We checked out magazines from the library. For me, Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful. For him, Car & Driver, Sports Illustrated.
This is what he chose to read first:
“We have to do this, Mom,” he said.
A Martha Stewart crafts project? I anticipate pages of instructions in tiny print I won’t be able to understand.
But it’s simple.
![IMG_1721[2].JPG](https://thedirigibleplum.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/img_17212.jpg?w=640&h=480)
Some paper cups, some food coloring, and small amounts of dried beans and rice that we already have.
He counted out twelve cups, because that’s what Martha used. We only had 8 colors of dye, but that wasn’t a problem.
“I’ll make my own colors,” he said.
He added lentils, black eyed peas, black beans, rice, chickpeas, barley, popcorn kernels, and wild rice. He squeezed in the 15 drops Martha specified. He stirred.
And then he began dyeing eggs. 36 of them.
Layer upon layer upon layer of color. He even (mostly) had the patience to let them dry in between layerings.
He discovered what happens when you mix all the food colors together. (Hint: it’s not very pretty.) He experimented with swirls and speckles and polka dots. He had strong opinions about the best and worst materials to use and the best and worst color combinations.
When he ran out of eggs to dye, he dyed himself.
I find the blue and green lentils and rice that are now all over the floor rather cheerful. This is the fourth cat who has sat in the carton with the eggs.
the dirigible plum 
Leave a Reply