A sunny but cool opening to the week with a few snow flurries in the air this day. Chance of tulips in full bloom? Probably nil, except at the garden shows and in the grocery stores, where this past week enticing arrays of potted plants have sprung up along with Easter eggs, marshmallow chicks and chocolate bunnies. Truly a feast for all the senses!
And tallest of them all, the most evocative, is also the smelliest, the most likely to cause sneezing, wheezing and tears.
There is nothing quite like being the first person to open the doors of a lily-filled church Easter morning. Dosed up with antihistamines, I braced myself for that blast of fragrance. What begins as a strong but pleasant announcement of floral decorations, in less than a minute balloons into a dizzying, nose-hair twitching, throat-gagging stink bomb.
Duty required the joyous Paschal greeting: "Alleluia! Christ is risen!" answered by, "The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia!"
While the people heard my happy acclamation I occasionally heard my inner critic mutter, "Well something surely has arisen here and it stinks!" (That inner critic of mine always was a bit of a cynic.)
Those church days are well and truly behind me now. I'm happy to be relieved of the annual marathon of eight and sometimes nine worship services between Passion/Palm Sunday and Easter Day. And I'm really happy not to have to open the doors of the church Easter morning.
There is but one plant on my Easter table so far this year.
I've thought about getting a lily - they are such gorgeous blooms - but I think I'll stick to another amazing aroma...
©2016 April Hoeller
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