Peonies

Years ago a friend, Kate, gave me some peonies from her yard. Since then I've enjoyed an abundance the the beautifully fragrant flowers and I want to share them with you.

Did you know?

Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony thus causing this magnificent flower to be given the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. It was named after Pæon, a physician to the gods, who obtained the plant on Mount Olympus from the mother of Apollo. Once planted the Peony likes to be left alone and punishes those who try to move it by not flowering again for several years. Once established, however, it produces splendid blooms each year for decades. (Taken from The Language of Flowers, edited by Sheila Pickles, 1990)
Peonies are also extensively grown as ornamental plants for their very large, often scented flowers.
Peonies tend to attract ants to the flower buds. This is due to the nectar that forms on the outside of the flower buds. (From Wikepedia)

Spring Cleaning? What's That?

For the past three weeks I've been fairly (just barely, actually) busy. At least I think so. As most of you know, I make soap; luscious, organic, vegan, herbal, artisan soaps. And, I make soy candles, and now a whipped body cream--and a soy lotion bar. So doing all that and going to sell the stuff at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market for the past three weekends has kept me off my tush.

But I've been ON my tush a lot, spending hours of creative time on the computer since all that stuff needs labels and ingredient lists, packaging, etc. And, of course, when one is on the computer for hours, one needs a diversion occasionally. In my case, fortunately (or unfortunately as the case may be), my diversion has been genealogy--done on the computer. Sitting. I'm addicted. I can't pull away. I've found distant relatives and have been exchanging information and stories. I look forward to it and have to drag myself away from it.

But now I have three weeks away from the Market and I need to restock and regroup. I'm limiting my genealogy time to the afternoon. The rest of my time needs to be spent on those ever lingering chores of housekeeping, laundry, cooking. Whoopee! This is day one of my "new" schedule. Wish me luck.

On the road again

I took a little trip to Bloomington this past weekend too visit Half-pint, Big Guy, Superstar, Babers and Spidy. It was a very busy weekend because we had much to do and I was reminded why we have children while we are young. I didn't take as many pictures as I planned but here are some...