Mom's tree

It is almost mother's day and I've  been musing on mom.   I grew up in a little house.   I never realized just how little until my brother Floyd and I made our pilgrimage there while visiting Yakima a while back.  It is now a place of business with some minimal changes to the outside but the inside bland with desks and files.   We asked if we could walk through to take a look.    We tried to not have our jaws drop when the rooms just didn't match what was in our memories.   The outside walls hadn't changed but the rooms seemed unbelievably small.    Can rooms shrink??  It seemed so.  To our childhood eyes our kitchen was spacious.   The living room seemed grand, filled with furniture but still roomy.  The three bedrooms big enough for us to play even  big games (like basketball) in.    But it took just a minute to sweep our eyes across the tiny rooms.  What a strange feeling.  On the other hand the thing that was small is now large.   Opposite world!  Every summer my mother would be at the side of the house hacking away at a bush.  Being a carefree child of the '50's whose only job outside was to run free during the summer I never had to do that job.  I didn't realize how she was really taming nature.  I have a clear memory of her  turning  to me one day while working on that bush and saying if I didn't cut this down "it would just become a tree".   And indeed it did.   

A spot of color

The lowly dandelion  pulled, poisoned , pulverized by the mower or at the very least completely overlooked  always gets a second look by the little ones.  After all it is so bright and cheery.   And added to my all white lilac bouquet, was a lovely spot of color especially as it was added with love.

A new doll



Just look at you sitting there so cute





wow, shoes, socks and pantaloons too

 







I really like you

 





 





March weather



March 16th at Alki

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  This afternoon of mid march looked like a tie between the two.  Half the sky a bright and promising blue alongside the other half threatening and dark with all the portents of more lion like weather.   And the winner is?  It snowed this morning.  Two more weeks of March and waiting for the lamb. 

Smile and the world smiles with you





                                                                                                              

                                                  A Quote by Anonymous

                                                 Smiling is infectious,         

                                                 You can catch it like the flu.

                                                  Someone smiled at me today,

                                                  And I started smiling too.

           Here is a classic song about smiling.   I enjoyed it even with the scratchy record sounds maybe even more so. 
           Louis Armstrong's band  1929   ...      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCilFJ44mFI

Stormy sea

In my last blog  I boasted of victory over illness.  Then while I thought all was well - a surprise attack by a new wintertime virus.   I've been in battle with it ever since.   I left my defensive position on the couch yesterday to replenish my supplies.  On my drive to the store I came to these turbulent waters along Alki.  The scene seemed a metaphor for my state of mind- besieged by a storm of sorts, battered, tossed about but hanging in there

                                

           PS:   Wow was I gloomy.  I've returned to this post feeling all better again.  Now the scene appears pretty, invigorating and energizing.  Feeling good certainly changes  one's  perspective.                                                                                                                                         

Kitchen Medicine

My organic ingredients from PCC

The first week of my 'staycation' and I was out of sorts.  Not in mood.  My mood was all elation at

having 3 weeks off work -3 weeks of  freedom from structure. Hooray!!  But I felt as limp as a ..well.. as a limp rag.  I took to bed early in efforts to beat the bug , would rally the next day only to fade back to fatigue. Then I tried the same routine with the same result.   No way to spend a vacation.  I needed something to kick this thing.    So I went to the Internet where all questions are answered  and found a tea that  promised to cure whatever winter illness might come along.  What a delightfully delicious concoction it turned out to be.  And I was cured.  I felt better from the first cup and have been feeling tip top ever since.

My mother used natural remedies that were handed down from generations of german russian mothers who healed and nurtured children with their old ways.   Oh how I wish I had paid attention to the makings of poultices laid on my chest or the paste mixed up on the stove that was put on itchy spots with such relief.   And what was in that salve that she put on my foot?  I remember watching in awe at the mysterious preparation (in which lighting a match was involved) of a homemade anti-fungal that worked so quickly and completely  Of course, first I got a little lecture about how I wasn't supposed to be playing in the basement barefoot anyway.  Good advice. 

Ginger Honey Tea

Take a 1-inch piece of peeled ginger root, 6 cups water, 1/3 cup honey, the juice of one lemon and four bags of your favorite tea. Add a slice of rind if your lemon is organic. Slice the ginger into coins, and combine with the lemon rind, water, and honey. Bring to a boil in a small pot. Add the tea bags and steep. Add lemon juice, strain into a teapot, and serve.