Quarantine Stations of the Cross

My big plan for the week was to take the children to The Grotto today to do an outdoor Stations of the Cross. I have done it before and I figured that it would be okay since we are still allowed to go for walks even the though Governor Brown has the state in a Shelter In Place order. But when I decided to double check that we could get into the grounds at The Grotto today their website stated that the grounds are closed too in addition to all the regular Masses being cancelled. Sigh!

So what to do? I really needed to get these kids out of the house for some sort of field trip. I decided to quickly cobble together a Scripture/Marian Garden Stations that we could do in our own yard. Some of my ideas I don't actually have in our garden so we did some substituting. And keep in mind I whipped this together in about 30 minutes while being asked "when can we play video games?" about 47 times. Sigh!

1. Pilate Condemns Jesus to Death @ the laurel hedge. Pilate was the Roman governor and Romans liked wreaths of laurels, right? So technically mine is English laurel and not the bay laurel of the Romans.
2. Jesus Accepts His Cross @ a cedar, pine, or cypress tree. The Wood of the Cross is said to have been made from these three trees. We have none of them so we met at a Doug fir sapling.
3. Jesus Falls the First Time @ T-Bone's vine maple. I have three children and our landscape designer specified 3 vine maples for our yard. Naturally I named each of the trees after each of my children. We met at the oldest tree. I think if one has 3 of anything in their yard it would be good for consistency, especially if it is deciduous and has leaves that 'fall' in the autumn.
4. Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother @ the Statue of St. Mary. This is self explanatory, yes?
5. Simon Helps Jesus Carry His Cross @ the Statue of St. Francis because I figured he would be a good substitute. St. Peregrine statues would also suffice.
6. Veronica Wipes The Face of Jesus @ a patch of veronica or other purple ground cover
7. Jesus Falls the Second Time @ Deuce's vine maple
8. Jesus Speaks to The Women @ the fig tree. I went out on a limb here. 🤣 Fig trees are definitely part of a Scripture Garden and since we happen to have one I wanted to include it. Eve eats the apple in the Garden of Eden getting them thrown out of Paradise causing Adam and Eve to realize they are naked and they use the fig leaf to cover themselves. Then I sprinkled a little patriarchy on top and got fig leaf = women.
9. Jesus Falls for The Third Time @ Little Miss's vine maple.
10. Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments @ the rose garden. He was left with just a cloth and that Crown of Thorns. A holly, Oregon grape, crab apple, barberry, or other thorny plant would work as a substitute here or for station #2.
11. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross @ primrose (or other 5 petaled flower.) The five petals represent the five wounds Jesus received during the crucifixion. Alternatively one could use lily of the valley which is Mary's tears, but mine hasn't even sprouted yet.
12. Jesus Dies On The Cross @ the dogwood tree. The dogwood the Good Friday flower because there are 4 petals like the cross and the tips of the petals have what look like little rusty nail holes on them.
13. Jesus Is Taken Down From The Cross @ a patch of dandelions. Dandelions are Mary's bitter sorrow, also the leaves as a good food to eat during Holy Week.
14. Jesus Is Placed In The Tomb @ the door under the front porch. This is the most cave like place I have in our garden. I also considered meeting by the passion flower  for this Station, but I haven't weeded over there yet and I'm not sure how that baby plant is doing yet. A rock garden could also be an alternative. My first thought was the garage door, but thought better of it. 

Tween super excited about Quarantine Stations. Laurel is so hard to manage; I always feel like I'm in the trash compactor in Star Wars with the hedge pressing in on me. Hoping we can get this all removed this summer.

The T-Bone at his vine maple for the 1st fall.

At the Marian garden for the 4th Station. (I still need to dead head those hydrangeas!)

At the fig tree for the 8th Station. We're starting to get a little silly here. I told the younger two they could bring out a stuffed animal as long as they didn't get distracting.

The rose garden for the 10th Station. (Totally needs to be weeded and pruned.) We decided to switch up our cross bearer at this point.

The nice thing is that we did a lot of walking back and forth between the front, back, and side yards so they got some energy out. This is the dogwood tree for the 12th Station. It is right outside of Deuce's window where his school desk sits so we have been tracking the little blooms to see if they will be fully opened by next Friday. (I'm guessing not this year.)

Fortunately (unfortunately?) we always have dandelions in the lawn so I knew this would be a possibility for the 13th Station.

We used under the historical front porch for our tomb. Roll away the lattice?