Spring is springing.

It's Cinco de Mayo. To celebrate, I went to the dermatologist (who looked like a 12 year-old boy and kept telling me how much he loved his iPad, but of course still loved the "idea" of the library). Better than a margarita?

Anyway, it's spring. It's officially real spring, with green grass, magnolia trees that you can smell from a block away, daffodils and tulips, the sounds of lawnmowers in the distance, and drastic temperature shifts. Spring is the season of dressing in layers, and also the season of bright and colorful flowers. Look at what we saw on Nantucket: I have never seen window boxes as beautiful as those that I saw in Nantucket. Nantucket was rife with flowers, mostly daffodils planted in random locations, but such color against the gray! One couldn't help but stop and get off one's scooter and take a photo. And one couldn't help but be inspired by the color, so when we got home from Nantucket we took a trip to Mahoney's and started to get our planting on. This is as far as we got: A good start, indeed, but more, please! I'm waiting for the house to be painted before I plant the window boxes, but we are actively thinking about plantings in the many bare spots around the yard. Nantucket and the smell of spring in the air inspired us.

Spring is also the season of first communions, and our niece, Miss Maria, had her first communion on Saturday. Doug and I spent the day with the latest little bride of Christ. Doesn't she look so happy to finally get to eat the wafer and be absolved of her sins? She told my sister that the "wafer didn't taste good," and I concur! Apparently, when Catholics take communion they are not eating a paper-thin wafer of water and flour and absolutely no flavor, but instead the body and blood and very essence of Jesus himself. It's the myth (belief?) of transubstantiation at work. I think I knew this, I must have once known this, but hearing about it on Saturday blew me away. Why do we have to eat the actual blood, body and essence of Jesus? Why can't we simply eat something that symbolizes the blood, body and essence of Jesus? To me, if we were really eating Jesus it would taste a whole lot better. Jesus was a special kind of guy. The church should perform communion with peanut butter cups. They're sweet and salty and completely wonderful, and isn't that what Jesus is supposed to be?

Who knows. Who knows what Jesus is supposed to be. I'm realizing that I'm a pretty bad Christian, because I have such a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of Jesus. There is just so much that I have to take as truth and fact that the church cannot define or explain, and I need explanation, definition, and concrete evidence. My mind is a little more scientific than I think the church would like. And that's why I gravitate towards crafts like sewing and quilting and needlepoint and those kinds of concrete crafts where I can touch and hold things and shape them and put them together to create something tangible and real. My quilt, which I have finished, by the way (yesterday! It's done and on the bed!), is something that I can think about and touch and understand. I cut pieces of material, sew them together, sew larger pieces of material together, bind it, and call it a day. Done.

And, like I said, done it is. It has taken me about two months to bind the quilt. I started working on the binding back in February. First I cut the pieces of binding and then sewed them all together into one big strip. Then I pinned the binding to the quilt and sewed it onto the front of the quilt. Once the front part was sewn on, I folded the binding around the rough edge of the quilt and sewed it onto the back. I have no photos of sewing the binding to the back of the quilt, because it involved me hand-sewing, which is a lot less interesting than me using the sewing machine. But, the end result was this: The binding sewn onto the front and the binding sewn onto the back. And now the quilt is washed (and did not fall apart in the washing machine! I consider that a great achievement) and on our bed. This quilt is no professional job, that's for sure, but that is the whole point. It's homemade, looks homemade, and serves its purpose well. I already have several t-shirts waiting to be put to good use in another quilt. Seems I'm a glutton for punishment!

I went to church this weekend and ate the wafer.

My niece and goddaughter, Maddy, received her first communion this past Saturday. This is the blessed event when one is deemed old and wise enough to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ. I've noticed that at all the churches I've been to (granted not that many) I've never seen anyone but the priest drink the blood of Christ. Must be for sanitary reasons, but my nephew says that one of the boys in the fourth grade of his school can only drink the blood of Christ and can't eat his body. Perhaps this boy has a gluten allergy; will Christ become gluten-free? But I digress.

Maddy was beautiful that day. Maddy is always beautiful, but today she was practically radiant. She was very excited to be making her first communion; it's a very community event. She goes to catholic school, so her whole class was receiving communion that day. I can see how cults can be formed. Not that Catholicism is a cult, but it has that group-think mentality. Maddy and her friends are all being taught the same ideas, and are not yet wondering to themselves if what they are learning is true, if they believe it, or if they should believe it. They go to school together each day, go to church together, receive communion together... they are the picture of good Catholics, and the priest said as much. It's when this group grows up and starts to splinter and develop individual personalities that the sense of community will be lost. That is, if they grow up to develop individual personalities. But, again, I digress.

Here are some photos of the little lady. These are post-ceremony, as the photos of the ceremony are all blurry. You'll note that Maddy is wearing a dress. She picked out this dress herself, and I think she was the most charming of all the girls that day. The others were all wearing fancy wedding-like dresses, with long veils and elaborate up-dos. Maddy was very natural and looked very nice in her dress (though couldn't wait to get it off, and shed the little coat that went with it during the post-ceremony reception as it was "itchy").

Doug and I were eager for the post-church festivities, as these always involve donuts and apple juice. This time was no exception, so Doug and I stuffed ourselves with Munchkins (I ate the body of Christ, but I hate to say it was not very filling), as did everyone else. Frankie at one point at four or five Munchkins in his mouth at once. Here is the beginning of this feat: What a ham.

Back at my sister's house, we ate and ate and ate and ate and ate some more. In between the eating Maddy opened her gifts (several rosaries, a necklace of miraculous Mary, a crucifix, and some other holy-like gifts. Doug & I gave her a gift card to Toys-R-Us...); Maddy was thrilled with the religious swag. A couple of photos of her and her loot: Here's another photo of my dear, sweet Mads looking at her cake, which had yet another rosary on it (and then there's one of me mixing up some whipped cream with my mother looking on... we like desserts in this family):

Finally, here's a photo of me and my mother, in honor of Mother's Day this Sunday. My mother is such a trooper. She loves her grandchildren and does so much for them. She does so much for everyone. I was so happy to see her wearing to the first communion a nice new shirt that she had just bought for herself. She never gets herself anything but always gets for her family. She's very selfless, my mom. We love her! Happy Mother's Day, Mom!