Energy

Several readers have commented on the amount of energy Larry and I have. I don't know if it is more than most people our age (almost 75). We probably don't do anything unique, but we do eat a good breakfast,  usually eggs and toast, or oats, or granola a few times a week. A bowl of cereal just wouldn't do much for us. 

We don't watch TV in the mornings. Well, right now we don't watch it at all because we still haven't replaced the broken one! Just haven't really missed it. We might listen to the news in the morning on NPR, or read some news stories online, but that's it in the mornings. I like to read a few blogs, or call one of my sons and ease into the day that way.

Then there are breaks. We take them pretty often.  I might work for an hour, then take an hour break. No naps for me, but Larry will take a short one occasionally. (He used to take 2 hour naps, but that stopped when he quit drinking whiskey, and just drinks zero beer unless we go out. That change made a huge difference in our lives.)

We usually have 2 meals a day, maybe a snack of fruit in between. Evening meals are usually light, but not always. Kinda depends on how much I feel like cooking!

So maybe these things help our energy level, or maybe they make no difference and it is just a lifetime of being busy that keeps us going? And I wonder when we will slow down. I can already see that happening, actually, as I read through this post from May of 2009. 

"Here's what happens: I have too many things I want to write about.

It's like this many days--the variety of events of the day clamor to be written, but there is no time to record it all. I have to decide, and often something gets lost in the shuffle and never gets written.

Today is a good example:

Up and out early for work because I have a meeting with the maintenance guys to discuss things like hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, etc. Before leaving, rapid-fire instructions to poor suffering husband about what to plant today. Will he remember all that? Probably not, but I didn't get home until 10 last night so there was no time to discuss the gardens or plans. Show him the asparagus roots and how to plant. Will he get it done? Maybe, but there's a lot to do in the gardens today. The hardest thing I do all day: get in my car and leave for work.


On the ridge the sun coming up over mist-filled valleys below stops me, and I take a few pictures. Still early, I drive on.

Then further down the road the morning dew in the rising sun stops me again. More pictures. Still a little early--but have to get gas. Get to work 10 minutes early instead of 30 as planned. Oh well. Some things are worth stopping for (gas isn't one, but the car just doesn't go well without it).

At work, after the meeting: elevator decides not to stop on the first floor anymore. Call the repair guy. Weird old sprayed on insulation is falling in the boiler room--get samples to send to a lab for asbestos testing. Toilet stopped up (first of the day, there will be more). Get maintenance on to that. AC isn't working because a circuit board blew over the weekend. Repair guys get it replaced. Everyone is happy. Work on cooling tower documents and have a final (I think) draft. I now know more about them than I ever expected, but still worry that I haven't got it right. Work on shelter-in-place procedures. Plan more bloodborne pathogens and MSDS training for tomorrow. Review all the strange security incidents of the weekend with our head security guy and decide further actions. Call back about new bookmobile schematics and logo. Am horrified to learn of the killing of a former employee by her daughter. How sad is that? It was on my mind all day.

Derek (son #3) called to tell me he is being deployed in 2 weeks to the flooded regions in southern West Virginia. At least he'll be at the family reunion this weekend, and they will let him come home for his son's high school graduation. He needs to weld the frame of his son's truck--it's literally breaking in two.

On the way home, stop at funeral home. An older neighbor passed away over the weekend. The huge parking lot is filled, so many people to honor this quiet, gentle man. He will be missed.



On the way home, stop to take pictures of trilliums and maidenhair ferns on the roadbank. Wild things seem to pay little attention to our comings and goings. They continue to bloom and grow where they land. Stop to see Derek at a neighbor's house where he is welding. Promise the neighbor's wife tomato plants and some pepper plants. We have many left over plants this year. Riches!


More pictures coming across the ridge of the sun slanting down over the road. So pretty it just stops you, you know?

At home, get tomato and pepper plants, send Larry down the road with them. First he shows me the goldenseal roots he found today--yellow root, he calls it, a powerful wild medicine. And the bee boxes that arrived via UPS for the bees that are arriving this weekend. The UPS guys hate our driveway, I'm sure, but they come anyway.

After Larry leaves, I get on the phone and call storytellers, writers, poets, trying to fill the last slot in the WV State Folk Festival Oral Traditions tent schedule. No luck for an hour, after about a dozen calls, but I at least catch up on my friends. Finally, a yes! From someone I should have thought of in the first place. Then on to the computer, to think about what to write tonight.

What I really wanted to write about tonight was life, its hurried passing and leaving. Its richness. I wanted to write about goldenseal, about a husband who treks through the hills seeking the elusive plant, about what goldenseal looks like and what it's used for. I wanted to write about the neighbors who turned out in droves to honor their good friend. I wanted to tell you about the family reunion and the beautiful plants my sister is bringing, and about the plants I want to bring if I have time to dig them.

I want to write about so many things, but only succeed in telling you a little bit about each one--and yet each is a story in itself. Sometimes people say they envy our slow pace of life. I understand why it seems that way--when people come to visit, we slow down. Visitors are important, to be enjoyed. Other things drop away. Daily life, especially in Spring, is hectic as we try to plant and mow and plan and clean and still get me to work on time.

There is one thing I make time for every day: writing. Even though I never have enough time to write all the things I want to write about."

Yes, I have certainly slowed down since those days! 

But as the wise ones say, the way to keep going is to just keep going, so that's my plan. Not as fast,but like the tortoise, slow and steady. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Customer Relations

51°f/10.5°C, cloudy after a rainy day yesterday.

We are back to cool weather again! A low of 36° is predicted for Saturday night, which means about 40 at my house. Some places just north of us may see frost, though. 

We went out to buy more plants yesterday, mostly annual flowers, tomatoes, and peppers. I was thrilled that Annette at Blooming Blessings greenhouse remembered that I wanted Black Krim tomatoes, and raised some! Talk about service! She promised that next year she will try to have the no-heat jalapeños I like too. She knows how to have a steady customer.

Speaking of customers: I sold a set of 12 little cake plates on ebay, but when I went to pack them up, there were only 4 of the pattern  sold and the other 8 were a different pattern. Oh. Dear. I was mortified and let the buyer know. She said to send them anyway! What a nice lady.

And speaking of ebay: here are some of the things we have sold lately. It is always interesting to see what people want.

First, and oddest, I think, is this:

It was an empty box! I sold the monkey in my booth but the buyer didn’t take the box, so I listed it on ebay, figuring someone would want it for their monkey. It sold in less than a week.

Then this, a Fenton lamp globe, bought at auction for $16 and sold on ebay for $150.

R here were 3 of these artist series canisters at Goodwill for $5.99. I have sold 2, one for $35  and one for $45.

I have had this dish a while, a square Anchor Hocking fridge dish, and finally decided to sell it. 

Another auction find, bought for $16, and sold for $70. It's going to Ireland!

These are chandelier parts. We broke part of this chandelier, so took it apart and sold it that way. Made a little profit,  at least.

This is the clapper from a big cast iron bell. I bought the bell but it was cracked. So I sold the yoke that held it on ebay, use the bell as a planter, and finally got around to selling this piece.  My $50 returned about $150.

A bunch of women's vintage hats, gicmven to me by a friend. I sold the lot for $25, and the buyer was quite happy!

Another Goodwill find was this nice vintage handbag. $5.99, sold for $25.

And last, this book, which I showed here before. Paid $11 for the lot, sold this one for $35. The others ranged in value from $2 to $11.

We have been going to flea markets today, and auction pickup, so I will have more sorting and pricing to do. 

I'll end with these two videos I saw on Facebook. The first is about the raising of the Sistersville, WV ferry, which sadly and unexpectedly sunk last week. Is it repairable? If so how much will it cost? And where will little Sistersville get the funds? I have ridden this ferry many times, and it has a special place in my heart, as two friends have been ferry board members and kept me up-to-date on ferry news. 

The second is from the Australian The Voice, and i find it just mesmerizing.  Enjoy!

Dandelions!

Granny Sue's News and Reviews

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Thursday, January 16, 2020

Dente De Lion: The Lowly Dandelion

63°f17°C, overcast after an overnight shower. More showers expected today. I hope so. We need it.

This is from a post I wrote a few years ago. I thought it deserved a re-post.

Dandelion: The French call it dente-de-lion, meaning lion's tooth, because the shape of the petals was thought to resemble the shape of  that cat's dentures.

photo from last year

Like so many other plants, there is much lore attached to the little golden face of early spring.

For example:

• Woven into a wedding bouquet, dandelions are considered good luck for the new couple. 
• Dandelions in dreams mean a happy marriage. 
• They are also seen as symbols of hope, summer and childhood. 
• In medieval times, dandelions were used to predict a child's financial future when the flower was held beneath the child's chin; a golden glow meant the child would be rich. 
• In 18th century England children held the dandelion under their chin too, they thought that the more golden the glow the sweeter and kinder the child was.
• The dandelion stalk was used to predict how much a child would grow in the coming year, so children worked hard to find the tallest stalk they could.
• Dandelions have also been like the daisy--plucking petals and chanting “he loves me, he loves me not” 
• The dandelion flower opens an hour after sunrise and closes at dusk, so in some cultures the flower is referred to as a "Shepherd’s clock".
• Make a wish immediately before blowing on dandelion, and your wish might come true. 
•   Some say that dandelions are symbols of grief and connected to the Passion of Christ in religious symbolism; they are also one of the bitter herbs of Passover.
• Five dandelion flowers are the emblem of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The citizens celebrate spring with an annual Dandelion Festival. (from Wikipedia)

And then there's the seedhead: There are so many superstitions connected to blowing on the seedhead! Who would have thought it. We've probably all blown away the seeds from a dandelion's puffy seedhead. Many people believed that when the seeds are blown they carry good thoughts and affection to a loved one.  If you blow on a dandelion seedhead and all the seeds blow away, you are loved. If some seeds remain it might indicate that your true love is not all that sure about you. Another belief was that the number of seeds left on the dandelion's head showed how many children a girl would have. Some say that the number of seeds remaining are how many years you have left to live. A common belief is that the number of seeds left is the time--so if there are ten, it should be ten o'clock, I have never tested this, but this superstition led to the term "dandelion clock" for the seed head. 

Science tells us that the seeds' feathery "parachutes" (the pappus hairs) close when rain threatens. The dandelion is an excellent barometer, it seems. Its weather prediction skills are demonstrated best when the blooms have seeded and are in the fluffy, feathery state. In good weather the ball opens fully, but when rain is on the way, it shuts, very much like an umbrella. If the weather is  showery, the head stays shut, and only opens when all threat of rain is past.

Dandelion uses: 

The sticky white sap was used as a folklore cure for warts and corns. 

All parts of the plant may be eaten so dandelion is a valuable survival tool. The leaves were considered a spring tonic, helping to cleanse the blood after a long winter.

Dandelions are used to make wine, of course--only the flowerhead, though, and not the green parts as they will make the wine bitter. They are also used to make jelly, but I've never tried that--yet.

From Wikipedia:  "Its ground, roasted roots can be used as a caffeine-free coffee alternative.[46] Dandelion was also traditionally used to make the traditional British soft drink dandelion and burdock, and is one of the ingredients of root beer. Dandelions were once considered delicacies by the Victorian gentry, who used them mostly in salads and sandwiches."

The flowers of dandelions are typically eaten before they start to become seed heads, as although the fluffy "parachutes" are edible they are tasteless and their texture is considered unpleasant.

 Did you know that dandelions were intentionally transplanted from Europe to the New World in the early days of European settlement? Now they are at home all across America. 

There are many names for this little plant: bitterwort, blow-ball, lion’s tooth, cankerwort, clockflower, Irish daisy, priest's crown, puffball, swine's snout, telltime, yellow gowan, and probably many more. I find it very interesting that a French term for them, pissenlit (pee in bed) attests to the root’s diuretic qualities. England echoes this with their name, piss-a-bed.

A dandelion poem, from The Flower Fairies website:

Here’s the Dandelion’s rhyme:

See my leaves with tooth-like edges;

Blow my clocks to tell the time;

See me flaunting by the hedges,

In the meadow, in the lane,

Gay and naughty in the garden;

Pull me up—I grow again,

Asking neither leave nor pardon.

Sillies, what are you about

With your spades and hoes of iron?

You can never drive me out—

Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

Long, long ago, so the story goes, the flowers had a huge argument about which of them was the most beautiful, the most special, the most loved by the humans and by the fairies. The argument lasted for weeks, with each flower claiming to be the most beautiful and the most loved. Finally, all of the flowers agreed to let the Flower Fairies decide.

I believe this story, like the images above, are from one of Cicely Mary Barker's books about flower fairies. Ms. Barker (28 June 1895 – 16 February 1973) wrote many books about fairies and flowers, which remain popular today. I have found the story in many places online, with no attribution as to the author, so I am not sure of its source.

Dandelion and the Flower Fairies 

The Flower Fairies sent they're gentlest and kindest of spirit fairy to settle the problem and to give one plant her blessing and the title of the "most perfect" flower. The little Fairy decided to test each flower by asking them one question.

The first flower the Fairy talked to was the Rose.

"Where would you most like to live?" she asked it.

"I would like to climb the castle wall." said the Rose. "And then kings and queens and nobles would pass by everyday and exclaim over my beauty, my scent and my delicate nature."

The Flower Fairy walked sadly away from the Rose.

Next the Fairy came to a tulip, standing tall and proud. "Where would you most like to live?" she asked the Tulip.

"Oh, I want to live in a public garden" said the Tulip. "Where everyday people would come and admire my wonderful colors and see how straight and tall I stand." Once again, the Fairy walked a way feeling sad.

She walked until she came to a forest. There she found some Violets. She asked them "Where would you most like to live, little Violets?" "Oh" said the violets quietly "We like it here hidden in the woods where no one can see us and where the trees keep the sun from dulling our beautiful color." 

The fairy thanked the Violets and walked on looking for more flowers to talk to.

She talked to the Tiger Lily who was much too wild and fierce.

She talked to the Sunflower who barely answered her because all she wanted to do was be warmed by the sun.

The little Flower Fairy talked to the Orchids who only wanted to be taken out to dances and she tried to talk to the Narcissus but it was too busy looking at its reflection in the water to speak to her.

The little Fairy, with tears in her eyes, was ready to give up and go home when she came to a field with bright fluffy yellow flowers on long thin stalks. The leaves were long and jagged and very close to the ground. But the flowers....oh how happy and cheerful they looked in the field!

"Little one" said the Flower Fairy,z "What are you called and where would you like to live?"

"I am a dandelion" said the little flower."I'd like to live where ever there are children. I want to live beside the road, and in the meadows, and push up between the sidewalks in the cities, and make everyone feel happier when they see my bright colors." The Dandelion chattered on happily saying "I want to be the first flower that the children pick in the spring and take to their mothers. And I could tell if a child likes butter by being rubbed under their chins, and if a child makes a wish and blows my seeds, I could carry that wish on the wind."

The Flower Fairy smiled brightly and said "Little Dandelion, you are the most perfect and special flower of all and you shall have your wish! You will blossom everywhere from spring till fall, and be known as the children's flower."

And this is why the dandelion comes so early and pushes her head up everywhere with such strength and determination. And why she is so loved by children throughout her long life.

For tons of dandelion fact, fiction, and crafts, this is a good source.

More folklore here.

Yet another story on this site.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.