You Don’t Have to Be a Russian Czar or Sherlock Holmes to Capture the Eco-Magic of Easter Eggs!

When I think of Easter Fun, I think of Easter Bunnies and Bunny workshops – busily designing and coloring the best Easter Eggs in the world (the equivalent of Santa’s Christmas workshop) – who then wrap their precious cargo inside hand-made (paw-made) baskets – and who then pass them onto Easter Bunny-shaped Gnomes who randomly hide these treasures underground and across the globe!  Our mission then as tradition-bound humans – is to find these precious symbols of rebirth, renewal, and happiness and incorporate them into our own unique springtime sunshine celebrations!  So if you haven’t done so already, here are some eco-friendly, eco-adventurous Easter Egg ideas from the Chief Easter Bunny himself!

1- Book Yourself a World-Class Easter Egg Hunt Vacation!

Easter Egg Hunts are great cultural festivities that come together with religious traditions to add fun and excitement to the Easter Bunny’s appearance for kids and adults alike.  Here then are four of the best Easter Egg Hunts in the world:

The Faberge Easter Egg Hunt in London, England – See www.The-Big-Faberge-Egg-Hunt-London Hosted by Russian jeweler, Faberge, and billed as the “World’s Largest  Luxury Easter Egg Hunt” as well as a major charity event, over 200 Giant Fiberglass Easter Eggs have been planted throughout the city of London decorated by some of the world’s most famous artists, designers, jewelers, actors and architects. Each egg has its own secret code word which finders use to text to a designated number.  The Grand Prize is a diamond encrusted Jubilee Egg made by Faberge in honor of the 60 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.  Hunt organizers hope to raise 3 million dollars with the proceeds going to two charities – “Action for Children” and “The Elephant Family”.

The Beatrix Potter Easter Egg Hunt in Cumbria, England – See www.The-Great-Peter-Rabbit-Easter-Egg-Hunt Located in the Lake District of North Western England and covering 2600 square miles of terrain, this year’s annual Easter Egg Hunt will be celebrating the 110th anniversary  of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” written by English natural scientist and conservationist, Beatrix Potter.  One hundred and ten ceramic eggs have been hidden all over the countryside and once all the eggs have been found the great Peter Rabbit Easter Egg Hunt of 2012 will be over.

The Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, USA – See www.VisitNC-Annual-Easter-Egg-Hunt-at-Biltmore This year’s Easter Egg Hunt coincides with the opening weekend of the 27th annual “Festival of Flowers”.  Three hunts are scheduled beginning at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm.  Magic shows, Children’s music and stories and Photo opportunities with the Easter Bunny are included as well.

The High Altitude Egg Hunt at Copper Mountain, Colorado, USA – See www.Copper-Mountain-Easter-Egg-Hunt Located between the ski resorts of Vail and Breckenridge and billed as the largest Easter Egg Hunt in Colorado with 50,000 eggs to find, there will be an “all-new Egg Putt-Putt – 9 holes of “greens” on the snow with Easter eggs for golf balls.

2- Get Tickets for an Easter Egg Rolling or Tapping Contest!

You don’t have to have a spoon or an invitation to the “White House” in Washington, D.C. to participate in an Easter Egg rolling contest nor do you have to fly to Russia to compete in an Easter Egg-knocking contest.  The tradition of egg rolling competitions goes back centuries across the globe – in England and Scotland, in Germany and Denmark, in the Netherlands and Lithuania and even ancient Egypt.   And if you want to see some serious egg-tapping, check out Marksville, Louisiana which holds its internationally recognized “Easter Egg Knocking Contest” on the courthouse square every year on Easter morning.  Note: All chicken, duck, turkey, and guinea eggs are allowed.

3- Go High-Tech with Easter Egg Geocaching!

They are doing it in La Vergne, Tennessee and in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin – in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and from Cape Cod Massachusetts to the Sacred Rocks Reserve in southern California – Families across the nation are using their GPS devices to locate the coordinates of hidden Easter Egg treasures.  After finding each cache, the Easter Egg hunter signs a log or takes a picture to prove that he or she has completed this part of the search.  Prizes are awarded at the end or with each cache found.

4- Go Underwater with Easter Egg Diving!

Billed as an “Easter Eggstravaganza”, children are being encouraged to dive, splash, and swim for eggs at the ‘5th Annual Easter Egg Dive’ at the Fairmont Aquatic Center in Salt Lake City next month.  And in Key Largo, Florida, adult divers and snorkelers are getting “egg-cited” about the upcoming “12th Annual Underwater Easter Egg Hunt” headed up by Captain Spencer Slate of the Atlantis Dive Center who dresses up each year in a giant bunny costume with dive gear. Participants are taken out to a secluded location on glass-bottom boats to one of the Keys’ pristine reefs “where revelers plunge for the hard-boiled hoard during the two-tank trip.”  The proceeds from this popular hunt acts as a fundraiser for handicapped and needy kids within the area especially during this holiday season.

5- Go Gaga Egg Watching at an Easter Egg Drop Near You!

Easter Egg Celebrations are now ‘High-Flying’!  All across North America, Easter Egg Hunts are now beginning with ‘Easter Egg Drops’ where thousands of plastic Easter Eggs filled with candy and prizes are dropped from Helicopters or Hot Air Balloons.   Many are church-sponsored or parks and recreation-sponsored. They are doing it in small town places to big city places – from Alachua, Florida to Montgomery, Alabama, from Glen Mills, Pennsylvania to North Las Vegas, Nevada, from Burlington, North Carolina and Bluefield, Virginia to Owasso, Oklahoma and The Twin Cities of Minnesota and from Marion, Illinois and Rochester, New Hampshire to Laguna Hills, California and Portland, Oregon.

6- Host An Easter Egg Tea Party!

In keeping with an organically-themed Easter Egg tea party, offer your invited guests eco-rich reminders of  sensory verdancy with springtime favors, décor, and food items including: 1-Pastel-colored recyclable napkins, a hand-stitched tablecloth with ribbon-accented designs and handmade soy and beeswax candles; 2-Reusable papier-mache eggs and bunny and chick figurines made from recycled wool sweaters or leftover milk jugs and juice cartons; 3-Freshly-picked floral cuttings and garland arrangements straight from the garden along with twig-decorated candle rings; 4-Homemade-styled Easter basket or Easter bonnet place settings filled with a selection of real grass, organic lollipops, nuts, tea bags, carrot and celery sticks, all-natural jelly beans, and ‘fair trade’ dark chocolate candy; 5-Freshly-made finger sandwiches and dips with deviled eggs, scones and crumpets and locally produced whipped cream, butter, jam, and honey; and 6- After-party keepsakes – an Easter Egg-Dying Starter Kit containing cage-free chicken eggs, red cabbage leaves, spinach and turmeric leaves, lemon peels, yellow onion skins, blueberries, beet juice, and a few unused crayon nubs – and – perhaps a personalized Easter Egg Tea Party Photo Memento set inside an eco-friendly recycled magazine picture frame.

So in conclusion, you may not be a Russian czar or czarina, rich enough to own a bejeweled Faberge Egg yet! – OR – be a world-famous super sleuth like a geeky Sherlock Holmes, able to find even the smallest clues in any Geocaching Easter Egg Hunt! – BUT – you now have creative ideas of your own to making your own Easter Fun eco-magical!

Reference Footnote: Easter Fun for me is also a special reminder of my ancient celebratory family heritage- – I can trace my own unique “Holmes “ ancestry back to one Francis Holmes, a 17th century English Puritan and Early Settler and Co-Founder of Stamford, CT. in 1640 America, who is my 9th great-grandfather – – and my unique Russian heritage can be traced back to the 10th and 11th centuries – a time period in which the first Christian monarchs of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe were suddenly bursting upon the scene including: 1- Prince Mieszko I, First Christian Ruler of Poland, my 35th great-grandfather; 2- Saint Stephen I of Hungary, my 31st great-grandfather; 3- Saint Ludmila of Bohemia, my 38th great-grandmother; and 4- Yaroslav I the Wise, Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, my 33rd great-grandfather and 5- Saint Vladimir Svyatoslavich the Great, my 34th great-grandfather.  However, I am still looking for an Easter Bunny in the family tree.

A “Shore-Fire” Remedy for the Winter Blues: A Beachcombing Vacation of Sand, Sea Shells, Sea Glass and Glass Fishing Floats along America’s Treasure-filled Coves and Coastal Ways!

It’s that time of year up here in the northeastern quadrant of the USA when warm sea breezes and the soft splash of a royal tern taking a plunge brings back eco-memories of winter breaks in the Florida Keys. But this January, I am going to stay closer to home and renew myself by expanding my sand and sea shell collection to the shores of southern New England and Long Island. And If I am feeling sleuthy enough in a week or two, I shall then attend next month’s glass float scavenger hunt on Georgia’s Jekyll Island held every January and February since 2002 which allows visitors to hunt for colorful hand crafted glass treasures along the beach!

So let’s take a behind-the-scenes look at collectors of sand, sea shells, sea glass, and glass fishing floats and determine which beachcombing activities best suits your plans for a “Beat the Winter Blues” vacation!

-COLLECTING SAND

A collector of sand is called an “arenophile”. For most collectors sand is a tangible reminder of a special outing or exotic vacation – a unique bit of geology and geography encapsulated within its grains that comes in a variety of colors, textures, grain shapes, angularities, and elemental minerals that range from the green grains of olivine, to the clear grains of quartz, to the black grains of magnetite and to the pink grains of garnet. Some collectors look for gemstones in sand and others tiny fossils but for those collectors who are artistically inclined like myself – scooping up sand samples into a reusable plastic storage bag or empty film container is an easy and inexpensive way to bring home eco-memories for my next art project – a sand picture on canvas or a ship-shaped sand bottle. A good place to start meeting fellow sand collectors and swap samples is to join “The International Sand Collectors Society” based in North Haven, Connecticut – www.sandcollectors.org/All_About_Usx.html.

-COLLECTING SEA SHELLS

With over 50,000 types of shells in the world, there is no shortage of places to find a remarkably rich variety of shell shapes, patterns, and colors. However certain beaches in the USA stand out from the rest in their bounty of prize shell specimens. They are as follows:

1- CALIFORNIA – Stinson Beach, Silver Strand State Beach (Coronado Island) & Point Reyes National Seashore
2- FLORIDA – Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, Marco Island & the Gulf Islands National Seashore off of Pensacola
3- GEORGIA – Cumberland Island National Seashore
4- HAWAII – Shipwreck Beach on Lanai, Tunnels Beach on Kauai & Waikiki Beach on Oahu
5- MARYLAND – Both Calvert Cliffs State Park & Flag Ponds Nature Park at Lusby
6- NEW YORK – the Great Peconic Bay and Shelter Island nestled at the eastern end of Long island
7- NORTH CAROLINA – Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks
8- OREGON – Bandon in Coos County, on the south side of the mouth of the Coquille River
9- TEXAS – Galveston and San Jose Island
10- WASHINGTON – Point No Point Beach in Hansville on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula – and – Point Roberts in Whatcom County bordered by Canada and the waters of Boundary Bay

For some of these special places, you might want to consider booking a “shelling tour” in advance if your time is limited such as “Capt. Mike Fuery’s Tours” based in Captiva Island, Florida – Check out www.islandinnsanibel.com/things-to-do-sanibel-island/tours/captain-mike-fuerys-tours. And for those of you with the ambitious itch to collect shells outside the continental USA, check out shell collector and guide, Peggy Williams, at www.shelltrips.com and be sure to check the web as well for regional Shell Club offerings. Once again, for those of you with artistic inclinations, sea shells offer limitless possibilities for sea shell craft projects – from sea shell wreaths to sea shell napkin rings – from sea shell Christmas tree ornaments to sea shell picture frames – from sea shell hair clips to sea shell candles and sea shell mobiles and even a sea shell sewn tote bag!

-COLLECTING SEA GLASS

The “Sea Glass Mecca” for collectors around the world is ‘Glass Beach’ located at the town’s edge of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County California. Founded as a military fort prior to the American Civil War, and used as the town dumping ground for discarded glass, appliances, and cars up until 1967, the beach is now covered with lovely smooth shards of sea glass after decades of pounding waves pulverized and polished broken clumps of glassy debris.

In addition to Fort Bragg, California, the top spots for collecting sea glass in the USA include the following:

1-CALIFORNIA – Seaside State Beach & Monterey State Beach in Monterey
2-HAWAII – Glass Beach on Kauai
3-MAINE – Bar Island in Bar Harbor
4-MASSACHUSETTS – Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbor
5-*PUERTO RICO – Beaches along Old San Juan Bay & Beaches in Rincon i.e. Antonio’s Beach, River Mouth, Punta Beach
6-WASHINGTON – Rosario Beach on Fidalgo Island & Glass Beach at Port Townsend

*Established as a U.S. Commonwealth in 1952.

Sea glass collecting has grown tremendously within just the last decade as these beach treasures are perfect for jewelry, jar displays, mosaics and other creative projects. Consequently, there are a number of regional sea glass associations and sea glass festivals all across America but a good jumping-off point would be to check out the “North American Sea Glass Association” (www.seaglassassociation.org/) which organizes a yearly conference bringing together collectors, artisans, and retailers – (last year’s conference was held in Long Branch, New Jersey) – and issues a newsletter. Three other great reference guides are the online magazine, “The Sea Glass Journal” (www.seaglassjournal.com), Richard LaMotte’s book, “Pure Sea Glass”, and the “Sea Glass Hunter’s Handbook” by Carole S. Lambert.

-COLLECTING GLASS FISHING FLOATS

Most glass floats remaining in the ocean are drifting in a circular pattern of ocean currents in the North Pacific. These hollow glass balls, once used by fishermen in many parts of the world to keep their fishing nets and lines afloat – (the Norwegian and Japanese glass fishing floats being the most well known) have become so popular in recent years as a collectors’ item for both beachcombers and interior decorators alike that American glassblowers and glass artists are being asked to replicate these glass floats as a way to meet demand. And now Tourism Councils and Chambers of Commerce on both the East Coast and West Coast of the United States have caught onto the idea of enticing vacationers to their area by offering Glass Float Treasure Hunts!

But for those purists, the best places to find glass fishing floats in the USA are on the shores of Oregon at Astoria, Washington state at Long Beach, and at the Alaska Peninsula/Bristol Bay area – particularly after a winter storm during the months of February, March, and April. To learn more, check out “Glass Fishing Floats of the World: The Collector’s Price Guide and Identification Handbook” by Stu Farnsworth and Alan D. Rammer and “Beachcombers Guide to the Northwest” by Walt Pich.

Are you ready now to beat the “Winter Blues”?

Take A Walk On The Wild Side This Year – With Some of The Coolest Eco-Art Destinations in the World for Travelers and Artists Alike!

If you want an authentic travel experience filled with novel art ideas, products, resources, and opportunities that raises your environmental and cultural awareness to a heightened level of thinking and expressiveness – Take a Walk on the Wild Side This Year! – and Check Out Anyone of These Cool Eco-Art Destinations – and Who Knows You May Find An Eco-Inspiration of Your Own Making!

1-Cancun’s Underwater Art Museum– Just off Mexico’s eastern coastline in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc lies the world’s largest underwater sculpture park – a work-in-progress by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor – who is creating a submerged art gallery made of a series of specialized cement sculptures i.e. ‘The Collector’, ‘The Silent Evolution’, ‘The Archive of Lost Dreams’, ‘The Gardener of Hope’ and ‘Man on Fire’ that have been designed to form artificial reef structures, encourage coral growth, attract marine life (as well as scuba divers and snorkelers), and raise awareness about ocean health. Check out his www.underwatersculpture.com.

2-Western Canada’s Thunderbird Park & The Royal British Columbia Museum – Located side-by-side inside the harbor area of downtown Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada are some of the greatest First Nation’s totem poles ever collected and preserved. These heraldic tall red cedar poles carved with aboriginal family crests and ancestral supernatural beings are the eco-art symbols of a clan’s lineage from a particular array of animals. Other totem poles recount notable legends or events in the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. A number of contemporary totem poles designed, carved, and painted by well-known artists of today are also displayed here. Check out www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/.

3- Sweden’s ICEHOTEL and Sculpture Park – Located in the village of Jukkasjarvi on the shore of the Torne River, right next to the town of Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden in the province of Lapland which sits way above the arctic circle — the artistic ice creations within this hotel and the natural wilderness around it together with the Magnetite-carved sculptures surrounding the hotel make this an eco-art destination like no other. The ice hotel rooms and its famous ice bar are open to guests by mid-December and the ice church and main hall are completed by Christmas. Artists are invited each summer to create something new for the sculpture park of magnetite (iron ore is an abundant local resource) and artists and architects alike are invited each winter under the direction of the ICEHOTEL Art & Design Group to create next year’s version of the ICEHOTEL. This winter season of 2011-2012 there will be 47 rooms in total including 16 Art Suites, 20 Ice Rooms, and 8 Snow Rooms. This hotel location also makes it a good place for skiing, dog sledding, and observing the northern lights. Check out www.icehotel.com.

4-Newfoundland’s Fogo Island Art-In-Residency Program – Situated up in Eastern Canada, Located off the northeastern coastline of Newfoundland and Centered around old fishing cabins that have been converted into art studios – lies the Fogo Islands where visual artists, filmmakers, writers, artists, musicians, curators, and thinkers from around the world are now being invited to come “to create a world-renowned destination for artistic, cultural, ecological and culinary pursuits” – “a rural renaissance” model – within this endangered rugged community of 2700 people. Inspired in part by Zita Cobb, President of the Shorefast Foundation, and in keeping with the islander’s unique cultural and natural resources, the goal is to make Fogo Island (and the Change Islands) a leading “geotourism” destination and by so doing develop an alternative sustainable economy that will support community innovation and cultural resilience. Already being built is a boutique hotel, an eco-art gallery, and a locavore-focused restaurant. Check out www.shorefast.org/ and www.artscorpfogoisland.ca/.

5-Michigan’s Rabbit Island Eco-Art-In-Residency Project – Located three miles off the northern shore of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula on the edge of Lake Superior lies an uninhabited 91-acre island recently purchased by a New York City-based physician named Rob Gorski who together with London-based Andrew Ranville, the Principal Artist-in-Residence, and ‘The Keweenaw Land Trust’, plan to turn this deserted place into a sustainable artist residency – “a chance to creatively explore ideas related to the absence of civilization in a well-preserved microcosm”. Plans have already been made for buildings using the island’s own stone and wood including a sauna, a treehouse studio, and an amphitheater made of fallen sugar maples. For more information, check out www.rabbit-island.org.

6-Denmark’s Tranekaer Int’l Centre for Art and Nature (TICKON) – Located within the magnificent park grounds of Tranekaer Castle, a 13th century fortress on the Danish island of Langeland – is an outdoor gallery of environmental sculptures that is continually evolving – animated by the wondrous landscape of this 60 acres castle park. Artists featured include Chris Drury, Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash, Jorn Ronnau, Alan Sonfist, Herman de Vries, Nils-Udo, Hermann Prigann, Marc Barbarit & Gilles Bruni, Patrick Dougherty, and Guiliano Mauri. For more information, check out www.langeland.dk or contact – mail@alfiobonanno.dk.

7-New Zealand’s Connells Bay Sculpture Park – Located at the south-eastern end of Waiheke Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, a luxurious rental beachfront cottage is quietly nestled in amongst 60 acres of rolling farmland and unique New Zealand sculptures “where art and nature are united to create special spaces for site specific sculpture”. Tours are given by appointment only which features some of New Zealand’s best artists including Graham Bennett, Chris Booth, Phil Dadson, Neil Dawson, Paul Dibble, Kon Dimopoulos, Fatu Feu’u, Regan Gentry, Christine Hellyar, Virginia King, Gregor Kregar, Barry Lett, David McCracken, Cathryn Monro, Peter Nicholls, Julia Oram, Phil Price, Bob Stewart, Richard Thompson, Jeff Thomson and Denis O’Connor. This collaboration of artist and environment grows each year with new temporary sculpture installations and three new photographic exhibitions displayed at the park every other year. For more information, check out www.connellsbay.co.nz.

8-South Korea’s Mt. Yeonmisan Nature Art Park – Ever since 2004, the “Yatoo”, the Korean Nature Art Association hosts a biennial international nature art exhibition around Gongju city of Chungnam Province in South Korea – known as the ‘Geumgang Nature Art Biennale’. For three weeks artists from all over the world live together and create their nature art works at Mr. Yeonmisan Nature Park. Their works are open to the public thereafter and constantly change based upon their life cycle. During the ‘pre-Biennale’ period of 2009 alone, more than 200 pieces from 135 countries were submitted for consideration by the Organizing Committee for the 2010 Geumgang Nature Art Biennale. The final selection was made using a strict screening process, whereby the submissions were whittled down to 20 Korean artists and 17 foreign artists from 15 nations. Food, accommodations, as well as transportation costs were provided by the biennale organizers. The next biennale is due to take place this year between July 25th and August 17th and the theme this year will be “Nature, Human Being, and Sound”. The entire Nature Art Park will be open for viewing on August 19, 2012. For more info, check out www.natureartbiennale.org/.

Are you Ready Now for Your Next Eco-Art Traveling Vacation?

Crop Circle Sightings – Genuine or Global Graffiti Hoax?

Most researchers say that crop circles are man-made graffiti. But there is about 20% of these patterned crop anomalies that cannot be explained away easily – instances of electromagnetic distortions or Eco-Paranormal Phenomena whereby watches, mobile phones, batteries, cameras, and radio equipment suddenly fail to work within these areas.

Whatever the strange effects – why is it that crop circle sightings appear all over the world? This is not a conclusive list – but to date, I have found a history of crop circle sightings in the following countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Isle-of-Man, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Poland, Russia, Sardinia, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tasmania, Turkey, Uruguay, USA, Wales – the most recent sighting being in the rice fields of Central Indonesia on January 23, 2011.

What’s more, there are now crop circle tours and crop circle groups for adventure-seekers throughout continental Europe and especially England – particularly as southern England in the county of Wiltshire appears to be the center of most crop circle activities. Some of the best crop circle tours are as follows:

1- Spiritual Quest Journeys – http://www.spiritualquestjourneys.com/choose-a-journey/

2- Journeys with Soul – http://www.journeyswithsoul.com/cropcircles.html

3- Crop Circle Tours – http://www.cropcircletours.com/

4- Glastonbury Symposium – http://www.glastonburysymposium.co.uk/tour.html

5- Megalithic Tours – http://www.megalithictours.com/tourDiary.htm

6- Magical Mystery Tours – http://www.magicalmysterytours.com/cropcircle3.html

So if you are looking for some amazing eco-phenomena and exquisite formations of cosmic art this summer – YOU ARE NOT ALONE – and be sure to include a stopover at “The White Horse Inn”, a lovely family-run pub in the village of Compton Bassett as well as a research center for today’s leading crop circle investigators!

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