I love eggs - the shape, the colours, the surprise of discovering the shells below unknown birds nests, the joy when gifted with a perfect robin's shell, bisected beautifully by the emerging frail feathered friend...The shells are so beautiful and the contents so amazing - whether the source of perfect protein or the creation of a new life, they are wondrous environments and objects of great beauty. Despite their fragility, easily crushed with the fingers alone, they can support unbelievable weights and even provide a sharp and slug or snail impassable border for delicate plants. You can start seeds in them, then plant the entire thing - shell, dirt and seedling - in the garden as is. They can be carved, painted, dyed or etched. Smashed flat they can mimic ancient craquelure for a decorative paint finish. Powdered they are an excellent compost amendment or calcium binder. The eggs themselves are a wonderful source of protein, tasty and self-contained. The whites make delicious and delicate meringues. The yolk is an essential for the creation of egg tempera, a lacquer-like, transparent paint used since ancient times for fine art and decorative work. Russian Icons hundreds of years old still glow with the luminous beauty of the egg tempera used in their creation; the same technique that lives on today, passed down from master Icon painter to their apprentice(s).
In celebration, and in answer to the challenge, I offer the following:
