Unguent

 St. Hildegard was a mystic, naturalist and a healer among other things. She is one of the four women designated as “Doctors of the Church.” I bumped into her when I was looking for medieval manuscripts that students could read that were authentically medieval. Hildegard was essentially a physician of her time and her ideas were sought after and retained. The major work is titled Physica. It is filled with fascinating information about the natural world as Hildegard understood it. Dragons and unicorns mix in with lavender and oak trees, all rated and explained for medicinal use—or not. Somethings were poisonous or useless.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this read. She sounds just like a modern doctor only badly misinformed. She stepped up to Willow bark and declared it useless. She did suffer from unbearable migraines that willow bark/aspirin wouldn’t have touched. Some of her patients must have been wealthy because she suggests making a daily cake with gold dust to keep up one’s health or to restore it. Her compassion bubbles over in the motherly way she gives her advice. “Keep up with my unguent and your skin will be beautiful!” she promises. She also leaves lots of room for God in her work. If God would not allow her medicine to work there was nothing she could do.

I am still amazed at the vast resources of the internet. When I was young I’d have been lucky to find a encyclopedia article about Hildegard, and now I can read her work. The internet has not only connected the living. It is connecting us with all time.

James Delmage: Family Fair

 I love Italian food. It is heavy on the tomatoes and I love tomatoes. All the other Italian ingredients have been brought alongside with the possible exception of capers. I’m still on the fence about capers.

Jim Delmage has become a must watch for cooking YouTube. He is organized, simple and comfortable with making mistakes and leaving them in. The recipes are a mix of the familiar and enough new things to keep expanding my interest. I’m also trying new products he recommended most notably DeCecco pasta. You can tell he’s cooking for family, especially at the end when James, the taste-tester, comes in. After a large bite and thoughtful chewing Jim’s son reveals how many “James’” the recipe has earned out of ten. The adolescent honesty and the earnest hopefulness of a father charm these moments at the end of the episode.

Good watching and good eating, you’ll find them both on Sip and Feast.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SipandFeast

The Unshelved

I just wanted to say a fond farewell to the latest iteration of apple pop tarts. I have loved the apple flavor since kindergarten. It was nice to reconnect, but they seem to have gone back into the vault. 

Another lost treat is Marshal Mallow Hot Chocolate. It came and went quickly. They had it on sale for nothing, and Dad went crazy. He bought tons of it and we each got a huge sticker. He doled it out all winter. We looked for more when it finally ran out, but they’d gone out of business. The Swiss Miss had done him in.

Imagine this cookie in chocolate. I can’t remember what these were called, and I’m only marginally certain they were made be Keebler. They are like Oreos, but classy. The filling is a fudgey creme, and the wafers are a mix of dutch and natural cocoa, best I can guess. They were so good, and the vanilla version was on equal ground. They were addicting.

I guess that’s enough nostalgia for the discontinued. On to discover the new offerings.
 

With Wings As Equals

Not a rock pretending to be an egg

Not an egg pretending to be a child

I am an equal.

You’re welcome to the nest

The Long Arabian Nights

My father, my sister and I read the Chronicles of Narnia religiously, at least once a year. Every time we got to this quote about Aravis’ storytelling I wanted to get hold of Calormen stories. I supposed they didn’t exist in our world—wrong! The Arabian Nights is obviously the inspiration for Calormen storytelling, even Calormen itself. I read some of the famous stories piecemeal, but only recently sat down to enjoy them all.

If I was going to describe The Arabian Nights with one word it would be cerebral. The gentle and precise approach of these storytellers to their craft reminds me of miniature makers deceiving our mind into seeing a bed from a tin of anchovies. To make the implausible plausible they rely on carefully placed details that allow you to explore fantastic settings, characters and experiences as if they were the most natural thing in the world. Sometimes I wanted less of these details. When I suspend disbelief I like things to move along at a more sprightly pace, but when you consider the framing story of the storyteller’s imminent death you understand why things must go slow.

The stories are interesting. The moral content is generally present ranging from an appeal to Allah to collapse and ruin to those who cheat or steal. There is also an interesting look at this communities’ relationship with authority. While nothing speaks negatively of the ruling class directly, the men in charge are often shown to be self-centered, capricious and cruel. It makes me wonder how people of this time heard these stories, and what they mean today to people struggling under oppressive rulers.

Throw all of that out if you intend to read The Arabian Nights. Simply enjoy the wildly improbable stories that seem perfectly wonderful and natural. Let yourself let go of whatever else you may be thinking of. Read the stories one by one somewhere and some when you can relax. You’ll be hard pressed to choose a favorite.

Lauren: Full of Flossibilities

 

Lauren only posts once a month. This is because she is a very focused stitcher rotating through on average three projects at a time with a tremendous effort being expended on full coverage pieces, huge full coverage pieces. My favorites from her recent projects are Chris Dunn patterns. He has such a gift for anthropomorphizing animals. My all time favorite is “Wise Old Owl”. Every part of it looks like it would be rewarding to stitch and I’m mesmerized by the image. I don’t think I would very well with such a huge piece with as much confetti, but I love it dearly from afar.

Lauren is very soft-spoken. She shares news from her daily life and her mother’s cross stitch projects and finishes. Take time to give her a listen. She’ll only ask for your attention once a month.

https://www.youtube.com/@flossabilities/videos

I Spy on the Country Channel

 

I’ve been listening to the country song, Beer for my Horses. All I can see, despite the beautiful bass soloist, is a woman leading a gang of vigilantes. The song is otherwise just a sop to a manhood that is thankfully shrinking. If it’s a woman you hear, the song has edge and purpose. Try it with my ears. See how it suits you.

The other country song I’m hearing all wrong is I Love This Bar. I sing it, “I love this church.” The everyone is welcome and recognized just for being themselves reminds me of the best church experiences I’ve had, though a lot of those churches were against drinking. Mercy ought to be poured out like alcohol. It has many of the same effects without any hangover.