Red Eggs

 The girls are back again to dye 32 eggs. K hard boiled them last night so they're all ready to go.

But the girls don't get off that easy. Once I've got them in my grasp they're 'forced' to do chores on my list. I always have a list.

They changed our sheets. I'm not allowed to lift mattress corners yet and K has problems with tendons in his shoulders. One down. 

They stored away all the carpets that were cleaned a couple of weeks ago, emptied the dehydrator in our bedroom. We have a lot of damp in our houses. They both have dehydrators which they say they empty way more often than ours. 

Next on the list was moving our very heavy concrete umbrella stand into position to give us shade at the front of the house. Easy peasy for a rower with strong arms. 

And then onto the eggs.  32 is the least we have ever dyed and it's more than enough. I don't know how K agreed to so few. It's usually double that. 

Of the 32 a dozen go off to family and another dozen to friends along with a small container of Easter biscuits. That leaves 8 for us. 3 or 4 will be cracked by us on Saturday night along with the offal soup so K will be left with 4 or 5 to have as a meze with his nightly glass of wine next week. Perfect.

Getting the red mix ready. 

It stains everything and I only had one pair of gloves. They wore one each and declined the use of aprons. Lucky there weren't any splashes

Once the dying is done and the eggs are dry they are polished with a little olive oil

Every year I keep an egg or two and we write the year on it. Most of them have broken but these ones survived. The yolk after a year or so turns into a hard amber ball. 

Then it's lunch time. No one leaves Papou's house without eating. They're not eating meat, for Holy week, so I fried some potatoes, the girls made a salad and I got a pizza margarita out of the freezer. Just the sort of meal kids love. 

Actually the pizza had 5 pieces of salami on top but I soon got rid of those and renamed it.

After lunch they pushed my quad bike across the road so I could start it. It has been sitting rusting away all winter. And it didn't start of course because the battery was flat.

Not a problem . I'm going to retire it. 

Chores all done they were free to leave ...along with red eggs and more Easter cookies. They've been having private lessons since school finished. They're a necessity here if your children want to go on to higher education. 

All lessons are finished till next week. They're free as birds to go swimming, sit in cafes with friends or promenade in groups, eat icecream, or whatever innocent activities I like to imagine them doing.