HerbnArts

    Such a busy week!  Only a few more days until Christmas, and I am only starting to get into the mood of the holiday.  After thumbing through some of my craft books looking for inspiration, I dusted off the memory of creating cinnamon ornaments.  The aroma of the cinnamon definitely stirs holiday memories for me.  I still have a lot of cinnamon left from the huge jug I bought several years ago.  It doesn't take much of a recipe to create the ornaments.  For every cup of ground cinnamon add about a 1/4 cup of applesauce to the spice.  I managed to buy my quantity of cinnamon at a bulk wholesale pricing, but if you purchase it in small quantities, it can be a bit pricey.  The cinnamon dough should be worked into the consistancy of any cookie dough.  If it's too dry, add a little more applesauce, too wet, add more cinnamon.  Roll the dough out at about a 1/8 th of an inch thick.  Use any holiday cookie cutters to cut out the ornament cookie shapes.  Set the oven temperature to

    ...It's snowing today!  Nothing heavy, but it's a light dusting that could stack up eventually.  It has been tough to think of Christmas without snow.  Growing up here in Ohio, an integral part of the holiday was the addition of snow.  With no snow, what is a person to do with a new sled under the old Christmas tree?  I can remember getting to go with my cousins to one of the local parks sledding on Christmas day.  My childhood home had a yard that was terraced and that made for good sledding, too.  But I do remember one snowless Christmas in particular when I received my first 2-wheeler bicycle from Santa.  Sharp Christmas cookie that I was, I remarked to my dad that I noticed that there was a little mud on the tires.  Not to be thrown by that observation my dad told me that due to not having any snow that year Santa had to roll the bike in from the driveway instead of bringing it by the usual rooftop sleigh method.  It sounded a little fishy to me, but if my dad said so,

    ...Still terrifically warm here in Ohio for December.  Today was partially sunny, and that was enough to lure me outdoors for a walk with the camera at the Seiberling Nature Realm.  Trees were devoid of leaves for the most part which allowed other special treasures to be found.  Most of the colors were that of dark bark on bare trees and with that neutral background the bright green mosses on logs jumped out at me.  I couldn't resist that soft carpet gently draping over the otherwise dreary logs.  Bright red was the next striking color in the scenery as I encountered winterberry shrubs.  Red from the ornamental crabapple trees decorated some of the higher tree areas located near the dove cotes at the nature realm.  As I walked along the trail I was amazed to find one last dandelion still sporting a modest yellow blossom.  I'm convinced that long after the world ends there will still be cockroaches and dandelions outlasting all humanity.  Amongst the textures of dried weeds

    ...So, the sun is shining today in Ohio.  My mood is a bit brighter, too, for it.  Lately I have felt like I am free-falling through the season.  Yes, I can hear Christmas music everywhere, but so far there is no snow.  There is something about snow that jump starts the holiday season in Ohio.  I've been having trouble getting in sync with the rapidly approaching day of celebration and gift giving.  Personally, I feel like I'm running two months behind.  One thing that helped me get more into the holiday mood was a "fun and discovery" day I shared with a friend.  We travelled to local small shops just to see what treasures of the season we could find.  I grow weary of seeing the same old stuff in some of the retail chain stores.  Small boutiques and galleries usually offer a bit more uniqueness to potential gifting.  We were not disappointed.  Lately I have begun to collect mercury glass objects.  One recent find was a lamp which I snatched up with great glee.  On

    November is moving along into December mode here in Ohio.  Today it is blustery and gray.  Sporadic rain slaps against the windows.  I've had a few days of respite from the Black Friday madness.  Working in retail certainly takes the edge off of enjoying the holidays.  But yesterday, a  Monday, a friend and I made a pleasant discovery of a favorite art gallery that was open in the early evening.  We had both commented on how it seemed so late since it gets dark so early.  It was barely 6:30pm when we drove by the Don Drumm Studio in Akron, Ohio.  "Oh, look!  They're open!  Let's go in and check out their Christmas stuff!", I told my friend.  Shopping doesn't hold the appeal it did when I was younger, the lure of twinkly stuff in specialty shops is still a draw for me during the holidays.  I am a firm believer in shopping local and shopping small, as in shopping in the small boutique types of shops and galleries.  Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate th

    The air was lightly cool with little movement from any breeze that barely moved the last of the autumn leaves.  Finally I found the time to have a bonfire of the downed tree branches from all the storms during the spring and summer months.  I had been looking forward to the great burn off of decrepit wood.  We had so much rain lately that it was hard to find a time when the wood was dry enough to catch fire when it was lighted. The day's plans had not worked out and I found that I was not accomplishing many of the tasks I had hoped to before the weather forces a halt to outside work. The rising moon was nearly full as it passed through the overhead trees.  Sapphire blue with wisps of deep pink clouds were the evening colors.  Surprisingly, the wood burned immediately and the bonfire became a reality.  Pulling a chair up to the fire, I sat watching it, tending it with my trusty rake to be sure all the stray branches were successfully burned.  It was good to sit in moonlight, loo

    November already!   This year is flying away at record speed!   It is hard to think about, but at my workplace the holiday music will be played throughout the store this weekend.  Really!  Can't we wait until Black Friday?  It's no wonder that by Christmas we are all so sick of rockin' around the Christmas tree and doing the reindeer stomp.  Here in Ohio we are enjoying a few days of late autumn bliss.  It is cool, but not cold.  Sweater weather.  It's not raining (yea!).  And there are still some trees sporting colorful leaves, hanging on until the next big rain wrestles them to the ground.  I've had a bit of fun shooting a senior portrait outdoors.  It has been a while since creating any portraits like that, so I am a bit rusty, but the results have still been pretty good.  Now I remember why I like doing portrait work.  Being outdoors is always wonderful for me.  Those photos are always a fun session for everyone concerned.      So far everything outdoors ha

HerbnArts: Sweet Honey... : I had forgotten how wonderful and delicate the sweetness of golden honey can be. A friend asked me to pick up some local honey at the...

      I had forgotten how wonderful and delicate the sweetness of golden honey can be.  A friend asked me to pick up some local honey at the urging of her doctor.  She had been suffering from fall allergies when her doctor recommended that she try eating local honey.  The honey would contain pollen from local plants that could help my friend to become more tolerant to the pollen during the season.  When I found a neighbor up the road from my house who had honey for sale I was thrilled.  The honey he was selling was from spring harvesting from his hives.  Soon he would be harvesting honey from the fall pollen crops.  Due to the copious rains of the season the spring honey was unusually dark.  Usually it is quite light in color, sometimes almost clear.  The beekeeper thought that the fall harvest of honey might be light colored this year.  I am going to check back with him for some of that sweet treat.  He said he would also have some with the honeycomb in it as well.  I've always en

HerbnArts: Treasures of the Beaver Moon... : Thar she blows! The glorious colors of the autumn leaves are quickly blowing off the trees here in Ohio today. Our fall spectacular of...

    Thar she blows!  The glorious colors of the autumn leaves are quickly blowing off the trees here in Ohio today.  Our fall spectacular of color has been pretty frustrating this year.  The copious rains in Ohio have caused the trees to stay green a bit longer than usual.  Today's high winds are ripping away the long awaited colors as soon as they turn.  But I have found it much easier to photograph people in the golden carpet on the ground.  It's tough to capture an outdoor portrait with the autumn color while the color is all up in the trees.  So, there may be some good photo ops to come.  And then, there is always that occasional spurt of golden sunlight to cause a special photo moment if you're quick.  I still love fall, with all its color and drama.       Last week I was able to make it to Ira Trailhead to view the beaver activity.  I had a fabulous opportunity to capture an image of one honker doodle beaver.  It was late enough in the day to see the moon when I spot

     It's hard to believe that it is October already.  With all the rainy days we are experiencing here in Ohio I should be able to get some of my herbal craft items ready for the Christmas holidays that will be here all too soon.  A few weeks ago I began making spicy orange pomanders for some of my holiday gifts.  It will take them until Thanksgiving to cure up properly.  It's great to be able to smell the oranges and cloves while I am getting sticky hands from the juices from the oranges.  Definitely smells like fall!  I can hardly wait for the wonderful perfume they create as they cure.  It's wonderful to have a decorative bowl full of the pomanders sitting on a table.  It makes for both a visual treat and an fragrance delight.  I don't know of anyone who doesn't like the smell of cinnamon, cloves and oranges.  I make sure that I add a bit of nutmeg to the spices that I roll the clove encrusted oranges in when I have finished covering the fruit with the cloves.

HerbnArts: Zen and the Goldenrod... : There is a quiet to the morning here. The air is lightly cool, not quite sweater worthy. The only sound for the moment is that of an a...

    There is a quiet to the morning here.  The air is lightly cool, not quite sweater worthy.  The only sound for the moment is that of an army of crickets that must be the size of dogs to produce such a sound level.  All the school buses are off and away, the clanging, banging trash service trucks have noisily finished their job and finally it is quiet...except for the crickets.  A spurt of sunshine has pointed out the goldenrod plants that are seemingly everywhere this year.  My grandmother always said that September was the month for purple flowers.  This year the purple flowers showed up in August, no doubt due to all the rain we had in the spring.  This year I would have to say that the predominant color is that of bright yellow from the bumper crop of goldenrod blooming just everywhere.  Goldenrod often gets a bad rap because most people think that is what is responsible for their fall allergies, but the truth is that ragweed is the real culprit.  Ragweed pollen is cast into the

     Ah, the water lilies!   What a great time I had capturing these images!  Ira Trailhead never fails to produce some great stuff to photograph.  All summer it was too hot and humid to get out to do any photographing so I am lean in the images department this year.  Last year I shared a lot of images compared to this year.  But now the weather is much better.  We have fall temps and I am hoping to capture some of those rolling misty fog scenes that are creeping onto the area.  This passed weekend I attended and herb fair at Quailcrest Herb Farm in Wooster, Ohio, and I also found my way to the art show in Kent at Fred Fuller Park.  Even though there was a little rain, both shows were a lot of fun.  Armed with my modest budget I managed to purchase some bundles of Sweet Annie and a few little herb plants.  A couple of arty bookmarks caught my eye so I indulged myself with them as well.  The coveted outdoor sausage sandwiches, ever present at most outdoor shows, became my lunch.  Quailc

    The day is raining off and on with bits of rolling thunder, and an occasional streak of lightning.  It is nothing like that sunny September day ten years ago when life would forever change in America.  We were so naive then, thinking that the violence of terrorism would never touch the United States.  It was incomprehensible to most Americans.  Never had Americans seen masses of her own people walking across bridges and piling onto boats to cross the harbor, everyone trying to get out of the city any way they could.  The expressions on all the faces was that of shock and worry.  Cell phones didn't work and no one was able to get a message to their loved ones that they were okay.  A worried nation sat glued to their televisions not knowing what else to do.  But it didn't take the country long to rally.  And America did what she does best, start rebuilding, digging deep into her wallet for money, and sending any help of any kind to make the situation better.  The enemy had gr

    Dried leaves made a rustling sound as the light breeze swirled them across the black-topped parking lot.  That was a week ago when I noticed that the leaves were beginning to fall from the trees at my workplace.  That was August.  Now it's officially September.  Where did the summer go?  My gardening efforts were minimal due to the torrential rains in the spring, then the horrific heat and humidity that followed once the rains stopped during all of July.  By August I had to start over again with my herbs.  Now, not only are my replacement basils growing like crazy, but the spindly ones that survived the rains are coming back as well!  Go figure!  Now my gardening efforts are mainly that of getting the beds ready for this winter and prepping them next year.  It has been like fall here in Ohio with warm sunny days and chilly nights.  Everyone seems to perk up now that the blistering heat and humidity have settled down.  There have even been a few nights that I was able to snuggle

HerbnArts: Green Corn Moon With a Side of Pesto... : Okay, so how's your August shaping up for you? Here in Ohio we can already feel a hint of fall on its way. This is harvest time in the...

    Okay, so how's your August shaping up for you?  Here in Ohio we can already feel a hint of fall on its way.  This is harvest time in the Great Lakes region.  The corn managed to survive all the rains in the spring and early summer , and now it is sweet corn season.  Seems as though you can't drive more than 50 feet before you see another outdoor booth selling sweet corn.  Is it any wonder that the Native Americans named the August full moon the green corn moon?  So far we have enough corn for food uses, but I grow more and more nervous as I see signs posted on fields stating that this crop of corn will be used for the bio-fuel ethol.  Not good.  I was horrified to find out that it takes 1000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethol.  What's wrong with this picture?  Everywhere an ethol production plant is built the water rights of the area are bought up by that company.  What happens when there is a drought?  Farmers are being forced to sell their water rights or f

     Oh, it's good to see that the weather is shaping up here in Ohio!  Today we are having the kind of wonderful summer day that we should have had all summer.  The humidity is low and it is in the 80's.  Lots of sunshine and blue skies!  Makes a gardener want to go out and dig in the dirt!  Recently I inherited some plants from a friend who couldn't manage to get them planted.  I was with her when she purchased them.  The plants were gorgeous and lush.  At the time, I hoped she would manage to get them planted, but somehow I knew those plants were destined to show up in my garden.  The plants are looking pretty sad at this point, but once they get established in my gardens they should shape up.  As I have said before, I am a late gardener.  My garden areas always look their best in the fall.  This year will be no exception.  But I have a lot to do before the winter snows hit us this year.  Somehow I just feel that is going to happen earlier this year.  If I read my spider

HerbnArts: Dancing with the Butterfly... : " ...Even with all the heat and humidity, the tansy is blooming! You can tell it is the end of the summer. That wonderful herbie green..."

     ...Even with all the heat and humidity, the tansy is blooming!  You can tell it is the end of the summer.  That wonderful herbie green fragrance of harvested tansy fills my doorway.  I'm about to create some wreaths with my bumper crop of tansy this year.  That fragrance always makes me think of the festivals in late summer and early fall.  Suddenly my herbie heart leaps for joy as I can finally harvest some of the herbs from my gardens.  If you've been following the blog, then you know what a sad season it has been for my garden this year.  Too much rain, too, much heat.  But I have always tried to make the most of my plant survivors no matter the weather conditions.  Last year was such a good growing year for the garden.  How I miss all the wonderful things that I was able to harvest from it.  But this year I am redesigning much of the garden.  There is always next year, and now is the time to set the beds up for next year's delights.  I've been cleaning up my s

HerbnArts: In Search of My Garden... : " ...This has not been the best summer for my garden. The constant torrential rains in spring hardly let up long enough for the hot, hu..."

   ...This has not been the best summer for my garden.  The constant torrential rains in spring hardly let up long enough for the hot, humid weather to saute us for the better part of July.  Needless to say, I have had to replace many of my herbs.  Too much water, too much heat!  But I am thrilled to see a few hardy troopers still making their way to success in the garden in spite of the odds.  The purple coneflowers are tall and colorful, the lemon balm just keeps cranking out plenty of fragrant leaves to use for teas and bath goodies, and jellies.  And the Veronica is cranking out its purple blooms.  I miss the basil plants from last year that grew so huge, making it a challenge to use it all in sandwiches and jellies, and plenty of pestos.  Finally, I gave up and bought three sweet basil plants.  They may still manage to give me some tasty treats for the end of the summer.       After visiting a friend of mine who is not a gardener, I felt a bit better about my poor garden.  She

   July 24th, 1969...For those who were around back then, what were you doing when U.S. astronauts first set foot on the moon?  It was a different time, and family protocols were quite different from today.  That summer of '69, I was living at home with my parents and commuting to Kent State.  I was taking my first photography class during summer session and was quite thrilled to be getting on with what would eventually become a bachelor of science in photography. We photo students were the first ones who would be receiving the newly created Photo-Illustration degree at Kent State.  It was a summer of firsts that year. Oddly enough, it was the same kind of a weekend, though not quite so hot.  I was supposed to be shooting specific assignments in black and white film which I would have ready to develop and print in my Monday photo lab class.  Sounds simple enough, but as usual Murphy's Law is always in effect at Johnson House.  My mother's cousin came up from southern Ohio f

HerbnArts: Positive Thoughts On Negativity... : " ...The Fourth of July weekend was a hot one weatherwise. Usually I find myself attending the many art shows throughout the summer months..."

   ...The Fourth of July weekend was a hot one weatherwise.  Usually I find myself attending the many art shows throughout the summer months.  The Boston Mills art show in Peninsula, Ohio is one of the Big Daddy art shows that has been going on for 40 years here in Ohio.  It brings in some of the best artists from all over the United States into the area.  That being said, the economy here is not what it could be.  Supporting the arts grows more and more difficult.  All the shows have suffered in fewer sales of artwork.  People haven't stopped appreciated fine art, they just don't have the extra cash to spend on any non-essentials.  This has led to many artists not coming into the Ohio shows.  That's a good news/bad news scenario.  It has led to more local artists surfacing in the Ohio art show circuit.  Many artists are now having a chance to jury into shows where once they wouldn't have made the cut just because they were local. While that is encouraging, still, the a

HerbnArts: The Memory of Magic Jenny... : " As I was ringing a customer's items at the store where I work, she commented about two little girls who walked by us, hand in hand. Th..."

     As I was ringing a customer's items at the store where I work, she commented about two little girls who walked by us, hand in hand.  They had just had their portrait done in my store's studio.  All ribboned hair and cutesy little girl clothing, they walked side by side holding hands.  The site of the two little girls had triggered a sweet memory for my customer.  She made the comment about how every little girl had that sweet moment of holding hand with a special little friend, and she wished life was that simple again.  As I considered the thought I realized that I did not have such a treasured memory.  "I don't have that kind of a memory," I commented.  Surprised, the lady said, "You don't?  Why is that?"  I began to explain that as an only child I was raised in a neighborhood where there were no other children.  I spent a lot of time alone.  My imagination and my pets were my solitary world in childhood.  It usually required an extraordinary