A Little Greek in your Diet?

A little Greek Myrtle goes a long way!  What is Greek Myrtle you ask?  It's a great houseplant herb that the leaves can be used in place of Bay leaf.  I have tried numerous times to grow Bay in the house here and I have never been able to get one to harvest able size!  One got scale and had to be yarded out to the porch to die in the cold (they are zone 11 or something), and a few of them just died - it may be that it was never warm enough in the house for it even - we keep our house at about 68 degrees in the winter even so .... not really zone 11.

So I eventually found Greek Myrtle!  Its a beautiful plant and it replaces Bay without anyone noticing!  I never even pull it out of the hot dish like you should do with Bay (how much of a pain is that?).

Greek Myrtle is hard to germinate from seed - all the information says "slow to germinate", which says to me "Hard"!  I have never tried to grow it from seed, because of all the information that says its so hard to germinate.  So I bought a plant from Richters Herbs.  Check out the information at Richters Herbs for more information about it.  They show a picture of the plant blooming, which mine has never done, but I'm not letting mine get to 8' tall either - no room for that!  I only let it get about 3' tall.   The leaves also are a little waxy, so they dont really get that dusty look that some houseplants get - especially after an earthquake or a windstorm!  It is a beautiful plant!

This is the mother plant - this one is about 7 years old, and I have cut it back a number of times and I have also taken the cuttings and put them a jar of water and started other plants with it (thats what the upper photo is - a start from this plant).  The plant roots from cuttings really easily so I definitely recommend that route!

My plants are in the window on the North side of the house.  They really don't seem to mind being in the dark for a few months of the year - seems to have no effect at all on them.  This window is only about 2'x3' in size and doesn't get direct sunlight until June and July in the early mornings and late afternoons.  It also doesn't mind the cooler temperature in the house, and it likes to dry out (not desert dry) between watering and have good drainage.   The flowers are used in potpourri, essential oil for fragrance, and as I said before the leaves for cooking!  An easy care plant that is so useful! 

Blessed Be!

A window to the Herb world!

Last summer was a great summer for my herb patches - the ones that I keep on the side of the shed (read about that here) did beautifully and I was able to bring most of them indoors to have fresh herbs throughout the winter.  Its one of my favorite things to have on hand and growing them is much cheaper than buying them especially if you are saving them from your summertime season!

I was able to bring in 4 Rosemary, three Sage, a Thyme, and for the first time ever, 1 Lemon Balm!  The Rosemary I use ice cubes to water them most of the time, as pouring water over them doesn't work well - it needs a slower watering than poured water gives it.  In the summer I just water them the same as all the other plants - it evaporates quickly with the wind and sun.

The lemon balm struggled during the dark months but now that it is getting lighter it is really growing again!  I did give them a drink of worm juice about every 6 weeks this winter and that has made a big difference I think in how well everything held up.  Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis) has a plethora of uses; tea, on cold sores, sore throat gargle, aromatherapy - put some in the sachet with your lavender for a delightful nights sleep!

I recently had to harvest some of the Sage because it was getting out of control in the window and trying to take over the window herb world!  It's not a bad thing - I just hung it up to dry and I still have fresh and dried.  Win - Win! 

Here is the "window wonderland" of herbs!  the other plants are a little cactus garden and two baby lemon trees!  Yes you can grow lemons here indoors too!

And this is what that looks like!  Almost ready and a mans fist sized lemon!  I only got one lemon this year - last year I let the tiny tree set six lemons and I think I might have drained the poor thing, so this year I only let it set one lemon.  It was so hard to knock those blossoms off and pluck the baby lemons away, but I am trying to save a tree here!  

As you are planning your planting and growing this year - make sure you save room for a few herb pots to bring in!  You wont be sorry!

Blessed Be!

We did all that we could....

I have been reading pieces of "A Bed for my Heart" off and on for some time now.  I can't read all of it at once as it is so emotionally excruciating for me and brings so many memories and so many realities of my own situation that I have to do it in small pieces, every so often.

She is really good at posting on Facebook, but not so often that I have to stay off of Facebook for weeks at a time.  Sometimes I have to skip over her posts too - it just isn't always that kind of day for me.

Recently she posted a piece about the doctors and medical staff who work to save our children.  How they grieve with us, and how they never forget our children.  You can read it here.  The article talks about a cancer ward and how she felt when she treated and lost the first little cancer patient she had.  It reminded me of the Doctor and nurse who treated Rye in the Emergency Room and were not able to save him.

I will never forget the look on the Doctors face when he came in and saw me, saw that I knew why he was in the "quiet room", and when he clasped my hands and said, looking straight into my eyes "We did all that we could do."  I looked him back in the face and said "I know you did.

He seemed surprised by my reaction, and Im sure its because he usually sees mothers fall apart maybe right then, or scream and shout and hit him, or worse.  Maybe they blame him and the rest of the staff, I'm not sure, but that is not who I am.  I might have still been in shock.  Maybe.  I think it's more likely that my "mothers heart" knew.  I knew on the drive over to the emergency room, when Reed had said that he had done CPR for 15 minutes or more waiting for the ambulance, then the ambulance staff worked on him for another 15 minutes, and then the ER staff for at least another 30 minutes after we all were at the hospital.  So I knew when I saw that doctor come into the room that all hope was lost.  But my "mother heart" had known anyway.

There is another reason I knew.  My friend Kristen, who was also our school nurse at the time, worked in the ER on the weekends and she was there with the doctor, working her ass off to try to save my child.  She came into the room before the doctor did and we both looked at each other and said "Oh my God!"  She had hoped it wasn't really me, and wasn't really Rye - she had met him at the school just the week before he died, fooling around and filling out paperwork so he could sub on his weeks off from the slope.  She knew him and she knows me.

She told me at some point afterwards, (sorry it's a little bit of a blur - okay - a lot of a blur), that when she recognized Rye and knew he was mine that when the doctor wanted to "call it", that she had said " I know him and I know his mother" and the doctor said "Then we will keep trying".  And they did.  Until it had to be finished.  Until there were no more things to try and no more energy in the room to let them know that there was even a spark of him left there.  They had done all they could.

I cannot even imagine the every day that is their lives.  Working so hard to save a life, of someone they know or a stranger.  A child.  Someones child.  I have to deal with only one every day, all day for as long as I live.  I know the death of my son weighs still on their minds.  What could they have done differently?  Anything?  Why did a healthy, robust, active, in-shape, non-drug addicted 23 year old die on their table for no apparent reason at all.  It boggles my mind, as I know it does theirs.

I still can't easily go to the hospital.  I tried to have a mammogram there last year and I had to go throw up and go home.  I get them done at another place now.  Those smells, and sounds and sights put me right into a panic attack and I can't hardly go past the doors.  Our doctors and nurses have to go back every day.  Try to save another life.  Doing all that they can..... may they be blessed.

Its your Dream! Put it out there! Don't leave it on the bucket list!

 I have been a busy bee quilting and actually sold my first quilt pattern download on my ETSY store "WickedRavenDesigns" just the other day!  Check it out here!  It is an original design and one that I have worked on for a long time!  It is called "Twisted Star".  I was waiting until it was "perfect" before publishing and adding it to the store but a friend said to me - "why are you waiting?  Just do it!  You could die tomorrow and all of that time would be wasted and no one would ever get to enjoy it - including you!"  So I just did it!  It felt great!  I'm not going to get rich quilting - at least not any time soon - or maybe ever- but it is a great feeling to let the ideas flow and be creative, making something in my head take shape on paper or with fabric!  It gives me an outlet for some of my energy when I cant sleep or when I'm struggling with overwhelm or sadness.  Quilting still soothes me!

This is one of the colorways I used for the sample block.  This one actually went to the Copyright office - back when you had to actually send them physical samples (or at least way more than you do now)!  That is how long I have been working on this pattern and hesitantly making my way towards publishing!  

I have about 5 more designs in the works and I am slowly also getting them ready for market.  My biggest drawback is that math is not my strongest area of education so I am often stumped at the math in some of the pieces I want to use. 

Here is another two colorway using florals.  It makes for an interesting spin on the block.

Here is another colorway that I made a small quilt out of.  I was really happy with how the initial pattern made a secondary pattern (the ring in the middle).  So seeing all of these different options - I have put a lot of work into this and my friend was right - all that time would be wasted if I didn't put it out there!  It's not perfect - yet - but aren't we always a work in progress?  We are!

What's YOUR dream?  What is inside of you waiting for the moment when someone says "What are you waiting for?"  Put it out there!  Dream big, small or medium - there's room for all the dreams!

Just Begin.  Blessed Be!

A little Tea Time.....For Hockey!?!

We are all in this together.  Any one who knows me or has sometimes even heard about me knows that I spend a lot of time in the hockey arena.  Not just watching hockey, and not just my kids, or my family.  ALL the kids, and ALL the hockey, including our Big Lake Lions Rec Center, the Houston High Hockey team, and the comp/league teams locally- sometimes even not so local!  A LOT of being a hockey supporter is fundraising - fundraising for ice bills, gear for kids who cant afford it, and lately a lot of time for entire teams and our Rec Center that survived an earthquake (read about that here) and came out stronger and with more supporters! 

What does all of that have to do with Tea time you ask?

Everything my little ice bug, everything!

Right now in Big Lake Alaska, This - 

Is what we are dealing with!  

Nearly a "snowpocalypse" - completely devastating to lower 48 states, but in Alaska, just an annoyance because this -

 is what we are getting ready for!  The Alaska Pond Hockey Classic!  A great fundraisr for the Scotty Gomez Foundation (if you dont know who he is click on the name and check it out).  It's an annual event that is super fun and brings hockey and ice fans from all over the place!  Also will be a great fundraiser for the Houston High team - we are in charge of parking this year!  There has been a LOT of snow moved to prepare for this event!  

But in all reality - I am ready for this -

Tea party!  Outdoor Tea Party!  In the sun, with green stuff growing and blooming and, and, and....

Last summer (early fall actually), one of the local girls hockey teams (Raeley's - my neice) was needing to raise some funds to go to an out of state tournament and someone suggested that they have a "Tea Time for Stick Time".  (Stick time = ice time).  So they did!  I know you remember me writing about how important Tea Party is for everyone and in fact Ive written about it a few times!

One of the guest area displays above - complete with hockey skate turned vase!

Above is the menu's and an explanation of what was served at the Stick Time Tea Party!  It was a three course, high tea style tea party and the members of the girls team were the hostesses!  They were dressed up and they poured tea, and brought courses, and made it so fun!  I had favorites in each course, but if you ask me tomorrow they will be different - not a bad bite or sip in the whole lot!

The second "savories" course above and the "scones course" below, complete with clotted cream and jam.

One of the tea pots and a cup of tea below.  

There was a different tea pot and cup sets for each table, and everything was decorated beautifully!

Every girl loves a tea party!  Two of the young attendees wonderfully dressed to the nines!  Left young lady is my niece, and the other is a cousin!

You can see above that the sky was overcast but it was still warm and wonderful in the yard at Snowfire Gardens!  We sat with wonderful ladies and had fun visits and took pictures and toured the wonderful gardens.  And we had tea!

Above is our table - I am the one in the bright blue at the back.  Somehow my tea party hat (which actually has a delightful dragonfly on it) ended up looking like a "Jeff Corwin Special" from a distance!  More suited for "Curious George" than tea party it seems!  The other girls way out did me hat wise but it was fun and I did NOT wear tennis shoes - or "go fast shoes" as I call them.  My sandals matched my shirt! My skirt DID have pockets though - following my personal rule there still!! 

Above are the family members of mine who were at the party!  14 total!  Kim - my sister-in-law - in the front with the black apron is another uber hockey mom and the "team mom" at the time for this girls team!  Raeley is our girl on the team in the other black apron on the right. The team just won the Pacific District Championships and will go to New York in April to play in the National Championships!  Wish them luck and have a cuppa in salute!  And if you get a chance to - have a tea party with some hockey players - it might just be the most fun you've had in an ice age!

Blessed be!