The local library here hosted a Pysanky workshop this weekend. This is a Ukrainian egg decorating technique that uses dye and wax. They tend to use traditional folk designs that are intricate and colorful.
Our instructor has 39 years of experience with this mind boggling art form because her Ukrainian grandmothers taught her beginning at a young age. Her skills and patience are admirable.
We were first given egg shapes on paper to sketch our designs in pencil. Crayons were used to experiment with the palette and inspiration came from books and an assortment of eggs she had on display. Once we had our ideas together, we chose an egg and were armed with a lit candle, block of wax and a little tool used to draw on the egg with the wax.
Given my obsession with sunflowers last summer, it was logical to do something with a sunflower pattern. Not only is the sunflower the national flower of Ukraine, it’s a captivating example of how imperfections can be beautiful. I strolled through three sunflower fields last summer and my favorite flowers were the ones that were flawed.
Here’s my egg.
It is incredibly flawed and the sunflower imperfect but I’m still quite proud of how it turned out. I love the palette I chose and the design too. The execution leaves a lot to be desired as working with wax on a real egg shell is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done.
All the same, I managed to get it done and had fun in the process. It now is in a place of honor on my bookshelf, a pretty reminder that enjoying the creative process can be as rewarding as the outcome. Also a reminder that perfection is overrated and that imperfections can be beautiful.
I suspect and hope that this was not my last attempt. I will count on trying it again someday.
Here’s one more view of her gorgeous eggs.
Here’s something about imperfections from last year. I wrote about sunflower fields here, here and here. I would recommend finding one near you this summer! If you get a chance to try a new kind of art, I recommend you do that too!
My parents have always worked hard to make Easter special. For many years, they hid my Easter basket and sent me searching for it with a trail of clues that were written in rhyme.
When I was very small they started making Easter baskets for my grandparents too. While my grandparents are now gone, we still each get an Easter basket filled with candy. Not many families give Easter baskets to grown adults but it’s a fun tradition and who doesn’t like getting candy?
My most vivid Easter memory doesn’t come from candy though. It involves sitting on the porch swing one beautiful Easter morning and reading this book.
The Country BunnyAnd The Little Gold Shoes is a classic that has never been out of print since its first publication in 1939. Du Bose Heyward wrote this book based on a story his mother made up and told him when he was a child. He told it to his own children as well before putting pen to paper.
If you recognize Heyward’s name, he wrote the novel Porgy and worked with his wife to adapt it into a play that would later become the Gershwin classic opera Porgy and Bess.
Heyward’s Easter book was beautifully illustrated by Marjorie Flack, an experienced illustrator of children’s books.
I don’t recall exactly what it was about this book but I was taken with the story, the illustrations and even the pretty pink cover.
It tells the story of the Easter Bunny and how there are actually five Easter bunnies. These five bunnies “must be the five kindest, and swiftest, and wisest bunnies in the whole wide world, because between sunset on Easter Eve and dawn on Easter Morning they do more work than most rabbits do in a whole year.”
Cottontail is a small brown bunny who wants to be an Easter Bunny. She applies but is met with scorn and disrespect. “Big white rabbits who lived in fine houses” told her to “go back to the country and eat a carrot.”
She eventually married and had 21 little bunnies of her own but she never let go of her dream to be an Easter Bunny. Long story short, the little brown mama rabbit from the country went back, tried again and got the job.
Today, I like this story for a couple of reasons. As a person who grew up in rural Appalachian Ohio, I have encountered plenty of snooty people who probably would like to tell me to go back to the country and eat a carrot.
Some of the best aspects of life in America can be found in rural areas but our society tends to associate rural with inadequate.
The book is also hailed for its feminist themes. She not only joined the workforce as a mother to 21 babies, she became famous for her work. This was a progressive statement for 1939.
It’s a neat old book and I would encourage you to pick up a copy for the kiddos in your life. The romance of the Easter Bunny never goes out of style and the book seems as relevant today as it must have upon publication 83 years ago.
The copy I own is pretty ragged and there are even some pages missing. Perhaps I’ll pick up a new copy for myself before next Easter!
I hope you have a beautiful day wherever you are. May your day be filled with warmth, beauty and peace. Happy Easter!
The last few months have been challenging for me personally. The first quarter is always my hardest because of a project at work but this quarter has been marked by a number of other difficulties.
In my personal life, I have been battling a issue with my health. The symptoms didn’t just start this year but it was only recently diagnosed as hypothyroidism. This isn’t life threatening but is life altering and it explains a lot of seemingly isolated problems that have been going on for a long time.
Everyone complains about weight gain and exhaustion. These are certainly the headlines when it comes to my complaints but there’s a lot more to it. My muscles and joints hurt, my voice gets raspy and my skin itches for no reason at all. Nighttime is often defined by violent cold chills while morning is defined by grogginess and the sensation I spent my night running a marathon.
I tell you all this, not for your sympathy, but because I wish more people would talk about this stuff. Had I known more about the symptoms I might have been a better advocate for myself. Maybe you or someone you know is struggling and you don’t know why. This problem often comes with a litany of other things I haven’t mentioned here. Sometimes my hands and arms go numb for no reason. It’s ridiculous, the weird stuff that has been going on.
The cause can be genetic but it can also involve nutritional deficiencies like Vitamin D, Iron and Magnesium. We caught mine because my cholesterol was creeping up there and your thyroid controls cholesterol. Who knew?
I’m now on the path to finding the right dosage of a little white pill I take every day. This can be a real chore and it can be ever changing.
The more meaningful journey for me is using food as medicine. In the interest of boosting my magnesium, I now eat banana a day whether I want it or not. I never want the banana but see value in it as those bad muscle aches and pains are starting to subside. I’m reducing gluten at home. While this isn’t a fix for everyone, it does seem to be helping with my brain fog.
I have a list of things to try adding or removing from my diet. As I feel better, I can be more active. It would be nice to take off the extra pounds and to feel healthy and strong again but I have read and heard horror stories about the thyroid and why it’s often a lifelong battle.
I put that big work project to bed yesterday. It’s in the hands of my printer now and some other things at work should improve soon as well. I am hopeful that life will get easier. You can have stress at home or stress at work but it’s crippling to experience stress everywhere you go.
I celebrated in my own way yesterday. At lunch, I treated myself to some really nice books at an Ollie’s. This included one about the artist Monet and will help me prepare for an upcoming adventure. Near the cash register, a display of bare root roses presented one called “New Day.” It is yellow and happy and you can bet it will soon grace the flower bed outside my home office window.
It is a new day.
After work, I strolled the bike path, logging two miles and stopping once to admire a nice patch of wildflowers. There’s one area where you’ll find several varieties. While there are a couple that are large and obvious, they’re mostly small and delicate. You have to look for them, and the more you see, the more you see. It’s a quiet reminder that great gifts often come in small packages and that you sometimes have to slow down and go looking to find the beauty.
It’s there. You just have to try to find it.
This blog is written as an exercise in daily creativity. That means, instead of keeping a queue of future posts ready to go, I usually have just a list of ideas and start fresh every day. The exception is when I’m planning vacation or know that there will be no time for writing one day.
That has worked great until recently as exhaustion has started to win. That’s why I took a break.
I woke up this morning still tired but not as tired as a week ago and certainly far better than a month ago. I trust that I’m headed in the right direction and that I can get back to storytelling here. This is something that I enjoy immensely. The writing is close to my heart but I also enjoy hearing from all of you virtually and in real life.
If you’re interested in an overview of hypothyroidism, the Mayo Clinic provides a basic overview here. Talk to your doctor if some of the symptoms sound familiar. Advocate for yourself.
When you get tired, learn to rest, not quit. I read this statement somewhere once and it really resonated.
I’m in a place right now that I badly need the reminder. Balancing everything everywhere is starting to resemble a plate spinning act on the Ed Sullivan Show. Forgive me while I regroup, rest when necessary and try to get back into a consistent writing schedule.
Meanwhile, here’s a picture of Scout practicing what I preach. He very wisely never misses a nap!
If you are lucky, every once in a while you’ll find yourself in a place where you sigh and say “this is it, this is why I exist.”
Take note when that happens and do more of that. Whatever it may be.
This feeling defined Saturday for me.
I spent the day in Zanesville, Ohio where I had a lovely visit with my pal Jerry and had meaningful interactions with people who I never knew I needed to know.
Jerry is the co-manager of the National Road-Zane Grey Museum where we met a few years ago. Truth be told, he has children who are about my age but, despite the difference in years, we are kindred spirits and pals who delight in rich conversations.
I wanted to visit sculptor Alan Cottrill’s studio and Jerry arranged for us to also meet painter Michael Seiler at his studio around the corner. We were fortunate to also meet his wife Kathleen who is a talented poet.
These were two drastically different experiences but both were fascinating, enlightening and fun in their own way.
Alan Cottrill’s studio is an old industrial space with an atmosphere defined by fabulous light. You can chat with and watch the artisans at work while examining representations of an assortment of pieces from Alan’s vast body of work.
We had the pleasure of meeting Alan and had a positively delightful chat. He is one of the most modest men I have ever met. In his own way, he dispensed wisdom that gave great insight into his own success and worldview.
Worldview was also the emphasis of our conversation with Mike and Kathleen. Their studio and home are in an old church. It’s also defined by light and filled with eclectic pieces, lots of plants and small animals that breathe life and beauty into every corner.
We talked about his painting and her poetry but their art is only a part of this beautiful life they have built. They seem to bring an artistry to all they do beginning with their faith and marriage, their contributions to the world at large and their community where they have surrounded themselves with those who share their vision as citizens of the world.
I am excited to tell you about both places so come back for more very soon. These experiences are the reason why we travel. These experiences remind us of our humanity, of the beauty in the world, of the goodness in others.
It was a breath of fresh air and food for the soul in one.
A recent trip to the John Gee Black Historical Center got me thinking about this story from Concord Church near Frankfort, Ohio two years ago. It’s a moving place and worth a revisit. Click here to have a read and give it some thought.
