Easter Baskets

Brown and gray and black and tan are not the usual Easter colors. On the other hand, creating a basket for a niece in her thirties has its challenges. I decided to try my hand at using my new Mailmate shredder from Staples. After feeding a few basic brown paper bags and several pages from an old paperback anthology of Petrarch, I rested speckled eggs amid the literary softnesses and included a gift certicate to a local tea merchant. A sepia postcard of Paris and a remarkable duck candleholder made the basket something I was willing to offer to a sophisticated young woman and her fiancé.