By Staff
Certain actions bring back memories of times past.
I didn't color any eggs this year, but boiling some to make potato salad on Easter morning still conjured memories of past Easter eggs.
Dozens of eggs in varying colors took on designs or names drawn first in crayon, before dunking them in the dye. The colors also seemed to always need to be scrubbed off the table, counters and clothes following the annual event.
The shell of an egg is usually just something forgotten or hated when pieces get mixed in with the scrambled egg. Who doesn't hate the crunch sound?
Easter is the one day when the shell is dressed up and admired for its shape and smoothness and now color.
We used to gather around the table and have egg fights. I learned this tradition when I married and have since found a few others who used this technique to crack their hard boiled eggs on Easter.
You take your egg and tap it against your opponent's egg - hard. The one which lasts longest without a crack is the winner.
Counting the eggs after hunting is always important, as to not find one many months later - spoiled.
This year, the eggs were fried for breakfast, went into the brownie mix and the potato salad.
For awhile eggs were considered bad for you. I think now though the thought is they are an important part of your diet in moderation.
I still remember one Easter I hosted the entire family and dozens upon dozens of eggs were hidden throughout the house. My children and their younger cousins had a ball chasing all over filling their baskets.
One year I bought plastic eggs and filled them with chocolates. Going out early I hid them in the grandparent's backyard.
Imagine our surprise when the time came for the hunt and we found squirrels had already found most of them.
The eggs had been stolen and cracked open and the squirrels were eating the candy.
The sight I remember now was of adults scampering through the yard chasing the squirrels trying to save what few eggs they could.
Funny how putting an egg into the water to boil, or a certain smell of something can bring back memories of so long ago.