The Ugliest Easter Eggs Ever

A discussion of Easter traditions revealed that my European counterparts had never dyed Easter eggs. A tragedy that needed to be remedied. A hastily placed phone call home resulted in the shipping of a package of Easter goodies. But would it arrive in time? It's hard to predict shipping times, especially around the holidays. I anxiously paced my apartment the Saturday before Easter waiting for the buzz from the postman saying that he had a package too large for my mailbox. Nothing. It finally got to the point where if it hadn't already come, it wasn't going to so with a sad heart I started for the grocery store. I stopped to check my mailbox for coupons before leaving and it's a good thing I did. The mailman had managed to cram the envelope into the box. Hurray!
I picked up what I needed at the grocery store and headed for the eggs, the last thing on my list. Uh oh! I looked through a box of every variety of egg - there were no white ones. All of the eggs - big and small, bio-friendly and 'normal' - were brown. I asked one of the women stocking the shelves if she knew where I could locate some white eggs. She looked at me as though I had just sprouted antennae. I tried explaining the situation - that I was looking for white eggs to dye and all the ones on the shelf were brown. The poor woman must have thought I was crazy. She wasn't familiar with white eggs and had no idea where in Bourges I might find some. I ended up buying the lightest-colored eggs I could find. They would have to do.
Sunday arrived and after a huge (delicious!) meal we set down to dye the eggs. I now understand why they don't do that over here! The eggs took on a rather unusual tint when starting with the brown base. The blue was particularly unappealing. Stickers and plastic shrinky dink wrappers helped a little bit. If nothing else, it was an experience none will soon forget - especially Rafael, who attempted to shrinky-dink his fingers. They may not have been the prettiest Easter eggs ever created, but a good time was had by all and that's the most important thing.