E as in Egg Salad

         The days after Easter make me think of egg salad.  When I was growing up we'd always have a lot of colored hard boiled eggs.  There were only so many hard boiled eggs that my siblings and I would eat, so my father would consume vast quantities of hard boiled eggs after Easter.  We used to jokingly like to call him the "human garbage can".

        As I was raising my daughters, I of course continued the tradition of coloring the eggs for Easter.  However unlike my father, there was no way that I was going to devour all of those hard boiled eggs.  But I likewise hated to throw them away, so I decided to start making egg salad.

       I like a good egg salad and it can make for a tasty sandwich. I guess my mother probably told me how she makes it or I just figured it out.  I took those hard boiled eggs and chopped them up.  It's probably best to remove the shells first unless you like your egg salad crunchy. After putting the chopped eggs into a bowl, I added a dollop of mayonnaise depending on how many eggs I was using.  I go by looks and not measurements, which is my general philosophy about most things in life.  Then I added some yellow mustard depending on how tangy I wanted the salad to be, but I usually didn't use too much, just enough for some flavor.  Next I tossed in a few spoonfuls of sweet pickle relish.  I recall my mother chopping up sweet gherkin pickles, but that seems like a bit too much work for me.  Finally, I sprinkled some paprika on top of the salad.  I'm not sure if the paprika really adds any flavor but I've always liked the way it looked.

         So that's my recipe for egg salad.  But no egg salad this year.  There were no kids, therefore no reason to color eggs.  Actually though I've been busy making a different kind of egg salad this year.  Putting forth this Blog Challenge is this years egg salad.  We got a bunch of good eggs here with all of you.  And you guys have been bringing the mix of mayonaise, mustard, and relish.  We're even experimenting with a few other ingredients--how about some olives, celery, chives, or even some jalapenos.  This is turning out to be one of the best egg salads ever.  Mostly because we're using good eggs.

           The good eggs are not all bloggers who are actively participating in the challenge.  Some of them are in the cheering section supporting our efforts.  You may have seen their comments on your blog or a blog of another blogger.  Many of you already know these fantastic bloggers.  Today I want to recognize some  of the great folks on the sidelines who are mentioning the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge in their own blogs or diligently posting comments as much as their time will allow.  Here are five that I will recognize today:

Just Jemi -- Jemi Fraser at Just Jemi , she's the Comment Queen.  She's like some of those literary agents who rack up tons of comments, but I haven't seen any of those agent commenting back like Jemi does.  I don't know how she works like she does and still manages to be all over the blogosphere like she is.  Jemi is a friend and champion of us all.

The Write Worship --  Besides Tamika's dedication to God and her family, she is dedicated to her craft of writing and to her blog activity.  Tamika has always been great support to me and I have seen her comments on many of your blogs as well.  Tamika's posts are short and sweet, but always helpful and inspiring.

The Old Silly ---  Marvin's another one who if you didn't know him before this challenge you probably are getting pretty familiar with him now.  He mentioned the challenge on his blog and everyday I see his comments all over the sites of those participating in the challenge.

Engine 3 The Life of Riley -- Julie Riley gave us a nice write up on this challenge.  Her blog was new to me prior to this, but she offers up a colorful and eclectic mix of topics that are of special interest to families and crafters.

Jane's Ride --  Jane Sutton is a busy author who still manages to drop in almost every day to leave her comments scattered throughout the blogs of our participants.  If she hasn't shown up to yours yet she's trying to make her way there.

         Please take a few minutes to stop by the blogs of these supporters and let them know you appreciate the support they are giving.  Give them a big thank you.  And while you're there go ahead and become a follower if you aren't one already.

         Also, there is a participant listed in the supporter section whose link I am having problems putting in the participant blog roll.    Dream Weaver is the site of Debra Harris Johnson-- author, speaker, historian, and business owner.  If you have tried to go to her site please go to the supporter section and visit her blog from there.  I am still trying to figure out this technical glitch.

         There are a few technical problems that we have noticed and are trying to remedy.  If you happen to run across any blogs that you can't get into, let me know and I'll try to fix the problem. 

          One final request:  Today is Stephen T. McCarthy's birthday.  I think it would be fun if you would go immediately to his site and wish him a happy birthday.  I'm sure a lot of you will be online before he is and what a surprise for him to open his email and see all these birthday wishes waiting for him.

         And if anyone else knows of a birthday in April let me know and I'll post it on my site.  Might as well recognize our April birthday bloggers while we are doing this.

          Thanks to all of you for your exuberant efforts.   Excuse me if you find more errors these days because I haven't been editing with exactness.        End