Today was a glorious, sunshine-y spring day! It was a little too bad that I was stuck inside a piano studio all day, but I had a nice view of the north shore mountains to make up for it.

I’m going to take a little detour from the Peru travel posts to revel in the arrival of spring!

(Our grass is starting to grow back after the power-raking)

One of my favourite descriptions of spring:

“Marilla, walking home one late April evening from an Aid meeting, realized that the winter was over and gone with the thrill of delight that spring never fails to bring to the oldest and saddest as well as to the youngest and merriest…[There] was a harmonious consciousness of red fields smoking into pale purply mists in the declining sun, of long, sharp-pointed fir shadow falling over the meadow beyond the brook, of still, crimson-budded maples around a mirror-like wood-pool, of a wakening in the world and a stir of hidden pulses under the gray sod. The spring was abroad in the land and Marilla’s sober, middle-aged step was lighter and swifter because of its deep, primal gladness.” (from Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery)

Everytime I read this passage (and I would not be exaggerating by claiming that I’ve read it at least a hundred times by now), I close my eyes and savour the words of “wakening in the world”, “stir of hidden pulses”, and “deep, primal gladness”.

We started yesterday with a lovely breakfast that included these homemade hot cross buns!

I made them the day before using this recipe from Simply Recipes. I followed the instructions almost exactly, except that I subbed in raisins for currants and only used half the amount of indicated spices (we like our buns very subtlely spiced). They turned out beautifully, and were a hit! I will definitely be making them again next year! (Can you have hot cross buns throughout the year? Cuz I’m not sure I can wait a whole year…)

After breakfast, Len and I broke in the Bocce set we got last summer but never got around to trying out. It was a hoot ‘n a half!

Later in the day, we took a lovely walk in our neighbourhood…

…and we got a bit silly playing with our shadows…

We finished up the evening by having an intense Big Two Battle with our new cards from Peru:

I lost spectacularly while my mom was the big winner (again! every single time!), and included this amazing hand:

Tonight the three of us went to see African Cats in the theatre! We all had a fantastic time! The baby cheetahs were just too adorable. And if you’ve seen it, or when you see it, look out for the part with the turtle–that was Len’s favourite part. 🙂

It’s been a great long weekend so far! And our friend, Kathleen, arrives tomorrow for a visit, so it’s going to continue to be awesome!