Bunny ears: 'Eat them without the guilt'

Pick a side. What's your favorite Easter candy? Survey results indicate that 29 percent like chocolate bunnies and 28 percent prefer cream eggs. No clue to what kind of cream. I like maple or chocolate. I am not fond of the other flavors, although a chocolate-covered marshmallow egg is not bad. Twenty-eight percent like jelly beans – again, no flavor indicated. I don't like licorice. Fifteen percent like marshmallow chicks, which I take to mean Peeps. Parade magazine had these results. Forty-three percent love Peeps and 72 percent eat dyed Easter eggs. Of course, you don't let them to go to waste. Deviled, egg salad or just peel and eat. Favorite jelly beans: red, cherry, black, licorice, pink, strawberry. Eighty-nine percent eat their chocolate rabbits from the ears down. Bissinger, a candy company, makes solid European-style milk and dark chocolate bunny ears. Nothing like getting the best parts and being able to eat them without the guilt of eating the rest of the rabbit. Happy Easter. May your basket overflow with goodies.

Fifty years ago, Katherine Switzer entered the Boston Marathon using her initials because women were not allowed to run. When the race's co-director was informed that a female was running in his race, he tried to pull her off the course. Her friend and other runners kept him from doing so. She finished in 4:20. Five years later, women were invited to run. When the marathon starts next week, 70-year-old Switzer expects to be running. Way to go!

Saline County Historical Society will host Life on the Illinois Frontier from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 21, and Saturday, April 22, on the grounds of Saline Creek Pioneer Village and Museum. There will be re-enactors, tours, vendors, food, music and historical demonstrations. No admission. For more information, or to arrange a tour or field trip, call Kyrstal Wilson at 618-841-1781 or Debbie McVey at 618-841-6593.

Saline County Homemakers will present a lesson, "Making Your Dollars Stretch," taught by Susan Odum, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at U. of I. Extension office at 912 S. Commercial St. Registration is requested by calling 618-252-8391. The public is invited to attend this informative lesson.

Southern Illinois Spinners and Weavers will have a fiber fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 13 at Massac County 4-H fairground. There will be weaving demonstrations, a try-it-yourself loom, pottery, woven and knit items, and fibers and yarns of all kind. Come see. You can find a one-of-a-kind present for Mother.

In a comic strip, the mother is looking through a photo album. One of the children is looking with her and wonders where the pictures are of the youngest child. The mother says, "We went to digital photos before she was born." "Where do you keep them?" "In the cloud." The baby who communicates with a sunbeam says, "Could you bring some of those down so I can see them?" I know her frustration. When Kidlet was young, The Boy asked what I wanted for Christmas. I told him that every month I want two pictures of her, not on the computer, but prints I could hold in my hand, carry in my wallet and show to my friends. I think they made it three months before it became too much for them to do. They don't have actual pictures. I was taking pictures of Kidlet when she was about 5 and she wanted to see them. Before I could say anything, she said, "Oh, you have to go to the drugstore." It seemed strange to her that I could hold and share them.

My hummingbird feeder is up. I haven't seen any hummingbirds, but it may be too early and too stormy for them to be flying. Homemade feed: four parts water to one part white sugar. Bring to a boil, cover and cool. Store in the frig. Do not use brown sugar, artificial sweeteners or colored dyes; all can harm the birds. Remember to clean the feeder every two or three days.

Beets are continuing to come back, even though, to many, they are the okra of the root vegetable world. In addition to beets in chips and crackers, as well as fermented and ready to toss into a salad, you'll even find beet greens in salad kits like Eat Smart's Wild Greens and Quinoa. I suppose that raw beet greens are better than cooked ones, but neither seems appetizing. Beets provide blood pressure-lowering potassium as well as B vitamin folate. Roast them for a tasty taco filling, or puree and mix into baked goods like red velvet cake instead of food coloring. (Then your cake will taste like dirt.)

From a sampler stitched by 9-year-old Patty Polk in Kent County, Maryland, circa 1800: "Patty Polk did this and she hated every stitch she did in it. She loves to read much more."