Linden Blossoms

The Linden Trees are in bloom! I caught a very pleasant whiff of that unmistakable perfume this evening, and I knew it was time again -- All I had to do was look up at the trees nearby.


Linden Blossoms


Linden Tree Leaves, also known as Basswood (so you might recognize it when it's not in bloom).



Grappa Eddie Smithmajer

Great Gramma Smitmajer (Eddie's mother)

My Grandfather (Eddie Smitmajer for those long lost cousins in The Czech Republic) said his mother loved Linden Blossom Tea. When she found a Linden tree in bloom, he would help her pick the blossoms in July, which would then be dried in a warm oven for this mild tea all year round. When he realized we had a Linden tree behind our barn, I went out with him to fill a brown paper shopping bag with the sweet blossoms. I don't know how much tea he actually drank, but it was a nice memory. For years after that, I had a huge jar of those dried blossoms.


Tonight I made a fresh tea from these little beauties. My husband says that his Grandfather in France also had great reverence for Lindens. His family had a summer place in the country, complete with an orchard, Linden trees and bees. CL would go there to get "hunny and money" at Mailly. Another reason I married this wonderful man!


Image from here.
Linden flowers make the BEST honey. If you know a beekeeper with Linden trees nearby, they will keep the Linden honey "under the table." You have to ask for it. It's in short supply and they typically don't leave it out for general sale. Linden flower honey is always a special treat.

Give the Kind of Love you Have

The following passage was published in Patti Digh's little book, What I Wish for You : Simple Wisdom for a Happy Life. When her daughter graduated high school and left for college, Patti asked her friends to give her daughter some advice on such a momentous occasion. Watch the video for more info.

There's a lot of great wisdom there in this little book. This one in particular rang true for me :



Give the Kind of Love You Have
by Tamara Bailie

One thing I wish I would have known earlier in my life is this ... the love you take into your heart as you live your days is going to come from many different people. You hear often in stories and songs and movies about the ONE person whose love will be everything to you, who will be everything you ever needed. What you will find, however, is that people give what they have. We are wired differently. You will find people whose love feeds your mind, and people whose love feeds your sense of humor, and people whose love you can count on at 2:00 am on a random Tuesday. When you let all of those different kinds of love into your spirit, it will smooth out the rough spots, filling in the tiny spaces left behind from moments of pain and misunderstanding. One person may not fill the role of providing every kind of love you need, and that is what makes life interesting. When you let different people play the parts they are best at playing, it allows them to simply be who they are when they are with you. And when you can give the kind of love you have to the world, you can simply be who you are, giving what you have to give. People sometimes seem to let us down simply because they don't seem to give us what we need. Try to remember that they are giving what they know, what they've been shown, and what they have. Many of us are carrying much more than we need, and sometimes all that we carry can keep us from seeing all that we are. You can lighten the load for people each time you offer acceptance of their stories, acknowledgment of their songs, and awareness of what makes them unique. Hold on to the love people have to give, and let go of anything else they've handed you to carry. And keep your own carry-on bag as light as you can, so you can see who you are, where you're going, and what you're leaving behind for the ones you love.

Twilight

We are fortunate in Oshkosh to have Menomenee Park with a path that runs along Lake Winnebago, all the way out to a Point on Miller's Bay. One evening as the sun was setting, I captured these scenes. Can you tell I've been watching Art Wolf on PBS?


Here's a little wider shot. One week later, the grass had been cut down. Glad I got the shots when I did!


I love how the dark and light play on the water in this one. The duck could be a silhouette and it would still work. This one might turn into a journal quilt some day ...


Cottonwood Leaf.

Exquisite Spring!

Perfectly Pecked Oranges

The Baltimore Orioles were here this past week. They perfectly pecked the juice out of this orange. I never expected them to be so systematic about it!

The Emperor of Oranges ... Answers Dead Letters

In this poem, he talks about writing an email to the dead, telling them you miss them, and wanting to know they're all right. When he's Emperor of the Internet, you'll get an automated response back ... Isn't that a lovely thought?

It's been 10 years, Sandy. Yes, Oliver is 10 years old now. Can you believe it? You died before he was born, didn't even get to see him wriggling in this world. He's a good kid, not the quiet, shy kid I was at that age. He is confident, bold, smart, when he applies himself. He could do anything he'd want to do in this world. I did good. :-)

Sometimes I can hear you laughing--oh what a big laugh you had! But you also knew how to cry. You felt your feelings, whatever they were. You taught me how to stand up for myself. What a gift you were in my life! I miss you. I want to know you're all right wherever you are now. I want you to know that I still think of you. You made a difference in my world. Thank you for being part of my story. I just wish you were still here so we could do another canoe adventure, so we could lay on the dock out at Cherokee Marsh and count dragonflies, so I could hear you laugh ... so we could talk again.



My close friend, Sandra Matthews died unexpectedly 2 months before my son was born in 2001. I had just visited her the weekend before ... I don't think any of us saw her suicide coming.
About 6 months later, I did a meditation to talk with her, to find out if she was all right and to say, "Good bye." When she met me in this "dream," she gave me the gift of a flower--a water lily. She said, "For your future, Kid!"

When I started putting this quilt together, the flowers reminded me of the water lily Sandy gave me that summer's day. And now, I know that I can talk to her anytime I want ... Those who loved us in life, love us still after death. This seems like a good day to wrap myself in that quilt of comfort.

"The day will come when it is more painful to stay tightly closed in a bud than to bloom." --Anais Nin.

These colors are not at all "Sandy." She was bright and flashy and sparkly and loud. Before I knew her, she was an exotic dancer ... but she couldn't wear the high heels anymore, so she had to make a career change. She became a naturalist, learning about ecology and giving nature tours--she loved the outdoors. Read about a Fall Day in the Baraboo Hills with Sandy. No--these are really MY colors. This quilt is a gift to myself--with Sandy's continued blessing and encouragement.

Sandy, I wish you could see how I've bloomed. You were the gardener.