Easter

1 Ain't it good?: If Anthony Kim can win the Masters (2 p.m., chs. 13, 9), he should break into a few choruses of "Rock Me Gently" in honor of probably-not-his-cousin Andy Kim. 2 Chew 'em up: Adam Eaton (left) makes his official Orioles debut, against the Rays (1:30 p.m., MASN2), and the O's hope to see Adam eatin' up innings. 3 Almost gone: Watch the Mavericks play the Hornets (1 p.m., chs. 2, 7), because once the playoffs start, you won't see Dallas for long. 4 Prince of a guy: Looking at Prince Fielder (Cubs at Brewers, 8 p.m., ESPN)

The whole bunny-Easter connection is finally starting to make sense, thanks to the weather: If you wore an Easter bonnet made of rabbit's fur, you might just be able to keep warm today. Chaucer wrote about April's sweet showers, and Walt Whitman about lilacs blooming in the dooryard, but this year our money goes to T. S. Eliot, who managed to see the gloom behind the cheer every time and reminded us that April is the cruelest month. But the cruelty has more to do with expectations than with meteorology.

Blustery weather held down the number of spectators for the Easter running of the Marlborough Hunt Races, but for die-hard fans, nothing could stand in the way of their annual opportunity to show off hats and tailgating skills.

The only surprise to yesterday's Carroll County High School Tennis Tournament at North Carroll in Hampstead was the lack of one.Three of the five top-seeded players in each bracket won individual titles. Although North Carroll's Charis Fulton, seeded second in the girls singles draw, beat No. 1 seed Charlotte owen of Francis Scott Key, 6-4, 6-4, they were considered to be of equal talent.Similarly, the mixed doubles champions, Jessica Bradford and Russell Iseminger of North Carroll, were seeded third based on a lottery drawing, which did not weigh their No. 2 and No. 1 respective singles positions this season.

Today's fashion-forward hats are a far cry from yesterday's demure Easter bonnets, but they all have one thing in common: A wonderful hat celebrates spring and reveals a woman's most feminine side.Monica's beret may have brought hats to the attention of Americans recently, but industry experts say it doesn't have much to do with the fact that hat sales are up (10 to 15 percent every year since the mid-'80s, according to Casey Bush of the Headwear Information Bureau). Credit instead new materials that are light, flexible and durable; styles that are feminine and practical; and the current interest in sun protection for both face and hair.

They're the hottest chicks around.In seductively synthetic colors like Day-Glo yellow, blue and pink, the sugar-coated, chick-like blobs known as Marshmallow Peeps have nested in Easter baskets for almost 60 years.And for the past four years, the campy confections -- made by Bethlehem, Pa.-based candy manufacturer Just Born -- have been one of the top-selling nonchocolate Easter candies in the United States, according to company spokeswoman Rose Craig. To meet demand, Just Born expects to produce more than 600 million Peeps this season during the chick crush from mid-February through Easter, she says.

AN EASTER tradition continued at St. Stephen's Reformed Episcopal Church in Eldersburg on Sunday when the Sunday School program presented its annual Easter play. Children have performed a play at Easter and Christmas for more than a dozen years.Under the direction of teachers Frances Frey and Suzette Godman, 14 youngsters presented "Easter Praise Parade." The play told the Easter story through a group of neighborhood children planning and preparing to hold a parade through their town.Emily Riddle, Stephanie Carney, Jill Bankard, Brooke Laur and Brian Crouse had the primary roles.

Brooke Foster and Heather Easter of North Carroll breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday at the state tennis championships.Having not played a three-set match all season, and down two games to Walter Johnson's Kim Sperling and Bridget Ruttkay in the last set of the girls doubles finals, the Panthers' duo collected themselves in time to carve out a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win for the state title at Essex Community College.North Carroll was the only Baltimore-area school to earn a state championship.

Girls Co-Players of the YearBrooke Foster, senior, and Heather Easter, Junior, both North Carroll: "State champions" has a nice ring for the most dominant doubles pair in county history. A week after they won the regional crown, Foster and Easter collected their first state title in three attempts Saturday at Essex Community College. They captured their third straight county championship in as many years last month and helped the Panthers girls win the county team crown.This dynamic duo is thought to be the only doubles team to ever win three county titles.

SEPT. 9, 9-9-99, was the day the computers were supposed to crash. The computers didn't. But something did crash that day: 15 to 20 police officers into a house in the 3500 block of Rosedale Road in Northwest Baltimore.Gloria Brown, who lives in the house with her boyfriend, Daryl Easter; her sister, Barbara Simms; and Simms' son, Daryl Brown, had just completed her morning shower. If the morning had proceeded as usual, Brown would have soon been dressed and on her way to work at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.But this wasn't to be a usual morning.

1 Ain't it good?: If Anthony Kim can win the Masters (2 p.m., chs. 13, 9), he should break into a few choruses of "Rock Me Gently" in honor of probably-not-his-cousin Andy Kim. 2 Chew 'em up: Adam Eaton (left) makes his official Orioles debut, against the Rays (1:30 p.m., MASN2), and the O's hope to see Adam eatin' up innings. 3 Almost gone: Watch the Mavericks play the Hornets (1 p.m., chs. 2, 7), because once the playoffs start, you won't see Dallas for long. 4 Prince of a guy: Looking at Prince Fielder (Cubs at Brewers, 8 p.m., ESPN)

Free of walls and a conventional religious atmosphere, an outdoor pavilion overlooking a tree-lined lake just may be the ideal setting for a community Easter service. But melding the spiritual and natural worlds during spring when the Earth itself is being reborn is hardly a groundbreaking concept, so why stop there? Why not follow up a program of Bible teachings and acoustic music in the park with a petting zoo, carnival games and cotton candy? That's the thinking of Dan Sexton, pastor of Calvary Chapel-Ellicott City, a nondenominational congregation of 150 that meets in the auditorium of Centennial High School.

When the rector of a downtown congregation asked his flock to be generous, it took only two weeks to raise nearly $2.5 million for his 1854 church. Along with a new roof, heating plant and state-of-the-art plumbing, Emmanuel Episcopal Church got a splendid pipe organ. The Right Rev. Eugene Sutton, bishop of Maryland, will bless the church's new $850,000 Letourneau pipe organ at Sunday's 10:30 a.m. service. Built in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, the organ's myriad of flute, trumpet, viola and oboe pipes were lifted into a chamber overlooking the church's high altar in late winter.

Like the rest of America, the Easter Bunny is scaling back. Spending on chocolate bunnies, Easter outfits, flowers and other holiday fare is projected to fall about 14 percent this year after holding steady in 2008, according to the National Retail Federation. Shoppers expect to spend an average of $116.59 for the Easter holiday, down from $135.03 a year ago, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch for the retail trade group. The largest expense will be Easter dinner, with the average person expected to spend $37.67 on food, down from $41.09 last year, the survey found.

If hot cross buns, as essential to Easter eating as colored eggs and chocolate bunnies, can survive a ban by England's Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, they can survive the diminishing treatment of mass production and become one of your holiday homemade triumphs. It's easy. Just ask cookbook author Nancy Baggett of Ellicott City. "If you know what not to worry about," says Baggett, whose new book is Kneadlessly Simple, a bread cookbook for the yeast-phobic, "you don't have to worry at all."

The First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3604 Chatham Road, Ellicott City, offers Lenten Worship at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, this week and March 18 and 25, and April 1 and 8. The youth will serve a light supper of regional cuisine at 6:15 p.m. in the Fellowship Center. A freewill offering will be collected to cover food. A Service of Word and Sacrament is planned at 7:30 p.m. April 9, Maundy Thursday. Good Friday Services are planned at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Easter Sunday Services of Word and Sacrament will be at 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. April 12. The 2,100-member congregation is at Chatham and Frederick roads.

On December 7. 2008, MICHAEL HOUSER; beloved husband of Easter Houser. Friends may visit the family owned March Funeral Home West, Inc., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Monday after 8:30 A.M., where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 P.M. The family will also receive friends on Tuesday at Friendship Baptist Church, 6000 Loch Raven Boulevard at 10:30 A.M. followed by funeral service at 11 A.M.

Dee Krasnansky guided a hot glue gun around the base of a miniature pine tree, then applied a piece of fluffy white material. On a papier-mache hill behind the tree, a purple marshmallow Peep on Popsicle-stick skis stood poised to coast down the incline. Below, another purple chick on wire skates glided across an aluminum-foil pond, while a yellow sibling carrying a red bag of tiny gifts prepared to march through snow. Krasnansky and Barbara Becker paused to examine their work. Titled Lit Chicks, the scene depicted the four seasons and featured chicks toting small cardboard books throughout the year.

The moon will be full at 2:39 p.m. EDT today. If skies are clear, we'll see it at 5:30 p.m., rising on Baltimore's eastern horizon. As the first full moon after yesterday's spring equinox, this is the egg moon or the Grass Moon in some cultures. For Christians, it's the Easter, or paschal moon. Easter is this Sunday, the second-earliest date possible for the observance, which by Church edict generally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the equinox.

Reading planned to celebrate Purim In celebration of the holiday of Purim, the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education, 770 Howes Lane in Columbia, will hold a reading of the Megillah, the scroll of the Book of Esther, at 8 a.m. today. The scroll tells the story of the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people, who were threatened with annihilation during the reign of the Persian King Achashverosh in the 4th century B.C. Readings of the scroll must be heard twice during Purim, which began at sundown yesterday and ends at sundown today.