Good morning, good morning, good morning . . . and HAPPY EASTER! Last November I planted about 50 tulip bulbs in my front garden in honor of my mother and sister, Karen, believing they would never bloom because the ground was still so wet from all the rain during the summer and fall.

Then at the end of March, small green stalks appeared; on April 8, the first bloom and . . . well, see for yourself the faces that have greeted me for the past three weeks when I woke early.

Why I Wake Early
by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety–

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.