walking up the road

can't help but think of the reggae song,, "walking up the road with a pistol in my hand." only i'm wishing i had a blow torch in my hand - i was actually looking at my stack of newspapers and contemplating creating little fire bombs to ignite as i walked, tossing them on the ice, leaving a few cinders too - ach. I saw several turkey prints in the wet snow mix from last night (picture of the 33 turkeys that were in the front yard the afternoon it began to snow - no doubt a warning i didn't get - like a big snow is a coming)...
so much mist rising from the snow cover that i doubt i will get to see the big blue moon - but it will be lighter out - i maynot need my head lamp walking down from the blue house. New year, new decade tomorrow!

screaming time

there's excited peek-a-boo screaming time
and then there's i had to back the car half a mile down the road screaming time
road still too icy
weather isn't looking so great for melting
not exactly Prius conditions

luckily Alma's coming for dinner and tomorrow I can borrow the CRV.

mega bright

so bright out, sun on the still snow covered fields
blinding
aim to clear out more of the chicken yard
presently taken by Ez and Jen's book
writing stories about my grand parents
fun

the stockings are hung

this is my stocking! chicken wish bones and guinea feathers and the Virgin Mary! we've hung all of ours on my fireplace mantle as there is no chimney at the blue house. Jennicksa got hers via FedEx yesterday evening and is most excited. the snow is melting on the road pretty well, tho there are places , such as under the pines, where winter lingers - and lingers.

snowed in

nothing like being snowed in to bring out the Christmas elf in one - DD perusing a toy catalog while Baba sews! I was out of the hollar today for the first time in a week - still had to hike up and down the road to reach CRV parked at the top.- and finally I coaxed the chickens out of their house which was beginning to be a real cooped up coop.

I clean...

I clean
no more boots tracking in the house
I wash
no more musty smoke smell in his room
I sweep
no more dust and web accumulation in his spot
I burn incense
no more remnants of twenty year man.

Pathetic Feminist

I cried when he said good-bye
against all plans
I stood up-right but eyes failed
muscles lost grip on face
he said, "you'll be better off without me."
I did not deny

beginning with giggles

crisp walk up at 8 this morning to play with DD while her people went to work - we studied the chickens from the kitchen window out in their defrosting yard, we scrutinized several books, repeated words - and DD herself unprompted said "kiss" and touched her lips when she found her chocolate kiss counting book!
the day somewhat disintegrated when i trudged down to my house, message from John that he'd flunked the stress test (well, they said NO cigarettes before the test) and was getting a heart catheterization and would need to be picked up around four. Luckily no blockage was found, the umpteenth nurse/doctor/anesthesiologist said you got to stop smoking. Looks like the oxygen tank is dogging John; he don't want to look . and i must have repeated my line: you've chosen the cig over me.

thinking of DD

looking at toddlers at the store today, looking long at small ones, listening for stray first talk! imagining DD's day! sending another snail mail. sending hugs in the wind over the bayou.

Hayne Rudolf's daughter

Last night at the Mary C art opening for three artists working with wax, encaustic, I was my mother's daughter, enjoying being more anonymous and proud to be the sculptor's progeny. Then again I was also Rudy's daughter; and Rudy's bar has quite a reputation - folks adore Rudy. He is a very social gadfly; happy with anyone who comes into the bar, greeting people as if it were his home - which in a sense it is an extension of.
one of the artists in the show, Judith Burks, works in the 9th ward, and has wonderful protraits of friends and of her former students. Her use of wax was the most subtle; it gave depth to the protraits and a surface texture to the flesh. Kat Fitzpatrick works with bees, has brought bees back to Bay St Louis - her abstracts of imagined hive and imagined magnified flower parts have a built up wax surface.

Hsyne Rudolf's daughter

in my mother's world

so we walked again in the preserve, the so tall loblolly overhead, glimpses of the bayou. lunch at Chef Scott's sushi - i guess i've no complaint!

driving down to Ocean Springs

hating to leave home, hating i suppose because old and settled, rooted even - knowing the weather will entice, as will good friend, and i will float thru the days until i return to river, house and family in the blue house. wish i were seeing Ez and Jen this visit - but i do look forward to my Christmas visits with them.
oh, sweet DD i will see your face daily - i sense you will be talking more, as you today named the balls: purple, geen more than green! and how did you say orange - orn ?? oh, what fun you are.

scary

I am upset at the Health Care reform bill that the House passed - limiting public funds for abortion. I am more upset at WOMEN who seem to have no idea of history, or what it was like before abortion was legalized. But then I think why am I surprised. Young women today have grown up with easy access to birth control and live in a world quick to moralize. It now seems preferable to have children out of wedlock than to have an abortion and to possibly finish high school or college! Or how about not over populating the world? I thought this was a battle already fought....

a reluctant chair

i still have slots to fill at polling places in District D with Democrats who will stand and hand out sample ballots to voters....not a fun job on what is normally a cold and/or rainy day. I would love to find someone to take this job; i pray that someone will want this job. I could just quit; i hate doing that without knowing someone will help; however, that is how i ended up with the job! Qigong last night was a workout - hopefully healing this last reminents of cold.

snake in the sink

we are not sure just how this baby snake got into the sink, but it is now outside, hopefully finding a warm hole for the winter. I seem to have caught the flu, but am feeling almost completely well after day and half of sleep - disturbed by sciatica more than anything. The very sore throat and chest congestion was alleviated quickly with homeopathic remedy - walked up to get my Sunday paper in this brittle sunny day.

George dies

Yesterday afternoon we buried our dog; George a beagle showed up in the hollow when I was in New Orleans caring for my mother who was dying of cancer. John didn't tell me until I came home; and though he had wanted a beagle to go rabbit hunting with him, it was Skippy (my puli and the last of a line of pulik raised in the hollow) who nurtured George. Skippy and George went rabbit hunting, neither would go with John and a gun! George was 14 in human years and had a habit of deficating by paths in front of houses - she often went up to the blue house in need of company we suppose. I have three cats, but they can't touch the space a dog sleeps in the soul.

ach do

"We are the Saudi Arabia of coal"
"the cost of burning less carbon may be greater water pollution"
not charging market rates for water, agriculture uses tons of water as do coal fired power plants (for cooling) - carbon and water have been too cheap. NY Times reporter's series, "toxic water. Charles Dohig (?) the safe drinking water act has fallen apart; it fails to address the increasing number of chemicals which get into our water systems - and there is too much arsenic that IS still regulated! EPA should be better at releasing the contents of public water. water filters do help especially with city water because of chlorination process (which can cause bladder cancer).
If using a well, it is suggested to test water once a year!
ach do
ach do
from Terry Gross interview 9/19/09

Apathy and inertia

I realized this weekend that I am unfortunately not alone suffering from election inertia; oh, i plan to vote on Nov. 3 for governor - in fact, as de facto (i think that is how i should describe the fact that no one else in District stepped forward to be chair) head of District D, I will visit all 5 of the polling places and hand out literature and try to coax others to help. But when my sick dog got sicker yesterday afternoon, I was delighted to stay home to care for George and forego the Demo Dinner - almost everyone I had asked to ride with me had other plans. We worked so hard for Obama just one year ago; I suspect we've little election energy remaining. And locally there are hired workers calling and canvasing which depletes my sense of being necessary. And it is cold....

papa John and DD

Great news for Andi; yippee, her car loan payments are going to be less then half what she was having to pay! cheers! When John came home, DD and I went to see him and Papa John picked up DD for the first time - they're like old friends now! We had fun while baba and amma saw WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

cat in a pot

Katrina is disturbing the flowers, but they're annuals and not expected to thrive indoors! we may get snow tonight! I am scheduled to baby sit this afternoon, while Mindy and Baldwin go to the movies; that will lighten up my day. Nothing much to report, burned the assemblage of weekly paper and fed the chickens old bread. George is looking poorly, from the groundhog i guess. John's off to Roanoke to help Andi secure better financing on her car - sure hope all goes well with that!

yet another rain full day

Someone in Qigong class last night mentioned how we'd suddenly caught a dose of Seattle weather - how true - hopefully temporary lapse! Even though I only make one class a week, Qigong has I feel made a difference in my health - in spite of the rainy weather, I don't have a painful sinus headache. Generally looser body movement, though still working on shoulders.

sunshine on a rainy day

i was expecting some sunshine, but DD and I went out into the grey morning to walk through the garden, say hi to the chickens and pick some marigolds. the marigolds were in water for awhile, until it was just too tempting to see if they made a sound when mashed together like cymbals. we read some books and a magazine from Save the Bay (grown up things have such an important and fascinating look). we helped Papa John finish his eggs and applesauce. Then we had to go out side after the ordeal of diaper change; lucky for us the rain held off until DD was home and napping.

chickens in the coop by 7PM

The days shorten; of course the chickens confirm this - it only seems more sudden than it is. I know it is October! I often light my wonderful ceramic pumpkin that Amy and Corinne and Celeste and Calista gave me. When the sun came out this afternoon, the maples in the woods grew more vivid yellow and orange. I must go shut the chicken's door and take in the bird feeder which the deer love to raid at night, along with chomps of my impatients and roses.

Honey and Cinnamon

From a seminar by Robin Murphy, ND in Blacksburg this past weekend: honey and cinnamon have various and wide medicinal uses: strengthen immune system, kill influenza germs, remove pimples, helps digest food, lower cholesterol, stop pain of arthritis and more. For colds take one tablespoon honey (warmed) with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder daily for 3 days. To add to tea, first make a paste of honey and cinnamon (1 Tbs honey to 1 sm. teas. cinnamon).
Another amazing natural medicine is CHIA SEED - which IS the seed used in the "chia pets" to sprout on the terracotta base!! look online at : getchia.com or rawfoodworld.com . This superfood from south America bestows endurance and staves off hunger and thirst - "Indian running food."

the chair

DD and her baba; DD sitting in a chair for small folk that i brought back from my dad's - one of two that my sister and I used.

morning fun

DD down to stomp about, gleening in garden for soy beans to feed the chickens, checking out the studio deck and swinging on the front porch. Of course, we helped papa John eat his breakfast and gobbled up a few grapes.

missed a frost

Delight, my impatients survived! Strange story night before last which no one has tongue to speak of: opossum head near the chicken coop. Was it a message from coyotes who have been heard in the area?
we've a tiger in the hollow now too! Halloween costume for the tiniest among us. hope to have a picture soon.
Fun in Roanoke yesterday with Andi; went to the Taubman museum - amazing space with Cinderella staircase. Liked the show by Judith Schaechter who works in stained glass, tho she totally breaks out of any preconceived ideas of subject for such medium! Pae Whites's large exhibit was impressive; what he does with light is almost other worldly.
Am planning to make a papier mache mother, i see the face as near Muriel Rukeyser; I am hoping that we do get to do a show.

busy day

Pearl this morning, this chilly wind full morning that demands coat and hat. We put on out coats and mug about, but it is not even sunny yet. Have tea this afternoon to plan for Friends of Library program in October; then to Blacksburg to pick up blue taxi load bound for Ann's.

Pearl visits

Katrina ate the food i left out last night! She is much much better, played with Pearl and was good about returning to house after we let her out. Pearl and I strode out to catch the sun in our rubber boots this morning, dancing in the warm light that takes almost til 10am to reach the purple house. 2 1/2 inches of rain yesterday - today the light so autumn like, brittle. John mows.

Katrina sleeps

Rain could persuade me too toward bed. Tried to coax Katrina to eat some of the vet cat food. She licked, but stopped. I got out the syringe. Messy, but some went in her mouth. Will try again this evening.
I turned on the thermostat today.
Guess the ukuleles are out up in the blue house.
about to put on rubber boots and walk up to get the mail.

Home from Vet

The vet couldn't find a cause for Katrina's fever - but she's now got antibiotics and some high protein can cat food that i can soften and feed her with syringe. She's in the chair with me. The vet also noticed a heart murmur that he thinks is serious enough that we should x-ray. ah, I do wonder at the secret events in her life last weekend; what was the adventure? Baldwin and Mindy and Pearl surprised two black bears yesterday just below the damn - smallish ones (most probably same ones who got into the sunflower seeds this early spring). Baldwin suggested that Katrina may have been treed for a couple of days. I thought at first she'd eaten a frog.

cat again

well, we were in the hot tub, fat from good meal with Baldwin, Mindy and DD; I was calling Katrina to come out and bother me for a head tickle (which she is wont to do when i'm in the tub). Suddenly John says, "she's there in the bush (mock orange)." sure enough, her eyes glowing. I hadn't seen her all day. so after soaking, I crawled into the bush and got her out; she's so weak it was easy. She's not dehydrated and she is drinking from the faucet. But not solid food, nor the broth. I'm keeping her inside tonight as we're due for heavy rain. i but some rescue remedy in her water dish.

Cat Story

From Sunday until Wednesday morning, Katrina (my female grey cat - who is in the snow picture) disappeared. She who is usually my companion at the computer, nudging me to scratch her head, seems to have eaten something which disagreed - i speculate that she finally caught a frog. She's drinking water from the tap and sleeping and eating cat treats (a few). I gave her Arsenicum yesterday and made some beef marrow bone broth.

last afternoon with goats

will miss the meditation that comes with proximity to goat rhythmic chomp
of noticing the small biology of the spot
from my perch on section of old front yard maple's trunk
will miss the day sectioned by duty at the blue house
looking out on the lotus pond back dropped by looming Red Bud
from the porch hammock with Mo and Irie and Alaska cat

dark up at the blue house

Time for me to fold up the computer and head down the road; lollygaging in the quiet - with Mojo and Irie who seem to like the company. Still uncertain what poems I will bring to our meeting end of this month - i like Mindy's idea of making papier-mache masks for each of us...i should begin!

frogs

The road trip to Top Sail was a success, Baldwin phoned from the little purple house on top of a dune looking out at the ocean, DD in her bathing suit ready for a swim! I can almost feel salt air just imagining them on the beach. I'm up at their house waiting for blue Cochin to decide to enter the chicken coop which is full of everyone else: 6 little Dominic's, 6 big ole reds, 7 odd mix except for blue. nice to see more of the sunset which is abbreviated in the hollow.

morning sunshine in grey day

another rainy morning moving into afternoon, lucky for me I had DD to cheer me ! Meeting tonight at Ann's for WEB6 to discuss new production/play - i'll be the blue taxi. I need to dig up my old play on caring for my mother dying from lung cancer - assuming that it is on this computer!Recalling on walk back from the river the event which estranged me from my sister and mom: their mononucleosis and my banishment to Gram's house when I was 8 or 9. No one to find out more details of this time; my Dad doesn't remember - I should ask Ashton if her remembers when I lived across 2nd street from him and we rode the bus to Country Day together and played casnasta with his parents. I can remember the big bedroom that i stayed in with a huge bathroom; toilet with beday. I remember sitting on the toilet with my feet in the beday! Gram, my great grandmother was dying in a room at the end of the hall - it was a bit spooky thinking of her there - and of going into the room where she'd grab my hand so hard. Such a skeletal hand and body and that smell of baby powder on an old body. Netsie and Florence lived in the very back - old servant's quarters attached to the big old victorian house. They fed me and cared for Gram; I remember pancakes with corn syrup, which has forever caused me to hate corn syrup! But I loved the round loaves of bread toasted in Netsie's old slant sided toaster. Netsie was my grandmother and her siblings' German nurse; Florence had been with my grandmother since she was a girl.

my take on a sound flu kit

Swine Flu Remedies 2009


ARSENICUM: Recently used in Mexico. Anxiety (esp about health) and restlessness even with exhaustion – burning pains. Thirsty for small sips of cold water. Moaning, lack of vital heat; worse after midnight (2am to 4 am)

BAPTISIA: This also used in Mexico this summer. Foul odor to discharges, breath,sick room.bruised pains, uncomfortable in any position (bed feels too hard). Difficulty swallowing, gags on solid food; rapid septic state. Feel as if body is separated in pieces.

BRYONIA: Want to be left alone and quiet; aggravated by any motion. May make impossible demands on others, irritable. Great thirst for large quantities of cold water. Vertigo, dry lips, severe head pain (better from pressure), coated tongue. Ache all over especially in joints.Dry painful cough.

EUPATORIUM: Severe flu in which the bones ache as if broken; the muscles and the eyeballs ache. May be restlessness and sleeplessness, thirst for cold water.

GELSEMIUM: Number one 1918 flu remedy; used this year in New York for swine flu. Flu developes slowly. Thirstlessness. A dull ache in the back of the head (stiff neck), dizziness, weakness with chills up and down the spine, muscle aches, heaviness in the body, lethargy, droopy eyelids. This remedy is good also for complaints lingering after the flu.

NUX VOMICA: Used this past summer for swine flu (Herscu's genus epidemicus). Flu with high fever and violent chills and rigors. Worse movement. Thirst for WARM drinks. Head pain that is sensitive to light and noise. Easily irritalbe. Cramping in abdomen, vomiting, diarrhea.

hollow-sphere

John's getting in the hot tub, i'm reluctant to leave Monfils giving Nadal trouble at the US OPEN! First day with Facebook "wall" and overwhelmed at the immediate response having been playing with my blog mostly whispering into the hollar-sphere. Like wondering for the umpteenth time why there are so many loud ignorant voices screeching about Obama health care reform as if it were the plague. If I wonder on Facebook someone will jump back - does encourage intercourse. Though I suddenly feel like i'm part of a town instead of a hollow!

edamame from the garden

delicious steamed edible soy beans from the garden last night! And this morning roaming the world with DD who favors walking out to the drive to play with the gravel and other little tiny things in the path.
an old poem comes to mind:

Bicyclist
round, though very proud carriage, the small town
bicyclist "woo-wooed" through the parking lot
like a Greek enthusiast or toddler on first
red trike
until smiles on all faces of the humdrum
who have stopped
to resuscitate a scene often forgot:
that only a fool can pivot on joy!

Piglet's new pal

Between soccer and drumming on pots and drum, Piglet traveled all about the house and even to swing. Don't you wish you could dress with stripes and swirls - and DD's coat was covered with technicolor mushrooms!

new painting

The white mouse who reminds me of Alice's white rabbit now oversees my dreams under skylights which I've always speculated might summon visitors from other worlds - Baldwin's painting so perfectly fits!

September here

Halcyon day, 49 degrees this morning, dew so heavy splashed from my boots on way to open chicken coop. Warm though on the roof of the studio where i was to paint over rust spots, but I cowered just off the ladder and couldn't stay! Instead, i painted from the ladder. I trimmed the obstreperous trumpet vine from the deck and John filled in the hole he excavated to fix the broken water line this spring. A day to complete work on our duty list.
Cheered by James Blake's 2nd round win at the US Open this evening.
Andi visited yesterday and brought DD an adorable cabbage patch doll - DD seemed absolutely delighted as she hugged the doll to her.

the heart knows no bounds

DD tried out several chairs this morning, strode through the dewy grass, helped me remove the sheets on the bed in the studio and pontificated on the state of summer and the quality of cat fur! Oh favorite of toes, she loves walking on the gravel drive way - barefeet - while Nanee goes, "slower." She points and I name, never sure if name matches direction of pointer...

goldenrod

We didn't have goldenrod in New Orleans. But at my grandmother's in August, the sight of goldenrod signified the end of summer in Pennsylvania - and i didn't want to go home. I wanted to see what winter was like; i wanted to sit by the fireplace as we did occasionally if unseasonable cold in July. And i loved the solitude of the house at the end of the road in the very small (pop. under 200) village of Upper Leehigh.

George in her new bed

Sleeping the sleep of no fleas ! The puzzlement is, why are dogs prone to flea allergies; is it too many vaccinations ?
Yummy dinner last night with Alma: silver queen corn, roasted green beans, tomato salad - all from garden, corn bread, sausage and Alma's wonderful blackberry cobbler. a Thanksgiving fullness in my stomach.
Another delightful Friday morning with my grand girl - walking all by herself! what sweetness to share the view of this world from a 13month old - from the rug in my living room, we looked at each painting and sculpture and i was amazed at what stories were held in each piece!

would not say too much

speaking of rain: knowing that the water table benefits and imagine never too much, but rain has been the order of the day that i am wondering when i will wash clothes, if that is mildew in the grass, whether John will play golf, when the river will be swimy again,if i should give up on growing sweet peppers, and so on. Walked up the saddle of Red Bud to look for the wild plum trees that Baldwin said were bountiful. Found one, indeed heavy with plums - though none quite ripe. Katrina cat followed me, bounding through the high field grass. A score of locust trees have sprouted in all this summer rain and the slope threatens to be overgrown and impassable by tractor soon - the responsibility of acreage!

goat duty

while Baldwin and Mindy and DD are in Charlotte, i've got goat duty - taking advantage of high speed Internet while Mojita, Pablo and loose Sonresa graze on chains until i get up to walk them and Mojo to the river. Goats being goats, i guess to have coaxed two out of three onto chain was good - they do love the walk; the tricky part of which is to get by my house without the devistation of flora - they've already eaten most of a red minature lilac and another shrub whose name eludes me.preserving
still tasting the delicious strawberry float i had yesterday at party for Robin Murphy - and very interested to see some of Robin's poems.
i guess i should move these old bones, tired from picking beans this morning! i must think of another way of preserving them besides canning - after walk search on Internet!

the finale

Since August 1st the hollow has hosted Ezra, Jennicksa and Kingsley! What happiness to my heart to have my sons within sight and hug. This morning, 10th, Ez and Jen and Kingsley drove off to Pittsburgh to catch planes back to Denver - I am cleaning my oven in an effort to keep from idle sad thoughts. They had a wonderful time on the river yesterday as Baldwin guided them. Mindy and I were jealous not to be on the river with them, but I did enjoy time with grand daughter at her house and at the river. Ez and Jen will be busy packing up for their move to Denver within the next two weeks - and I will look forward to seeing them in November or December. Until then, the garden aches for attention and I float the New with friends of Tuesday!

another blustery sky drama day

Living in the hollow has always reminded me of living on a boat. We had a 36 foot ketch when i was a teenager and we spent weekends and summer sailing in Lake Pontchatrain and Gulf of Mexico. The similarity being the weather. Today I am hoping that the dry squalls prevail, that the river begins to clear and that more tomatoes have opportunity to ripen! The hollow is not nearly the close quarters of boat, but relationships are indeed isolated from distraction. Most exciting for me is that eldest son is visiting with his stunning wife and their feisty adorable Maltese, Kingsley! Will soon have more pictures and new distractions. I am so looking forward to Uncle Ez and Aunt Jen getting acquainted with their niece - what fun. Now though I must return to the monster growth of weeds.

knock-outs

i need to plant some more of these wonderful roses! The color striking against house and flowers from spring to fall, ah; if the few i've put in do well, i plan to route some of my day lilies in front and plant more roses. I'm also trying one of those giant hibiscus that die back in winter, not sure it will survive here, but good color . Got acupuncture this morning at Cooley's and this afternoon I've a follow up with doctor in Christiansburg, hoping to meet Sarah Bradford who was the doctor whom i had hoped to see before in the too big practice.

Sarah Bradford MD is wonderful; and she agrees that I most probably did have scarlet fever, the Bell's Palsy happening because i was so run down by the illness. she said that my face is healing so quickly that there should be no lingering effects and we laughed so over her comment that her husband was also her worst patient!

Diane emails that because of listener response, WUVT is rebroadcasting the interview show from June 21st from 3-5 this Sunday (8/2)! It is odd to think of just what that response amounted too; i like Kelly's notion of 2!

Girls Outting

Beautiful blustery day, comfortable weeding weather and mulching with grass clippings - old half a grimmace is near presentable! Mindy and DD and I ventured out to Target and Kroger; DD facing forward in the car now made for boisterous conversations. Little feet has some new shoes, although none that she wants on her toes in this warm weather! Soon, no doubt, we will be hearing more of just what she's noticing on an outing - i suspect that stores are still an almost overstimulation of color and sound.

oh, not so fast

i'd love to say that i am much repaired; but not the case: a face that 1/2 smiles and 1/2 sags (Janus). I woke up Tues 7/21 with Bell's Palsy on the right side! Since my last post on the 15th, I had gotten an RX of amoxicillin because I was still miserable after seeing doctor on Monday the 13th who said i just had some virus. Mindy figured out that the rash I had on my side and the "spider bite" was also rash - which with the fever, chills and sore throat might mean scarlatina. So i called back the doctor who sent in the Rx. But I never felt better on the Amoxicillin; Monday the 20th I got adjusted at the chiropractor which helped my hip pain. Tuesday, however, woke with swollen face and tongue which first made me think allergic to Amoxicillin. It was later that i realized it was one sided and there was numbness and paralysis (like Novocain) on the this right side. the doctor's office said that they had nothing to help me and to go to ER (i am very disenchanted with my new doctor's office). I had taken some Apis in morning and later Causticum; but with a sad resignation i allowed John to take me to the ER. Now I have the arsenal of conventional pharmaceuticals: steroids, antibiotic and antiviral. Doctor thinks that all along i had Lyme's (and indeed I did have a tick on my lower leg - but only for seconds - and on Bell's Palsy morning I found tick on my right ear). He said the Lyme's test doesn't always show much and is expensive, etc - so I'm on Doxycycline. Then for the Bell's Palsy I am on antiviral and prednisone. Do feel better in that no body aches, fever or chills. Weeded my sweet potatoes this morning and planted some more onions. Woke last night when a lovely squall came thru the hollow. John and I even made some dill pickles which I have stored in studio frig instead of processing in hopes they will be crisp! Am still in pickle overload!

back to appetite

Misery is the flu, lucky us to have the daily goat parade and grand daughter's first birthday. The fever and chills have moved elsewhere; i am left with bone pain and some sinus pain. But my hunger is back and I am again enjoying our garden! My spider bite has enlarged from the circumference of a quarter to that of a small oval plate - it looks less inflammed. Still managing to get through the day only with the help of Tylanol. My search for my own homeopathic remedy is convoluted: I grabbed Gelsemium the first night when i forced my aching hot body downstairs at some pre dawn hour to find help. By the second day, I realized the Gels. was not helping and managed to prop myself up long enough to get on internet and check out the Herscu Lab. Nux Vomica tool. It seemed a better fit. And yes, it stopped the severe chills, but by day 5, all symptoms thundered back with higher fever and burning eyes, desire for cold cold pack on head, lots of anxiety. I took Arsenicum. I was still having to take two Tylanol (generic) every 4-6 hours for the pain in neck, occiput, sinus, left shoulder. Day 6 I was back to just Tylanol, only to feel on day 7 that I needed the repertorize again. This time I ended up with Eupatorium Perfoliatum. But I only took one dose: as I lay in bed around 2 AM it occurred to me that I had not added how depressed I had become; how much sickness had made me feel an adject failure. And I had not noticed until that morning how left sided my body pain had become, and the sinus pain was now a boring pain over the left eye. So back to the computer, the remedies were getting closer I thought, what symptoms were left were important and they stood out clearer. So today I took Aurum which also covers wounds, bites of poisonous animal!. I feel like I am on the mend though slowly!

the pig

i don't know how a pig suffers flu, but we seem to have contracted the so called swine flu. Aches all over, especially neck and jaw and forehead. Weak, shivering, horride taste in mouth and no appetite. Would like to sleep - but lying down the pressure in the head is worse. what would a pig do? going to try to watch a netflix.

kayaking on the NEW

Friday was so chilly as to raise fear in my heart that the fourth on the river might be disastrously cold; but it was a beautiful day. Before we'd gone 1/4 of the way from Eggleston to Pembroke, we beached at Ann's for a glass of wine. Tod's boys, John Henry and Paul Wyatt, checked out our motley crew - no doubt, finding Alden of most interest in the double kayak with her dad. We took Tod's advice to take the inside passage by the island - and it was lovely but very shallow. Bob was smart to not follow. What fun to chat with Larkin as we slowed down as the river slowed - legs dangling over the sides of the kayak. Chris and I want to outlaw motor boats; Stefen wants to put a motor on his kayak! Beautiful beautiful river, wonderful comraderie, good time for the soul.

like fall day in July

The beginning of Dog Days announced the radio; oddly not so here, lovely balmy cool day - fine for planting another line of edible soy and to replant my second planting of corn. And my thoughts lingered on how much i always longed for seasons as a child growing up in unseasonal New Orleans - I remember looking out of our bedroom window on Henry Clay at the stunning Maple which had turned crimson and dropped its leaves. I recall longing to stay in Pennsylvania at my grandmother's and not return to school in New Orleans - to know what winter was like, to feel the cold. Was it seasons I longed for; or escape from the unchanging home?

wonderful visit with Stanley and Sharon, two of their grandchildren, Liam and Chance! Chance who by the second day felt comfortable enuf to don his black watch plaid robe (and he wore it home!) and Liam who talked John into giving him his first target practice with a 22.

And Bad Girls met again for lunch, at the Buffalo store this time.

watering the garden

mr turtle in the cucumbers while John was watering this evening, i relocated him to the creek. the warm days necessitate watering, but this is the first year ever (in 35+) that i've had cucumbers in June and tomatoes! Yellow squash soon big enuf and looks like a good bean year. The oddest thing is the almost nonexistent blackberry crop on bottoms - very very strange. I think it was the late frost at flowering time; Baldwin and John think the heavy rains. tomorrow we're driving to Beckeley for John's high school reunion; should be a beaufiul time to drive up.

lovely afternoon

So salubrious as to imagine forever this sun, light breeze, 80 degrees; however, Dad says it feels like 114 in Ocean Springs and that feeling is spreading north. I will enjoy this day for everyone in Hades today.
Is it because we have to learn - soul learn - to mature and have to play again the theme we hung up on before, that this world seems in endless strife? So war plays in the many theaters of the globe, and some of us are spared - though we are unsure why (flat feet spirit?). And if we are not armed for combat, I guess we still battle none the less. I know i do, not only weeds in the garden, but stray persistent thoughts eroding confidence and diligence. Though often my mind is blank and slower to respond; I still can fire off retort i would rather have not thought.
So I walk.

here's a link

www.wuvt.vt.edu/audio/TalkattheTable/TalkattheTable21June09.mp3

If anyone out there needs some background noise, here's a link to Father's Day interview , "Art and Spirit"of myself, Noelle Dijoud, Kelly Sisson, Brad Bizzel. Noelle is a yoga teacher in Blacksburg who began dancing as a young girl in Paris. Kelly is minister at Glade church, a wonderful potter and delightful soul. And Brad who was a principal at Belview, speaks about making art with his special needs son Eric. It was fun, too quick - so much sparked, so much to say - or perhaps to paint or to dance, or to meditate over!

cucumbers

surprised in the garden to find two fat cucumbers, sliced the largest for salad, putting the two end pieces on my eyes. and in the picture is the last lime from last year's crop; now there are oodles of babies. Wish I had a picture of grandbaby in her baba's hands at the river in absolute delight as he tossed her up in the air! what glee for this beautiful halcyon day

way up

This is a view, Kingsley's first hike in Colorado. This morning in Virginia it feels like clear Colorado air. Hello! Ezra reports that Kingsley hiked the whole way.

first gardinia

I noticed that the chickens were massed at the door to their house and I speculated that the black snake we think stole eggs day before yesterday was back. Ah, Yes he/she was, all 6 feet! I cornered the snake and yelled for John. I'm no good at killing, though, I imagine if John wasn't here, I might try to bag the snake and relocate. Snake is dead; here's a gardinia in memory and I'm off to Blacksburg!

radio interview WUVT

Today, father's day and my mother's birthday, my friend Diane is going to interview me and three others on WUVT - "Art and Spirit." Of course, Diane asks and I say YES as I did the first time i met her 30 odd years ago and found myself naked in my corn field! Luckily this is radio and as long as i keep the four letter words in line, it will be OK. I can read some poems and talk about how I came to study homeopathy; as with poetry, it was a personal motivation. I'll be curious to hear what i say! ha.

from this past weekend

As I mentioned in earlier blog, Robin Murphy ND, spoke of a North Carolina man who is having success curing people of terminal cancer with a warmed solution of maple syrup and baking soda. There is also a hospital in Rome that is using IVs of baking soda to cure cancers. Baking soda alkalizes the body which makes the body inhospitable to cancers; cancer needs an acidic environment to thrive - and loves sugar. Robin was hypothesizing that the maple syrup works as a delivery system for the baking soda; candy with poison inside - poison to cancer cells! (the ratio of baking soda to maple syrup is 1:3; heat for 5 minutes)
Amazing what we already have in our homes that can heal us - or harm us! I wonder if people realize how acidic most of their diet is and how important it is to eat fresh organic or locally grown vegetables and fruits. I think Edgar Casey said that all canned food is acidic, meat, dairy (though i think that raw milk is ok?), breads, sweets.

fire again

I'm not saying that the angry one is responsible for the disintegration of a relationship, it definitely takes two. However the angry one needs to step back and look at the anger. What's going on here? Anger escalates - and can be so f------- righteous. I've fingered out this much about my own kind of ire: I'm mad at polluters, I'm mad at chemical corporation who have pushed herbicides and insecticides, I'm mad at all of us who are hurting ourselves and the Earth. I'm upset with us for hurting our own bodies. So I must be angry at suicides; although I have wanted to respect that choice, I have finally had to be angry. Angry at my sister and father for choosing to kill themselves even though they had such little choice. What help was there for war shock in 1948; or for my sister in 1962 for manic depression? But I needed to be angry and I wasn't. So NOW I'm angry. Watch out!

notes on anger

this morning I could not get the screen to POST, so i ended up writing a document which now will not cut and paste to here, why i don't know. Basically I was talking on ANGER and what it can reek on self and relationship. Anger that wants an object, projecting onto the nearest and dearest being. For me when I came home after 3 months caring for my mother dying of lung cancer, I was angry. My periods had stopped; I was a 49 year old angry mother. First I made a plan and stopped smoking; no help, just on my own.But I was still angry. I attacked my partner's habbit,"I didn't stop smoking just to die of passive smoke!" He said he'd stop, but it has been 15 years and he's still got "his best friend." I don't like my anger locks. Why am i so pissed off?

My bay magnolia

The magnolia is thriving in this rain. I'm working on a list of remedies for the home, a better medicine cabinet. It would behoove people to throw out (not flush down toilet) all prescription drugs; especially families with children. There is an epidemic of prescription drugs in the schools. We don't need them - most all of them are unnecessary. There are better home remedies and homeopathic remedies. Baking soda is perhaps one of the most amazing wide acting items in the home. Many of us know that a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda mixed with a little water can alkalize the system, great for indigestion! A little baking soda and vinegar makes a fine poltice for bee stings.In a wonderful seminar last weekend the homeopath, naturopath, eclectic healer, Robin Murphy spoke of a retired truck driver, herbalist who is curing late stage cancers with a warmed mixtrue of maple syrup and baking soda. Cayenne pepper can stop a heart attack. Someday historians will marvel over the pharmaceutical giants of this day and perhaps see this as another power move similar I think to the murder of witches in Europe when the church sought to take over the art of healing and herbalism. In this case the phamaceuticals used marketing via the great brain wash medium of TV to persuade the general population of the need to seek a drug for any and all complaints. What a boone for the Drug Companies to realize the secondary benefits of drug induced maladies; eg. folks on high blood pressure meds who become depressed. Note the "side effects" of drugs is a list of provings; homeopaths know this as they did the first drug provings. ach.....................

another rainy day

Lucky for me, there's a daily parade that cheers even the gray days and gets me running after the goats who love to devour anything that you want them to avoid! This is the Queen of the parade.

doodlebugs

I find I am naive about doodlebugs. Armored yes, but nasty munchers of delicate flower leaves I had not imagined. But instead of a slug problem, i've a doodlebug problem. They devistated in one night most of the leaves of my pink/green leaf annuals, and even ate the leaves off the marigolds. They seem to be massing on this flower pot to get out of the saturated ground and they don't like impatients - at least not so far!

The TIN Coop

John nailed up my sign for the chicken coop, sign isn't crooked, my picture is! River is high but not so muddy; the creek's mouth is very changed, cleaned out of leaf debris. Too wet to plant my soy beans and okra. Lazy day.

hail

Two noisy thunder storms this evening and the second one had hail which iced down the eggplants on the porch along with everything swimmy in garden. Water down John's just graded road! Hope it hasn't washed out again. One inch of rain in the two storms turning the river, i suppose, mudlucious again. The beach has been transformed from the high river last week, sand taken elsewhere. Very very wet out, the green house gravel is yet to dry out. Cool and cozy in the house waiting for the chickens to roost!

why the snow world

This spring I have been negligent of my blog; thinking it might be the snow world opening, I almost changed the picture. I did not (obviously) because I can't choose from the daily changing world of spring/summer - every day is beautiful, especially since we have come out of a several year drought. Noon is retreat time from the heat; good time for blog blah blah blog! Today I voted in the democratic primary; the turn out in District D is scant; I suspect because all three candidates for governor are good. I voted for Deeds after vascillating between him and Moran. I will work for whoever wins; though I think almost as important for my area is the representative race between Nutter and Peggy Frank. We need more democrates in Va. house. I'd like to see some Greens! Here comes my cat, Katrina, bounding up to my chair and nudging to be petted - she's the cat in the snow world. My two old male cats are sleeping (Griffin is 14 and Greystroke is older tho we're not sure by how much).
this morning there was a poignant scene on the gravel road: a handsome black cat looking at the body of a white cat. I am fortunate to live 4/10th of a mile from the road; although I managed to run over one of my dogs on my driveway. Pathetic Austin (a Chesapeake Bay with displasure) had eaten something and nearly died a month before; I almost think that he purposefully got under my tires as I rushed one morning to work. He was never a happy puppy and would growl when you would try to pick him up to move him from a chair. Nevertheless it was horrible to roll over him.
Guess I will umph myself to finish the mulching job I started earlier!

Enough sun to inspire more hikers to see the big red brown river.

lots of rain

View from the spring house of our creek fat from 4 inches of rain on saturated ground. Hiked down this morning to check out the big red chocolate river. Our road is miserably rutted and a creek runs thru the pines and infront of the house.

You can talk to books; big people do: Dew Drop picks up one of her good for teething books and chats to it: "dada daddda dadda."

Baldwin brought me a baby bird in his cupped hands, "can you raise him?" "I think he's a jay," and indeed, though mostly naked, there were some dark blue feathers and he/she was not as small as some baby birds. Oh, yes, I said because Baldwin asked. Found a box and shredded newspaper to make a nest. Thought to dig some worms for food. Baby bird was urgent in his shrill cry; i picked up a small worm with some tweezers and managed to set it in the wide open bill. But the worm was not small enough, wiggling out of the beak. So I cut the worm; it writhed. I thought of my earthworms which I feed for castings. I thought of the hierarchy of life. Who says worms don't feel pain?? The bird swallowed the tiny pieces. Half an hour latter I was digging more worms. Chopping up worms was not going well; they seem to have a defense mechanism of putting out slime. It was harder to pick up the still moving pieces in the tweezers. I thought of sleep. I thought of no sleep if bird was going to survive the night. John suggested the cats. Instead I stuffed as much as i could into the little one and went to sleep by 11pm. In the morning, though very quiet, little one did eat a piece of worm before locking up his bill and sinking into sleep. er - death.

New Chicken house

Home for a week and busy with garden since arrival; Baldwin built a wonderful new chicken house while we were gone - recycling tin roofing. Tomorrow John and I are resetting the chicken fence so that the hens can access their new digs. It is a most lush spring, tho a frost last week burned the fresh tender magnolia leaves, black walnut leaves and, i fear, some of the day lily buds. Planted the tomatoes and pepper and cucumber plants; yesterday put in a row of sweet potatoes which i got at Slaughters. Frost also took the tops off of the potatoes - it is always a gamble. I've pulled out most of my plants from the greenhouse! Risking it all now - will plant beans and corn this Memorial Day weekend. will add a picture tomorrow.

Rudy's lounge, the late afternoon ritual: dad's social hour or two; this evening there was a wedding party from the hotel who came in for drinks and sodas as the wedding was dry except for punch. John and Dad had lunch at the new Biloxi yacht club then John coaxed Dad to the casino. John won $14 and Dad lost $30 - Dad now vows to never go back!

down in Ocean Springs

Made the 800 mile drive to my dad's house in two sections; rain in both, though not hazardous, welcome grey skies for driving. Spent the night on Tuesday in Fort Payne AL north of Birmingham; Wednesday morning out drove a line of tornado potent clouds down to Gulf Coast. Dadz bar has a new patron who plays 12 string guitar and sings; odd round 30 yr old dressed in three piece suit (it's May here - like 84 degrees)... the bar regulars love him and buy him drinks; he's a music therapist from Biloxi who is sitting with elderly couple. Looking forward to falling asleep with Junot Diaz's fabulous THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO and seeing my good buddy Sharon in the morning. Magnolias are blooming.

flu update

Follow up on swine flu; my teacher, Paul Herscu has a website on his on-going study of flu - at this point the genus epidemicus for this flu is Nux-vomica (if symptoms fit this remedy picture, especially serious chills, high fever with sensitivity to light, odors, noise). However, the remedy may morph.

puppets

Hard to venture from the hollow in this beautiful weather, but i took a morning walk to the river and i ended the day hiking thru the pine woods to the blue house to visit DD. And in the middle of the day I saw a puppet show, Galapagos George, at the Lyric - wonderfully imaginative puppets and a fine environmental message (Galapagos George is the last tortoise on one of the 13 Galapagos islands as a concequence of men visiting stealing eggs and leaving a pair of goats!). I loved the blue footed booby and kept thinking how much Joni Pienkowski would have been tickled! How much fun puppets are; i remember my mother making puppets.

more on flu

This morning in letter from my teacher, Paul Herscu who has studied epidemics for years, there is good evidence that this swine flu in Mexico will NOT become a pandemic: hot weather helps curb spread and that although this hybrid flu strain is scary, it appears that the lethel aspect of the virus has not remained stable. It did seem worrisome to me that the reported deaths in Mexico were of healthy 20-40 yr olds, and from my homeopathic studies, I figured that it was because of the strong reaction to the virus by the individual - tooo strong a reaction.

River Day

Excavated an inlet for precious one at the beach - DD loves splashing water on her face and loves being held in the water so she can jump up and down (johnny jump up in the water!). Watching her play, i remember hours at the river with her baba and uncle Ez. Baba would nap under the bushes, which are no more.
Listening to public radio talking about the swine flu in Mexico and now in America; looking for symptoms which might give clue to homeopathic remedy. So far mentioning only the familiar flu issues: high fever, muscle aches, cough, head pain, can have nausea and/or diarrhea. At early onset could take Oscillococcinum. If too late for Oscillococcinum (or if not helped by it) and bones aches terribly, Eupatorium perfoliatum may be called for (head pain in back of head), sleepy with fever, shivering, better for sweating. Rhus tocicodendron is another good remedy for flu with fever alternating with chills, when one sweats at the least exertion (and is worse for motion), needs to pee often, aching in legs, joints and may feel as though hot water running thru the blood vessels. And there are other remedies...hope the flu fails to spread further.

spring picture

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seriously intense blooming redbuds this year, full of bumble bees and other buzzers
scores of blooms yet to burst from the wisteria, which has only bloomed once in its 10 years of being here
lilac out today, amazing spring

Went into burg to meet Pat for movie at Lyric,"The Class," memories of school board and of teaching. Fault of expulsions; limits of respect - when the boundaries of class rooms are violated by society's obvious lack of respect for the teaching profession. This French movie could easily have been filmed in America. Interesting discussion: can education alone help raise a student out of poverty? Only if the student can manage the education academic system in place. Too many students have little respect for the system available; they want money and things...what does an education garner when the drug dealer has better clothes than the teachers? wisdom from the mouths of rappers.

awkward cats

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I was harvesting a full tray of worm castings talking to John home from golfing, when plunk: Griffin cat fell off the deck! What a hoot. It wasn't more than a two foot drop; humiliated, he slunk off under the deck to continue his nap on the ground. We have "snow" hen back, as she proved to be an escape artist in Baldwin's hen yard, who favored scratching in their flowers. She's definitely laying because of the 8 eggs today, one and only one was snow white. Beautiful day for Baldwin's birthday who exclaimed that the precious DD in his arms is the best of birthday presents - indeed she is. She's wearing her new beret from Uncle Ez and Aunt Jen from their trip to Paris. It is the most SPring lovely of days , shiny black crow stalking worms in the yard - dog wood flowers like little pink cups - and the red bud are just about to be prime.