Why is today Easter?

I got up at 5:20 Saturday morning. The moon had a notch out of it on the left side that didn’t look like a normal phase. A few minutes later, the notch was bigger, confirming my suspicion that we were having a lunar eclipse. I haven’t been paying too much attention to the lunar cycle lately. A check of the calendar confirmed that it was a full moon. The first full moon after the first day of spring, which is why Easter was today (the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring). What a whacky way to set a holiday!

Lunar eclipse

Just as the sun came up, I saw something fairly large moving through the field. Through the binoculars, I saw that it was a coyote. That one ran off, but a second one was quite busy nosing around at the edge of the tall grass.

Coyote hunts at sunrise

Meanwhile, the Holy Family Potato continues to grow.

Holy Family Potato

The poinsettia that we got at Christmas (of course) has started developing pods. Can’t imagine how it got pollinated. Not that the house isn’t overrun with box elder bugs and ladybugs at the moment, but I haven’t seen any on the plant. Another interesting thing is that there are yellow petal-like structures (the red things are really modified leaves and not true petals) that have filled with sticky and presumably sweet liquid. I didn’t have the nerve to taste it. I assume this is to attract pollinators, although it is not closely associated with either the anthers (pollen-producing structures) or the stigma (pollen-catching structure).

Sticky drops of liquid in yellow petal cups; developing pods on poinsettia

We’ve had a nice couple of days this weekend, sunny and relatively warm. Windy as all get out, but Terry keeps saying that April is our windiest month.

I’m going out for a walk.