April 08, 2007

Spring colours

Eggs

Yesterday, on Holy Saturday, I spent the afternoon attending a Memorial Service for Poet Woman's mother, who died this winter. I drove home through a bleak landscape: the browns and greys of early spring, with a dusting of white snow swirling across the pavement when the wind blew.

I arrived home to a house filled to bursting. I could hear the drum beat as I walked up the driveway. The Pseudonymous Boy band were jamming, with Older Neighbor Boy at the microphone. Another group of teenagers, their clothes covered with spring mud, had just come in from playing Ultimate Frisbee. They talked excitedly as they yanked open the refrigerator, looking for juice, their faces red from the cold and their hair tousled from the wind.

The room smelled like vinegar and steam. Red-haired Sister had bought three dozen eggs and dye. The younger kids were gathered around the table, drawing on the hard-boiled eggs with crayons and then dipping them into mugs filled with the bright colours, a ritual that represents springtime and new life.

Dyeing eggs

Dandelion Niece dyeing Easter eggs.

17 comments:

Linda said...

The eggs are beautiful. So colorful!

Linda said...

I was so distracted by the color, I forgot to say Happy Easter!

RageyOne said...

Simply lovely! I recall dyeing Easter eggs as a regular spring ritual. Now, that continues with my nephews.

Happy Easter!

Yankee T said...

great photo and what an adorable niece! I notice the "white rag" in use. I've been meaning to tell you for months that we have dumped paper towel useage in this house in favor of white rags. What a great ecological switch you have caused in my life. Thank you!
We love them!

Kyla said...

Happy Easter! Yet another use for white cloths. :)

Mon said...

I love the colors! I didn't do that enough as a child--I'll have to make sure we have that experience with our kids. Happy Easter!

Anonymous said...

Delurking, because I've been wondering for some time now. Is it the remaining influence from your study abroad that leads you to the "ou" spelling, such as "colours?" I am totally in favor of it and have often wondered why it got dropped in the americanization of English. Anyway, just wondering about your thoughts. Happy Easter! I love the pictures!

Anonymous said...

they are beautiful! this is the first year i remember that we didn't do colorful egg-dying. my husband decided to try dyeing eggs naturally, using red onions and red vinegar and red wine, possibly also paprika -- he ended up adding red food color. they are very gentle colors, but the house smelled very gourmet!

jo(e) said...

Amanda: I've read a whole lot of British literature so that, more than anything else that is what got me in the habit of using the British spellings. The American spellings always just look wrong to me. I like the British spellings better. The word colour, for instance, seems more richly coloured to me than the word color.

Kathy A: I have a friend who does the natural Easter egg dyeing thing. I am going to try to get him to send me a photo of his eggs for me to put on the blog. (Artist Friend, if you are reading this -- send me a photo!)

Happy Easter everyone!

Aliki2006 said...

Gorgeous eggs! Happy Easter!

Anonymous said...

"The word colour, for instance, seems more richly coloured to me than the word color."

Thanks, Jo(e)! That sentence completely sums up both why I'm pro-British spelling, and why I think the British spellings are so appropriate in your posts. Your prose is so richly coloured...the individual words should be, too!

Anonymous said...

I have a beautiful plateful of naturally dyed Easter eggs, but our digital camera doesn't seem to be working. I'll try anyway. This is the second time I've done this, by the way, and the big winners are: Red cabbage, apple bark, grape juice, and onion skins. The failures: Golden delicious apple peels, grass, cherry juice, beet juice. (The failures are as much fun as the hits.) It's not like dipping into the bright colors of the store-bought fizzy pills. We spent the whole evening boiling weird stuff like grass and bark and violets, etc., like witches boiling potions or something, and which stunk up the kitchen and made an incredible mess. It was a whole lot of fun. If I can get a photo I'll send it.

Artist Friend

Lydia said...

Beautiful photos! Happy easter.

Nicole said...

Even though I no longer really celebrate Easter, as I am no longer Christian, I can't help but dye Easter eggs around this time of year. So much fun.

Mona Buonanotte said...

I'd forgotten what a ritual it is to get the kids to dye eggs...get out the coloured 'egg towel', the crayons, the mismatched mugs and cups. There's never enough room and there's bickering and spills...but at the end, lovely eggs and smiling children.

I want to hang out at your house.

Rana said...

I love the two egg-dye posts!

Dyeing eggs is about the only way I really celebrate Easter these days (it really feels like these "big" holidays are better when kids are involved) but this year's was pretty sad - just six eggs, dyed all by myself. :(

On the other hand, I had enough dye left over to color a full skein of wool yarn. It's drip-drying in the bathtub even as we speak. :)

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Fun pix! I like the balance of the new life represented by the eggs after the memorial service. Pretty.