Hoppy Easter!

You know, I'm not always so nuts about certain facets of the Christian religion, but I dig Easter. Resurrection & rebirth are great concepts, & it's spring, or really close to spring, or at least close enough to spring that you can think about it without getting too bummed out.

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It's certainly nice enough to go to the zoo. The animals were all happy, & so was Aunt S____ as she doled out crackers to Am, Aunt C____, & S____.

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And with the long weekend, and family visiting, it's great to go to Ikea.*

(Hangin' with big cousin Z____, also known as "Na-na". Luckily, I don't think she's saying banana, as she can say it correctly these days, and also, when she couldn't say it, it was "BA-blahblahblah". Which I loved & kind of miss.)
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It's so springy, in fact,that you can move a yarn-skeining operation out of doors.

I'd like to say that I was shallow & cruel, and in envy of Mom's killer score on a yarn sale where EVERYTHING was $1/ball, I made her do it all herself. But I guess I 'm a good person & junk, because I skeined the MF** soysilk skeins, and didn't even threaten to light it on fire more than once. (Yes, that is the old Xmas tree in the fire pit. The man likes to save them & light them on fire, remember?)
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Speaking of the man,he's far too diligent to be off gallivanting. He's working on the deck.

He's got vision, drill bits, stain, masking tape, a step ladder, and no able-bodied helpers today. Maybe tomorrow he'll have more luck... (We did clear out of his hair though - which is almost as helpful, really, in some ways.).

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I suppose a lot of those aren't really about Easter... but there's always Easter eggs. Fun, creative, a good pagan symbol for rebirth & fertility, and also good for making deviled eggs.***

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This year's harvest photographed extremely well, but are unsettling to see in real life. We used brown eggs - there seem to be no organic white eggs, & I do have some standards.**** They didn't take the dye so well, and when I pulled out the baggie of non-washable crayons, they were in with the sparkle glue & glitter paint that S____ put in the pinata for Am's birthday. I figured anything designed for use by toddlers wouldn't be toxic enough to poison an egg through it's shell in two or three days, so we went for it.

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And in this photo, they have an alluring gleam. You can't tell about the hours of viscosity, the tacky glue dye spots, the creepy plastic-y finish & texture. They're really quite horrendous. I may see if they look worse in natural light tomorrow.
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These beauties are from several years ago - I love them, & pack them carefully & bring them out every Easter.

Should I ever have or make enough time for pysanky again*5, I will add to their number.

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But, I'm going to subtract myself from today's equation & go to bed now. I'm tired, the Easter bunny has been by & dropped off treats & hidden jellybeans & mini-eggs. Maybe, if you're lucky*6, the next post will feature pics of the great jellybean hunt of '09!
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*Really, I mean that. This time. Sometimes, Ikea visits are fraught with irony, tension, & despair, but this one was good. A little long, we should have brought victuals, or loaded up on a 50 cent hotdog before we went in, but still.

**No, not a brand name.

***Is that ironic? Making deviled eggs with eggs intended to help celebrate the resurrection of Christ?

****Sort of a sliding scale. It all depends. This year, healty, cage free eggs ranked higher than having really pretty pastel eggs. I think it was the right choice. The sparkly glue, I'm not so sure of though...

*5And a safer environ - the toddler & the cats are do not go well with the candle-flame & hot wax. And permanent, non-food-safe dye. And raw eggs.

*6If we're not lucky, photos of outrage & indignation. I don't always know how to call these things, remember the birthday?