Thursday, May 29, 2008

35 weeks pregnant not far to go......

Hello all! My posts will not be frequent here in the next few months. Getting close to the end of my pregnancy. Plan on enjoying the time with Tony, Ella and the new baby, It goes by so fast!

The pregnancy has gone very well. I have the usual heart burn, shortness of breath, trouble sleeping, some back pain from an old injury & ligament pain. Other than that, no high risk signs, the baby moves frequently and seems like he is big for 35 weeks. I have had more than one comment "are you sure you are not pregnant with twins?" I am all belly, bigger than I was with Ella. I have had frequent Braxton Hicks contractions, especially after a lot of walking or other activity. A few nights back I had contractions every 5 to 7 minutes for about 4 hours. They are uncomfortable but do not increase in intensity- just a steady tightening and pelvic pain similar to menstrual cramping.

The peach twig tincture Kiva sent is working wonders for the heart burn. I found it is also very soothing, if I am supposed to have mood swings now, I haven't had any.

Enjoying nourishing myself with good food, herbal infusions and teas. Small frequent meals seem to work best for me right now since there is not a lot of room in there.

I am enjoying resting when I can. Ella is a hand full but likes to take at least one nap during the day.


Right now I am without a camera. We are planning on buying another soon. A real bummer because I have been on a few outings where I could have taken some really good plant pictures. Large leaved Avens is in bloom up here right now.

I will keep you all posted on my progress.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Secrets Talking With Flowers

My Grandma Johnson taught me wonderful lessons and traditions. She loved to write poetry. Grandma would make me handmade books of poems with cut out pictures. I can still feel the love, time & intention she put into these books when I pick them up to re-read them once again. She sent me many cards and letters, they always seemed to arrive just at the right time & and she always knew exactly what to say. Grandma had wonderful healing medicine. There is something about having hand written letters and poems, people don't handwrite letters much anymore. The internet, text messaging and phones in this busy life have shifted priorities. I feel blessed to still have these letters and poems. I just ran across this one today as my Mom and I were cleaning out one of our dusty old bins from storage. Grandma wrote this poem in 1980.

Secrets

When I was young and my brothers worked
I played alone, you see
And often times pretended that,
The flowers could talk with me

The daisies with their faces bright
As yellow as the sun,
Always kept their secrets
and would never tell a one.

The violets would shyly whisper
My lover would be true blue,
Then hide their little faces
In leaves all wet with dew.

The roses were as bold as brass
Their heads a flaming red;
And many a secret we exchanged
Before it was time for bed.

But if I wrote them here, for all to see
A secret no longer they would be;
So its much more fun to keep them hidden
and locked away
In the golden memories of yesterday-

Copy write Sally Leslie Johnson 1980

Dandelion Garden


Ok, I know everyone talks about dandelion this time of year but I just had to share. Our house is in a neighborhood, but we are lucky enough to have a 10,000 square foot lot. We have a good size approximately 300 square foot garden space that the previous owner grew vegetables in. We knew the previous owners gardened organically, and the soil is excellent!
The neighbor peeked over the fence and said," Wow you have a lot of work ahead of you, your garden is covered in weeds"! To his horror I'm sure, I started explaining how delighted I was to have soooooo many wonderful dandelions, my plans for dandelion wine, using the root for medicine, how we have been using the leaves & flowers for food, et. At first he laughed, but when I continued on and he realized I was serious, he had this blank look on his face, one of shock and surprise I guess. Before I could start talking about the blackberry, mullein, and various other "weeds" and my plans for their use, he interrupted with- "well I better get back to work ummm, nice talking to you"!