It’s a custom I grew up with, so I know no other….
Holy Week brought the fun custom of dying colored Easter Eggs! On Good Friday my Mother would boil dozens of eggs in large Pyrex glass pans and pots. The sight of huge mixing bowls full of hard boiled eggs showed the first sign of the anticipation of our Annual Family Custom. “Always add a little vinegar to the boiling water”, I’m still not sure why…
The next day (usually in the evening) we would fill repurposed empty glass jars with a mixture of Easter Egg Dye adding just a little more food coloring to the Paas Easter Egg Dye tablets. We measured the water and vinegar carefully, doubling the recommended strength of the solution. Paraffin wax (later, bees wax was preferred) was heated by stove burner in a shallow pan and my Dad would find the “tools” to create the magic artwork on our Easter Eggs. He had learned this “art” from his Aunt as a child. The tool was made out of a nail with a wooden handle fashioned onto the end. Later years I learned that this technique was evolved from a Ukranian custom called Pynsanky. My Dad is of German descent.
I remember that the heat had to be just right for the wax to adhere properly onto the shell of the egg. We needed to stay vigilant about turning the stove control back and forth between medium and medium-low to keep the temperature constant. If the wax was too cool, It would not stick onto the shell, if the wax was too hot, it would not “pool” properly when the tip of the tool met with the shell of the egg producing a lovely tear drop shaped stroke. My Father was practiced, no one could master his technique to perfection, though some of us came close in later years.
The night before Easter was full of anticipation, I could hardly go to sleep! We would put our new shoes (bought specifically for Easter Morning Church Services) beside our beds. The next day we would dress in our new pretty Easter clothes and embark on a day filled with Joy and Happy People singing Joyful Hymns as we attended Easter Services. Upon awaking on Easter Morning, the first sight of a beautiful Colored Egg placed in one shiny, new shoe was the first sign that the Easter Bunny had come in the night. Easter Baskets awaited us filled with Colored Eggs and Easter Candy!
None of our friends had such beautiful colored eggs, so we often gave my Dad’s artwork to favorite people and one with the design of a Cross or a Chi-Rho to the Pastor.
Through the years, family members moved to new locations, church memberships changed and new babies were born. The Easter custom continued year after year as new generations were included. The colored eggs my Dad made each year remained constant until he was in his eighties. It was what we knew Easter to be and so it was the same for our own children... which explains why my 4-year-old son, while searching for his shoes one day, said that he needed to find his “footbaskets”!
This year I am inspired to actually DO something in Celebration of Earth Day! I am going to write an email and shoot it over to a few Corporate Offices…
There have been suggestions by certain Bloggers about actually snail mailing a physical letter to Restaurants asking them to be aware of the trash their establishments generate (specifically straw trash). However, since I am not a participant in the Earth Day 2011 Contest, hosted by GlassDharma and I am not expecting a free glass straw to be mailed to me for writing this email, I get to make up my own rules.
If you are interested in receiving a free GlassDharma Glass Straw in your own mailbox, or if you would like a chance to win a $100.00 Gift Certificate from GlassDharma, you may want to visit these other Blog Sites. They will show you how. These links will take you to their posts:
Recycle Your Day Now for my own Earth Day project! My letter to my favorite restaurants: Dear Restaurant Representative, I would like you to know that I love frequenting your establishment and enjoy the food and service. Your restaurant is a favorite meeting and dining place for my friends and family as well. It has come to my attention that our planet is in crisis. Our collective habits of wastefulness are having apparent impact on the well being of our environment. We are all in this together! What each of us does will make a difference. Our recent love affair with convenience and single use plastics has brought us to the point where we now know that there is a price to pay. I would like to address the amounts of trash being generated by restaurants in general, specifically, straw trash. I wonder how many straws are used in your Restaurants? There are many who like to refuse a straw in their drink, only to have it brought to them anyway. My guess is the un-used straw ends up in the waste bins along with other straw trash. I wonder, If each customer had the choice to refuse/request the addition of a straw to their beverage, would your straw supply be reduced? If drink options included a choice of an “upgrade” including a reusable straw for the customer to keep, might it reduce single-use straw trash? If it became normal for a customer to bring their own reusable straw, would the number of straws you supply change? And finally, if single use straws are the desired method of serving drinks, have you considered alternatives to plastic straws? A simple choice of paper straws over plastic straws would reduce waste that cannot break down and forever pollutes. Many restaurants are now “pioneering” the idea to reduce their waste, a trend that improves our environment. This trend sets the example for other businesses and each of us, your customers. I hope that we will all be thinking about how our actions bring us consequences in the years to come. We all have the option to choose re-usable vs. “disposable”. I would love to see more restaurants like yours lead the way into a future that holds promise for humankind and the generations to come. The desired "Destination" is a Healthy Planet free from pollution, but the focus of this letter is that we now need to prioritize “the Journey”. Happy Earth Day! Sincerely, A Happy Customer with Hope for a Healthy Planet
I chose to email my "letter" to Corporate Offices of my favorite Restaurants including some chains like Chili’s and Marie Calendar’s. Some websites do not provide email addresses, so you have to call them or use their contact forms. I do provide complete contact information for myself in email correspondence and contact forms.
*IDEA* For those that would like to act, but find it hard to take the time, consider this. Most Restaurants do have a FaceBook page! You can simply use my letter using this link and post it on the wall of your Restaurant “likes” on FaceBook! You can easily add your own “comment” to the post.
LINK to post on FaceBook I think it is a good thing to think about how we can make a difference about what is happening on our Planet. We need to be aware, and then we need to make an effort to make changes and encourage others as well. What we do (and don’t do) will have its own impact on us – and each other. Have a Happy Earth Day! I hope you will Celebrate!
I would like you to know that I love frequenting your establishment and enjoy the food and service. Your restaurant is a favorite meeting and dining place for my friends and family as well.
It has come to my attention that our planet is in crisis. Our collective habits of wastefulness are having apparent impact on the well being of our environment. We are all in this together! What each of us does will make a difference. Our recent love affair with convenience and single use plastics has brought us to the point where we now know that there is a price to pay.
I would like to address the amounts of trash being generated by restaurants in general, specifically, straw trash. I wonder how many straws are used in your Restaurants? There are many who like to refuse a straw in their drink, only to have it brought to them anyway. My guess is the un-used straw ends up in the waste bins along with other straw trash.
I wonder, If each customer had the choice to refuse/request the addition of a straw to their beverage, would your straw supply be reduced?
If drink options included a choice of an “upgrade” including a reusable straw for the customer to keep, might it reduce single-use straw trash?
If it became normal for a customer to bring their own reusable straw, would the number of straws you supply change?
And finally, if single use straws are the desired method of serving drinks, have you considered alternatives to plastic straws? A simple choice of paper straws over plastic straws would reduce waste that cannot break down and forever pollutes.
Many restaurants are now “pioneering” the idea to reduce their waste, a trend that improves our environment. This trend sets and example for other businesses and each of us, your customers.
I hope that we will all be thinking about how our actions bring us consequences in the years to come. We all have the option to choose re-usable vs. “disposable”. I would love to see more restaurants like yours lead the way into a future that holds promise for humankind and the generations to come.
The desired "Destination" is a healthy Planet free from pollution, but the focus of this letter is to now prioritize “the Journey”.
