Eggstra, Eggstra!

EGGSCELLENT: Imagine our surprise when we walked into the kids' Shoreline school to find people making pysanka in the lobby. Annabelle immediately wanted in on the action. Meanwhile CJ immediately wanted in on some popcorn. ;) For those new to pysanka it's a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated using a wax-resist method. Wikipedia notes, "The word pysanka refers specifically to an egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, and is not a generic term for any egg decorated using wax resist."

So, it seems, Annabelle's egg isn't truly pysanka. But I digress. ... To do it the "right" (traditional) way, it's a super long, involved process likely spread out over days. Annabelle had about six minutes to do her egg. First, she had to warm up some wax in a tiny bowl on the top side of her stylus (or a kystka) and then draw on the egg. Then she dipped it in turquoise, drew on the egg some more, and then dipped in pink (of course).

In the photo at the top of the page, we haven't even taken the wax off the eggs yet. Maybe we'll melt it off tomorrow. ...Years ago, I wrote a story about pysanka for The Columbian. It mostly centered on an art teacher in East Portland who taught the art to her kids. My oh my were Mary's eggs amazing! VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN: We logged into the Seattle Times' Web site to see if voting in the Peeps contest had started yet or not. I was surprised to find out that not every entry can be voted on. The Times' staff narrowed the field. There were nearly 500 entries in all. That was whittled to 43 adults and 31 kids. Fortunately, "Sesame Peeps" made the cut! Annabelle submitted it, because she did the vast majority of the work. (CJ was more moral support and he kneaded some fondant.) Annabelle would LOVE it if you'd vote for her in the Peeple's Choice contest. You can (and should, har har) vote once a day from now to April 13. Unfortunately, in order to vote, you'll have to register with their Web site. But that only takes a few seconds, and you only have to do it once. (I do believe you'll have to wait for an email confirmation after you register, click on it's link and then you are free to vote.) To view and vote for Annabelle, go HERE.

OVERHEARD: CeeJ and Bee were working on a cooperative game together this afternoon - "Kirby's Epic Yarn." However, at times it became every man for him- or herself. At one point I heard CJ bark, "Did you even THINK about saving me, Annabelle?!?" In more pleasant times, I heard Annabelle say, "This is fun!" At that, CJ asked, "Do you think it's more fun than Rick Astley?" Gotta watch that CJ. He can be a trickster.

SCREENING: The rock unit continues in the Shoreline class. Today, the kids used screens to sift and sort rocks of various sizes. That was fun. BRING YOUR UMBRELLA: Tonight we're going to the "Moisture Festival" at Hale's Palladium. I'd provide a link to the event Web site, but when I visited it last night, it set off so many malware/Trojan/virus alerts with my anti-virus software, that I'm not going to do that to you. Instead, I'll just share this description of it from their Blogspot page, which didn't set off my alarms.

Comedy/Varietè is an intriguing assortment of entertainment. It is highly skilled performance mixed with many bizarre talents, often humorous, with no limit to the imagination. Presented as a variety show, each act or artist performs his or her routine within a 3-15 minute time slot while being accompanied by a live show band. Aerialists, jugglers, comedians, dancers, rope acts, bubble acts, clowns, acrobats, can can girls, strong women, strong men, tap dancers, drill teams, musical numbers, the weird and the wonderful- all keeping the tradition of Comedy/Varietè/Vaudeville alive. Since 2004, Moisture Festival has presented this exhilarating form of theater to celebrate Spring.