Mindful Monday

But I wish to be purple,

that small part which is bright,

and makes all the rest appear graceful and beautiful.

Why then do you tell me to make myself like the many?

and if I do,

how shall I still be purple?

Epictetus

Discourses

Book 1

Chapter 2

Fire Update

All is well.  That's the simplest thing I can say.  We've all adjusted reasonably to having basically no electricity.  My sweetie rerouted some wiring to allow the generator to directly power the house, but, since it is noisy and guzzles gasoline, we don't like to run it except to power the glow plug on our stove. While we bake we do all of our baking, charging of rechargeable stuff, and movie watching. The rest of the time we do all of the wonderful things we do without electricity,

Mindful Monday

I, Barbara Ann Schanel, do solemnly swear that—

I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; 

that I will bear true faith and allegience to the same; 

that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; 

and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

So help me God

FIRE!

There was quite the lightening storm last night.  It woke my hubby and I up several times.  Once we awoke to a particularly intense clap of thunder and through the plastic on our half-finished little cabin we saw a quite bright light and perhaps what could be thought of as a shower of sparks.  We figured a transformer had possibly been hit, and started to drift back off.  Before we were completely back asleep, at about 3:30 am, our eldest knocked on our door and informed us that the "tarp shed" had caught fire, but that he and his brothers had put it out and not to worry.  And by the way there is no electricity over at the house.

Humph.

Mindful Monday

Harbinger of Spring

Erigenia Bulbosa

Erigenia bulbosa, also known as harbinger of spring or pepper and salt, is a perennial plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae). E. bulbosais the only species in the genus Erigenia (Nutt.). This plant is known as harbinger of spring because it is one of the earliest blooming native wildflowers of rich forests in the mid-latitude United States. It is found as far north as central New York and southern Wisconsin, west to the western Ozarks, and south to central Alabama.^[1] It is also found in extreme southern Ontario.Throughout most of its range it blooms from late February through early April. It is a small spring ephemeral reaching only 5–15 cm tall when in flower, and slightly larger afterwards. Each spherical bulb gives rise to a single purplish stem, which terminates in an umbel. The flowers have white petals and large dark-reddish anthers. The teardrop shaped petals are 3-4 millimeters long, widely spaced and do not touch each other. As is characteristic of the carrot family, the leaves of this plant are sheathed at the base and pinnately divided into many small sections.

The bulb is edible both cooked and raw.^[5] The Cherokee were known to chew this plant as medicine for toothaches; it is unknown what parts of plant they chewed.^[6] This plant is sometimes used in native wildflower gardens throughout its range.*

* Thank you Wikipedia