THIS ‘N THAT...This is Holy Week, so I’m seeing lilies everywhere. I went looking on-line for an answer when I wondered why lilies are associated with Easter. I learned that many churches continue a tradition of banking their altars with masses of Easter Lilies to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus and the hope of eternal life. Mythology, literature and poetry are full of stories and images which make use of lilies as representatives of beauty and hope in a world with more than a little drabness and discouragement and meanness in it. The lily has long been a mark of purity and grace.

I came across information nobody had bothered to tell me... and I’m more than a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t think of it without any help from anybody. Did you know that in the Victorian period the conspicuous stamens and pistils were often removed in church because they were seen as overt symbols of sexuality? ...So I guess sex on the minds of church folks isn’t a new phenomenon.

I was going to put a picture of a snake Margaret and I saw in Balboa Park’s Cactus Garden, but maybe not. At least not with the lilies... not today. It might move some excitable person to impure thoughts... and I don’t want to be responsible for that... certainly not in Holy Week. You can think what you want to about the artichoke.