Anxious

Feeling a bit nervous about the outlay of money and time into this herbal venture. Also feeling trepidation that so many people are surprised by the herbal lady side of me. Asked the cards for a little guidance from Kris Waldherr's Goddess Oracle cards

http://www.kriswaldherr.com/decks/gid/index.html

(All contents © Kris Waldherr 2008. All rights reserved.

Kris Waldherr, the artist who makes these cards said I could put them on my blog as long as I included this link to her facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/l/;KrisWaldherr.com. )

I'll try to trust myself, but I wish I had an owl on my shoulder......

Craft Fair Announcement email

I sent this out to most people I know......









Come to the Holiday Craft Fair at Franklin Medical Center!
Friday Dec 3rd 8am-4pm

Katherine will be there with her herbal products including therapy bags filled with flax seed, pure Vanilla Bean extract, dream pillows for sweet dreams, healing herbal salves, a variety of massage oils filled with plant magic and fairy tinctures to raise your spirits! Hope to see you there!

Trying to sleep in a bit

this morning after working late last night.
Rob was up and out to an early morning bike race.
Children alone downstairs.

I thought I heard a chicken clucking.

Georgia was being a chicken whisperer and snuggling with Henny-hen-hen in the warm kitchen.
No sleeping in for me!

I'm on a few email lists for spiritual/alternative healing lectures and I got this quote from one of them called "Quantum healing and soul."

"One of the cryptic statements of Authentic Kabbalah describes our relationship with the Creator in the following way:

“Even more than the calf wants to nurse, its mother wants to give it milk.”"

www.quantumhealingandsoul.com

I love that, it made me think of the universe in a concrete loving maternal way that I hadn't before.

Craft Fair Prep

Oooh lots of excitement here (actually anxiety and mess) as I try to pull all my ingredients into lovely products for the craft fair I am doing at work.

Be there!
Friday Dec 3rd (day before my 40th b-day!)
8am-4pm


I'm trying to figure out childcare and logistics all while trying to make things with flammable expensive materials that firm-up quickly, like these marvelous comfrey salves Lily and I made today.



But I do love the smooth untouched surface and the smell of beeswax and coconut oil. I also am enjoying how much I remember of making salves and oils from when I did it before I became a mom and many sweet hobbies flew out the window for a while.
Nice to know I didn't forget everything.

Making potions

Busy
Sterilizing bottles
Pouring off tinctures
Making labels










Harvesting some comfrey root for healing salve





I covered the root in good olive oil and then cooked it at 235 degrees in a casserole pan for 2 hours to extract the good stuff.

Georgia's fairy

Here she is ready for school, bringing her fairy to share.

Very serious.

Baker Violin Shop

http://www.bakerviolinshop.com/



I rent my violin from Baker Violin Shop in Dummerston Vermont.

We drove up there on Lily's half day and had David Baker, the proprietor, tune up and visit with my (his) violin that I've been renting for 2 years.

The studio is so beautiful I couldn't stop taking photos.



We brought Lily's violin that we bought online, but he looked at that, too and helped with some adjustments to her violin and bow.




I took Georgia outside because she couldn't sit still and got pretty rude and unruly.


Here's David looking at my violin.















































Bows hung on the wall.

A cabinet filled with violins.
On the bottom is Rosin in sweet little packages and a sweet little stuffed animal mouse in the corner.
































Lily comparing the tiniest violin bridge and a huge cello bridge.

wet walk

In the golf course.
Tiny mushrooms, dripping raindrops and bittersweet.



Georgia found this root that looks like a green worm.


Always difficult to get out of the house; always glad we did it.

Amherst for some pizza

We used to meet Rob in Amherst all the time when the kids were little and not in school.
They loved this mirror where they could stare at themselves as they chewed.
They still love it.

Georgia is getting big (5 in a few weeks!) so it is rare she gets carried for long anymore.

Here she is thrilled to get picked up by Papa after Mama sighed and said, "No my back still hurts."
Bummer Mama.

Martha Beck talks to me!!

My friend Julie called a few weeks ago to say Martha beck, one of my favorite people, was asking for life coaching questions on facebook!
I wrote a question and then sort of forgot to keep checking my usually-ignored facebook account.
Today Julie called to say, "She answered you!" Hooray. It was so fun to sit down and hear Martha's words of wisdom addressed to me! Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKE1dZUFEUo&feature=email


My friend Kate and I are turning 40 in the next few weeks. We were talking about it this summer and she said something that inspired me. (Paraphrasing her) She said, "If we're lucky we'll live to be around 80, so we're at the halfway point. We have the whole other half of our lives to live! But, for it to be really great, we have to take care of ourselves.Being healthy fulfilled will make all the difference; making the next half of our lives really amazing."

It hit me that now is the time to really focus on prioritizing what is important to me, especially health as my 40th birthday approaches.

I pulled this card from the Goddess Oracle when I asked for some insight.

http://www.kriswaldherr.com/decks/gid/index.html

(All contents © Kris Waldherr 2008. All rights reserved.

Kris Waldherr, the artist who makes these cards said I could put them on my blog as long as I included this link to her facebook page:http://www.facebook.com/l/;KrisWaldherr.com. )

Diana (or Artemis in Greek Mythology) is one of my favorite Goddesses. The Goddess of the moon and childbirth. I like the idea of being on a hunt for what brings me strength.

Home sick

Finally I succumbed to the family head cold which, for Rob and I, was combined with neck spasm. Bummer.

I called in sick to work.
And tried to finish the final Harry Potter before the movie came out but didn't quite make it to the end, yet.

(Don't tell me what happens! It is absurd to wander around in the world trying to avoid spoilers, but that is what I've been doing. What are the chances of walking into a room during a lovely house tour and one of the kids is reading the last page outloud? Ackkkk! Plug your ears and run away.)
Anyway.
It was nice to be home for a couple days even though it was unpleasant to be snotty and sore.

Vanilla Extract

Ooh this is pretty exciting.
My gargantuan order of bottles has arrived.
I got some 5 oz bottles for making vanilla extract.
Then bought some bourbon vanilla beans at the coop ($172 a pound in the bulk section! Yikes!) They are slippery and a bit oily and they give off a deep fragrance that is incredible.

I cut each each in half with a sharp knife and the tiny sticky seeds were revealed almost like caviar. I stuffed each split bean in a sterilized bottle then covered it with a nice vodka. It makes a natural vanilla extract without the ucky corn syrup or coloring.

I took these photos the morning after I made them and already the alcohol is turning brown. In two months it will be dark dark brown and ready to use.

It looks gorgeous to me. I love how it looks a bit like a weird potion with worms or bark but it's actually the hand-picked seed pod of a tropical orchid. Vanilla. Amazing!

I signed up for a holiday fair at work on Dec 3rd so I have alot of decanting, labeling and sewing to do in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Lily doing her homework

with Cakie on her shoulder.
Cakie has been doing pretty well.
Her fur looks nice, now a few months after she got the mite insecticide shots (ewwww) and her breathing has been stable.
She is so curious and sweet.
She loves to come out and be held.

Where's the chicken?

There are four of them hiding in the shrub.
So sneaky.

No Sparkle!

I'm sorry.
But,
You can't come on a walk with us!

Lily home sick

But not sick enough she couldn't enjoy a tea party
and read us a book.

Smith Greenhouse

Rob had an early morning bike race in Northampton this weekend.
The girls and I made it there by 8:30am both days to cheer him on.
After his race the second day I took the girls to Smith College greenhouse. I try and get there a couple times a year.
It is so marvelous, beautiful and alive!
I am still so thankful I was able to take a horticulture class there as a student and I really enjoy showing the girls the different rooms with the different habitats.

Here is the flower of a banana tree and some small growing bananas.




















Some mysterious juicy white berries





















and some glorious curious goldfish.


This is what happens when I ask the girls to smile for a posed photo. Thanks alot!




Lily shows Georgia the sensitive plant and how it shuts its feathery leaves.











The annual fall Mum Show was going on!
Big bright balls of petals surrounded by many buzzing bees.









"Hey Buddha, what's up!"











Lily sprinting in front of the wall of mums!

Spring water from Mount Grace

My bottle order has arrived!
I'll show you the herbal bottles in another post, but we got some half gallon jugs for spring water. It was so thrilling to go fill the jug at the Warwick fountain.

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/histland/reconReports/warwick.pdf

"The historic town fountain is located in front, fed with water from a spring on Mount Grace. Water from the spring also feeds the library, Historical Society building and Town Hall."

The water was so cold and brightly clear.
I love to imagine the water moving through the rocks and deep underground through the mountain. I'm going to drink it and also use it for flower essences.