If you didn't know Easter was coming...

...now you know. People in Astoria take their holiday decorations seriously. Take a look.

Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny and their picket fence

 

 

Some trees blossom, some ovulate.

The bunny glows and purrs electric at night.

Pretty impressive, right? Well, not all efforts pan out the same way.

Blue bunny

Stickers

 

Aw.

Ever since I stopped going to church a long long time ago, I only have vague notions of when religious holidays come around, besides Christmas. I only know it's Ash Wednesday when I see people walking around with black smudges on their foreheads, Yom Kippur and Ramadan when Jewish and Arab friends get grumpy, Passover when the same Jewish friends get picky about restaurants, and Lent when non-Jews or -Arabs talk about giving something up. So I'm thankful for the clues around the neighborhood, because I have been saying for years that I will go to church on Easter Sunday to hear some amazing organ music. Maybe I'll actually do it this year.

Springing Forward

The bare stick-planted yards of a few weeks ago have been blossoming the last few days, and walking Susie around the neighborhod has become a pleasant stroll instead of a 30-degree chore.

 Just as spring has arrived, some of the little employment seeds I've been sowing since I got back from the boat have begun to sprout too. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the spell of good weather we're forecasted to have this week will put my interviewers this week in very good moods. In the meantime, here are some recent pics of my toodling around.

 

 

 

On another happy note, I got a phone call from one of my former pro bono clients, a teenager from Ivory Coast whose application for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status I handled in 2008. In the months since I had last talked to him, before setting off on the boat, his English has improved so much that I almost didn't recognize him! I'd never heard him sound cheerful and relaxed in English, so it was a real treat to hear him talk about school and his part-time job. Then he said, "I called because it has been a long time, and I will always call you because I will never forget you!" Awww... Now that is something you don't hear from an investment bank and which makes being a lawyer completely fantastic. Thanks, Karim!  :)