Easter

Happy Easter to all who browse here!
The past days have been ridiculously busy and complicated, but on Good Friday - sunny here - I went with Mrs Nige to admire a very fine bluebell wood near Box Hill. It was not quite at its peak of perfection, and the sunshine (which made it such a dazzling spectacle last year) was intermittent by now, but it was a beautiful sight, especially as this particular wood was also spangled with my favourite Wood Anemones, and the odd unexpected Cuckoo Flower standing among the Bluebells. A bluebell wood at this time of the year is famously one of the picturesque glories of England, subject of countless twee and sentimental paintings - in fact it seems to be a subject that cannot be painted without that twee sentimentality creeping in. It's a subject that's at once too easy and too hard - easy to make it look good, hard to make a real painting of it. Has anyone ever made a really good, let alone great, painting of a bluebell wood? I can't think of one... It's one of those subjects, I think, that's better fitted for the camera than the painter's brush.
As we descended towards the Denbies vineyard, we were hailed by a cheery fellow who was marking Good Friday by walking around with a 6ft cross over his shoulder (plywood by the look of it, cleverly perforated to reduce its weight). He was accompanied by a young boy who wished us a Happy Easter and proffered a basket full of Cadbury's caramel mini eggs. Hmm... As I remarked to Mrs N, 'What would Jesus do?'