Happy Easter!
[NOTE: This is a repost from Easters past. But it still works for me.]
Happy Easter to all my celebratory Christian readers, and to all those who just enjoy the holiday as well!
One year when my son was little, I spent the week prior to Easter blowing out eggs and dying them. Now that he’s grown and away, the eggs are packed away in boxes and stored in parts unknown. If I could get my hands on them I’d photograph them for you, because even all these years later they are beautiful, with dyes both subtle and unsubtle, interesting etched patterns and rainbow effects—definitely one of my finest crafts hours (to tell the truth, I didn’t have so many fine crafts hours, although there was also a gingerbread house we made that was stored in the attic and alas, eaten by small creatures–and not human ones, at that.)
Blown-out eggs are well worth the trouble, and why? Because they last. And nothing eats them. You only have to make them once, and you’re all set. They are a bit fragile, but not so very.
So here’s my Easter present to you (not that you couldn’t find the information yourself)—some instructions for blowing eggs, from a link that has disappeared since I first wrote this post:
First, you’ll need to make a tiny pin hole on each end of the egg. A pin works well, or a wooden kitchen skewer or even the tip of a sharp knife. Gently work the tip of the pin/skewer/knife in a circular motion until a tiny hole appears. Repeat on the other side. Then insert the pin or skewer (the knife will be too big here) far enough into the egg to break the yolk. Use your mouth [blow] to expel the contents of the egg.
And here is a more complex–but perhaps better–way, for those obsessive-compulsives among us.
These aren’t mine, but they’ll have to do as substitute:
Thanks for the Easter Greeting on this special day. Lots of love, peace and grace to all in this difficult world and our Christian message is that it’s not over when it’s over.
Hey, in the night of tenderness
before, when he was born
There was a time of wilderness
And we sat, and we mourned.
And cried holy, holy, holy.
Again we cried
holy, holy, holy
is the lamb.
He has risen from the dead
With the keys of death and hell
For a thousand years He shall rule
Until the dragon’s mouth shall spew
Slander and envy and other cruel
Because man is fear and fail.
The final hour and the opening bell
Rings now we cannot tell.
Making our way unbelieved
renders our past a bereaved.
We do not know if all
we know is after our fall.
The Savior, Emmanuel.
You, you who are wimps and cowards, you know you worship the lamb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCAmWuxoTFo
I appreciate your good wishes to your many Christian readers, Neo, and return them.
Thanks, Neo, and happy Pesach to you!
Here’s a grand medieval hymn, set by Palestrina, that our church sang today: “The strife is o’er, the battle done; the victory of life is won; the song of triumph has begun — Allelujah!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Ny7B4KjQQ
We had this at our mother’s funeral. I felt her with me today.