Easter Eggs

  Posted on April 4, 2015 By

 43 Comments

Easter Egg

If I saw the little bowl by itself, I would think, “oh, that’s just precious!” It’s intricate, delicate, beautiful. But when the egg is placed on it, the beauty of the bowl fades into the background. The egg is infinitely more precious…intricate…and awe inspiring. We know that a human made the bowl and appreciate the talent it took to make it. The egg? Just wow! Made by God with beauty and intricacy that boggles my little brain. And planned to be life–something humans can’t give no matter how arrogantly we try. No wonder eggs are symbols of Easter. The more we contemplate the mysteries of creation and redemption, the more real–AND more mysterious they become.  ~Donna Pote Clark  (Twitter: @Donna Pote Clark)

Silkie-Egg

Several years ago, a friend gave me several little eggs from her beautiful Silkie hens.

I kept three of them in the refrigerator.

I wondered if they would dehydrate (mummify) or simply rot.

After about a year, they began to rattle when I shook them.

I knew the yolks had separated from the shells.

One night, I decided to place one on an egg stand.

When I reached for the stand, I  felt my thumb break through the fragile shell.

Silkie-Egg-on-Stand

I photographed one of the eggs that is much smaller than it appears in the photograph.

There was another, even smaller, green one that some culprit must have broken

Since it disappeared from the refrigerator…

The inside of the egg looks soft and fresh, but it is not.

It is as hard as a rock.

Easter-Eggs_MeMe

Charlie’s grandmother, MeMe, always colors eggs for the children

in the Easter tradition in which I grew up.

There is something reassuring about the keeping of the old traditions, I think.

image1

This year’s eggs.

MeMe was kind enough to send a photo that I requested.

The kids always forget my request!

🙂

 Category: Holidays, Photographs, Photography      Tags: , , ,

43 Comments on “Easter Eggs”

  1. Hello George, I looked for you on Facebook today, and saw you had left. I wanted to say hello and ask if you had tried the new Lightroom CC 2015. Also, I just wanted to see how you are doing. I never post a think on WP where I do not think of you.

    Cheers dear friend!
    Michael

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    • Hi, Michael! No, I used to subscribe to the entire Adobe CC, but I didn’t use anything beyond Photoshop so I changed to the $9.99 per month version that only includes Ps. I have the older version of Lightroom, but I never used it. I am so accustomed to using Ps with my plug-ins that I am not about to try anything else. Chuckle… It’s kind of like using your favorite lens. It becomes an extension of you, sort of. I’m doing fine. I’m not sick. I have no idea why not, but that’s the way it is. I didn’t know you still posted to WP! I don’t get notices anymore for any blog. Thanks for asking, Michael! 🙂

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      • Hello George. I am so pleased to hear from you, and quite excited and relieved to know you are not ill. Honestly, my worry about you had really sat in a deep and sorrowful space in my psyche. You are such an important influence for my work, and while you have not seen my posts on my website (WP is so challenging at times) there are things that are there. My photography work has grown by leaps since 2011. I had a large 10 page photo spread in a nationally published wine magazine. I was recently featured as an artist in another publication. And, of course, I still write about my beloved Juliet -http://housewrighter.com/happy-sixth-anniversary-juliet/ . I think if you were to sign up on my site you would get email notifications when I post. My longterm goals remain to sell books, speak to crowds, and do work that pleases me, above all things. I am now nearly 4 full years as a full-time artist. I am finally earning a little money, but mostly I am still learning to craft my stories. Your belief in me, when few had any idea what I was doing (including myself) remains a lamp post in the darkest avenues of my neuro-pathways. I am not nearly as communicative as I once was. I don’t love that about myself, and I am hoping to return to a better level of letting those I care about, know that I do. I keep up with you, and admire you greatly. Thank you for this note, and for being you.

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    • Well, hell, I lost my reply! This cognitive dysfunction is a real bitch! 😉 I like the idea of the little chick mummy inside the egg! I never liked the Faberge eggs. But my sense of aesthetics is a bit unsophisticated, I reckon. I was tempted to order a huge goose egg on an antique stand (sans insides) but decided I had too much stuff already for poor Kelli to get rid of when I croak. This post is ugly, I’m afraid since nothing coordinates. The worst job I think I ever did on a post, but I really don’t much care anymore. Do you have any idea where I can find somebody to transfer some of my posts to book form? For Charlie, of course. I am too tired to do it myself now. I used Blurb for a short one for Charlie one year and really liked the quality of the book. Thanks, Sync! 😉

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      • Actually, I think Faberge eggs are a bit vulgar. There’s nothing wrong with your aesthetic sense, George, else you wouldn’t be able to make the beautiful images that you do.
        As for the book making, I’ve never done it. I have Blurb bookmarked as a possibility but have made no steps whatsoever in that direction. Do you mean you’re too tired to set it up? I wish I could help you, George but I have no idea how to do it.

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        • Thanks, Ashley. Yes, I no longer have the energy to work it out. It’s fairly simple, but I am increasingly impatient and disorganized. 🙂 A quality that has only amplified as I grow older. It is said that we become only more of what we always were in the end. Lord, I hope not! Chuckle…

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          • I’m not very patient either, George. That’s part of why I like digital photography a whole lot more than anologue. And I’m very disorganised with pockets of obsessive orderliness, e.g. my books are all in alphabetical order. 🙂

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  3. Beautiful eggs. This was something I never got to do as a child. I think my mom must have thought it was wasteful. Though why, I’m not sure. Or maybe it was because she wouldn’t have food coloring in the house. It was toxic, you know! 😉

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    • I never knew that food coloring was considered toxic. I very well may have been, but we certainly ate our share of colored eggs, and we survived somehow! 🙂 I don’t know that kids enjoy it as much now since they have so many interesting things to do, but we loved it. MeMe’s grandchildren enjoy hunting the eggs and cracking the confetti ones on everybody’s heads! I see cartons of them stacked in stores for sale every year. The kids at Mickey D’s had confetti in their hair on Easter Sunday. Apparently, somebody brought them, and everybody participated. I missed the fun. Guess I went too late for my coffee! I almost bought an old goose egg on Ebay the other day. I loved the antique stand! I try to remember that I shouldn’t collect one more thing! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the eggs. Thanks for coming by…always! 🙂

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  4. So easy to get way ‘laid’ in the comments, George. Fascinated by unlucky Lance’s egg painting, and Finding Jesus sounds interesting. Have almost forgotten the wonderful quote you started with but not the beautiful photos. Also distracted by a delightfully silly husband and paste egg memories, but happy to see you still here. 🙂 🙂

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    • I enjoy the delightful comments that my friends leave here, too, Jo. There are so many interesting people here. I know lots of them that I just don’t get around to visiting any more. I don’t have the stamina I once had so I sleep too much! And the animals require a great deal of my time, but I’m determined to keep them. I don’t remember paste eggs??? Poor Lance! An experiment gone horribly awry! Can you imagine the stench of rotten egg? I almost bought a goose egg with an antique egg stand the other day on eBay. I should have sent it to Lance. Said it was for carving. At least it was old and didn’t have the insides! Chuckle… I’m sure he won’t try that one again! He paints such beautiful miniatures. He sent a painting of Rita a year two ago. I love it since her expression and posture are perfect. He’s such a good person and a gentleman if I ever met one. As well as a very talented and well known artist. I missed him when he wasn’t here for awhile recently. I love it that you have a “delightfully silly husband”. The very best kind, you know. So was mine! Although, that damn singing in the morning shower drove me nuts! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Jo!

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  5. I always get a kick out of your stories, George. It reminds me of finding a very old egg the Easter bunny had hidden in my son’s closet one year. It was still in good shape, but when I shook it I could feel the hardened yolk rolling around like a little ball inside. I used it as a lesson for him to clean out his closet more often…I remember getting the eye roll for that one. I also advised the Easter bunny not to hide eggs in such places. Your photographs are so pretty, and the bowl in the first shot is exquisite. Looks like you had a wonderful Easter, and I hope you are well!! xox

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    • Hi, Elisa! At least your egg didn’t explode like Lance’s goose eggs! Good advice for the Easter Bunny! Eye Rolls are universally genetic, I think. I never knew a kid who had not mastered the art! Kelli was particularly adept at it and has passed the art along to Charlie! Thank you, Elisa!

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  6. Hahahaaa George. I had a good laugh about the non brassiere issue. I only wear it when I have to leave the house for the office, or church or simply to go out. At home, I don’t. And I tell you I’m a sight since I’m well endowed in that region. On that note, I sincerely hope your Easter was great. 🙂 Take care. 🙂

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    • Yeah, I don’t know who designed women’s underwear, but whoever it was should have been shot where he stood. You notice I am blaming it on some poor man. It was probably a middle-aged woman! My mother’s generation wore corsets! At least we struggled free of that one! I had a great Easter. The kids go to the other grandmother’s house where all of the traditions are kept. 🙂 Charlie loves it since they live in the country. This year, they had newborn goats. He carried one around petting it! We have a very small family so it’s good that he can visit them often! Take care, Celestine!

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  7. We have traditional things we do at Easter and when near the Grand Kids they are followed to the tee… I hope the kids continue it for years to come as it has so much meaning… I do love the painted eggs, not something we do, but the hiding of the chocolate kind in the garden for the kids to go and find is so much fun. We enjoy the hiding and they enjoy the finding, but it is the sharing between the kids after the search, that they all have the same amount that means so much to me… a lesson in life…

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    • Hi, Rob! We learn from our elders. Otherwise, we’d be more savage than we are! Chuckle… The passing of generations and the passage of tradition and life lessons from one generation to the next is invaluable. Hope you and Linda are well! 🙂 Thanks, Rob!

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    • Hope you family did, too, Joseph! Everybody is doing well. Kelli is recovering from her knee injury (tubing in Steamboat Springs in February) through persistence and therapy following her surgery. Charlie is doing well in his home school program and I am persisting in my old habits… Chuckle… Thank you, Joseph!

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    • Well, Carol, I think we’re supposed to see some profound universal truth in an egg or some religious significance, but what do you and I see? Mandarin oranges! That gave me a good laugh. I love it! An honest woman among us! Chuckle… Thanks for stopping by and brightening my day! 🙂

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    • Happy Easter to you, too, Richard. I don’t actually celebrate these holidays, but the kids love the Easter egg hunts and games and dinner at MeMe’s house. They live in the country so it’s always a real treat for Charlie to visit his grandparents and his cousins. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

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    • Hahaha! You are a scientist, after all. Isn’t that what all cells do? A rather prominent cardiovascular surgeon and I were discussing
      Dean’s pending surgery. He suddenly looked me straight in the eye and said, “You think like a surgeon, in black and white.” I suppose he was a bit taken aback by a wife who was discussing the precarious state of her own husband’s health in such a way. The significance of that remark didn’t strike me at first, but I began to understand only later what he meant. And, I suppose I do. I love the romantic and the symbolism in some things, but I actually think in black and white. It is what it is. Not what we’d like to believe it is… I absolutely loved the little, bright-eyed baby. I have to stop following and follow again to get notices, I reckon. Thank you again for thinking of me. I feel as if I am her godmother! Chuckle…

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  12. I’m always late to the party, please egg-cuse me, my dear. I love all the egg art and stories! I paint eggs betimes with miniature scenes and birds and such. Anyway, my sister gifted me with a couple of peacock eggs. Not knowing how fresh they were, I decided not to try and blow out the contents but do as you did–let them sit and then wait for the yolk and insides to dry (as I’d read was/is done by Ukrainian egg designers). Then one night while just drifting off to sleep I heard in the next room (at that time I lived alone, so any noise beyond my own was alarming) this great loud POP! explosion. There was rotten peacock egg EVERYWHERE across the living room. It was, by far, the (pun alert) fowlest cleanup job I’ve ever had to carry out, and that includes dealing with an infant’s surprises.
    It is Easter Monday here in Canada–a statutory holiday–so everyone is off work. Postal workers get both Good Friday and Easter Monday off. I do hope you are relaxing as well.

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    • How awful! I knew better than to let them sit at room temperature. I wasn’t at all convinced that they would dehydrate in refrigerator temperatures either. But, they did. They were in there for several years, however. I don’t recall how long it was before the yolks began to sound like stones inside the eggs. I wonder at what temperature the Ukrainian egg designers keep their eggs to avoid the buildup of the chemical reaction that occurs between hydrogen sulfide gas in the egg white and iron in the egg yolk causing it to explode. It’s very odd that it could occur in normal room temperatures. You got unlucky, I think! 🙂 Thanks for the visit, Lance. I think of you often. 🙂

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  14. The “mummified” egg in the first picture is certainly a conversation piece befitting of the Easter season. I bet you could show this picture to any theological class at any seminary and engage in hours worth of parallels, analogies and such.

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    • I can imagine that, too. I was surprised in the series on “Finding Jesus”, by how little Christians know about the forty days between the crucifixion and the ascension. That episode was fascinating to me. Having grown up in a Methodist church and having taken two semesters of Bible history in college, I simply did not find out much about that period. Or the ancient texts that were omitted from the official Canon approved by bishops appointed by Constantine in his effort to consolidate the various Christian sects throughout his empire. The fact that he declared Christianity to be the official religion in something like 312 AD cemented Catholicism as the official Christian faith. I guess. Since there is considerable difference in opinion about all of it. I was astonished to discover that in 1945, other ancient accounts were discovered in a six-foot tall jar buried for centuries. All of it is fascinating, I think. Have you watched any of the series? When I grew up, I simply assumed that Christ was risen and ascended after having identified himself to the disciples, very shortly after the crucifixion. I should have learned a great deal more about the history of the time than I did or that I recall.

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    • Ah, Francis! I’ve missed you. I don’t follow the reader much anymore, but I really do think of you often. I laughed big time at the evil Chocolate Bunny! Thank you for the laugh. I hope you are well. And, I hope the weather is warmer there than I think it is! 🙂 Thank you so much for thinking of me, Francis!

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  17. The eggs (all of them) are beautiful in their own way. I don’t know how anyone could eat them! As a vegan, you can understand why I say that, right? 🙂 I’m not much for traditions. Neither was my mother. But my older sister makes a big deal out of every holiday she can. Isn’t it interesting how some people need traditions and others don’t? I wonder if my son feels he that he missed something, even though when he was young, I made sure to do all the traditional kid things around these holidays. I just didn’t keep them up after he was of an age not to believe in Easter Bunnies and such. I think we still got him candy, though… 🙂

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    • Same here, Lorna. My daughter is a huge tradition girl. Her mother was not. She loves holiday celebrations, decorations, food, family around, and all of it. Solitude is my choice. Finally, Charlie’s grandparents gave up on me so I never join them, but I’m happy that Charlie is able to have the experience. They are fun grandparents who live in the country. Today, Charlie carried around a five-pound little Barbado goat that was fairly “new”. One was born yesterday, but its mama wouldn’t cooperate with Pawpaw’s efforts to pick it up! I did the same thing you did when Kelli was little. Kelli said we were “not like other parents”… And we were not. You’ll like this one: She also asked why I didn’t wear underwear “like the other moms”. You know, not bikini panties and little bras or none. Chuckle… I still do not wear granny panties and stopped wearing a bra years ago. Back to my flower child days, I reckon. Am I actually writing this on a blog? I guess I am, now that I think about it. Oh, what the hell! 🙂

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