Three weeks ago was the start of the season for the variety of apples that I like best for making pies (Greenings, for those who are curious). I went to our local apple farm (the one that grows the heirloom varieties) and brought home a 1/2 bushel of fruit to make into pies. Getting ready to bake, I reached into the drawer where I keep my cutting tools for my "approved by the Amish" apple peeler/corer device. Which was not in the drawer. This is a huge and bulky rotary tool, with a handle that gets stuck every time you open and close the drawer. It was there every time I looked for the pizza cutter, or reached for a knife. It wasn't there now. The pizza cutter was.
I came to the conclusion that we have pictses, or faeries, or borrowers. I haven't actually seen them, so I don't know which. But I guessed they were tired of pizza and wanted some fresh fruit. I used a knife to prepare the apples for the pies. Since I have some truly lovely knives, it wasn't that great a hardship.
But now, they've taken my camera! This is simply not acceptable. And this is why I have no pictures of my projects to accompany this post. Any suggestions on how to ransom my camera back would be appreciated.
I've actually gotten a lot done in the last few days. The most recent batch of incense is finished and packed. I love the scent of saffron. It is rich and heady and intoxicating. I don't use the last word lightly. According to Christian Ratsch in the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants;
in low dosages, it excites, cheers, and produces laughter ... The psychoactive effects of saffron have been occasionally described as "spasms of laughter" and "delirium" (Vonarburg 1995, 76); "in its effects, saffron comes close to opium."
Culpeper extols saffron for use in "hysteric depressions" but warns;
However, the use of it ought to be moderate and reasonable; for when the dose is too large, it produces a heaviness of the head and sleepiness; some have fallen into an immoderate convulsive laughter, which ended in death.
I cannot imagine how much saffron one must ingest or inhale for such an effect!
Tonight, I also started work on the last tincture of my planetary tincture project. Rose, for Venus in Libra. The roses were homegrown and dried. Since I used no fixative while drying them, they lost nearly all of their color. But when I started crushing the petals, the scent was true and strong, sweet and amazing. When I added the Everclear to the jar, there was almost no color transfer to the liquid. Almost. The liquid did take on the barest tinge of gold and seemed to magnify the rose petals beyond what I would have expected from the refraction of glass and liquid. I am thinking that this is going to be a wonderful finish to the project. I will know in a month or two.
What else, what else?
Baked bread (challah) and started some rye bread (that is a two day project all by itself). Read a novel (Terry Pratchetts "Unseen Academicals"), made a skirt. All in the last two days, all in addition to all the other stuff that somehow gets done.
I may borrow a camera to take pictures of the skirt.
(If you are interested in the saffron incense, and you didn't arrive here via Mrs. B.'s blog, click on the 31 Days of Halloween button. On Saturday October 17, a tube of my incense will be among the giveaways you can try to win. If you did arrive via Mrs. B., Welcome!)
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8 comments:
You may not find it acceptable, but they find it completely acceptable. Maybe they will trade you back the camera for some incense.
This happened to me so many times when we lived in a small house in the forest.One time was particularly bad because we had to rush into town for an emergency and the only way to get there was by a small ferry as we lived on an island.
I grabbed my children and dashed for the car. I put the keys on the driver's front seat and buckled everyone in. I was rushing to get to the ferry before it pulled out, our window of opportunity was closing. I hopped into the driver's seat and lo-and-behold, the keys were no longer there. My children must have thought me mad but I started raging!
"Okay! I've put up with a lot from you and haven't complained too much. I always ask you nicely to return my stuff. But this time you've gone TOO FAR!
This is an emergency; I'm not kidding around, GIVE ME BACK MY KEYS!!!!" and for further emphasis in my most angry-mother voice, "NOW!!!"
There was a huge "clunk" in the trunk of the car. What else could go wrong?
"AAAaaargh! What Now????" as I slammed out of the car to check the trunk. (My children in the back seat were shrugging their shoulders, "who is she talking to?" "I dunno")
I popped the trunk and looked inside. There, stuck inside the rim of my spare tire was my keyring and all my keys. Thankfully I could separate the car key from the others as they were well stuck, but at least we were on the road again.
I did remember to say thank you.
(raging earth mother mode? or a bowl of milk? or sheep liniment depending on the type of pictsie involved..:) I don't usually advocate any type of confrontation, but it worked for me that one time)
Congratulations on all your busy-ness...everything sounds so exhilirating. (tinctures, incense, terry pratchet, sewing...challah..yummmmm)
Now I'm off to visit Mrs.B to try me luck...
Yes, I did arrived here via Mrs. B.! And I'm glad I did it! Your incense seems to be the best!
Oh gods, and seems like you do have some entities playing with you... Keep us poste! :o)
Kisses from Nydia.
thank you so much for participating in Mrs. Bs giveaway... and also for all the interesting info... I am excited about finding your blog... :-)
Coming in from Mrs. B., and I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your tag line. I've always tried to live by the idea that the small things I do are just as important, if not more so, than doing big things, especially because trying to do big things can be a bit daunting.
Good luck with those pesky pictses!
It's pretty much all been said, but leaving them an offering of milk, bread, some kind of food or trinket that isn't essential to what you need to do but will attract them; sometimes acknowledging them works, otherwise all you can do is ask for your stuff back and wait it out.
It seems like this is the time of the year for the spirits to play tricks on us. I read somewhere that it was when the seasons changed that their activity increases.
Hope you get your stuff back.
Blessings,
Skye
Now I really want to win your saffron incense! LOL
Have a lovely weekend. Hopefully nothing else is borrowed by those troublesome fairies. :)
)O(
boo
Humm most of my experience is with things you don't bargin with, but in this case I would recommend a peace offering.
A friends little ones seem to attract and have them with them at all times. When they were playing in my garden one decided to stay and play. I ended up with mushrooms in a perfect circle ina a place they really should not grow. It was an uneasy truce at best between them and spiritus loci.
I made offering of cakes, milk and honey in the interim. Then I got the kids back over here and explained that the children really did need them around more than I did. Luckily for me, they decided that I was right and left. Other than that I have no useful information sister.
Good luck!
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