![\"Easter](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Easter-dogwood.jpg?w=367&h=318&ssl=1\" "\\"Easter")
<\/a> <\/div> <\/div> ![\"Easter](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Easter-rhododendron.jpg?w=209&h=157&ssl=1\" "\\"Easter")
<\/a> <\/div> ![\"Easter](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Easter-azalea.jpg?w=209&h=157&ssl=1\" "\\"Easter")
<\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> ![\"Easter](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Easter-rhodo-closeup.jpg?w=365&h=273&ssl=1\" "\\"Easter")
<\/a> <\/div> <\/div> ![\"Easter](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Easter-vinca-and-euphorbia.jpg?w=211&h=273&ssl=1\" "\\"Easter")
<\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\nI thought I would take another day off and recycle an old post<\/a> today, but I am refreshed from Sundays off on the A to Z Blogging Challenge. How appropriate that this first Sunday happened to be Easter. I guess you could say I’m experiencing a resurrection of the writing spirit!<\/p>\n I was raised as a Unitarian, where Easter meant church\u00a0and a new spring outfit, complete with hat, coat, and shiny shoes. There were also, of course, drugstore chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and dyed Easter eggs. We hid the jelly beans as well as the eggs around the house, and 15 years later when my parents \u00a0emptied the bookcases for a move, dessicated sugar orbs fell\u00a0out from between the pages.<\/p>\n Now I’m a lapsed Unitarian, which means my Sunday mornings are my own and I don’t get fancy new duds for spring. The\u00a0family I helped create\u00a0is\u00a0more apt to celebrate Easter with a\u00a0hike, preceded, of course, by eggs and baskets with better chocolate and strict rules about jelly beans.<\/p>\n Now I have even given up the baskets–our daughters are 26 and 24, with one in Barcelona, where it costs a small fortune to mail anything. The other one, who has recently moved home, was horrified on Easter Eve\u00a0to hear that there would be no chocolate rabbits in store for her this year!<\/p>\n But we still hike. We got out before the rain came–just a sprinkle on Easter itself, with more forecast for later this week. Here in California, where we are suffering through the worst drought in history, the weather itself feels like a\u00a0miracle of resurrection.<\/p>\n I’ve included some\u00a0pictures from the altar at which we celebrate. The ones at the top are\u00a0my iPhone-gathered\u00a0bouquet\u00a0from my Easter morning\u00a0walk around our neighborhood.\u00a0And these are from my favorite place in the world, Point Reyes National Seashore (our Easter weekend\u00a0hike happened to be Muddy Hollow to Estero\/White’s Gate to Glenwood trails and back):<\/p>\n \u00a0*<\/p>\n How did you spend your day off? What rejunevates your spirit?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I thought I would take another day off and recycle an old post today, but I am refreshed from Sundays off on the A to Z Blogging Challenge. How appropriate that this first Sunday happened to be Easter. I guess … Continue reading ![\"Muddy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Muddy-Hollow-April-2015.jpg?w=386&h=289&ssl=1\" "\\"Muddy")
<\/a> <\/div> <\/div> ![\"Muddy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Iris-Pt.-Reyes-Muddy-Hollow-and-Whites-Gate-Trails.jpg?w=190&h=143&ssl=1\" "\\"Muddy")
<\/a> <\/div> ![\"Muddy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shrinkrapped.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Muddy-Hollow-grasses.jpg?w=190&h=142&ssl=1\" "\\"Muddy")
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