Easter tidings

At this writing, the snows of April have been replaced by the rains of April, giving us hope that the new life of spring is here to stay. Here at Crossroads Trade we offer some of the most traditional symbols of new life as well as some unusual ones.

Strictly speaking, our decorated Easter eggs are not pysanky, because they're not from the Ukraine; they're from Hungary. But the Hungarians do a beautiful job with this tradition elaborately decorated eggs.

The blue one seen here is made by dyeing an entire hen's egg and etching the design.

The red-and-gold egg to the right with the tassel flourish is a handpainted white duck's egg.

And the red-and-gold egg to the left is batiked, using the same technique as fabric design, where portions are covered with wax, the item dyed, and the wax removed.

All our eggs are sent double-boxed with foam chips; they come to us intact, and we have had great success shipping them all over the world.

For something less formal, more whimiscal, we have hand-knitted Peruvian bunnies and ducklings. We call them ornaments because they have a yarn loop at the top for hanging. They can hang anywhere and are especially cheery during the Easter season. At 3.5" high by 3.5" wide, they are safe, squashy toy for children, as they admire the hand-decorated eggs that have been put out out their reach.

Visit the Easter page of our web site for more offerings. You will find new life there even as the rains fall.

-- Lisa Deeley Smith