Easter weekend

After half term we did very little.as the weather was very off and on. We came home for Palm Sunday and Easter. This year Russian Orthodox Easter was a week later than the Western Easter so I got to see some of the Russian traditions as well as ours.

On the Saturday we decided to do another of Phoebe's walks, this time along the river near Fili to the west of the city. I got it wrong in that it was still very wet and icy underfoot in some places but it was still a lovely place to walk.

The walk started at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin at Krylatskaya. It was very busy as people were getting ready for Easter the next day.

Local people had bought their Kulich- the traditional Easter bread which is iced and covered in candles - together with decorated hard boiled eggs to be blessed by the priest - the character in the centre with the red hat and white apron.

This altar was outside but I don't know why. The queue were people waiting to take bags into church, I assume to leave as gifts, but they might also be waiting for a blessing.

Below the church the woodland still had the look of winter about it with lying snow and trees showing no sign of life.

As often happens in Moscow the church is built near a spring.

The river is open once more, though the footpath was still covered in ice.

Floating ice and just below the water. Winter was reluctant to release its grip. I noticed this morning that the lake I walk across in January and February is still not fully open yet - the surface is still very frozen.

And that is as far as we have got for now. This last weekend Peter was camping and I was planting sunflowers with the children at church. The gardening season has started. In just a week the branches have started to bud, crocus are flowering in the church garden and daffodils are about to flower. In a week winter has lost its grip and spring is on the way. Hooray!!