by clementine candlelight

Last night we had dinner by candlelight. Clementine candlelight, that is.

I saw a video yesterday over at Apartment Therapy . . . basically you score around the middle of the clementine peel, loosen and gently remove the sections, leaving the core intact. The core is the wick. Pour a little olive oil in and light the core/wick. It doesn't need to dry out or anything, just hold a match to it until it lights.  Carve a little opening in the other half if you want a lid on it.

We liked it better with the lid off so we could watch it burn. It lasted  for 1 ½ hours!

  

  A lot of mileage out of one cutie!

2 things: the dye-pot and beautiful women

This leaf spirit oversees the back gardens from a blue spruce trunk. The tree itself has gone to the great beyond, but for this 7' section of trunk. And nearly all the bark on it has fallen off -- another large section last weekend. I still miss this tree.

Wondering if material collected from a long-dead tree will have any color at all? I'm hoping, but that may be my naiveté -- not a lot of critical thinking going on here! I'll try infusing a few pieces in boiling water, as India Flint mentions in Eco-Colour, before spending too much time on it. It can always be broken up for a nice homemade bark mulch.

                   

When clearing out a drawer this morning, I came across a couple of packages of very old incense. This reddish one was labeled "dragon's blood" -- I'm not sure if that's a folk name for a plant or what. Another thing to look up. But I thought I'd give it a whirl as a dye. Realizing it probably contains a trace of essential oil, I still tried to mix it with water -- it didn't really dissolve but didn't stay afloat either so maybe a better description would be that it absorbed the water while staying grainy. Spread it on silk, misted with vinegar as mordant, rolled it up. Will leave it in a jar on the counter to be unrolled on a full moon. Seem like a possibility? Has anyone ever dyed with old incense successfully?

On another note, today International Women's Day is celebrating 100 years in existence in over 100 countries from Sierra Leone to right here in the U.S. If you visit this website, you can enter your country and city and find events that inspire and celebrate women's achievements. http://www.internationalwomensday.com/about.asp

Once there, you'll see cool notices on the side bar like this:
INDIA: Air India apparently running all-women crew flights on International Women's Day!

I really liked this from an article by Kari Henley over at the Huffington Post : "Who is the oldest living woman you know? Make a point to get in touch with her this week -- give her a call or pay her a visit. Maybe show up with some flowers, or a card, and ask her to tell you what her life was like as a woman when she was young. For it is upon the shoulders of these foremothers we all stand today, and they cannot be recognized enough."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kari-henley/international-womens-day_b_831499.html

Lastly, this short video of beautiful women, all.

3 norn moonday

                                                                                                                                         3 norn moon

Oh, you don't don't know how much I hesitate to show this piece. But I did take that other little pledge down there on the sidebar -- this time the pledge is about showing and sharing your process. I seem to be taking a lot of pledges lately! I don't hate 3 norn moon (a/k/a 3 fates) but I don't love it yet either. The idea here is a hall of life that has three windows: green for the young, maiden years; red for the middle, mother years; and purple for the feisty-wise, crone years. I thought about doors but they looked better as windows. The purple is the largest because that is what is just ahead for me now. There will have to be some creative stitching on this and maybe even some couching around the windows. The moon is from this old project #1 (another pledge -- big sigh) and I had hoped to capitalize somehow on the angles. I was offered some great suggestions (bird's beak, moon rays among others -- thank you!) but this seemed like my easiest option because it's so small.

Today is a waxing crescent moonday in Aries when things are building, growing, and progressing. You may have noticed by now that as the moon moves through the planets, its effects on the body work from the top down -- beginning with the head under Aries and continuing downward to the feet under Pisces. Aries rules the head including the parts to just below the nose. As always, treatments for healing are well-used at this time while it's also good to avoid stressing the same parts.

Aries can be an impatient, stimulating and hot energy around the head making it a common time for headaches and migraines. If you're a migraine sufferer, it might be worth noting under what lunar sign and phase the headaches come on. (I realize that if you have migraines, you're probably already tracking why and when they occur, but maybe having this additional information will be helpful.) Honestly, if I had migraines, I'd use these days, regardless of any existing pattern with Aries, to prevent an occurrence by staying hydrated, drinking relaxing herbal tea, and avoiding caffeine and sugar. I, myself, woke up this morning to a cold-sore on my top lip and that's a pain in my head!

The moon is getting close to the phase it was in when I was born, a waxing crescent 5-day-old moon. The stage of the moon at one's exact birth-time is that person's lunar birth phase and is believed to have an effect on the individual's personality. And, when it reaches that exact phase again each month, called the lunar return, it is experienced as a unique time for each of us. I am beginning to take note of the fifth day's qualities to see if any patterns emerge.

If you'd like to know what your lunar return is, try this website. Click on the picture of the moon at the bottom of your personalized page and you will receive more lunar information. Good stuff.
http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp

I'd love to know how you feel the Aries energy today!

                                                                                                                                     drink more water

a moon is born

It's time. A new moon in Pisces is born today. Other things are emerging from the darkness of gestation, too. I am so glad to think of promise and potential! Even more so with Spring's arrival in a few weeks -- I hope it makes its due date.

just a few of the new beginnings in the moon basket today . . .

stitching ~~ practicing sashiko stitching where the stitch is longer than the spaces in between, love this.

planting ~~ in keeping with The Growing Challenge (sidebar) of starting from seed one vegetable crop (that you've never started before) for each season, eggplant is my choice. It was sort of hard to come up with something new to grow from seed that we will actually eat. And how perfect a new moon in Pisces is for starting a couple of 4-packs of this prolific Japanese eggplant! Another challenge I've set for myself is to grow, but not from seed necessarily, all the vegetables required to make ratatouille. That will be onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, green peppers. A couple of other gimmicks for challenging myself are still in the planning phase.

greencrafting ~~ the inside-out box is smooth and sturdy, reminds me of linen. I thought about using it as a vision board surface and then reassembling it to be a holder of some sort. But it has other possibilities, as well. We'll see on this one, it needs more time in the basket.

concocting ~~ nice, plump ginger root has shown up at the healthy-food store so it's time to make ginger liqueur, my favorite. And ginger tea. And maybe some other things, too. Recipes next week.

inspiration ~~ Pronoia by Rob Brezsny, a wild and crazy, uplifting compilation that's beyond anything I've ever seen. Rob Brezsny must be a genius or a savant of some type. It's rowdy, it's like a hummingbird on red bull -- I laugh out loud when partaking of it in teeny-tiny doses. On the shelf since 2005, I'm only now appreciating it. When the student is ready, they say.

To possibilities with beginnings for all!

zakka pillow

A while back, I flipped through Zakka Sewing by Therese Laskey + Chika Mori. I was looking for unusual stitches and saw a few. But I put the book away because I was working on boro-ing the jeans at the time and decided I better stick with basics.

I wove this last weekend.

A couple days ago, a bell started clanging in my head: it has the vibe of Zakka Sewing! The point is, be careful what you put in your head. It'll come back out somehow . . .

Composed of one red cotton shirt, one beige shirt, some remnants, dyed silk, green silk, and linen calendar pieces. So far, that is.

semi-homemade: rosa body wash

rosa body wash was made. Another one of those I can't believe I didn't make this before moments. So easy, works great with a shower pouf -- it can also be a hand wash or bubble bath. And you can make any fragrance you'd like, using essential oils.

                                                                                                                      ingredients for body wash

body wash

1 cup unscented, natural liquid soap

2 t. almond oil

5-? drops essential oil

Mix the ingredients in a bowl and decant into a plastic squirt bottle. If you label the bottle, and you really should, stick a piece of clear packing tape over your label. Otherwise, the ink will go right down the drain the minute it gets wet!

Note: The essential oil is up to you -- as always, start small and keep adding. I used a rose otto essential oil diluted in jojoba oil so needed 15 drops. Pure Bulgarian rose essential oil is very expensive so it's often diluted in a carrier oil. I love it no matter how it comes. In case you're wondering, I used all-natural liquid dish soap and find that it's very mild, not too harsh, just right.

                                                                                                                            rosa body wash

Something else I've rediscovered is dry skin brushing -- using a brush for a few minutes before taking a shower exfoliates and detoxifies. It stimulates the oil-secreting glands, the lymphatic system, and circulation at the same time. There's more but that's all I'll mention for now. The idea is to use a brushing motion from toes up and head down towards the heart, following the same path that lymph travels. The brushing should be followed by a nice hot shower or bath, with a cool rinse for about 30 seconds to close the pores -- that means just cooler than body temperature for me, but opinions vary. Plus, I've read that a cool rinse makes your hair shiny. The brush, itself, needs to be washed once in a while, too. You can find them at healthy-food stores or on-line.

It probably goes without saying -- this body wash costs quite a bit less than buying brand-name body wash. If you make any, I'd love to hear how you like it and what fragrance you use!

housejeans

                                                                                                          housejeans

I've been stitching on the gardening-jeans-turned-boro, saving them has become my cause. Three large patches on one leg alone, and more to go. I am concerned about future kneeling, bending, stretching, washing, and drying. Will they hold up even with this new outer layer? Is it really necessary that they be worn for strenuous, messy, outdoor work?

Maybe there's a little lesson in here. Maybe the jeans are me. I notice that I feel more effects from physical labor now. I need to do things smarter and it's sort of fun to rethink and revamp -- won't it be just fine if I lay a thick layer of mulch instead of double-digging every new planting bed? Maybe a change is needed for the jeans to be useful as long as possible. Like me. 

Yes, these jeans need to change vocations. From garden to house. Like housecoat, housedog -- work, wife, keeper, boat, coat, maid, etc. they will be housejeans. Where they can be worn and appreciated for their softness and comfort and the way they are permanently molded to my body. The velveteen rabbit effect. Like me.

Who knows how long we can last now?