depressed and, it has to be said, sorry for myself. So yesterday was the perfect day for Mark and I to take a trip down to Granville Island. It was an even better day to drop Bronwyn and River off for a few hours with friends who had offered to babysit (thanks Kyle and Michelle!). Having that type of hands-on help makes all the difference. It was wonderful to have time by ourselves to look around Granville Island market. To buy fresh pasta, tomato and bocchini salad, fresh bread, homemade chocolate easter bunnies and cookies for the kids, and a SPCA certified organic chicken (not so easy to come by) for our Easter Sunday dinner. We also tried on a bunch of hats at Edie Hats, a fabulous hat store on Granville Island, and I bought my first hat in ages (and as I left the store I gave a nod and a wink towards my next hat purchase, which will be a big wide-brimmed floppy sunhat!). I love my new hat (and it just occurred to me that I bought a new hat for easter...very traditional...eh eh). It's the one I'm wearing in the above picture.

I'm not hugely into the commercial aspect of Easter. Of course I understand its importance in the Christian calendar, but I prefer to celebrate the arrival of spring. We are observing some traditions. We are going to make an easter egg hunt for the kids, here at home. (No, I am not into the big group egg-hunt either). Bronwyn and I are painting some eggs...not quite finished...and we have made some easter/spring artwork. All-in-all we are trying to make it a spring-themed celebration, while remaining conscious of the fact that Bronwyn is surrounded by a proliferation of easter-themed silliness.

The Easter Bunny is a scary incarnation. I heard one mum saying that they were going to leave a carrot out for the Easter Bunny?!?...weird. Am I the only one uncomfortable with the idea of a 6ft rabbit sneaking around with a basket of eggs? It scares me the way that clowns do. All a bit Donnie Darko. The best place for the easter bunny is in a rabbit stew...but I haven't told Bronwyn that.