This week’s photo challenge included the following note:
For this week’s challenge, share a photo that shows what spring means to you. It can be a flower in bloom (or a field of them!), a May Day celebration, or your dog luxuriating in the grass after a long winter indoors. Maybe it’s a shot you took on a spring break trip, or your family wearing Easter finery.
In Barbados we only have a wet or dry season. The rain either falls a lot or hardly at all. So even though I can’t really speak to Spring or any of the other seasons I can speak to Easter, one of the most celebrated times of year here. There is kite flying, Easter bonnet parades and services in local churches to look forward to, and although I have photos to show you examples of these things which we experienced over the past few weeks, I decided to share instead the most important thing of all about this particular Easter (Spring in a sense) for our family.
One of the best times we enjoyed was with our aunt, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s and resides at a wonderful home (Age Assist Highgate Retreat in Highgate Gardens) with loving nurses. It all started with the idea for an Easter Bonnet parade by the Administrator. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work out as all of the sweet ladies in the home were suffering from either Dementia or Alzheimer’s and would not be able to help in any meaningful way. However, relatives were asked to contribute the raw materials and the nurses got together to begin the production process – shown below. It was definitely a labour of love and I couldn’t wait to see how the bonnets would look at the end.
On Easter Sunday, relatives and friends of the residents came together for an evening of tea, and to witness the parade/modelling of Easter bonnets. There was lots of food and laughter and of course some exceptional looking hats.
Our aunt’s hat came in second! Woo hoo! We were so excited! Her prize was a fruit basket filled with lots of goodies, including her favourite grapes.
A good time was had by all, but admittedly Alzheimer’s and Dementia are terrible “Winter” diseases. Yet we are happy to experience little Springtime celebrations as we seek to maximise all and any opportunities to spend time with these beautiful women who are so much a part of us … especially at Easter.
Gale Weithers 