Lady Bird

 

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Hot Blood

   My wild reading list has inspired a new horror, Hot Blood, based on a true story. 

 One

May 1, 1361

  The morning was warm, and I wondered at the wild hare who bound across the lawn, kicking up pink blossoms. He seemed a couple of months late. No matter, nothing was as it used to be. He was likely just thrilled with living, as we all ought to be. The abbey bells chimed the hour, and I joined the brothers for breakfast. 

  The porridge was hot, fresh today, and there were plum preserves and fresh mint. After grace Abbot  de Brinkeley cleared his throat and tapped his spoon. Where was Brother Norton? It was unlike anybody to miss breakfast, was he ill? Our numbers had dwindled so much that a moment’s lateness instilled worry, ten minutes, panic. Abbot  Brinkeley too furrowed his lined brow, which had come to resemble a country map, staring at Norton’s empty place, before beginning. 

  “The heathen will no doubt be playing the fools today, so keep to the grounds. Stay out of the woods and clear of the meadow. Where is Brother Norton?” 

  “He wasn’t in his bed,” Brother Eustace said. Unlike many abbeys where the brothers slept in a line, since the Pestilence, we slept two to a room. I shared my room with Brother John de Grafton who was seated to my left and began to down his porridge. We all relished our food and drink a bit more these days, but Brother Grafton had become fat as a friar. The silver tabby, Judas, caught up a moth in his paws and looked to be praying. 

  “Who let that cat back in here?” Abbot Brinkeley wanted to know. Nobody answered, but we all knew it was Tommy, the little idiot, who loved the cats. 

  

Mushroom Morning

 

Grody Mushrooms & a Funnel Web

  Most things are nasty these days, so why not? Up to chapter 31 in DOC anyway. Doc is my redemption. TTYL...

 

Thanksgiving Weekend

 

This autumn has ranked as one of the most fun ever. My brother and I went down to the creek where I found a load of Turkey Tail mushrooms for a friend. After getting home I made Davey Bird, here, looking dramatic, who Ron has claimed, but I'm working on Jack N. Oph for my brother, now. These are inspired by David Bird's Becorns. My Liverpudlian girlfriend turned me on to them. Today we went on the mine tour in the Lehigh Valley. I got an arrow head and a couple of new crystals in their fun gift shop, one is local quartz. The mining museum was full of amazing art and doll houses. Finally, we went to the Stampede BBQ. It was our first time, but I've had their homemade cider at Apple Fest at Joanna Furnace. I'm a huge fan, it's more the European sort, and my brother said their hand crafted old-fashioned ale was good too. 

The Tully, Mining Museum, BBQ...

Dreams 11/7

 Dreamt I was at a sort of fair in a school gymnasium. I was sitting on the bleachers with a big guy with a beard who liked me. He had a fluffy brown kitten that I was holding. I checked to see if it was a boy. 

Boyertown Blog

The past couple of Easters we've ridden the posh Colebrook train, and last time Ron said we'd have to check-out Boyertown some time. I knew my favorite sweet cider, Frecon's, came from there, and it looked fun. It was more fun than we thought. The morning began with a funeral of a dear friend, so I wasn't counting on having such a good time. We started at Bridget's Place where Ron got me a gorgeous citrine crystal. We're going to have to go back there with my brother and drink wine and make scented candles. Then, we went to The Peppermint Stick Candy Store. That was like going back in time to Betty's. Betty's was the penny candy store we walked to from Grandma's when I was a kid. Mummy used to walk to Betty's, too. Betty was an older lady before my time. At the shop I got old fashioned clove candy and violet gum. Then, we met this fabulous lady where I got some mushroom cards to share with my many pen pals and quince hand lotion she made herself. Quince is my favorite scent, it drives me wild. Boyertown is The Bears so there are clawsome bears everywhere, my favorite is the library bear, here. We found another old theater like The Strand in Hamburg, only this place is even older, 1912. They were showing The Rocky Horror Picture Show and A Nightmare Before Christmas, seven dollars a ticket. The graves dated back to the sixteenth century. The pet store was off the hook. Check-out Yin Yang ferret bliss. There was a little black poodle hopping up and down: darling. Ron got Mars, my scarlet Betta, a new little dolphin pot. He's checking-it-out. They had an entire Betta section there, but none of their Bettas looked happy like my boys. We finished off the trip with supper at The Iron Stone, another place we must take my brother. I had an excellent drink called The Ghost Whisperer made with elderflowers and cranberry, two of my favorites. Ron loved the shepherd's pie, and my flat bread was better than my a'pizza. Plus, I got a growler of Frecon's pear cider that I'm drinking just this minute which is even better than the sweet stuff. Why can't I get Frecon's everywhere? It puts Angry Orchard to shame. After we got home Shiner and I watched Hallmark's Canadian The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from 1999. I'm accustomed to Disney's Bing Crosby and Jeff Goldblum's eighties version, both are good. I used to teach this story, so I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. What a fun fall! 

Boyertown I

Boyertown Bears

Boyertown Graves

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 

Keeping it Spooky with Starlight

 

flutter Starlight

 Aw, thanks to the ant events my Flutterpedia is complete. Wish they'd have some more real events. I'll still be playing. It really is my sanctuary. Thanks, Runaway! 💮🦋💮

They Grow Up So Fast

 

Backyard & Bob's Bonsai Mix

More mushrooms as usual, no surprise, but look at the window box from The Little Witches House just due to a couple of tablespoons of Bob's bonsai mix. Out of that. Gave some to all of my plants. Good stuff! 

Mutschler's Rare Plants

Backyard Post

Up to lesson seventeen of Jennifer Paxton's fascinating The Celtic World, Great Course. Here's a time-out from the backyard. I believe this morning glory is only purple thanks to Bob's bonsai mix, as the seeds were common blue on the packet. We always have loads of mushrooms, all types, as this house vanishes into a fog every evening. What has Jennifer taught me? Northern Italians are fair due to their Celtic origins, The Irish had slaves, and the Manx cat is a relative to the Spanish wildcat. 

 

More Mushrooms...

Small army of mushrooms off the back porch again... 

 

Dreams 5/24

 This dream is the result of a fiesta which also left me with a belly ache although I never even made it to the margaritas. Pickles and pepperoni give me wicked dreams, too. Lucky I hardly ever touch pepperoni, but I love pickles. Alright, enough with the introduction, and on with the dream. I was working downtown at night in a bookshop, it was my first day on the job. My boss was a bald black man, I think he was a professor of mine in college, an English teacher, Dr. Green, but I cannot be sure because Dr. Green cancelled class all the time. He said it was due to walking pneumonia. Anyways, there were two other employees, a blonde girl, and a black guy. Like me, the black guy was new, too. I had my first customer to check-out, a dark haired man with a small thin white book. I had no idea how to operate the cash register as it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. My boss showed me that you simply inserted a chip like plastic appendage into the slot on the small thin black box that was the cash register. A little red blip of a light flashed, and that was it. No money changed hands, and I still did not get it. The shop was dimly lit with high white walls filled with shelves loaded with books. The blonde girl seemed fine, but according to my boss, the black guy was more lost than I was, and he was going to let him go. 

Minerva: Handmade, OOAK Witch

                                                                        Minerva
 

Garden Witch

                                                             Garden Witch

 

Ladybird

                                                               Buy Ladybird
 

Dreams 4/1

Dreamt that I was back at the old house in Oakland. My ex, sister-in-law, and her friend weren't present, but I knew they were around. The place was filthy. There was dust and garbage everywhere. I was going around with huge garbage bags, like the ones for the lawn, trying to contend with it. There was a half empty case of rose wine in the kitchen. I was drinking some. It was bad, but I don't like rose wine. Don't know why I was cleaning up, but it seemed like any human being would want to. 

A New Irish Blessing

May the sun warm your heart,

and the moon touch your soul.

Let the clover greet your feet,

and the politicians fall in a hole. 

May the breeze blow gently, 

and the waters run cool.

Let the fires emblazon your wits,

so you may never suffer a fool. 

Dana Lee 

 

Turkey Tail Mushrooms

Watching Fabulous Fungi on Net-flicks I saw how a woman in her eighties attributed her breast cancer survival to turkey tail mushrooms. There were a load growing behind The Little Witches House in the woodpile on a log. I learned online to remove them with a sharp knife, and dry them. It wasn't easy to remove them, and my hand was sore, but it seemed to benefit my hands which are prone to blisters and rashes. I gathered them in a brown bag. I did not have a spare screen lying around to dry them on, so put them in a colander near a sunny window, stirring them with a wooden spoon a couple of times a day. They were dry within a few days. I ground them in the blender, and put them in a big jam jar. I sent these across the country to a friend. I'd left some of the mushrooms, I'd taken, hoping they would grow back, but I guess it got cold, and they didn't. The next month I went out to look, I only got a little bit, not worth sending. I'd treated them the same way and got enough to fill the bottom of a mustard jar. I decided to try them, as I've been sick, and they supposedly support immunity, while cleaning the liver. It sort of makes sense when you consider how they grow on dying trees. I added a spoonful to some mushroom pho. I did not heat them, as I was concerned about affecting their medicinal properties, so I added them, last, to the hot soup. I was surprised that they were tasteless. They were like eating pebbles, though, and I found that I could not swallow the bigger bits. This is how you do it: put them in a tea strainer and seep them for two minutes in hot soup. I left the strainer in my soup until I finished to take full advantage. It was very good.