Last Saturday Z & I arose before the sun
to drive up to Visalia for Z to run
with his running group.
While he was getting in about 12 miles,
I meandered around the park.
The park was lovely, but I wouldn't
say it was peaceful.
You see, it is evidently home
to large, large numbers of geese &
other water fowl,
so the noise level was rather high.
Even so, the park was interesting,
with several waterways, ponds,
picnic pavilions, playgrounds,
open green spaces,
and historic buildings.
I think my favorite thing was near the picnic pavilions.
I was really just cutting across one of them to
get to a bridge, when something in the grass caught my eye.
It was part of a coloured eggshell.
At first I just chalked it up to the recent Easter holiday,
assuming that this park would be a likely spot
for a large egg hunt.
But then I saw some other eggshell remnants,
and beyond them a vast rainbow
of forgotten confetti
scattered all around the pavilion's
concrete edges.
I love images & stories,
and I especially love little clues that allow
me to piece together a small history.
It became obvious to me that this was way
more than just your ordinary Easter egg hunt.
This was an epic Easter egg celebration.
Someone had taken the time to hollow
the eggs, dye the fragile shells,
fill them with paper confetti,
and seal them off with tissue paper.
Can't you just imagine all the participants
running through the grass, armed with
eggs of all hues,
and then chucking them at each other!
The rain of color that floated down
in a cloud after each egg burst!
It made me laugh aloud,
standing all by myself, to think of
what a joyous scene that must have been.
