Eostre - is this a pattern?

So this celebration of the the outward rejuvenation of the land occurred just as I was getting 'flu. Another year with no cycle ride up Wolstonbury Hill to avow my commitment on the Gewessi path, although this time the conditions were good it was just me who wasn't. A week of getting ill, one week really being ill and another week recovering with no energy. During that recovery week, my Eostre holiday just putting two posts in the garden exhausted me! This left everything else behind, as my holiday goals were to get the garden in order. The remaining three weeks of Eostre have been spent just catching up.

My first MTB ride was a great reminiscent ride over to Houghton Forest with my friend. A route that revisits the Yew that helped push me onto this path. It was good to see it still standing in the forest. Our 'traditional' circuit I've not ridden for a few years now and the memory of the route has faded in certain places. Fortunately between my friend and I we corrected each other's mistakes. As we struggled up the impossible climb at Droke it struck me that we've been riding these trails over in West Sussex for over 20 years now, building a relationship with landscape and a knowledge of its ways. The memories of previous experiences and youthful vigour along with the comparison of where we are now were interesting. Part of the ride's aim was to see the bluebells in the forest above Upwaltham, sadly they've never recovered from the logging / clearance a few years ago. However, their blue carpet and heady Hyacinth scent have been spectacular for my commute to work. At Upwaltham we took time to remember the tragic last flight of Lancaster DV382

Eostre was a transitional period as ever from the winter to summer. On the plus side it has been the season when the Narcissi bulbs I planted in the front garden have popped up. To some the garden will look messy but in this part of the year I wanted it to look like a pretty naturalistic woodland glade with spring flowers in amongst the shrubs. There's still some work to go this autumn in achieving this affect.

However, Eostre has it's compensations in the Hot Cross Buns from my local baker: