Holy Week 2020

When I was growing up, the 6 week season of Lent capped by Holy Week was a busy time at church.  There were Lenten dinners (where I was introduced to tuna casserole) and services on Wednesday nights.  Then there were services on Maundy Thursday (everyone in Northeast PA seems to call it Holy Thursday), Good Friday and then 3 services on Easter.  At Gloria Dei, I remember a sunrise service literally at sunrise (6 30 am?), a 9 am service and an 11 am service.  I believe the 9 am service was a Lutheran service in Swedish for a local group of ethnic Swedes that periodically had services at the church.

Things are much less religious for us.  Pretty much, we go to Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services.  The hymns are wonderful.  When you boys were little, we had egg hunts (in the back yard, weather permitting, or otherwise in the house).   Following the Carroll tradition, your Easter baskets were hidden and it was mostly fun - though sometimes not hidden especially well and other times frustrating to locate - for you to find them.  Grandma made a big dinner, and had more Easter treats at her house.  We dressed up for church, got Easter flowers and enjoyed the spring air & early crocuses and daffodils.

Well, this year it has been very quiet.  Rob, you drove us to the Wyoming Cemetery to put a tulip at the Carroll gravesite.  It was peaceful - no one else was there.  It will be "just us" for our Easter ham dinner.  I expected no church at all, but tomorrow morning we are experimenting with a Zoom Easter service that Grandad will officiate.  Seems that it will include us, Aunt Pam, Wyncote families, the Elkins Park family and the Doha family.  Very interesting!!  Alex, you aren't into church besides you have plans to go fishing super early in the morning (likely at Harveys Creek).

In the larger world....  over the last couple days Pennsylvania has passed out California with COVID-19 cases.  Edie (who is now a retired nurse) emailed me that her friends still working in the ICU at UMass in Worcester do not feel safe.  Locally, Luzerne County has a significant number of cases - with Hazleton being our hot spot.  Some good news - cases in New York seem to be starting to plateau.  Gerrity's keeps taking steps to improve safety for customers and employees, which makes me feel somewhat better about your work shifts Alex.  One big disappointment this week.... Governor Wolf announced that public schools won't re-open this year.  Rob, you are (sort of?  I can't really tell) studying for US History and Computer Science AP tests.  Your May SAT has been cancelled.

We got a new hot water heater this week, with less than a day elapsed between smelling a burning rubber smell in the basement and having the new heater installed - thanks to Carpinet Plumbing.  This was a perfect time to deal with cold water & have workmen come, since we are home anyway.  Steve has been getting our front and upstairs porches ready to use, and planning to plant flowers etc. in the back yard.  So we continue to hang in here - appreciating spring weather, walking on nicer days, supporting local businesses (that's not too hard when it's Ballyhoo) and knowing that we are very lucky to be healthy.  Here's a picture Steve took of crab apple tree blossoms and our forsythia out back....