HerbnArts

     ...Splashes of delicate pinks and white were everywhere as I drove into my old hometown.  Early May is Cherry Blossom Festival time and it was barely a week away for the Magic city's annual celebration of springtime beauty.  All around the center of Barberton ruffly blossoms exploding on all the trees signaled that spring had indeed arrived in  the Magic City.  Lake Anna looked like a scene from nearly a century ago with it's decorative blossoming trees reminding one of the lacy ruffles of cotillion gowns from the 1920's.  The song's refrain of "Cherry pink and apple blossom white..." crept through my thoughts as I took in natures beautiful offering to Barberton.  Church bells chimed old favorite hymns helping to transport me back to simpler times.  This was the Barberton I had always remembered.  In another time ladies in long skirts and carrying parasols accompanied by gents with Sunday-go-to-meeting attire st...

...April showers bring May flowers...As I looked down at the bricks of the walkway by my kitchen door, I spotted an independent chervil plant growing in triumph over its surrounding conditions.   Must transplant that little trooper!  It had gotten warm enough that I took some of my housebound herb plants to stay outdoors finally.  I was sure that it was finally spring as I found myself wanting to paint something.  After seeing a special aqua-colored cachet pot on the cover of a gardening magazine, I decided to paint one of my terra cotta pots with the yummy aqua paint I "just happened" to have on hand.  Does that surprise any of us?     And now, as part of my spring rituals I must buy a few potted herbs to start off the season.  a day of scrubbing up well-seasoned terra cotta pots in preparation of new plants is due.  Gathering and organizing my plant markers and potting soil is part of the ritual tasks at hand.  It hass gotte...

   ...I knew it was spring when I saw ants crawling around in the cat food dishes on my kitchen floor.  Area residents were planning parties around the annual return of the buzzards coming to Hinkley.  Go figure!  Only in Ohio would anybody celebrate one of the ugliest carrion-eaters on the planet.  But winters get pretty dreary here in Ohio, and we are a desperate people looking for the slightest glimmer of hope to break the grey monotony that sets in for four months or more.      Another indicator of impending spring for me was the increasing urge to drag something outside and spray paint it. Visions of tiny pots of new herb plants interrupted my thought processes.  A trip to the local plant nursery was in order.  Yes, I know It's still too cold to have the herbs outside.  We all know how much I hate having plants inside the house, but at this time of year, I'll tolerate them being indoors.  Besides, it makes ...

      ...As with each new year I sat down and created "the list".  Resolutions to change bad habits and to create new good habits dominate my list.  I sit and stare at the list, hoping to somehow scrunch up new energy and resolve to make the projects ahead of me become a reality.  The curse of flat surfaces is everywhere with strong ju-ju mocking me.  "I will not put up with this any longer!" I announced to the four winds.  Pitching and sorting, I began a brutal triage of old papers, bits and pieces of buttons, pens, tacks, trinkets, etc.  Feeling much like Indiana Jones searching for the Ark of the Covenant, I persevered digging through the piles of accumulated paraphernalia stacked on my kitchen table. "There's a table under here, I know it.  After all, something with a flat surface has to be holding up all this stuff!"  An hour later, I began to hyperventilate from the stress of all the decisions of sorting an...

HerbnArts: Ode to January... :       HIBERNATE...to spend the winter in close quarters in a dormate condition, as bears and certain other animals.  To withdraw or be in se...

    ...A little bit of winter has settled in Ohio as we are getting blasted with a winter storm.  The snow is stacking up, so much so that I may have to postpone going cross-country skiing until the roads are cleared!      Recently I attended a small gathering of former classmates and others from my hometown.  Most probably due to our ages, the conversation drifted into the recollections of holidays past from our hometown.  Each person shared a memory of various stores and restaurants in the town with assorted remembered events connected with each place.  As the tales were spun the stories drifted into shared traditions and how they celebrated the holidays in the Magic City.  As the stories poured out of everyone's dusty memories, the subject and locale shifted to a local mall that was now a ghost town, virtually abandoned in the declining economy. Oddly enough, I had memories to share about the l...

     ...It finally happened.  It snowed on the Winter Solstice!  How appropriate, considering the fact that the symbol for Winter Solstice is a snowflake.      This has been a lean year for most, so by mutual agreement my friends and I decided to not exchange gifts this year.  With no gifts wrapped to place under the Christmas tree it forces one to look to the truer meanings of the season.  As I look around I find myself appreciating the brilliant red cardinals that visit the feeding stations in my winter garden.  The holiday light displays cheer my soul and remind me of Christmases past. Walking in the parks on both warmer days and snowy days invigorates me.  Like a little kid I eagerly look for new discoveries along the trails.  Remembering that my friend's son-in-law was in Iraq, but is now home safe to spend this Christmas with all his family warms my heart.     Thinking about the families of the ...