We are in the waning days of Lent – as the lovely Deb pointed out, many of us are quieting down as we focus on the upcoming days of Holy Week and the Feast of Feasts, Pascha which is a few short days away (April 27th).

I keep vacillating between – Lent is almost over, my goodness where did it go? And I can’t believe Lent isn’t over yet. I guess that is the human experience in a nutshell. As we sing at Friday’s Presanctified Liturgy:

WE HAVE COMPLETED THE FORTY DAYS WHICH PROFIT OUR SOULS.
NOW LET US BEG THE LOVER OF MAN;
ENABLE US TO SEE THE HOLY WEEK OF YOUR PASSION,
THAT WE MAY GLORIFY YOUR MIGHTY WORK,
YOUR WONDERFUL PLAN FOR OUR SALVATION,
SINGING WITH ONE HEART AND VOICE,
LORD, GLORY TO YOU! ,

I finished up War and Peace several days ago – thank you to the March Hare who gave me some useful tips for navigating it. I found it to be a surprisingly quick read and the storyline was engaging (although I do admit that I skimmed some of the battle scenes – that really isn’t my thing) I found it helpful to review a basic history of the Napoleonic wars and Tsar Aleksandr I. It was ultimately a sweet story, and the growth of the characters and their faith was edifying.

We are also in spring here – we had a balmy Saturday and many of my friends and acquaintances were sporting sunburns over the weekend (we aren’t that used to seeing the sun here). And, true to spring, there was frost on the ground yesterday morning.

(cartoon credit)