Kiss!

          It rained hard. Really hard. The birds came up under the awning and sat on the perches I put out for them. I had as many as five on a branch and even though I thought I’d taken a picture of it, I can’t find it. Maybe it came out blurry and I deleted it, or maybe I’m looking through the files so fast I’m just missing it. I got to thinking about it. If I had more places for them to sit, would I get more birds when it rains?

          Mike and I had gone on a golf cart ride.

         Beside the road Verbena is blooming. This wildflower is also called Purpletop, Blue Vervain, Simpler’s Joy, and Holy Herb. It’s known for its calming and sedative effects, a good choice for anxiety, nervousness, and insomnia. It’s used to treat indigestion, constipation, headaches and general pain, asthma, coughs, stimulate lactation, and ease menstrual cramps. It’s an anti-inflammatory and generally considered safe. It’s called Holy Herb because it was believed to have protective and purifying properties and was used in various rituals and ceremonies.

          The red clusters on the sumac plant are a dense cluster of small, berry-like fruits called drupes. You can steep them in water and make a tart lemonade-like drink called “Indian Lemonade.”

          Sumac is rich in antioxidants, which help protect the body from free radicals and reduce inflammation. Traditionally, sumac has been used to treat digestive issues, including stomach aches and diarrhea. Teas made from sumac drupes or leaves, have been used to treat bronchitis and other respiratory conditions. The plant has been used to reduce inflammation and treat conditions like arthritis and gout. Sumac tea or syrup has been used to alleviate fever and sore throat symptoms.

          Besides folk remedies, you can make a natural dye from the drupes. And the leaves and bark are rich in tannins which have been used in the tanning of leather.

          “Hey! There’s the branch I want,” I said spying a nice-size dried branch leaning against another tree.

          Mike stopped the cart. I got off, untangled my branch, and carried it home. Lucky for me it was just across from our back driveway, so I didn’t have far to go.

          “Will you help me put it up?” I asked. It’s more than eleven feet long and much too big for me to handle by myself.

          Mike is a good husband and was even patient when I had him try it in three different places and flip it over twice.

          Unfortunately, I didn’t move any of my decorations and in one of our moves and flips, knocked a heavy, old, glass insulator from its nail. 

          Let me give you a word of advice.

          “Move your stuff first so you don’t break it?” you say.

          That would be good advice but I was going to say... never try to kiss a heavy, old, glass insulator on its way to the ground.

          POW! I took it right in the kisser!

          “Is it bleeding?” I asked as blood dripped from chin.

Mike didn’t have to look very hard. “Yeah.”

On my way to get a paper towel, I used my tongue to explore the inside of my mouth for damage. I guess my lip took the brunt of it and cushioned my teeth and gums from the impact because other than a small abrasion on the inside of my lip, everything else was intact and pain-free.

I had a scab for a couple of days and my lip hurt. Today, four days later, I have a slight yellow bruise; it’s still a little swollen and hurts some.

“Peg, what’s that scar under your lip?” you wanna know.

That is the result of an argument with a highchair when I was a toddler. The chair threw me out onto the floor. Okay! Okay! I fell out of a highchair. There’s a vertical scar above my lip, too, but most people never notice that one.

Speaking of my handsome mountain man, after thirty years together, Mike can still surprise me.

Mike has always been generous with me, has always tried to give me everything I ask for, but being spontaneous and buying me a gift I haven’t asked for is not his strong suit.

Now, mind you, I am not complaining! Having Mike buy me things I haven’t asked for is not on my list of things I want or need. It’s strictly an observation.

I was truly surprised when FedEx pulled in and unloaded a box.

“What did you order now?” I asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Mike said.

“FOR ME‽” I love surprises!

I opened the box and found a set of the most beautiful and colorful set of Cuisinart Classic eight-piece stainless steel kitchen shears.

“I only see four,” you say.

Yeah, they count the blade covers. Four shears, four covers, equals eight pieces.

I flipped the box over and read the descriptions. The red ones are poultry shears “designed to cut through bones effortlessly,” it says.

I grinned. “Uh-huh, now I know why you ordered them for me. You got tired of hearing me bang on a knife with my little ticky-tack hammer.”

I’ve been giving the girls a chicken foot as a treat most nights. One foot is a little big for Bondi so I’ve been cutting a “finger” off Raini’s for her. A side benefit to doing it that way is the chicken feet will last longer. I’m not strong enough to break the bone so I’ve been laying my little hammer on its side and giving the back of the knife a good whack.

“Won’t that ruin the knife?” you ask.

Good question. It didn’t seem to hurt it but it doesn’t matter. If I’m going to cut a piece off for Bondi, that’s just the way it’s gotta be.

Speaking of critters...

I was outside and spot a bit of fluff floating through the air. For kicks and grins, I caught it for you. A bit of fluff floating through the air isn’t something that most people would notice or if they do, may assume it’s fluff from a plant. If you catch it and see wings and a little face looking back at you, you’ve got a Woolly Aphid. 

These guys are called by several other names including Cotton Fairies, Fluff Bugs, Fluffer Fairies, Poodle Flies, and Ghost Bugs. The fluffy substance on its back is a waxy filament they secrete for protection from predators such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps. It makes them more resistant to conventional pesticides as well as providing insulation against bad weather.

There’s a very interesting fact about aphids that you may not know. Most aphids can reproduce without mating, called parthenogenesis. Female aphids give birth to live all-female nymphs without the need for males and those nymphs are already pregnant. This method of rapid population growth ensures the survival of the species. As the seasons change and environmental conditions become less favorable, many aphid species switch to sexual reproduction. Then they will have both male and female aphids.

I got a couple of photos of dragonflies this week. The one let me get quite close and I had a feeling he was watching me.

          Oh! And this guy! I’m pretty sure he’s a moth and I found him lying upside down in my bathroom sink. He was wet and dead. I’m not sure how he came to be wet. I picked him out of the sink and dropped him in the trash can.

          The next morning, I’m sitting on the pot letting my water down, so to speak, and hear the unmistakable sound of wings beating against something. I tracked the sound to the trash can, moved a used tissue to the side, and there he was, alive and kicking. I guess he’d only fainted. I picked him up and took him outside. Then I washed my hands (but I bet you knew that without me having to say so).

          Speaking of fainted, fainting, err, faint, do you see this faint little line that comes down across my collarbone? I was in front of the mirror, drying my hair, and spent five minutes trying to pick it off because I thought it was a hair instead of a wrinkle. 

          Mullen is blooming.

          So is my favorite flower, Bergamot, a member of the mint family. The leaves and flowers can be used to make a fragrant tea, often referred to as Oswego tea, which has a minty and slightly citrusy flavor. Fresh or dried leaves can be used as a seasoning in dishes. In folk medicine it was used to soothe digestive issues and treat coughs and colds. Applied topically it can help with minor skin irritations and infections. The essential oil has antiseptic properties and can be used in natural cleaning products. In your garden it can help repel pests and improve the health of nearby plants.

          The green berries of my Bittersweet.

          Pickeral Weed is blooming in my pond. 

          This is another one that grows at my pond. It’s Ditch Stonecrop and like many wildflowers has been used in folk medicine. It’s an astringent and can help tighten tissues and reduce bleeding. It’s an anti-inflammatory and has been used to reduce inflammation and treat conditions like arthritis. You can make a poultice by crushing the leaves and apply directly to the skin to help with wounds and inflammations.

          This next one is Begger’s Lice or more commonly called Sticktights. These things will hitch a ride on animals and fall off someplace else to grow. It has many of the same properties and uses as Ditch Stonecrop.

          My Queen Ann’s Lace is blooming. 

          And so is Herb Robert. You can crush the leaves and rub them on your skin to treat insect bites and to repel insects. You can chew the leaves to relieve mouth sores and sore throat. The flowers can also be chewed and have a numbing effect.

          This plant is also called Stinky Bob because the crushed leaves smell somewhat like burning rubber.

          This reddish vine with tiny, tiny flowers grows in and around the weeds but I don’t know what it is. 

          My new floor was put down this week. It extends from the kitchen the whole way into the pantry and half-bath. It’s a really, really, heavy linoleum and the guys put it in in one forty-two-foot-long piece. They had one heck of a time! I felt really bad for them because it would’ve been easier to run the pattern in the other direction. But then there would’ve been more seams and it wouldn’t’ve looked right. I’m really pleased with my floor and told the guys I’d make them cookies for the extra effort it took to run it this way. They did a fabulous job and I’m really happy with it.

          One of the things I knew I wanted was shelves below and on the other side of the TV. Over time, my art stuff filled the shelf and baker’s rack here in my little corner of the world where I do crafts, and overflowed into piles on the floor. It was cluttered and unsightly but it was stuff I wanted to keep close.

          I’ve got all my stuff put up and spread out. I don’t have any empty shelf space but I’m sure, that in time, I can move stuff around and add more to it if I need to. 

          Speaking of my crafts...

          I don’t think I did anything this week except give the Lizard House a coat of glass paint and yet I’ve been busy every single day. It seems like I should’ve been able to get more done than that. Oh, it’s coming back to me. Mike and I spent a couple of days moving stuff back to their places. Everything had been boxed up and moved out of the kitchen into the dining room. We had to put the stove, freezer, and two refrigerators back and level them. Then I took an afternoon to stain all the wood and another day to build the shelves. Then I went to work unboxing all of my craft stuff and putting it away. We’ve got the kitchen and dining room mostly put back the way it was. That’s where my week went!

          And, like I said, I made cookies for the guys. I made a couple of kinds of Nobakes.

          “You should take a box with you when we take the cookies over,” Mike said.

          This handsome guy is the boss. Ron is an artist, too, and we exchange ideas and talk about stuff. Ron mostly makes carvings, gave me two Santas he made, and will teach me how to make them when I have time. When Ron saw my book boxes, he ordered one for his wife for Christmas. I pressed him for colors and design, and he mentioned something about wanting it to be deep.

          Mike’s idea to take one with me so Ron had an idea of size was a good one. I couldn't decide on which one, so I took them all.

          I’ve only kept four boxes. One was a return because the guy thought it looked like a coffin. Remember? I told you about it. He’s color blind and even though it wasn’t black, he saw it as black. I tried to fix it and couldn’t and made a new one for him. I kept a Steampunk box because it was my favorite, another box that was an experiment using burlap and not all that great, and lastly, I kept the very first one I ever made. Several people have tried to get this box from me but I wouldn’t turn loose of it.

          “It’s got problems,” I’d say. “Let me make you a new one.”

          Ron picked the boxes up, one at a time, looking them over. When he came to the first Dream book box I’d ever made, he stopped and ran his hand over the cover.

“Boy, I like this one,” he said. He opened it up and looked inside. There’s a spot on the hinge where the green felt has worn away and it jumped out at me. He closed the lid and ran his eyes over the sides and back. “I really like this one. Including the color. It would be perfect for my living room.” He leaned forward in his chair and tried to hide it so I’d leave without it, jokingly of course.

          “It’s the first one I ever made!” I told him. “It doesn’t close quite right, it’s got little nicks in the side, and the felt is worn in a few spots. It’s not perfect.”

          “So! I don’t like perfect. I like character. And I love everything about this box!”

          I could see it. I could see how much he truly loved it, and I gave it to him. “I guess now I know why I wouldn’t give it away before,” I said. And I’m truly okay with Ron owning the first book box I ever made.

          Let’s end with a couple or road pictures and call this one done!

          Done!