The Furious Spinner

2:00 a.m. Morning, fellow spinners. I'm awake. Want to be asleep, but there you are. I just took a long shower and washed my hair with my new shampoo. (More on that later.) I've got CNN on in the background. They had this amazing program on today—which is now being rerun—where Arab journalists talked about what is happening in Iraq and the Middle East. The moderator is terrible; he is extremely patronizing. However, the panelists are saying things on TV that I have not heard on any other mainstream media. One journalist said it was as though Bush had a handbook on how to be hated in the Arab world, and he was going through it chapter by chapter, doing exactly what it said. Another said that the American government keeps saying it is a Socratic Democracy and wishes to bring that to the Arab world, yet Bush claims he is getting commands from God. How is that different from Osama Bin Laden and the other radical Arab leaders who claim they are doing God's work?

IWe had a nice weekend. On Friday, we went hiking early. Most of the wildflowers are gone, so the few that remain stand out–especially the tiny white tinged with pink star flowers (trientalis latifolia). (I described them in "Counting on Wildflowers": Their blossom is about the size of the nail on my index finger, with seven pointed petals, white inside with pink lining on the edges. They sparkle in the sunlight, as if someone has dipped them in glitter.) Two of the waterfalls which had disappeared a couple of weeks ago reappeared! We had never seen the waterfalls dry up so early in the year, and now to see them return seemed odd, too. And wonderful. Then we came home and worked. The neighborhood was quiet, hot, and we were cool, cocooned, inside most of the day.

On Saturday, I was up early, so I worked in the garden. The lettuce is still not growing and now it is bolting. We usually don't have to buy lettuce from April through September. This is the first year my lettuce crop has failed so miserably. I'll try again next planting day. The lavender is gorgeous, but I can't eat it—generally speaking. I harvested some rosemary and lavender, then took what I had into the house and made shampoo. It was so quiet in the house. Restful. Outside it got hotter and hotter. I felt comforted and comfortable making this shampoo. It's something I've done several times a year since about 1997. I got the recipe from my dear late gal pal Jeanne Hardy, in who was publisher and editor of Birdy's Circle. I miss her, and making the shampoo always makes me feel close to her. She was one of the most independent beings I have ever known, living off the land, making all that she could herself—including shampoo, although she did that for health reasons. She had MCS and didn't want to expose herself to all the chemicals in most store-bought shampoos. Here's the recipe:

1 oz. olive or vegetable soap, grated
1 cup water heated to a boil.
Add 2 T fresh or 4 T dried herbs
For oily hair: peppermint, lemongrass
For blonde: calendula, chamomile
For dark: rosemary, lavender
For thin or limp: nettles
Simmer herbs for 5-10 minutes. Strain with cheesecloth. Add soap until melted. Add 2 T aloe vera gel.

It doesn't say what herbs to use with gray hair. (Yes, I started going gray when I was 11. I think I've almost finished the process.) I've been using rosemary and lavender because that's what I have in my garden. After the shampoo cools, I pour it into an old shampoo bottle.

Well, I had more to write about, but I am suddenly very tired, so I'm going to try to sleep.

May You All Sleep in Beauty.

1 comments

1 Comments:

I wonder if it's possible to still post here, I see it's dated 2004.

I was thinking about Jeanne today and put a search in for "Birdy's Circle" and up came this article.

Like you, I was a friend of Jeanne's and do miss her still. I would love to find another Spotted Chicken or Birdy's Circle with a group of like minded women that subscribed to Jeanne's.

Ah well, I suppose that idea is too good to be true but I just wanted to say hi from one of Jeanne's old friends to another.

Dee

By  Anonymous, at 1:32 PM  

Post a Comment

All photographs and written material copyright © 2003-2008 by Kim Antieau unless otherwise indicated. May not be used without permission.