Break out the Eggs

Easter came and went like a thief in the night this year for Ol’ Dutch. But thankfully a friend sent me a photo of the tomb where they placed Jesus after he was crucified, and it was empty. So, that saved me a long trip to the Middle East to make sure.

Seems to me that every year they announce that “He Is Risen” and that always makes me wonder who keeps putting him back in that cave to have to announce it again? Or maybe my friends are just some of the last to know? You know people like that. Just not mentally astute.

I guess by the time you read this you all will be eating the hard-boiled eggs that you dyed last Sunday. Nothing like a blue or pinkish colored rubbery textured oval to bring on some real appetite.

Ol’ Dutch didn't get a chance to dye eggs this year and I really do miss that vinegar smell of the old coloring concoction from my childhood. Those things must have been plenty potent as the color went all the way through the shell and whites and yokes of those hard-boiled chicken droppings. It was so strong that it would even stain the old white porcelain sinks where we dumped out the dunking dippings after we were done.

There is no telling what was in those old dyes but back in those days Red Dye #2 was considered not only safe but essential to about everything we ate and drank, colored and painted with. And the wax pencil that was included in each store-bought kit often was used as a replacement for double bubble gum amongst the dippers of white ovals. Not that Ol’ Dutch would ever have eaten those white marking pencils, but they did taste a bit like smokey glue.

I also did not get to the Big Box Store this year to see all the Easter decorations, candy and the ever-present displays of the old whiskered Bunny himself as I have been avoiding it like the plague which you can get from shopping there.

But I still always wonder how Mr. Rabbit, or shall we assume Mrs. Rabbit ever got to laying eggs, but I think it goes back to the old fertility rights practiced in some ancient religions in the springtime. And I guess that there isn't a single soul around that doesn't understand the volatility of having rabbits around and their prolific tendency toward procreation. So, I guess eggs and rabbits do symbolize that aspect of Spring the best.

One thing Ol’ Dutch does appreciate about this holiday is that the granddaughters get candy, and they are still young enough to believe that sharing with Grandpa seems like the right thing to do. Their mother, Tinkerbell, does not often let them indulge in too much of the sweet nectars from heaven. Halloween and Easter, though, seem to be a free for all holiday to scrumptious goodness for them and me.

I would imagine there were more family gatherings this holiday season than last year at this time as people are pretty much tired of the whole Covid thing and are just going to take their chances like they do with everything else in life. The constant changing of ideas about Corona’s volatility and being told what we can and cannot do has about run its course for most people, so I think ham and pineapple sauce was probably consumed once again in groups of more than one.

One thing that Easter does bring to each of us is a hope for new beginnings no matter if you celebrate it as a religious time of joy or a secular celebration of Springtime rebirth. For it's the hope of Spring that keeps us all going during a long and difficult Winter and most certainly through the past trying year of social distancing.

And I can imagine that as people give up the quarantining and begin to date once again and co-mingle amongst the sexes that a lot of new births are going to be on the rise too. Poor souls. But with each new birth remember that also means more Easter baskets bought for kids and grandkids and it becomes a great day for grandpas everywhere. Long live The Bunny.

 

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found atwww.troutrepublic.com.