Leaving the Nesting Tree!

photo by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

Dear Zingertalers, I will be taking a small hiatus starting March 1st...hope to see you very soonishly! In the meantime, I will wish you a very springy spring! oxox

The Modest Marker

photo by ana traina ~ feb. 28th, 2012

 O' the gleeful fairies of Belleville have come to play their tricks
for the Amiable Child who has fallen asleep up upon Claremont Hill.
I know because they left bits of their forest tree sticks
all about and around!

The Crocus!

photo by ana traina ~ Feb. 27th, 2012

The Crocus ushers in springtime and I am reminded of what my favorite poet Emily Dickinson called the crocus “Spring’s first conviction.”

Spring is the Period

Express from God.

Among the other seasons

Himself abide,
But during March and April

None stir abroad

Without a cordial interview

With God.

LAST BIT OF ODDS AND ENDS ~ Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poetess. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. Thought of as an eccentric, odd, queer, strange, peculiar, weird, and extraordinary by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.

Although Dickinson was a prolific and private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime.

Likely as it was that most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, strangely enough, it was not until after her death in 1886—when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems—that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent. Her first collection of poetry was published in 1890 by personal acquaintances.  A complete and mostly unaltered collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955 when The Poems of Emily Dickinson was published by scholar Thomas H. Johnson. Despite unfavorable, inimical, unfriendly, and even hostile reviews and skepticism of her literary prowess during the late 19th and early 20th century, critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet.

ON THE CROCUS ~ According to legend the Greek Gods Zeus & Hura loved each other so passionately that the land where they lived burst open with crocuses.

Crocuses were brought to England from France by Jean Robin, a Director of Gardens in Paris.

Crocuses came to the United States on ships by settlers who planted them around their cabins.

The crocus is part of the iris plant family and is most noted for the variety of crocus that is used to produce saffron – used for its dye, medicinal purposes and for its use in cooking.

All the Zingle Ladies have Gone Fishin'!

Thirty days hath September, 
April, June and November; 
All the rest have thirty-one, 
Excepting February alone 
Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine, 
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.
                                                             ~ old saying ~

Leap Day has been associated with age-old Leap Day traditions and folklore like....Women propose to their men! Quelle Scandal!

According to an old Irish legend, or possibly history, St Bridget struck a deal with St Patrick to allow women to propose to men – and not just the other way around – every 4 years.

In some places, Leap Day has been known as “Bachelors’ Day” for the same reason. The naughty man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a wedding gown or money or, if he refused a sweet proposal of marriage from a woman on Leap Day.  Interestingly enough, in the upper classes of society, tradition was that any man who refused a woman's proposal on February 29 had to buy her 12 pairs of gloves. The pretension was that the woman could wear the gloves to hide the embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. During the middle ages there were laws governing this tradition.

Now listen up all you zingle gals, here is the modern day remedy for rejections... A Leap Year Cocktail

Invented at the Savol hotel in London on February 29, 1928 and was believed to be the driving force in many a marriage proposal.



1/2 ounce Grand Marnier

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

A Bit of Odds and Ends...

In Scotland, it used to be considered unlucky for someone to be born on Leap Day, just like Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day by many.

In Greece it’s said to be unlucky for couples to marry during a Leap Year, and especially on Leap Day.

In Scotland, however, to ensure success, they should also wear a red petticoat under their dress - and make sure that it is partly visible to the man when they propose.



The odds of being born on this day are 0.068446269678302532511978097193703%.

Yes, it's true. People born on leap year are called leaplings.

Switching at Union Square

photo by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

It was there that I passed
a demur young man sitting,
contently, with a cardboard box.
Confined inside the coffer
were many tiny cactus plants.

The number Three train passes by
and mutes the musical saw
that is sounding Fur Elise!

Two more minutes
for the number One train.
Up the crowded platform
I spy an African-American woman
with ginger hair
tenderly holding
a pussy-willow branch.

I must ask if she is going to root it.
She asks me, if that is possible,
explaining that she just found
the broken branch.
I said, yes.
The number One train arrives,
we say our awkward goodbyes,
with spring-starved smiles...

The Purple Possibilities of Spring!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

I love lilacs, always have and always will. I love the sweet scented air of them after it rains. I love their honeyed and bitter taste. I love their thrilling pale purple. Of course, purple is my favorite color. Also, purple lilacs are symbolic of mellifluous tenderness. It is for all these reasons and the rising temperature of my spring fever that my heart skipped a beat this morning when I happened upon this delightful recipe for...

Lilac Crystals in my “A Kitchen Witch’s Cookbook” by Patricia Telesco.

1 oz. gum arabic
6 small bunches of lilac buds
(about three cups)
1 tablespoon corn syrup
if you are like me and are not a fan of corn syrup you can always ~ For each cup of light corn syrup in a recipe, substitute 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water. For each cup of dark corn syrup, substitute 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.
1 cup of sugar

Now, you must dissolve the gum arabic in 1/2 cup of hot water. Then dip the lilac buds in the mixture and let dry. Heat the corn syrup, sugar and 1/2 cup water until it reaches the soft ball (240 f) stage, when a small amount dropped into very cold water will form a ball but will not hold its shape. Dip the lilacs in the syrup and lay on wax paper. Finally, sprinkle with sugar.

And so it is, let the spring madness begin!

A Shadow Thought!

drawing by ana traina ~2012 ~

Some called her a diviner, others called her turnip head...

Persian Pussy Willow Water!

this beautiful drawing was done by Arlene, sometime between 1908 - 1909, at the williamstown grammar school

When I first discovered, some years ago, that I was a proud owner of a Pussy Willow tree, I believe, I made a grand and very clumsy jump for joy. You see, I have always been drawn to those little tender and fuzzy gray buds. They hold a certain magic for me. So, you can just imagine my thrill upon discovering this ancient recipe for Persian Pussy Willow Water that I found this morning as I was leafing through one of my favorite books, “A Kitchen Witch’s Cookbook” by Patricia Telesco.

In Persia, this water is used for making baklava. Yum. Yum. On the holiday called Dingus Day, pussy willows are used by fair maidens to try to obtain a date and hopefully win a loving and wise husband. However, there is one more use for the pussy willow which I feel is quite curiously interesting to mention, their application to the sore and very raw bottoms of misbehaved or ill-mannered imps also gives the pussy willow an air of authority.

Persian Pussy Willow Water Recipe ~
2 cups pussy willow (musk of willow) flowers
4 cups tepid water
1/2 cup apple juice
6 teaspoons sugar or there about...

Now soak flowers in the water until they become translucent and the water smells heavily of them (this should take about 30 minutes). Strain; discard flowers. Mix apple juice. Add sugar to taste. Chill. Serve over ice. Yeilds: 4 servings

This I believe is an excellent beverage to serve on May Day!

Last bit of Odds and Ends ~ Pussy Willow water is an herbal spirit that can be used in dishes or for medicinal purposes. As pussy willow water is historically known to have a calming effect on the stomach and people believe it has a soothing effect on those with heart problems.

The City's Cemetery!

photo by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

I love stories, and therefore I have always been enchanted with the silent and romantic sagas that cemeteries tell. I love looking at all the hand-me-down names, how long the people lived for, how many family members are buried in one site, the ancient and mystical writings, the stones and trinkets left behind by the living, and what particular herbs or flowers are planted near the tombstones... Really, I am not a morbid person!

Now to my story at hand, I first passed this city cemetery many years ago, and I remember just standing there in complete and utter awe... I also remember, that although the cemetery was gated, I could still make out the dates and names written in Old Hebrew and English on many of the tombstones. It was indeed remarkable and thrilling seeing this time-honored cemetery, a bewitching piece of history, amidst all the newer buildings.  Now, here is the most gripping thing I can tell you, when I passed this very long in the tooth cemetery last week, I felt exactly the same spine-tingling thrill of discovering a magical and mystical place where time had stood still among the hustle and bustle of the city, as I had many years ago. So, of course, I just had to find out more... here is what I was able to uncover and discover ~

This cemetery I am talking about is located on 21st Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, in use 1829-1851. Shearith Israel, the first Jewish congregation in North America, was formed in 1654 by Spanish and Portuguese Jews who journeyed from Recife, Brazil, seeking refuge from the Inquisition. While New Amsterdam's city fathers did not recognize freedom of worship, they respected the Jews' right to their own consecrated burial ground. Shearith Israel purchased the cemetery plot on West 21st Street in 1829 for $2,750. It, too, was on the outskirts of the expanding city, which for sanitary reasons had prohibited interment below Grand Street after the yellow fever epidemic of 1822. In 1832 the congregation bought land extending the cemetery east to Sixth Avenue and south to 20th Street. Fifty years later the land was sold to Hugh O'Neal, who built a dry goods store there. Shearith Israel used the cemetery for burials until 1851. That year, New York City prohibited burials south of 86th Street and the establishment of any new cemeteries within city limits.

"There remain two cemeteries to visit, built by descendants of the first Portuguese Jews. One of these is the tiny triangle with twenty
head stones familiar to Greenwich Villagers, on Eleventh Street, east of Sixth Avenue. The cemetery of those who died by plagues, particularly the dread yellow fever of 1798, it once covered many acres. The second, on Twenty-first Street, west of Sixth, has perhaps a hundred and fifty tombstones. Burials were made here as late as 1851, although it was against the law then, and several of the bereaved families had to pay a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars. The Portuguese Jews formed the Congregation Shearith Israel whose present congregation - their synagogue is at 99 Central Park West - has repeatedly rejected offers of hundreds of thousands for the Twenty-first Street site. Once a department store wanted to arch a building over the cemetery, leaving it undisturbed, but that plan was rejected, too." -- (The New Yorker "Where Time Has Stopped," 25 February 1928)

LAST BIT OF ODDS AND ENDS ~ According to legend, the location of the red-bricked building abutting the cemetery has an unusual history of its own. On the site of that building, there was a Civil war tavern known as the "Grapevine". Many Union officers went there including many southern spies, and many incognito newspaper reporters.

Of course everyone knew that everyone else was eavesdropping on conversations there, so the tavern became known as the place where many rumors originated. This became the origin of the phrase "heard it through the grapevine"! The newspapers began using this phrase which is in common use now, and later it made Gladys Knight and Marvin Gaye a lot of money. Source: Willensky and White's AIA Guide to New York City

In the First Cemetery (which I have yet seen but will venture there very soonishly) at St. James Place just off Chatham Square in what is today Chinatown lies Jonas Judah: The first American-born Jew to enroll in medical school ~ here is what his tombstone has to say about him...

In memory of
Walter J. Judah
student of physic who, worn down
by his exertions to alleviate the
sufferings of his fellow citizens
in that dreadful contagion
that visited the City of New York
in 1798, fell a victim to the cause
of humanity on the 5th of Tishri [in the year] 5559. . .

Here lies buried/the unmarried man- /Old in wisdom, tender in years / Skilled he was in his labor, the labor of healing/ Strengthening himself as a lion and running swiftly as a hart to bring healing/ To the inhabitants of this city treating them with loving kindness / When they were visited with the yellow fever / He gave money from his own purse to buy for them beneficent medicines / But the good that he did was the cause of his death / For the fever visited him while yet a youth . . . /

A Fitful Night!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

Last night, around about four a.m. I woke with a start, sweating with an acute crushing sensation of fear. However, as I looked out my window to the drizzle that was only illuminated by the few lights that shone from the neighboring window, it occurred to me that this was not fear, exactly, yet not a feeling altogether unfamiliar...it was a tender throbbing, a persnickety phantom that crawled around inside, poking and mocking me. Yes, I suppose it was loneliness.  Ah...

I cannot say that I am surprised that my old friend decided to make a cheeky and very uninvited night visitation. You see, my husband and son are on a trip to California together. This in itself is not unusual for me, I am very used to my family’s comings and goings, but the fact that my son is looking at colleges is unusual. This is the beginning of distance; a necessary distance, a healthy distance, a part of life distance...for there is adventure to be had. 

I tried to laugh my silliness away as I punched and fluffed my lumpy pillow. Still, I feared the tangy tangerine monster under my bed. So, instead of counting black sheep, I decided to make a list...a list of all the wonderful moments I have spent with my son.

It started with the first moment I saw all 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches of him, bloodied and screaming for life on that full mooned night in May...it was the most beautiful sight that I have ever beheld.

Inhaling the sweet scent of him. (I did this a lot in his first year)

Watching him sleep and dream. ( I also did this a lot in his first year)

The time he projectile pooped in my face. (This did not happen a lot in the first year)

His first word, truck.

The first time he was ill and I called his doctor at 1 a.m.!

Singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, his favorite song. (Known to stop even the most defying bout of tears, and it even worked on horrible gas pains.)

The first time he held up his head, made rosy raspberry sounds, crawled backwards, took his first clumsy steps... and the time he mischievously smiled and then knowing bit down on my breast.

Lying on the floor, watching him suck his thumb as he watched Thomas the Tank engine go around and around the clickety-clack track for hours.

The under the comfy covers flashlight and shadow bedtime reading; Good Night Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Richard Scary, Nate the Great, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Harry Potter, etc, etc, etc...

Quoting Lemony Snicket... “Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, and recite three poems, in case they are ever trapped in an elevator.”

The luscious Chocolate lip-smacking kisses and gooey ice cream hugs!

The scary time he started-up Papa Banana’s car and crashed it into a wall four feet away. (and then he wanted to do it again)

The great and wondrous Sullivan Street Park adventures of friends, swings, monkey bars and pool.

Our first time on an airplane together, excitement ruled the night...we were going to meet his Dad in London. We sat in the very back of the plane and he did not sleep a wink. (Needless to say, neither did I)

Lego-land! Hooray!!

The miraculous chocolate giving machines in the London tubes.

Harrod’s burpy bubbles and awesome flying machines.

The fascinating and very “germ-ridden hands on” science museum.

Rainy double-decker bus rides and umbrellas.

Hyde Park with real live geese and paddle-boats.

M’n M’s

The Making of Sparkbot...the first robotic rag doll, ever!

The day 9-11 happened, and we solemnly walked back home from school through the smokey panic-stricken streets.

The time I fell in the snake infested front yard of our country house and he couldn’t hear me calling because he was watching Spongebob Square.

The mountain of Lego projects.

The rickety old roller coaster rides and tightly squeezed hands.

Riding on my bicycle made for two through the streets of Soho.

His Astro-boy styled hair that he bravely wore to school for a week until the other kids broke him down.

Italian chocolate eggs with surprises inside from Alessandro’s sandwich shop!

Trick or Treating nights with lots of loot! (We always counted)

The teary and joyous gameboy sagas.

Playing pinball with him in a little cafe on Rue de Montmartre.

The mysteriously missing Pokemon card...this was the last thing on my short and barely highlighted list that I remembered before falling back to sleep.

When I awoke this morning I was reminded of something a friend had recently said to me about my approaching Empty Nest Syndrome, “O you’ll be fine, you’ve been preparing for a long time now.”  I grumpily puttered around this morning with the words of my friend loudly echoing in my morning coffee, and I thought, “Sure I’ll be fine, I’m a mother, but somehow I don’t think I will ever be completely ready...

However, when the time does come and he is all set to sail off into his future, I know I will gently let go of my young adventurer’s hand...and I will keep all the tangy tangerine monsters at bay with the dewy giggles of sweet remembrance of all the great and small things we have journeyed and shared together.

Hidden Secrets!

photo by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

A few days ago I was passing through Lincoln Center and I was struck by the beauty of this fountain. Now, I have passed this fountain, perhaps, a thousand times in my life but never before did I notice the magic that it held. Peradventure, this is due to the very simple fact that I am not a fan of modern architecture. However, I had to laugh out loud as I remembered my favorite quote by Roald Dahl ~ Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it! I guess, I finally had my glittering eyes on the day I spied this modern Adam's ale portal!

Just a Spoonful of ...

drawing by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

Songstress, Jessamine Jewel from Hoboken, New Jersey always takes a refreshing dip in a piping hot demitasse cup of Red ZInger tea and Cinnamon Liqueur before her performance at the Cotton Club. She says it helps simmer down her nerves caused by all the hub and the bub... So, in spirit of a funny valentine she has thought to share her potion divine, borrowed from Venus in the Kitchen, or in other words Love’s Cookery Book!

Cinnamon Liqueur
Take one quart spirits of wine, twenty droplets oil of cinnamon, two droplets oil of roses, the same of oil of nutmeg. Add one quart of simple syrup. Filter and put it into bottles.

Last bit of Odd and End from Songstress, Jessamine Jewel ~ Cinnamon was famed as an aphrodisiac several centuries ago and therefore forgotten by most!

A Shadow Thought!

drawing by ana traina ~2011 ~

Love is often a sweet-tempered evennosedness act...

Miss Bessy de Flore!

drawing by ana traina ~2012 ~

Miss Bessy de Flore, domestic goddess extraordinaire,
Worked as the lady’s maid in the home of Count Peter La Pear.
That’s in the tippy top north, most northern part of a land most do not know,
Till the day she got it in her head to visit the birth place of Henry David Thoreau
Which was quite near the beautiful Cumberland Plateau.
Being of no use to a man with no wife
She packed her bags and her sharp kitchen knife and
Left the count his orange truffles and pistachio creams,
and off she went to follow her dreams.

Brace Yourself...

photo by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

For what I am about to tell you is just a wee bit curious and most certainly odd in the regard of Snail lore! The snail was believed to have powers to foretell the future and one unusual custom involved placing a snail in the fine white ash that dropped from the fire. Now, while the poor bugger made his way through the whitish soot, one would chant this verse...

I seized the vermin,

home I quickly sped,

And on the hearth the milk-white ambers spread.

 Slow crawled the snail, 

and if I right can spell, 

In the soft ashes,
marked a curious I...

You see, the shape of the trail it made was said to be the initial of a future lover's name!

Last bit of Odd and End... Girls wishing to dream of their future husband would pin five bay leaves to the four corners and center of their pillow before going to bed on St. Valentine's Eve. Then, wearing a freshly washed nightie, they would repeat the following rhyme before closing their eyes...

Good Valentine, be kind to me,
In dreams let me my true love see.

A Woolen Sculpture!

photo and shoe sculpture by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new. 
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~

photo and shoe sculpture by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

Chasing Dreams!

photo by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

O' the things you'll see in Washington Square Park are extraordinary, for sure, but a man playing the sweetest music you ever heard on a grand piano, has to be extra-extra-extraordinary! This is certainly what I felt as I walked through the park this past Saturday. O'  yes, you have guessed it, I became extremely curious with questions like... How did he get that piano into the park? Was he there everyday? Etc, etc... so being the shy creature that I am, I looked him up... Here is a wonderful letter that Mr. Colin Huggins wrote that I was able to uncover and discover ~

Let me try and shed some light on this without being too boring. I'm not actually crazy and no one in particular dubbed me as "the crazy piano guy". I just wanted something that would be easy for people to remember because I knew when I started this, I'd be meeting hundreds of new people each week, sometimes each day. It's been quite an experience and I hope you're looking at this because I brought some joy to your day.

I grew up in Decatur, GA and came to NYC in 2003 to chase my ambitions as an artist which led to me becoming a Ballet Accompanist. It was enjoyable, but I ultimately wanted more experience performing and not just be behind the scenes. I had some enjoyable moments and even got as far as becoming the Music Director for the Joffrey Ballet School as well as playing for American Ballet Theater. But once I started to feel like Gollum referring to my piano as "my precious" I knew it was time to get out.

I brought a piano for the first time out into Union Square in the summer of 2007. After doing this just a few times I felt this was good direction for my life. I was really bringing great joy to others and myself. And although I wasn't composing symphonies, I felt I was creating art to a certain degree. Since then I've brought pianos with my own strength all over Manhattan, including such places as Times Sq, Grand Central, Union Sq, 34th street, Madison Park, and now most often to Washington Sq Park. in 2008-2009, I spent a great deal of time venturing the piano into the subway, which had its moments but ultimately, I got tired of the stale air and lack of sun light.

So keep an eye out for me. Feel free to talk to me. If I'm busy, just send an e-mail. It gets a little crazy out there sometimes, so don't take it the wrong way if I'm not up for a real long chat. Keep in touch, friend me on Facebook and see what's new on the site. All the best to you!!

Colin Huggins

"World's Happiest Man"

Chocolate is a spice too!

photo by ana traina ~ 2012 ~

Yesterday after a much needed, very intense yoga class at Laughing Lotus and then lunch with my son Liam, I found myself roaming around my old neighborhood, Soho. I was looking for elements that would work for my puppet, Islwyn Jareth.  A new character in my stop-motion feature, "The Romantic Fiction of Maude Green," that I am currently and ever so happily working on.  There was an ease to my gait as I rediscovered my old stomping ground.  However, there was one rather shocking surprise, most of the little boutiques on Thompson street were closed down. This made me really sad. 

Then I spied Kee Chocolatier, a little shop where they make the most beautiful handmade chocolates. The shop has been open since 2002, and even though I had left the neighborhood in 2006, four years after they had opened, I had never stepped foot into the alluring confectionery house before. Why? You might ask. Well, the answer is that I have been on a diet my whole entire life and have tried to eat only foods that are good for me.

Be that as it may, I have recently discovered that chocolate has many healthy attributes... one is as a blood thinner... which helps prevent blood clots. O happy news for me, as I perused with my nose pressed against the shop's window, the spicy assortment of Kee's dazzling, delectable desserts, creamy chocolate truffles filled with green tea, Earl Grey tea, rose petals, pignoli, orange confit, jasmine, ginger and saffron... just to name a few!  


Then a thought sprung into my mind, Chocolate is a spice too! It would make a wonderful Zingertale! And so, I shyly stepped into Kee's shop hoping to snap a few quick photos of the bonbons but alas I just had to sinfully, yet so gleefully buy this tiny box of delights instead!


LAST BIT OF ODD AND END ~ Hmmm....The chocolate truffle with fennel is AAAAAAAAAAMAZING!!!!

Love Potion Number 5!

Dali and his beloved Rhino ~ photo by unknown

Oberon:

"Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees."

Love Spells

Herbs have been used to boost romance for centuries, by the most ardent of lovers and the lovelorn. Among the top herbs said to ensure the course of true love is basil. It is said that if you offer a sprig of basil to the man of your dreams and, if he accepts it, he is surely to be yours.

Tudor maidens who wished to marry would often place a bay leaf beneath their pillow on Valentine's Day and whisper,

"Saint Valentine, be kind to me, In my dreams, let me true love see." If they then dreamed of love, it was surely a prediction that they would marry within a year.

Lovelorn gentlemen could put a pinch of dried sage under their tongue before approaching their intended to ensure a love-swept courtship. They should also be aware that many herbs are reputed to have aphrodisiac qualities; among them are sweet basil, thyme, rosemary, juniper, laurel, myrtle, sandlewood, patchouli, elderflower and jasmine.

If you're feeling unnoticed and insecure in love, then tying three laurel leaves to the bottom of your bed...this will make certain that your lover sees no-one but you.

Although temporary, here's a love spell that has been used throughout the ages:

Take a lock of your lover's hair and mix it with the burned ashes from a small piece of your lover's clothing. Wrap in a white handkerchief with a handful of johnny-jump-ups (also known as heartsease). Bury the hankerchief under your porch at the new moon. Your love will be true to only you - but only for one month.

Last bits of Odds and Ends ~ The rhino's horn is even today seriously considered a power source for an aphrodisiac that the animal faces extinction in part because they have been hunted down specifically for their horn.  A two-leaf clover in your shoe could predict your future soulmate. Also, the poesy use in Oberon’s potion is Heart’s Ease, aka, Love-in idleness!

It's Groundhog Day...But Why?

waitin' on the groundhog by ana traina ~2011~

Eager for spring we all await the little groundhog who is politely known as the prophet of weather... will he see his shadow or will he bite Mayor Bloomberg again? One can never tell but we wait, patiently. However, in the mean time I became a bit curious about exactly where this legend sprang from. Here is what I was able to uncover and discover ~

It’s thought the Groundhog Day legend probably originated with German settlers who came to the Pennsylvania area in the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the European folk tales these settlers likely brought with them was the belief that mammals like hedgehogs and badgers were weather prophets. Another belief brought from Europe was that if the sun shone on Candlemas Day—which was Feb. 2—it meant six more weeks of wintry weather. It seems these two bits of folklore became entwined over the years and by the late 1800s, Groundhog Day had become an annual event in the United States.

Last bit of odd and end ~ In Scotland the tradition may also derive from this English poem:

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

I do hope the little bugger does not see his shadow as I am aching for springtime!

The Captain Pens...

photo by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

T TOMATO CAN-TOMATO CAN                                                 F DOESN’T EXIST YET

FROM THE DESK OF

THE CAPTAIN’S PEN

February 1, 2012
Manly Diary #872
Captain
A Ship’s Voyage
5595 Life St.
Pathway, JO 55555

Dearest Reader or to whom it may ever concern other than myself,

First day of a month considered on the high seas to be rough and unpredictable. The stars in the Northeastern sky are usually covered with a wintry haze making it more difficult to sail through pained Poseidon seas and weather that will penetrate an actual lamb livin’ on ye back.

This day also marks the beginning of an understanding for myself that will no doubt be clawing at me soul for a time to come. I set out in a month from now. Leaving behind those who I love and well... those who I don’t, for that matter. The month before is always the hardest. There is a feeling of getting the house in order so it can run smoothly whilst I am away but that only leads to anxiety and flare ups due to what I imagine to be order and others preparing the order for themselves! An awkward time that would want to be calm and endearing ends up bein’ tossed like a madman searching for his ownself. So I look down these next 29 days as a challenge to do it a little differently. Maybe I stare it down each and every time I am about to embark on a journey yet determined, and maybe the long and worked out habits that hinder me evolution as a ‘uman bein’ stop me from changin’ me ways. Nevertheless, I search. I design. I work. I hope. And I do the very thing I most likely should do much more of... touch. I simple thing but so often forgotten. It could be in a look, in a listen, in a an understanding, a walk, a letting go of what is imagined to be needed and then a simple and what seems to be an agonizing touch. A reaching out so that another feels your presence and remembers it so.

“Our job is to clear the path so that the journey our loved ones are on can be open and free”, a foreign man once told me. He is so right. Me job for the ones I love is to help clear the path so that they can live out their lives in grand evolutionary fashion.

I continue.and sail with resolve.

Sincerely yours,

The Captain (sometimes)