Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Those who have not found the heaven below, will fail of it above.     ~from the Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

Disclaimer: Anything posted here is for education and entertainment. I am not a doctor, just someone who loves folklore and learning about how people coped before modern medicine. You are entirely on your own if you want to experiment. Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum , is all those green umbrellas you see on the roadside, and they are abundant this year.  Common names are mandrake, ground lemon, hog apple, love apple, umbrella plant, and wild lemon. Male plants have a single leaf. Female plants have two leaves. The blossom and fruit is produced where the leaves split. The mature fruit is about the size of a small egg. I have found it tasteless, although some say it is lemon flavored, and some say they have made jelly from it. The plants colonize, and sometimes, it looks like a green rug covering the woods. Every part of the plant except the fruit is toxic. Folklore claims the dried roots were used as a purgative to remove worms in the intestines. ...

Today is John Tyler's 222 birthday.  He was never meant to be President, and wasn't a very popular one. William Henry Harrison, who had killed a lot of native Americans in the Battle of Tippecanoe, ran for president on a 'let's all party' platform, and picked his old chum, Tyler, from Virginia as his running mate.  Tyler wasn't real interested in politics, but his name worked well in the slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too".  Harrison was so excited about being president that he spoke for two hours in the cold March rain and wind during his inauguration.  He developed a cold, which went to his chest and turned into pneumonia.  Harrison died on April 4th, when he was still trying to fill his cabinet. Tyler was enjoying his life in Virginia as an aristocrat, drinking fine wine, reading poetry, and making babies (he had eight at this time).  He was against almost everything.  After he became president, he vetoed so many bi...

Yesterday, Hub and I went to Huntsville to visit our son and daughter-in-law.  After we saw the new plants in the backyard and played with the granddoggers, all of us went to Bennett Nurseries, just a few miles from their house. Mr. Bennett has transformed his nursery into a park, more like a botanical garden than a place of business. In addition to this eye candy, the Bennetts also provide  water, sodas, and Starbucks coffee to their customers.  For FREE.  When was the last time that happened to you? This trumpet vine is on a beautiful arch that spans the walkway. Decisions, decisions.   These are the plants that came home with me.  It is entirely possible that you will see them again. This is where I want to work when I grow up.

Thousand Red Birds by Phil Porter We clutch our tiny bits of faith in tight fists shoved firmly in our pockets. We clutch it suspiciously, so unwilling to let it go we don’t want to lose it. We clutch it fearing that once it is spent,we will be without hope, cast adrift, out of luck. Help us loosen our grip. Help us to pull our hands out of our pockets. Help us to uncurl our fingers stiffened over time. to grow,to shimmer,to pulse,to explode into the air like a thousand red birds. Faith is the supreme effort of your life - throwing yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God." - Oswald Chambers

Spring Break is finally here! The flowers appear on the earth;  the time of singing has come,  and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; Song of Solomon 2:12

It's spring fever.... You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”  ~Mark Twain Take the day off.           Play like children.                   Feel the spring around you.                            Be grateful that spring has come.

If you are traveling through the Smoky Mountain National Park from Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Cherokee, North Carolina, you will see the sign to Mingus Mill on the right just before you leave the park.  Last weekend, we were privileged to spend some time there.   The mill was working, the huge grindstones powered by the little river outside and almost underneath the building, just as it has been doing for 126 years.  The cornmeal they produce is sold to visitors. The Mingus mill was first built in the 1780s.  It was replaced by the current building in 1886.  It was owned by the Mingus family until it was acquired by the National Park in the 1930s. The wooden floor was worn smooth and the building vibrated slightly with the turning of the grindstones.  The traditional water wheel is not there; it is powered by water flowing through vanes of a turbine. My mama told us that during the depression, one hard winter her family exis...

Forsythia is like a little bit of the sun, captured and kept against the gray landscape of late winter. It is the first color here, and in many parts of the country, and is always greatly welcomed. Forsythia and the red quince are the first flowering shrubs that I can remember.  Possibly because they are so easy to move and propagate, these bushes were found at almost every home place.   Occasionally, when we are riding in the country, we see forsythia blooming at a place where the house and people are long gone, surviving without anyone to water or fertilize or love them. Any home looks better framed by forsythia.  As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.   Numbers 24:6