Today marks the first day of Passover, when traditionally Jews gather around the seder table to read the story of how our ancestors were slaves in the land of Egypt, and Moses told Pharaoh to “Let my people go!” and they fled in such haste that they didn’t have time to bake their bread, but the hot desert sun baked it on their backs into a flat unleavened cake that today we call matzah. (I have heard the story so many times I can pretty much recite the Hagaddah by heart.)
But Passover is also about the coming of spring–rebirth and renewal. Spring has always been my favorite season, those early hints of sunshine and warmth after a long, cold, lonely winter. Growing up in the Northeast, I would take full advantage, spending the first really warm days sprawled out on the grass. In fact, it was the Main Green at Brown University that made me decide to go to college there.
I was on a tour on a gorgeous June day back in 1996 and the Green was full of students, like in the video above, and all I wanted was to leave the group and join the kids on the grass. Soon enough, I was one of those students, and I was far from the only one soaking up the sun in the springtime. The second there was a hint of spring in the air, the Green would be crowded with kids, in shorts, holding study sessions or throwing a frisbee.
The problem, of course, was that the nice weather never lasted long enough. Inevitably, the clouds would come and cover the sun, the breeze would kick up, and we’d find ourselves in the midst of those proverbial April showers that usually lasted for weeks. And then it would be summer. (Or there was the one spring I spent in Duluth, Minnesota, where it was 30 degrees on June 1, where the wind was so brutal even the seagulls were taking cover). Which is why I had to move to Los Angeles, where it’s spring pretty much year-round. 75 and sunny.
There are subtle seasonal variations (you’ll notice them if you’re paying close attention), but most of the time, the weather’s just too nice for you to care. For everyone who told me I’d miss winter, my response is: when it’s 80 degrees in January, you don’t think, “Wow, I really wish it were snowing,” you think, “Wow, it’s really pretty outside.” And then you laugh at everyone complaining on Facebook about another snowstorm.
Granted, at this exact moment, it’s overcast and probably a cool 65 degrees (that’s the other thing about LA–the weather never really goes above 85 or below 65), but earlier this week it was absolutely stunning, and I could just feel spring in the air. Spring, and the onset of summer.
And I don’t know, I’m feeling kind of good these days. Hopeful, for the first time in months. Despite the weather, it was still a long, bleak winter, what with the recession and my personal job situation (or lack thereof). The winter of our collective discontent. But when the sun comes out, it brings possibility with it. The sense that maybe, just maybe, things are going to get better.
And I’ve been in a happy, cheerful, colorful mood. Starting with the Easter Eggs. I had a late start, but I bought the Michael’s in Inglewood out of wooden eggs, and totally went to town:
And then I replanted repainted my tulip garden with tea lights in thirteen shades, all colors of the rainbow: red, coral, orange, gold, yellow, teal, turquoise, blue, periwinkle, purple, lilac, pink and rose.
Just looking at the row of them makes me happy.
And now I have a whole line of bottles and vases on the table in front of me just waiting to be graced with different flowers and designs.
I’m going to be a painting fiend for the next couple days, because I’m going to be selling this weekend at Grassroots Acoustica. It’s a night of music organized once a month by my friend Mark, raising money for a different charity each time. This month’s donations are going to benefit Showing People Learning & Technology (SPLAT), a non-profit founded by 13-year-old Michael Guggenheim to provide computers and learning software to children in shelters and low-income housing projects. It’s a great place for me to showcase my work, listen to great music, and support a local organization.
So yes. Things are looking up.
Tags: art, Brown University, easter, easter egg, flower, Grassroots Acoustica, living off hope, painting, Passover, Providence, spring, tulip
