Green Thursday

Green Thursday is what this Thursday is called in Germany.  My mother would make spinach and eggs with potatoes, which used to be my favorite meal for ages.  I still love the combination.  Easter in Germany is 4 days long, Good Friday is a holiday, and everything is closed.  I mean everything!  Then Saturday and Sunday of course, and Monday is a holiday as well.
The last time I spent Easter in Germany my father was sick.  And it was very hard for me to spend those four days cooped up in the house, with hardly any diversion.  My folks lived on the outskirts of a village, nothing going on in town, no stores, and then everything was closed.  Oh, I just realized that's not true.
Last Easter I was in Germany!  I arrived on Friday, and I spent it with my little brother and his family in the South of Germany.  That was lovely.  We even attended Easter Services at an American church, in English.  Tell me that's not strange.

Anyway, I did meet my friends for sushi last night.  And it was lovely.  We laughed, almost immediately, about silly stuff, we interrupted each other constantly while trying to catch up, we listened to the accomplishments of each others children, which range in age from almost 40 to a baby about to be born.  One of our group is a scout leader, who told us about a trip to the Adirondacks with the scouts where he built his own igloo.  We couldn't believe it!  Yes, he was warm in it, he said.  Would he do it again?  He didn't think so.  And his kids are also adults.  One in our little group told us about her son, who was the technical teacher of the year in the State of New Jersey.  Woohoo!  And she'll be a grandma for the first time.   (And no, she's not the one pregnant!)
That wold be the youngest member of the group.  A lovely young lady, she'll have her third son this summer, a total surprise.  She had us in stitches, telling us how she thought - was convinced - she was dying of some god-awful disease, when it turned out to be nothing, her husband and her celebrated - and well, you get it.

Jessica and I made place cards for  Easter dinner yesterday afternoon, after I picked her up at school.  We had fun, and worked on them for an hour and a half.  Here is where I found them:
http://skizzenblog.clausast.de/?p=3439
It's a German website, a cartoonist  is having a 'giveaway' drawing, to be downloaded and printed.
Thank you, Claus Ast!
We had a lot of fun, and I will take a picture of them.  Of course, the 5-year-old's place cards are much prettier than mine!

Hm, and no spinach in my day, I don't think.

Oh, and it's supposed to be a lovely day here in New Jersey.  We do need it, did you all hear about the floods in Rhode Island?  I saw a woman on TV this morning saying she had fish in her basement.  Fish in her basement?  (maybe she can catch them and have them for Good Friday dinner -----  that's mean...)

Hopefully we'll dry out!