I'll pass on the Green Fairy

While I was enjoying a glass of some great French wine, I happened to come across a poster for a different beverage that I have since learned has quite a history to it.
I have to admit that my only knowledge of it was quite limited. The only info I had of it came from a number of years back.
My oldest son, and a friend of his were here cooking for a crowd of people who were going to invade my house. They were sipping on a strange bottle of alcohol, and cracking jokes while they were chopping, dicing and sauteing.
When I questioned them, they only laughed, and mumbled something about "wormwood", "banned" and "it makes people insane". Let me just add that they were legal and over the age of 21, lest you think I was some sort of irresponsible adult.
So being the responsible adult that I was I just buried what they said quickly in my subconscious. I mean I had a houseful of guests coming for dinner. I really couldn't deal with the fact that the cooks were drinking some strange green liquid that might render them psychotic.
The night finished out without any need to call in the medics and I forgot about the mysterious bottle of potion...whatever it was.

Then I came across a few antique posters that all had something in common...absinthe.
Quite the history which would require lots of typing here so rather, should you want to learn more, one of the foremost expert websites out there on the subject is here. Drink up on knowledge of this legendary drink often nicknamed "The Green Fairy".
So this is what those two were up to that day in my kitchen. Think I will stick to my French wine.

But I will share one of the more famous posters from the Victorian era that has a cat lapping up a glass of absinthe.

Having had cats that indulged in catnip, I cannot even begin to figure out what a cat that indulged in absinthe w0uld be like. Cat nipped cats zoom and fly through the house and stare at things that aren't there. So a hopped up Green Fairy cat would probably see flying Tinkerbells all over the place.

Makes me think of a pair of earrings I made with a cat that has the largest glowing eyes. Its a Victorian image I used so could absinthe be whats behind those eyes and that wry little smile?

At A Snails Pace

Todays blog will be short because quite frankly I shouldn't be writing a blog today.
I am backlogged, sidetracked, and not being much of a frontrunner because the load is heavy and the pace to fast. Jewelry orders streaming in, lots of "social" things to run to, and duties to attend and I don't know where to start. So my favorite thing to do is to STOP!
And just daydream for a few.
Today took me to thinking of how awesome it would to be Gary in Sponge Bob right now and just slow down and play (probably shouldn't have shared that). Which made me think of two pieces of jewelry that I have sold a few of.



A snail pendant :

and also a pair of snail earrings.

Maybe people like them because it helps them chill in this busy world. But I don't think it hurts to think like a snail once in awhile. I came across an awesome video today from the French animation series called Miniscule that proves this point. And inspired me to stop the dreaming and get moving!!!

PB & J's, Ham & Peas, are what Retro is to Tuesdays!

So thought I would give this blog hop called Retro Tuesday a whirl because I am all into dredging up things from the past.
And speaking of dredging,the lost art of covering things with flour, sugar etc that in later years became known as "Shake and Bake", this is the time of year that many of us become lost in our kitchens cooking.
Be it that the colder weather has us seeking out comfort foods, or because we tend to congregate in each others kitchens more often, home cooked meals take on a new meaning in ones lives as the days draw darker earlier.
Many seek out to be the best cooks they can, some bask in the glow of some new found recipe that has become a hit.
Some,as yesterdays blog alluded too, try to remain healthy in their consumption of daily meals.
I do think though I have come up with a new goal to my kitchen duties.
I must never, and I repeat NEVER create a meal that will spawn such horrible effects as seen in these vintage ads below.
To do so would would not only freak the ham out of me but could definitely offend my friends and family as I swiftly throw their children out of my house.

For Healths Sake

Always have thought that taking care of ourselves is an important thing. And I have to admit, through the years I have had my share of arguments with family,friends and doctors alike in how I chose to remedy certain ailments when they hit the household.

Can't say that I was always right, but lots of times I was. It just makes so much sense to me to try and let the body take care of itself using natural remedies rather than the " drug for everything" mentality.

Maybe it was growing up on the tail end of the hippie era. Which I guess is sort of a paradox, because where I didn't seem to care what drug I ingested to alter the chemical state of the brain and perhaps do irreversible damage (no lets rephrase that...DO irreversible damage), I felt as long as I ate my healthy granola and kept my fiber intake good, all was well.

But I grew up and left many things behind, but not my quest for the next natural cure.

I can distinctly remember once when my toddler son ( who is now 34) was running a fever due to some virus. No drugs to ward that fever off...no siree! I stuffed his socks with garlic and had him sip on a bottle of pomegranate juice. This was of course before pomegranates were found in everything from martinis to chocolate. He eventually forgave me.

Actually he has turned into somewhat of his own health nut and we both share the love of wheat grass juice. Where he grows and juices his own, I use a dried wheat grass powder.

Ahhh,nothing like sipping down what tastes like a bucket of rain water that grass clippings have been sitting in for a week. Yum!

I am not sure what enthuses me more, the oxidation of my blood by this wonder sludge or the fact that I regularly buy it and will soon be receiving my very own free tee shirt that says I am a Grass head!

You know its not that I am totally against the conventional methods of medical care. Its just hard to trust the "Big pharma"

I mean these are the same people that in the 1950's were running ads like the one below.

I'm sure you can't read the small print so let me do the honors.
"Why is this woman tired
She may be tired for either of two reasons:
~ because she is physically overworked. If this is the case, you prescribe rest, because rest is the only cure for this kind of physical problem.
~ because she is mentally "done in." Many of your patients -- particularly housewives -- are crushed under a load of dull, routine duties that leave them in a state of mental and emotional fatigue. For these patients, you may find 'Dexedrine' an ideal prescription.
'Dexedrine' will give them a feeling of energy and well-being, renewing their interest in life and living.
Dexedrine* (dextro-amphetamine sulfate, S.K.F.) is available as tablets, elixir, and Spansule* capsules (sustained release capsules, S.K.F.) and is manufactured by Smith, Kline & French Laboratories, Philadelphia
*T.M. Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Patent "

Rolling Stones didn't sing "Mothers little helper" for nothing. And of course there are so many other examples why I just find it a little hard to trust every drug band wagon that comes rolling along. Like the H1N1 shot. Sorry....I will take my chances with the swine flu rather than inject myself with a mix of ingredients that could be more harmful than the disease.
But for those of you who don't know where you stand here is a handy video of how to make your own flu shot.



You might also want to invest this informative little pin I made that shows how the swine flu is really spread. It could save lives.

When Fish Fly

Its funny how in my childhood days I loved fishing. My aunt and uncle would often take us fishing and I have many great memories.
Whether it was the time my aunt tied a little string around a crayfish's neck (do they have a neck come to think of it?) and I walked it like a little dog, or the great picnic lunches we would have, or cooking the freshly caught fish, I am not sure, but it was great.
And there were the trips up north with my parents, renting a cottage off the lake and getting up at the crack of dawn to go see what bounties we could reel in.

Somewhere down the line though, something clicked or snapped, depending how you look at it.
I suddenly found the whole fishing thing a little disconcerting.
Still love spending time with family, still love great picnic lunches, still love nature.
But hooking and reeling in the things...ewwww...can't do it....just can't do it.
I remember my Dad always told me that they didn't feel anything. Well I bought it then, but sorry I can't buy it now.

I realize fish may not have the most magnetic personalities, and its not exactly a creature you would want to cuddle. But just try watching one lay there on the boat gasping its last breathe and look at those glass like eyes and tell me you don't see something of a personality?
Sure they are different. I think the French novelist Andre Gide put it best, "Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. Its their way of falling." So is that any reason to persecute them?

I often come across many vintage images where fish are depicted in many strange ways, from serving martinis, bowling, to romancing their significant other. One of my favorite is from an 1800's image that I use in a popular pin I sell that I like to call "Thick Lipped Smoked Fish" for short.

This recent discovery below is a bit strange. Can't quite make out the meaning behind it but its interesting, to me at least.
The woman is holding a fish that seems to blend in with her dress all neatly wrapped in a bow. Fashion accessory? Maybe to attract the menfolk? Or is it simply supper on its way home?
Whatever the case sweetie, I would watch out for the fish flying above you. May be a hostile family member ready to drop some bait that might just catch you.

And finally there is the awesome animated short on BoingBoing I came across. One from the PSST!3 series where three teams of collaborators combine their work.
Its the first in this series,called "Omar" by Doug Purver I was especially fond of although all 3 are great. I have added the full version below called "Omar and his Skyhook" but if you would like to see it combined with 2 other short animated clips that merge into one,heres the link for that. http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/17/bb-video-omar-hot-pu.html

So hope you enjoy it. I may just sign out with the name "Hypocrite". Because where you won't find me fishing again till fish fly, I have to admit that you will be able to find me chowing down on sauteed trout, baked salmon, or a nice slab of seared ahi tuna whenever possible. My bad.

Being all grown up can bring you down

The other day I was visiting at a friends house who was watching her 18 month old grandson.
The other adults in the room seemed to disappear into the back ground as I got drawn in by watching the little guy. It suddenly struck me how badly I wanted to be a child again and find the greatest joy in the simplest of things.

He was entertaining himself by simply going round and round a chair. He would do it several times and then just burst into laughter.
It was infectious laughter that made me want to strip myself of my adulthood, and dive into the simple joy of young childhood.
Think how much easier life if we would deal with our problems by looking at everything through a child's eye.

For instance I just spent about 20 minutes trying to get a blanket to be balanced on the spin cycle. Every time it would hit full speed, boom, off it would go because it wasn't balanced right. So I would open up the washer and readjust. Over and over again. All the time watching the clothes through the front load window.
Frustrated beyond compare. Ready to blow the thing up.
But how different it would have been had I had a child's mind.
Spin a little..boom... I let out a loud laugh. Spin a little...boom... I run in circles and fall down.
I become mesmerized by the blanket turning and spinning and tumbling.
I could have probably carried it on for twice as long and walked away with a smile on my face.

Probably even the scenario I had today of trying to help another who was depressed would have been so much easier. Instead as an adult I had to rationalize,empathize,and vocalize just so.
It left me feeling drained and in a lousy mood.

But had I been looking through a childs eye, I would have probably just made funny faces to make the poor depressed soul feel better, or offered them my cookie and we probably both would have walked off hand in hand singing a little song together.
I wouldn't have had to think so much about what to say. I would have only felt what it was I needed to do to make them feel better.

Oh well. Such is life. And I guess there is always the exception.
Came across this antique postcard the other day and it only goes to show, that even a childs mind can have a dark side. At least I didn't kill anyone today.

Of Replicating Pods and Slugs

The whole summer has been extremely strange.
Weather that never let us know that it really was summer. Just sort of this confusion as to had it arrived, and was it staying.
Add to that the fact that my time was totally not my own and I ran from this to this to that, and it just never really felt like "Summertime and the living is easy."

As I finally had some time to actually weed today, I had time to gaze at what was/is my garden.
Yes,it has been an object of neglect, but most neglected gardens seem to at least produce, but just in amongst a mess of weeds.
My vegetable garden this year was not only hidden in weeds, but what it did produce seemed to be spawned from some distant planet. Little watermelons that morphed into baseball size sludge. Tomatoes that sometimes decided to grow round but many that looked like a horrible tumour growth, mojito mint that changed color on me and several species of plants that just seemed to disappear, perhaps being eaten by something.
And that something could have been slugs. There seem to be slugs everywhere.
The other day my daughter put a blanket on the ground to enjoy a "picnic" lunch with my granddaughter, and soon they were infiltrating the blanket and moving in for the kill.
Hundreds of them.
Made me think of the following 1900's postcard. This guy has a serious problem in more ways then one and much milder than mine. His grubs seem exceptionally dangerous and his veggies are downright freaks.

So its with a sense of sadness but also relief that I watch the darkness fall earlier every night. Not quite the summer that we will be able to relive in pictures looked at over and over again, or one where we can reminisce over the bounty of garden goodies we grew. But a relief also because many good things were accomplished too. Maybe looking forward to the fall will bring even greater adventures in living.

At least I didn't have replicating pods in my life. Got 11:00 minutes? Enjoy 11:00 minutes Space Ghost, Stephen Wright and replicating pods. Insanity...but I love it.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast
by NPIcartoons