The Easter lamb cake (in German “Osterlammkuchen”) is one of Germany’s enduring Easter symbols. Baking or purchasing a lamb cake and serving it on Easter Sunday is a tradition many German families have passed down from generation to generation. * * * Up until several years ago, I had never heard of an Easter lamb […] Read more…
I never knew my aunt, my mother’s sister. She died long before I was born. There are no photographs of her, so I can only imagine what she looked like. But I do have something that belonged to her. It’s a lock of hair. A carefully preserved lock of hair, fastened with a tiny silk […] Read more…
Do you find it difficult to tell your father that you love him? Do you want to tell him while there is still time? This was my problem, 19 years ago. My father was in his late 70s and terminally ill. I suspected he had only months to live. I wanted to tell him how […] Read more…
In 2011 I had a revelation. It was Saturday 29 January. I knew I would be preoccupied the next day, so I decided to do Sunday’s Bible reading on Saturday evening. The set passage was Psalm 116. As I read the psalm, the following words jumped out at me: “Precious in the sight of the […] Read more…
Willis. It’s not his given name. It’s a name Wei-Chih Lin chose for himself. At University, his English teacher wanted all students to have an English name. Wei-Chih searched the internet and a book of English names for one beginning with “W” because his Chinese name begins with “W”. He found “William”, which means “strong, […] Read more…
On Thursday my husband and I attended a funeral. It was the funeral of Brian Edwin Sara, friend, much-loved brother in the Lord and member of St Andrew’s Anglican Church South Brisbane. The church was packed, as family members, parishioners, friends and representatives of the scouting movement and Brian’s tenpin bowling club gathered to honour […] Read more…
This year I resolved to find and reconnect with Alwyn and Fay Neuendorf. On 16 March 2016, I posted the following message and photograph on my Love in a little black diary Facebook page: “My dear followers, especially those of you who live in PNG. Do you know any of these people – and their […] Read more…
In 2012, after spending Easter in Germany: Bavaria, my husband Tony and I travelled to Jordan, in the Middle East, where we celebrated Easter for a second time. That year, the Eastern and Orthodox Christian churches, following the Julian calendar, observed Easter one week later than the Western Christian churches. Easter in Jordan: What a […] Read more…
Several years ago, my husband Tony and I had the privilege of celebrating Easter twice: first in Germany, then one week later, in Jordan. This story is about our experience of Easter with our extended family in the southern German state of Bavaria in April 2012. We stayed with them for 11 days. During that […] Read more…
Mohamed loves to cook. Last year, he offered to cook Lamb Biryani (a traditional Indian mixed rice dish) for my husband and me. We invited him to prepare it at our home, in our kitchen, so we could observe the process and share the meal with him afterwards. He agreed, and we invited three of […] Read more…