Happy Easter

Today we have a nice sunny sky, perfect for an egg hunt. It’s a nice change since the weather has been pretty foggy, wet and quite chilly. It’s when I realize that I’ve turned into a true San Diegan now, I can’t handle the cold like I used to. Thanks goodness for the wood burning stove even though we’re having some trouble with it at the moment. The smoke is come in but that’s a different story... Bill is investigating it!

The children have been decorating cardboard eggs with construction paper to hang on the Easter tree. I also dyed some eggs with natural colorants. I find the result much more pleasant compare to the chemical dyes that are brighter and aggressive to the eyes. I brought a nice variety of woods, barks, herbs and other natural colorant from Switzerland a couple of years ago. They are all kept, except for two which I had in the bus with me, in one of the 20 bins that are stored in a shed here, at Bill's mom's. The problem is that we couldn’t find the list in time to know which bin they were in and I didn’t feel like going through all of them so we ended up with only two different colors of eggs... a fuschia from dried up bugs "cochenilles", yes bugs, and a light brown from the dried up outer shell of the walnut "brou de noix" which I also used to stain my kitchen cabinets!
Today, Bill found the list :) Our goal for next week... GETTING ORGANISED, seriously!

While raking leaves last week, we found a beautiful bird nest that had fallen on the ground. The work that a bird can do with its beak is astonishing. The inside was made out off dirt or clay just like a very thin bowl and the rest was built with little sticks. It made a nice addition to our Easter decorations.

We wish you all a Happy Easter and a colorful spring... Enjoy nature and the outdoors!

Sylviane