Happenings on the Homestead in the Appalachian Mountains

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from Georgia. How you doing this 14th week of 2024? It was a chilly 38 degrees here this early Friday morning. Looks like there is rain moving in next week, so that might be a good time for Kevin to work at home in his shop building the arch for Grand's wedding. We had our Easter gathering at our place this year. It was a gorgeous sunny day for egg hunting but a tad bit windy for our picnic tablecloths & paper plates. Kevin mowed the grass this week for the 1st time this season, after the egg hunt, of course, so there were lots of high grassy spots for egg hiding. He was pleased with the outcome of the Seed Swap he participated in last weekend. He sold everything he took except the tiller & mower. I picked up an arm load or 2 of sticks around in the mowing areas about every day this week. I think I'm caught up on that task for now. It's one of those never-ending jobs when living amongst the trees. I'm heading out to a baseball game this weekend along with spending extra time with the Grandgirls. We'll probably work in the creek moving some rocks that were washed out of their place, if it warms up enough. The girls will want to help because it's an any reason to get in the creek kind of thing. We'll play a card game or 2 & have some popcorn, I'll bring out my candy stash that I keep hidden for such occasions & we'll have to fit in making cookies some time or another, but 1st, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you a little about our Easter gathering & a different technique I saw going around facebook that I tried for dying eggs for the egg hunt, come walk with me...

The weeping cheery tree was the boundary line for egg hunting between the littlest
Grands & the Middles. The tree was so beautiful in bloom & the bees buzzing
as they worked paying no attention whatsoever to us Easter egg hiders & hunters.

There were a couple of egg relay
games. Have you ever tried walking
with an egg between your knees?  It's 
not as easy as I thought it sounded.
Some resorted to jumping, that did
not work for me. We laughed so much,
I laughed the hardest I've laughed in a
long time.

There were bubbles, so many
bubbles, I love bubbles.

*  I dyed 2 dozen eggs for the Easter egg hunt. Most of the eggs used were plastic but I still like to mix in some real eggs for old time traditions. At the end of the hunt, all the eggs were given back. We'll use the plastic ones again next year. I made egg salad with the real eggs that didn't have any cracks. Kevin & I ate egg salad sandwiches the rest of the week. Anyways, I tried something new using paper towels for dying a couple of the eggs. Some folks probably already know about it, but I had never seen it, that I recall. Daughter has used silk ties, but I had not seen the paper towel thing. It worked so good, I think I'll dye most my eggs that way next year, if I can remember about it. Paas has been my tried & true egg dying kit forever, though this year, the instructions were on a sperate piece of paper instead of on the back of the box. The reading on the paper was so tiny, I thought I was going to have to get the magnifying glass. Here's how I done the paper towel method...

1st - I marked on paper towel sheets with a marker.

Next - I wrapped one of the paper towels around each of the eggs & tied the paper towel at the top using the Grandgirls hair bands that I had on hand. 

Then - I rolled the eggs in a bowl of vinegar till the paper towel was wet & stuck to the egg all over.

To finish - I let the egg set in a dry bowl for a bit then slowly took off the paper towels. It was a WOW moment seeing the marbled look on the eggs.

Sister got the bunny at the bin store
for $2. It was a cute & fun addition to
our Easter gathering. It needed more 
strings attached to keep it upright due
to the blustery day.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

The finder of the most eggs
found 42 & 1/2 eggs. He had his
pockets full too. He didn't know
where the other 1/2 of the
egg went.