Snowy Rift by Ana Traina

scatter joy

Christmas Bells!

photo by ana traina

Ring out, wild bells 

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the YOU that is to be.  

Wortcunning!

photo by ana traina

Wort Cunning

Herbal Smarts (wort or wyrt = herb + cunning = intelligence or skill)

(In Old English, a garden is a wyrtgeard , mugwort (artemisia vulgaris) is mucgwyrt, medowsweet is medowyrt, and any healing herb - which means most of them - is læcewyrt , a leech wort) 

THE OLDEST surviving medical book in England is also the oldest herbal, for of course herbs were medicine in the middle ages. This is the  Leech Book of Bald, ( læce in Old English means healer) compiled in Ælfred's time or very shortly thereafter by a monk named Bald, and penned, in its surviving copy, between 924 and 946 by a scribe (almost certainly also a monk) named Cild. It gives recipes for herbal remedies using vervain, mugwort, plaintain, periwinkle (vinca minor), wood betony, violets, yarrow, and many other herbs still in medical use today. Among its formulations are some sent to King Ælfred by Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, to treat constipation, disorders of the spleen, and other maladies. 

Anglo-Saxon medical practices were truly holistic, and sought to heal both body and spirit. A great deal of period herbalism concerns itself with charms and amulets to protect against evil influences, and even straightforward medical problems, say a slice from a seax or plough blade, were treated with a combination of practical and magical means. Wounds were often sung into to speed healing, and the afflicted (or their agents, if they were too ill to do so) ordered to perform certain magical rites - such as walking in a Moon-lit field - as part of the cure. 

Some of the most illuminating relics from the age are the twelve metrical Charms or poems written down, in Old English, in tenth and eleventh century manuscripts. The titles of each Charm are telling: For Unfruitful Land, The Nine Herbs Charm, Against A Dwarf, For a Sudden Stitch, For Loss of Cattle, For Delayed Birth, For the Water-Elf Disease( my favorite), For a Swarm of Bees, For Theft of Cattle, For Loss of Cattle, A Journey Charm, and Against a Wen (wart). 
  

Here is a list of just a few wort herbs: 

Sneezewort, taste hot and spicy, causes the saliva to flow.

Soapwort, used as a cleansing herb.

Pennywort, the leaves look like pennies.

Woundwort, used to heal wounds made with iron.

Motherwort, also known as “womb plant,’ used in difficult childbirth.

If a man beareth with him one twig of his wort, 

he will not be terrified with any awe, nore will a wild beast hurt him;

or any evil near him.

~The Herbarium of Apuleius Plantonicus~

The Englishman's flora

A Bit of Firry Lore!

photo by ana traina

Many years before there even was such a thing as Christmas, evergreen trees, wreaths and garlands were used as a symbol of eternal life, it was first practiced by Egyptians, Chinese and Hebrews.  Egyptians would bring green palm branches into their homes on December 21 st, the shortest day of the year. The palms would serve as a embelm of life's triumph over death. 

Soon after, Romans adorned their homes with evergreens during Saturnalia, a winter festival that honored Saturnus, the god of agriculture. Druid priests also, began decorating oak trees with apples, around the same time, which served as a symbol of life during their winter solstice celebration. 

In the middle ages, an evergreen was dressed with red apples and termed, the Paradise tree. The Paradise tree represented the feast of Adam and Eve, which was held every December 24th. 

The first recorded Christmas tree dates back to the 16th century when, in Strasbourg, Germany, families decorated fir trees with colored paper, fruits and sweets during December. The popularity of the Christmas tree scatter throuout the lands. Charles Minnegrode introduced tree decorating as a custom in Virginia in 1842, and within 10 years, the first retail Christmas tree lot opened. 

BIT OF ODDS AND ENDS: The Christmas tree was introduced to the voting public in the United States by Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President., after he erected the first ever White House tree. Just a few years later, in 1923, President Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, which is now held every year on the White House lawn.

Reindeer Edible Nibbles and a bit of Lore!

photo by ana traina

A Different Ways to Travel

As Christmas lore goes, the story of the sleigh with Santa's reindeer is pretty new. For centuries there have been tales about a kind old man delivering presents to children all over the world, whether he's known as St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, Father Christmas, Santa or any of his other names. Tales of the mysterious and generous old fellow have been around since the fourth century. But it wasn't until the 19th century that the eight famous reindeer entered Christmas lore. Before that, Santa traveled on a white horse in Europe and a donkey in South America.

It is believed that Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzer first appeared in 1823, in the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas," commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas," by Clement C. Moore..

The Scandinavian legends may have been a source of inspiration for Clement Moore when he wrote “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” Historians note that Moore, as an educator in one of the largest cities in America, might have had access to a poem by William Gilley that described Santa Claus being pulled by a team of flying reindeer. The answer may never be definitively known for sure. 

Old Santeclaus

             Old SANTECLAUS with much delight

             His reindeer drives this frosty night,

             O'er chimney-tops, and tracks of snow,

             To bring his yearly gifts to you.

             The steady friend of virtuous youth,

             The friend of duty, and of truth,

             Each Christmas eve he joys to come

             Where love and peace have made their home.

             Through many houses he has been,

             And various beds and stockings seen;

             Some, white as snow, and neatly mended,

             Others, that seemed for pigs intended.

             Where e'er I found good girls or boys,

             That hated quarrels, strife and noise,

             I left an apple, or a tart,

             Or wooden gun, or painted cart.

             To some I gave a pretty doll,

             To some a peg-top, or a ball;

             No crackers, cannons, squibs, or rockets,

             To blow their eyes up, or their pockets.

             No drums to stun their Mother's ear,

             Nor swords to make their sisters fear;

             But pretty books to store their mind

             With knowledge of each various kind.

             But where I found the children naughty,

             In manners rude, in temper haughty,

             Thankless to parents, liars, swearers,

             Boxers, or cheats, or base tale-bearers,

             I left a long, black, birchen rod,

             Such as the dread command of God

             Directs a Parent's hand to use

             When virtue's path his sons refuse.

William B. Gilley, A Children's Friend, 1821.

photo by ana traina

Reindeer Edible Nibbles Recipe (Gauranteed to guide Santa's reindeer to your chimney!)

Raw Oatmeal 

Bird seed -- for flying powers

Gleaming Glitter (I use a silver or gold base and mix red and green in with it)

Brown paper lunch baggies

Paper or cardstock

How To Make It

1. Pour about 1/8 cup of oatmeal in baggie. Now pour 1/8 of bird seed into baggie as well.  Add some gleaming glitter. Seal baggie.

2. Attach to the front of the baggie the following message. "On Christmas Eve, sprinkle this wondrous Reindeer Edible Nibbles on your lawn. The shiny gleaming glitter will sparkle in the moonlight and the smell of oats will guide Rudolph to your home." (not for human consumption)

A BIT OF ODD AND END: Santa's Newest Friend
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, was created in 1939 by Robert May, an employee of Mongomery Ward. The department store wanted to create a free giveaway book for children as a promotion. May wrote the story in rhyme for the book, which was a big hit with Montgomery Ward's customers. By the late 1940s, approximately six million copies of the book had been distributed.

Nero's Silky Milky Bath Bags!

photo by ana traina

Silky Milk bath recipes are a relaxing way to rejuvenate your skin, body and mind during the pre-Christmas week. These easy, zingerful recipes using goat milk will make you feel milky and silky smooth and full of zip! 

The following recipes can aid you with revitalize your skin, and itching (a winter problem that seems to be haunting many of my friends) and other such plights. 

Milk Bath Bags Recipe

Use about 1/2 cup mixture per bath.

This is an excellent recipe for sensitive, dry or itchy skin. Add the following to warm bath water:

1/2 cup raw shelled sunflowers seeds -- finely ground

1/2 cup oatmeal (colloidal is best) also finely ground

1/2 cornstarch

1 cup dried goat milk or fresh goat milk

Vitamin E oil capsules or 1/4 cup honey

Now in a coffee grinder, grind sunflower seeds and oatmeal together until powered, about the consistency of cornmeal. Then divide into fine single-bath portions (meaning a 1/2 cup each) Now, if desired, you can add your favorite essential oil...personally, I adore birch or blackthorn. When the scent pleases you, put the mixture into a zip lock plastic bag, or reusable muslin bag. Store in a cool dry place until ready to use.

OR for a Detox Cleansing Bath

Milk Bath Recipe #2 

Combine equal parts of:

• powdered goat milk

• sea salt

• Epsom salts, and

• baking soda

(For an energizing bath: use mint!)

BITS OF ODDS AND ENDS:

• Fresh or powdered goat milk has fats and protein that help moisturize and rejuvenate skin.

• Fermented goat milk products, like buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream and kefir, have lactic acid, which helps remove old skin cells to expose new, younger-looking cells. Use in place of fresh milk if desired.

Before you jump in the tub, here are some general guidelines to help make your bathing experience exactly what you need.

• Amounts are only a general guideline. Use more or less of an ingredient based on the amount of bath water, and the specific benefits of the ingredient that you need.

• Larger grained salts will take longer to dissolve than finer grained ones.

• Hot water baths will make you feel fatigued, while warm water will refresh you.

• Essential oils are extremely concentrated. Use only one to a few drops, and learn the properties of each before using, as some may not be appropriate for certain health conditions.

• When using all dry ingredients, you can mix up a recipe in a larger amount, store in an airtight container, and scoop out as desired.

A Cozy Cup of Comfort!

photo by ana traina

Last week, I came down with something a little bit more than just the sniffles. Quite unusual for me, I usually never get sick! I simply don’t have time for it, and therefore I am a terrible, terrible patient. However, the one thing I did for myself that made it all somewhat bearable, and just may have put me on the road to recovery a little faster, was to sip a cozy cup of herbal tea. Here is one of the recipes I used --

Ginger and Lemon Tea for the Sniffles and a Little bit more!

1 1/2 cups of water

1/2 cup of lemon juice

4 slices fresh gingerroot

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne ( helps with inflammation)

1 tablespoon of honey

Bring water to a boil. Bruise the slices of gingerroot and drop them in the pot. Let simmer for a good five minutes. Remove from heat, strain into your favorite cup. Now, add lots of lemon, (and don’t for get to use the rind as well, that is where all the good stuff is.) honey, and cayenne.

Another cozy cup of tea you may want to sip is green flowering tea,
with dried rose buds and orange peel with honey...Yum!

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary.  ~Chinese Proverb

Strange and Simply Odd Remedies!

photo by ana traina

Here are some strange and unusual folk remedies that you really have to think about, but what is really unimaginable is that are still used around the world, today. Like putting slices of onions on the bottom of your kid's feet inside his socks to rid him of a fever? 

Or curing leg cramps by going to sleep with a bar of soap. Trully, it is said that the cramps are cured when you sleep with a bar of soap under the covers at the foot of the bed. It also makes you smell springy fresh in the morning. It sounds far-fetched, but various families in North America swear by it.

In Europe, in medieval times, if you wanted an aphrodisiac, you could collect black ants and dry them, then mix them in white wine. The people believed that if you drank that, you would become very sexually motivated. (Food for thought!)

Many people swear success by rubbing their armpits with a half of a potato, to eliminate excess sweating. There isn’t really a logical explanation why this works, but some people believe it does, and that is that.

If you have paint or smoke fumes in your home, one weird natural remedy proposed that you should set a bowl of vinegar somewhere in the room. It was believed that this would absorb tobacco and paint smells.

Some people believe that you can cure malaria by eating compressed spider webs. There was some belief that there were medicinal ingredients within them that had some value, but the specifics have been lost to history. Some of the more robust folk tales even include eating live spiders.

In Chinese lore, you can get gum out of your hair by rubbing it with a chocolate bar. Other cultures say to use peanut butter to get the gum out. Supposedly the gum will easily slide off your hair when you wash it after rubbing the chocolate bar (or peanut butter) on it.

Bit of Odd and End~ One of the most intriguing potions is for ‘Lady Delafountaines strengthining pills’ 

It reads: 'Take the Jaw bone of a Pike, dried and beaten to powder. Then take venis turpentine of the bigness of a nutmeg, steep it all night in white vinigar being pricked full of holes and drie it.

'Make it in sugar pills and take three, nine mornings together... Eat not for an hower [hour[ after; the pills must be as big as a hazelnut.'

Fairy Sighting!

photo by ana traina

And as the seasons come and go, here's something you might like to know.  There are fairies everywhere:  under bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day.  So listen, touch, and look around - in the air and on the ground.  And if you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wing.  ~Author Unknown~

Mapley Snow Recipe!

photo by ana traina

"Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
 With a corncob pipe and a button nose
and two eyes made out of coal. 
Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say,
 He was made of snow but the children
know how he came to life one day."
-  Christmas Carol

MAPLEY SNOW RECIPE:

Yield: 8 children

INGREDIENTS

2 cup of clean snow; OR 1 tray of assorted ice cubes;
1 cup Mapley syrup;

MOST NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 

Pan or bowl
Normal sized Measuring cup
Saucey-pan
8 bijou paper cups
Table & spoon - no that can’t be right, ah, I mean, Tablespoon!

How to Create: Fill a saucey-pan with snow. Be sure it is clean. ( No yellow color spots allowed) Prepare all your ingredients before you bring in the snow, so it doesn't have any time to melt. If snow is not available on that particular day, you could use crushed ice in a pinch. An easy way to do this is wrap a few cubes of ice at time in a kitchen towel and pound them with a heavy mallet, or rolling pin. Now, put the all the crushed & mangled ice in a bowl.  Heat the maple syrup in the saucepan over low heat for just about two minutes until it is cosily warm. Remove it from the heat. Now you may fill each paper cup with enough snow or ice to make a rounded top. Drop a dollop or tablespoon or more of maple syrup on the tippy top of the snow or ice. Note: Only use the purest maple syrup as (maple-flavored syrup) is just frightfully distasteful for this recipe.

A BIT OF ODDS AND ENDS, Snow Lore
▪ A first snow that falls on unfrozen ground indicates a mild winter.
▪ Season of snow means fruit will grow.
▪ When chipmunks store a lot of nuts early in autumn it means it will be a snowy winter.

An Excerpt from a Young Man's Manly Diary!

cartoon by liam cohen

The American Chestnut!

photo by ana traina

Old fashioned uses for American chestnut leaves
excerpted from
"Leaves in Myth, Magic and Medicine" by Alice Thomas Vitale

The leaves of the native chestnut had practical uses in folk and also scientific medicine. Native Americans drank a tea made with the leaves as a remedy for coughs.  The early colonists also concocted a medicinal tea, which when mixed with honey was a soothing cough syrup. Even in those medically primitive times, the extract from leaves was understood to have a sedative effect on the respiratory nerves.

Later, country folk used the leaves to make astringent poultices for burns, and with the juice of the leaves they quelled the unbearable itching of skin rashes such as poison ivy.  Ingenious and frugal, they also found another proctical use.  They filled their mattresses with dry chestnut leaves, which, because they rustled when lain upon, were humorously know as talking beds.

Between 1873 and 1905 chestnut leaves, known to pharmacologists as extractum castanea fluidum,  were considered so valuable that they were included in the  prestigious U.S. Pharmacopoeia.

Chestnut Pudding Recipe by Mrs. Grieves
Put 12 OZ. of chestnut farina into a stewpan, and add 6 oz. of pounded sugar, a spoonful of vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, 4 oz. of butter, and a pint of milk; stir this over the fire till it thickens, and then quicken the motion of the spoon until the paste leaves the sides of the stewpan; it must then be removed from the fire, and the yolks of 6 eggs incorporated therewith- then mix in gently the 6 whites whipped firm, and use this preparation to fill a plain mould spread inside with butter; place it on a baking-sheet, and bake it in an oven of moderate heat for about an hour; when done, turn it out on its dish, pour some diluted apricot jam round it, and serve.

Beware Raw Chestnuts -- If you are tempted to eat chestnuts raw, think twice. These nuts must be boiled or roasted before eating due to the high levels of tannic acid. The nuts are cured for about a week to permit their starch to develop into sugar, thus sweetening the meat. They must be cooked completely to avoid digestive discomfort. 

The outer thin shell as well as the inner bitter brown skin is removed before eating. Removing the skin in its raw state is virtually impossible, but with patience, the outer shell can be removed from the raw nuts. It is much easier and recommended to blanch or cook fresh chestnuts before removal of the shell and skin.

Bit of Odd And End: Culpepper says, 'if you dry the chestnut, both the barks being taken away, beat them into powder and make the powder up into an electuary with honey, it is a first-rate remedy for cough and spitting of blood.

The Gingerbread Peeps!

photo and gingerbread peeps by ana traina

All GINGER comes from a rhizome we call ginger root, native to Asia, but grown extensively today in Jamaica. The word ginger probably comes from an ancient Sanskrit word-"sringavera"-which means "horn-shaped root". Or some believe the word is an Anglicization of the Old French gingbras which comes from the Latin name of the spice Zingebar.

 In ancient China, it was used as a medicine. In ancient Rome, it was used as a spice-and was heavily taxed. Ginger first became popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, probably brought in by returning Crusaders. Originally used as a spicy delicacy, the Europeans soon discovered ginger's preservative properties, and began treating their meat with it, as a way of preservation and a way of disguising the meat's odor, as it aged. As ginger became more widely used, it became more expensive, and was one of the most precious spices traded in Medieval Europe.

By the fifteenth century, Europeans relied heavily on ginger and it was imported in large quantities, bringing prices down a bit. Europeans also began using ginger as a primary flavoring for cakes and breads. Most countries developed unique gingerbread recipes, which they show cased at the many gingerbread "fairs," popular throughout the continent.

Gingerbread cakes and cookies became associated with many holidays, and were baked into shapes relevant to special celebrations. The Germans became famous for their shaped ginger creations. Nuremberg became the unofficial ginger capital of Europe, where artisans from other crafts-wood-cutters, sculptors, etc.-fashioned elaborate molds used by gingerbread bakers to make beautiful delicacies.

When the Brothers Grimm published their collections of fairy tales, the witch's house in "Hansel & Gretel' was described as a house of candies and cakes, but German bakers began the tradition of crafting "Hexenhaeusle", or witches' houses, a tradition which led to the gingerbread houses we know today.
The earliest form of gingerbread was not a cake, but a solid block of honey baked with flour, ginger, breadcrumbs and spices. They were extravagantly decorated in medieval England and were a popular present. The decoration could include being colored with saffron or cinnamon, or having designs impressed on the gingerbread by large wooden molds--including the shape of men or pigs. (The Scandinavians favor ginger pigs.) The fleur de lis was a popular shape, as was a heart (to ward off evil), a stag (for virility) or a rabbit (for, ah, fertility.)

And sometimes decorated with box leaves nailed down with gilded cloves.  The cloves would be touched with gold paint on their heads, and then used like nails, in a fleur-de-lis pattern. The gingerbread itself would be gilded--first painted with egg white, then gold leaf pressed on. Gilding gingerbread continued into the late 19th century, although in Mary Poppins (1934) took Jane and Michael into Mrs. Corry's shop, where they found "rows and rows of dark, dry gingerbread, each slab so studded with gilt stars that the shop itself seemed to be faintly lit by them."

In the 16th and 17th centuries, gingerbread became lighter, with flour replacing breadcrumbs in the recipes. As early as 1573, treacle (molasses) was used instead of honey, and by the mid 1600s it had replaced honey altogether. Butter and eggs became popular additions to enrich the mixture. The expression "cake and gingerbread" in 16th century England was used to mean "pleasant."
In the late 16th century, at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, honored guests at court were sometimes presented with their portrait in gingerbread.

photo by ana traina

Medieval recipe for Gingerbrede

Curye on Inglysch p. 154 (Goud Kokery no. 18)

To make gingerbrede. Take goode honey & clarifie it on + e fere, & take fayre paynemayn or wastel brede & grate it, & caste it into + e boylenge hony, & stere it well togyder faste with a sklyse + at it bren not to + e vessell. & + anne take it doun and put + erin ginger, longe pepper & saundres, & tempere it vp with + in handes; & than put hem to a flatt boyste & strawe + eron suger, & pick + erin clowes rounde aboute by + e egge and in + e mydes, yf it plece you, &c.
1 c honey
1 c breadcrumbs
1 t ginger
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t saunders
1 T sugar
30-40 whole cloves (~ 1 t)
(or 5 t sugar, pinch powdered cloves)

Bring honey to a boil, simmer two or three minute, stir in breadcrumbs with a spatula until uniformly mixed. Remove from heat, stir in ginger, pepper, and saunders. When it is cool enough to handle, knead it to get spices thoroughly mixed. Put it in a box (I used a square corning-ware container with a lid), squish it flat and thin, sprinkle with sugar and put cloves ornamentally around the edge. Leave it to let the clove flavor sink in; do not eat the cloves.

An alternative way of doing it is to roll into small balls, roll in sugar mixed with a pinch of cloves, then flatten them a little to avoid confusion with hais. This is suitable if you are making them today and eating them tomorrow.

"Run, run, fast as you can!
Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

A Smallish Spiel from Elfin-Maiden Fatima Braun!

drawing by ana traina

Elfin-maiden Fatima Braun had a wily Pixie, named May

Who loved to run down to the Hudson Bay 

to splash and shadow play 

with her Nixie friends, Jean Baptiste Pierre and Antoine De Monet.

But 

Elfin-Maiden Fatima Braun did not approve for it was declared, National Mermaid Day! 

and she was mortally afraid that May 

would be spirited far and away 

by some water-babyless Mermaid’s net, made of butterfly rays 

and threaded silver, dangerously doubled crochet.

May put on a serious pout and soon turned the color of ash and gray

because normally she was used to getting her very own way!

But 

Elfin-maiden Fatima Braun had one trick left up her sleeve to display,

promising May she would take her to the mysterious Milky Way

where she could nibble on tasty Celestial Cheese-Souffle!

May had no other alternative but to eagerly obey!

To all The Zingerlicious Ladies!

photo by ana traina

I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.
~Gustave Flaubert~

I can't wait to see all your wondrous wings!

Most zingerly yours,

Ana

Magnolia Noble’s Sound Advice on Ladies’ Hand Care!

photo by ana traina

Men and women have always looked at little girl’s hands. There is something about soft, innocent, white, dainty hands that they find absolutely alluring. Through the years they have rhapsodized over them in poetry and prose, comparing them to fluttering white doves and lilies, and trembled at their downy touch. “Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar, Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell?” - Laurence Hope (pseudonym of Adela Florence Nicolson), Kashmiri Song - 


You must know that your hands are always in the hot glare of the limelight. O, you may hide them now and then, in an occasional pocket or two or cloak them with gloves, but sooner or later they unavoidably have to come out in society, naked for all to see, and dare I say, touch. 


O excuse me, I haven’t properly introduced myself, how rude of me! I’m Magnolia Noble, bringing the Ladies of Zingertales some very exciting and sound advice from across the pond and a long time ago. 


Now, if your hands are in woefully bad shape, you could try a few of my tricky tricks! 


Here is a very simple sleight of hand that I believe works quite nicely; Equal parts of glycerine and rose water makes a fragrantly delicious hand balm. 


Or


Pure lanolin (the wondrous old mutton tallow of our grandmothers’ day) is also a miracle worker and would be better used by women whose skins don’t react well to glycerine.


Here is one of my absolute favorite old fashioned recipes for keeping hand O so downy and lily white:


1/2 pound oatmeal
1 quart warm water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon rose water
1 teaspoon glycerine
1 teaspoon diluted ammonia (optional)


Now, you must remember to soak the oatmeal over night in the warmest of water. Strain and add to the liquid all the other ingredients. Recommended usage: 3 times a day or perhaps just a little bit more, if time permits.


O just one other remedy comes to mind for the red and O so rough dishwashing hands as winter is soonishly approaching.
Soak in a mixture of honey and orange juice.


Or 


You could try bathing them in a mixture of equal parts of cocoa butter, lanolin, and almond butter.


A Bit of Odd and End: The legend of Anne Boleyn always includes a sixth finger. The argument continues whether or not she really had an extra finger on one of her hands. Ah yes, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!

The Naughty, Naughty Sparrow!

photo by ana traina

The sparrow has a mixed reputation depending on what area of the world you live. A small bird that is internationally recognized as a harbinger of good or bad luck, the sparrow is seen throughout literature and folklore as a sign of God's benevolence, an omen of death and a catcher of lost souls. Known for their small, 5- to 6-inch-long size, sparrows were introduced to North America in the 1850s, where they have continued to become a part of both the urban and rural American landscape.

Considered bad luck in many European cultures, a sparrow flying into the home is said to be a sign of impending death. A variation of this superstition claims that the person who catches the sparrow in the home must kill it, or else he will be the one to die. In Kent, England, if a sparrow is caught, it is believed that the catcher must kill it or his parents will soon die..

In contrast, Indonesian superstitions claim that the sparrow brings good luck. If a sparrow enters a home, Indonesians believe that a wedding will occur, and if a woman spies a sparrow on Valentine's Day, she will find happiness by marrying a poor man. If a sparrow enters a home and builds a nest, it will bring good luck. The call of a sparrow is a harbinger of rain.

Sparrows, according to ancient Egyptians, caught the soul of a person recently deceased. Many sailors would tattoo the image of a sparrow on their bodies with the hope that the sparrow would catch their soul, carrying it to heaven if they died while at sea.

To dream of sparrows, denotes that you will be surrounded with love and comfort, and this will cause you to listen with kindly interest to tales of woe, and your benevolence will gain you popularity.

To see them distressed or wounded, foretells sadness.

Photo by ana traina

Lots of Bits of Odds and Ends:

.       Sparrows are mentioned in the bible with the first mention in Psalm 102:7, "I watch and am like a sparrow alone on the house top".

• Sparrows used to be eaten as an aphrodisiac because of their habit of mating in public. The herbalist Nicholas Culpeper wrote, "the brain of sparrows when eaten provokes the lust exceedingly".

• Roman poet Catullus (84-54BC), wrote two poems about the pet sparrow of his lover Lesbia, while Shakespeare's Hamlet says, "There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow".

• Sparrows have not been popular in art, but one features in Madonna Del Passero (Our Lady of the Sparrow) by the Italian painter Guercino (1591- 1666).

• A sparrow was killed by bowler Jehangir Khan in 1936. It was stuffed and can still be seen at the Memorial Gallery at Lord's cricket ground.

• A sparrow took a lit cigarette into its nest in the roof of a thatched cottage in Saxmundham, Suffolk in 1960 and the house caught fire.

• A chirping cock sparrow was shot in 1979 at St Helen's Church, Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire, because it disturbed a concert recital.

• A sparrow ruined an attempt to break a world record attempt to collapse 4 million dominos. It flew in to one and 23,000 then fell over. TV company Endemol had it shot.

• Sparrows that have colonised airports and warehouses are said to have discovered how to open doors by intercepting electronic beams.

• Legendary French singer Edith Piaf was named by her manager after the little chirping house sparrow - Piaf is French for sparrow!

photo by ana traina

A Tarte Recipe to provoke courage/lust in a man or Woman.

Take a quart of good wine, and boyle therein two Burre rootes scraped cleane, two good Quinces, and a Potato roote well pared, and an ounce of Dates, and when all these are boyled verie tender, let them be drawne through a strainer wine and all, and then put in the yolks of eight Egs, and the braines of three or four cocke Sparrowes, and straine them into the other, and a little Rosewater, and seeth them all with Sugar, Sinamen and Ginger, and cloves and Mace, and put in a little Sweet Butter, and set it upon a chafing dish of coales betweene two platters and so let it boyle till it be something big.

[From : “A good huswifes handmaide for the kitchin Containing manie principall pointes of cookerie …”; 1594]

A wingnote-- Sparrows had been associated with the planet Venus since very ancient times, and their brains were popular ingredients in remedies to improve the generative powers.