Tomorrow is Easter and my Mom has been struck with some sort of Grinch Stick and is telling me that we are not going to have any eggs or ham.     Now I ask you, what is fair about that?

I told my Mom that I was perfectly capable of dying my own eggs, but she laughed and said "not without thumbs, you silly boy".     Those darn thumbs, or the lack of them, really gets in the way.   If I couldn't think into my Mom's head, I wouldn't even be blogging and then all of my good reporting would just go to waste.   As it is, I am still at her mercy, cause I have to be really good and look at her with pleading eyes before she will sit down and type for me.

Now, not only is she not dying Easter Eggs, she has laughed because I have no thumbs and cannot do it myself.   Oh boy.    This is not good.

So I decided that I would ask my Mouse Person if we could go on an egg hunt in cyberspace and because he is nice and likes me, most of the time, he said o.k.   I just had to promise to keep Beijing, our kitty, away from him.

Look at all the eggs I found:
 These are Ukrainian.   These look very difficult to produce.  The people in Ukrain must have a lot of time on their paws.    

                                                                                              
                                These eggs are from Serbia.    Again, who thinks this up.  How long does it take to make them?

  Now this is more my speed.  These eggs were made by wrapping the eggs in Onion Skins.  Mom says she actually did this one time and if you use Red Onions you get red eggs and if you leave them to simmer for a very long time, they actually sort of petrify and look like they are made from wood.    Obviously this was at a time when Mom was much more creative than she is now.   I don't see any cartons of eggs or bags of onions in our kitchen.

  Oh my, it is those Ukrainians again.  These eggs are actually embroidered.    Now how do you suppose someone figured that one out?     Isn't it amazing what two legs can do when they put their mind to it?

                                     Easter eggs from the Haná region, the Czech Republic, decorated with straw.     See the cute little chicken?   

   My personal favorite.   Easter egg or pisanica in Zagreb, Croatia     I wonder how long it took for someone to make this egg so beautiful?    

And of course would Easter be Easter without chocolate?    Nothing that I am familar with, I admit, but it certainly seems to make Mom happy when she eats some.   

                                        

When my Mouse Person was dragging me around cyberspace we stopped off at our friends at Wikipedia and that is where we found all these lovely pictures.   I also learned that the oldest tradition in Easter Eggs  is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. These eggs are often hidden, allegedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning. Otherwise, they are generally put in a basket filled with real or artificial straw to resemble a bird's nest.

So I would think that I could at least have a jelly bean.    I think if I only had one, it would be o.k.   I looked up Jelly Beans to find out what I was eating and this is what we found:

The basic ingredients of jelly beans include sugars, corn syrup, and starch. Relatively minor amounts of the emulsifying agent lecithin, anti-foaming agents, an edible wax such as beeswax, salt, and confectioner's glaze are also included.^[1] The ingredients that give each bean its character are also relatively small in proportion and may vary depending on the flavor.

So after reading this, I have decided that I won't be eating Jelly Beans anytime soon.    Mom says this is one of those facts that it is better off NOT to know about.    

But I did find something else that is pretty interesting.    Did you know there is a Jelly Bean in England that has a picture of
 Kate Middleton on it.  Yep.   Here it is:      It actually does look like her, doesn't it?

The person who found it is going to sell it on E-Bay.  The bean has yet to appear on eBay but royal watchers are sure to be keeping an eye out. Wesley Hosie, a trainee accountant age 25, said he plans to sell it for £500 and in since in 2004, a decade-old grilled cheese sandwich bearing the likeness of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000, who knows.

 
So, even without thumbs, I think I have managed to find some pretty good facts about Easter Eggs and Jelly Beans, and even though I won't be eating any of them tomorrow, I know that lots of people will.
    But when you dig into your Easter Basket, be sure to look at the Jelly Beans very carefully.

You might find one that looks like me, Bob, Boy Bloginator and Pit Bull Reporter Extra Ordinary.    

Love and Licks,


Bob
--------- Happy, Happy Easter Eggs to everyone!