St. Lucy's Day is currently most often associated with Sweden, one of the celebrations of light in the midst of winter's darkness. Little Christmas, or the Feats of Saint Lucy, is a favorite advent celebration. In the early morning, the Lucia Bride, usually the youngest daughter, is dressed in a long white gown with a myrtle or bilberry crown and lighted candles. She awakens the family, often bringing coffee and tea, and braided Lucia twists, flavored with saffron and cardamon. After the family is served, she visits the barns, taking food to the animals.

In addition to the home celebration, the young girls attend services at the church dressed in their lighted crowns. St. Lucy represents the promise of the light in the darkness and the sun's return. 

Saint Lucy is the patron saint of the blind and those with visual challenges. Lucy was born in Syracuse, Sicily in the 3rd century. She was born to wealthy Christian parents and at an early age she secretly vowed to remain a virgin and serve God by helping others. 

Her father died when she was young. When she came of age, her mother arranged her marriage to a pagan but Lucy rejected him. It was the time of the Diocletian persecutions and when her suitor denounced her as a Christian, she seemed destined to death by burning or life in the brothels. Her fate was to be martyred by a sword through her throat. 

In another story she escapes the marriage by tearing her eyes out in frightful desperation. She is often depicted carrying her eyes on a tray. 
Miraculously, her sight was restored and she was able to serve God and mankind as she has intended. She is celebrated for giving sight to the blind, food to the hungry, and light to the darkness. The name Lucy comes from the root word Lux, meaning light. 

Bread

I teaspoon saffron, soaked in 1 cup boiling water for 10 minutes. Let cool

2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
4 T softened butter
3 eggs
3 T sugar
1 teaspoon salt
I cup slivered almonds
1 cup dried bilberries (blueberries) or raisins
5 to 6 cups unbleached flour

1. Prepare saffron.
2. Dissolve yeast in water. 
3. Mix the butter with eggs, sugar and salt in a large bowl. 
4. Add milk to butter and eggs.
5. Add almonds and dried fruit
6. Stir in saffron mixture.
7. Add flour gradually and stir with wooden spoon until it is is smooth and forms a ball. 
8. Place on floured board or counter and knead until smooth - about 5 minutes.
9.Put into a greased bowl, turn it over and cover with a towel in a warm place until double, about an hour and a half. 
10. Punch down dough, divide into 3 sections. Braid and form into a circle shape. 
11. Place on cookie sheet and let rise until double - about 30 minutes.
12. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
13. Bake about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
14. Remove from oven, cool and ice.

Icing

2 cups confectioner's sugar 
1 teaspoon almond extract
Combine and gradually add water until it is the consistency of icing. 
Drizzle on to bread. 
Decorate with slivered toasted almonds and/or dried fruit if desired. 
Top with candles

Pine is often used in protective wreaths during the holiday season. Pine replaced the dead black chicken which was once hung on doors to discourage witches from entering. They were honor bound to count every feather before they could go inside. Thankfully, pine needles replaced the feathers, undoubtedly more fragrant than rotting poultry!

Witches have very active minds and often get distracted and lose count, so instead of starting over, they will probably go next door. (You may want to advise your neighbors to get a pine wreath.)

I, on the other hand, like witches - the term comes from Wicca meaning "wise one' - so I don't bother with pine on the door. It is handy inside however, as the fragrance purifies and refreshes the air and discourages illness. The evergreen needles are said to ensure continual joy! You may want to consider incense, instead of, or in addition to, the fresh pine boughs!

Pine gives us another gift! Amber! It is said to have the energy of liquid sunshine, to make the wearer more beautiful, to attract wealth and success, and dissolve opposition.

Most of us are familiar with the golden yellow and orange ambers, but it can also be an orange-red, brown, green, black or even violet, though very rare.

Amber is made from the fossilized resin of the pine tree, and to be classified as true amber it must be over 100,000 years old! That is miraculous, don't you think?  Copal, or Columbian Amber, less than 1,000 years old, has not yet fossilized but is also beautiful and truly remarkable. There is something sacred about pieces that have been part of the earth for so long! 

Amber is revered in the Far Eastern Asian cultures. Asian Indians regard amber as the 'soul of the tiger', endowing the wearer with courage. Egyptians placed a piece of amber in the casket of a loved one to ensure the body would forever remain whole. Early physicians prescribed amber for headaches, heart problems, arthritis and a variety of other ailments. In ancient times, amber was carried by travelers for protection.

Wishing you all a holiday season of fragrant, protective pine and the warmth and sunshine of amber!

St. Nicholas was born in the 4th Century in Lycia, Asia Minor to very wealthy parents. Even as a child he was very religious. He was very young when he became a priest and he went on to become a bishop. Sadly, his parents died shortly after he was ordained. He inherited a great fortune, and he shared it generously with people in need. His giving was from the heart - he was not interested in credit or compensation. He often gave unanimously. He was dedicated to common people and emperors alike.

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, laborers, merchants, pawn brokers, and particularly sailors and those who work near water. 

There are many stories describing his generosity. A nobleman who had lost his fortune was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters so planned to sell them into slavery. St. Nicholas galloped by their castle in the dark of night and threw a bag of gold in the window. He did this three nights in a row, providing each daughter with a dowry. Eventually, it was discovered that he had been the generous benefactor. His fame as a gift giver spread through out many lands and he has been credited with the concepts of Father Christmas and Santa Claus.

The three bags of gold represent the three golden balls found on the signage outside pawn broker's shops.

In another more gruesome story, he saved three babies, often pictured beside him. During a famine, an inn keeper had no meat to feed his customers so he cut up three children and tossed them into a brine filled pickling tub. Thankfully, St. Nicholas walked in just in time to bless the boys and bring them back to life!

During that same famine, he convinced sailors on a ship filled with grain to unload some of their cargo to feed those who were starving. They were initially reluctant since the grain had been weighed and they wanted to deliver the entire shipment. He assured them that the cargo would weigh exactly the same amount when it was delivered. It did.

As you celebrate St. Nicholas Day, give a gift from the heart. It doesn't need to be expensive. It could be a kind word, a quote that would make someone feel valued, a thank you. Or is could be a poem, or a recipe! Here's my gift to you!

Golden Bishop's Tea

4 cups black or green tea
4 cups apricot nectar
Serve hot with a honey if desired and a sprig of rosemary 
and a sprinkling of nutmeg

Optional: 1 Tablespoon apricot brandy per cup

As you celebrate St. Nicholas Day, think gold! Decorate with golden wheat and tansy! Serve apricot or orange nut bread with Golden Bishop's Tea. Create your own golden delights! 

Wheat and roses are both beautiful additions to the Feast of Saint Barbara for decorations and for your meal. Freshly baked bread with rose petal jelly is sublime!

So much has happened since my Mac met its final days, but I have finally replaced it. I'm moving in a different direction, embracing whimsy, color and the energy of vibrant collage! 

Mycala's Occupational Therapy Department at Towson University moved into a new facility and apparently it is dark and dank, so she took in some of the collages I made a few years ago to brighten the space. There is a lot of enthusiasm and it has inspired me to return to collage. Thank you Mycala!

If you've been following my blog, you know I created over 200 watercolors of herbs for my Enhancing Your Life with Herbs course. They were to help people identify specific herbs - not for art for arts sake. I love herbs and they were fun to create, but I miss the whimsy and color of collage.

So these are some of the collages from my Reptiles and Amphibian series in Mycala's office, and they have inspired me move on to two news series. One will be jazz and the other an under water series.

Note: I average about 3,000 - 4,000 hits a day but when I wasn't posting at all, I got 18,000 hits. I think I've learned the secret of increasing my followers - don't post anything for weeks! Ha!
​

When I find myself becoming defensive about a 'weed', and if you've followed my blog, you know I do from time to time, it occurs to me that it's probably time to seek help! Hahahaha! This time the plant I'm defending is poke. My friend Carrie has no empathy for the stand I'm taking because it's taking over her garden and yard, but as always, she's patient with my idiosyncrasies. 

My expectation certainly isn't that people nurture and cultivate it. Actually, the plant has done well on its own for centuries without any coddling from gardeners. It's just that anytime the wrath directed at a plant eliminates the appreciation for its benefits - and it does have benefits - my first instinct is to guide them to look from another perspective. 
​

Polk Salad Annie
Tony Joe White
If some of ya'll never been down south too much
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this 
So that you'll understand what I'm talkin' about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods
And in the fields looks somethin' like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad
Used to know a girl lived down there 
And she'd go out in the evenings and pick her a mess of it
Carry it home and cook it for supper
'Cause thats about all they had to eat, but they did all right
Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so mean
There lived a girl, that I swear to the world
Made the alligators look tame
Polk salad Annie, polk salad Annie
Everybody said it was a shame
Cause her momma was a workin' on the chain gang
(A mean vicious woman)
Everyday ?for supper time, she'd go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess of polk salad, and carry it home in a tow sack
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny
Everybody says it was a shame
Cause her momma was a workin' on the chain gang
(A wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' woman
Lord have Mercy, pick a mess of it)
​

The berries above are colored with poke ink - beautiful variations from pinks to purples. 

​The last few weeks have been overflowing with color and kitsch, both here in Baltimore and on recent travels. Seeing so many vibrant creations - kinetic and still sculptures, statues. screens, jewelry and even menus was a whimsical delight. From now on, in addition to museums, natural and historic sites, and more typical tourist attractions, I plan to seek out whimsy when I'm touring!  I returned with my sketch book over flowing and numerous ideas for gifts, home and garden!

Baltimore, MD
Kinetic Sculpture Race 
​
On Saturday, May 5, we headed to the harbor early to see the start of the kinetic sculpture race, followed by lunch at Marie Louise Bistro and a stroll through historic Mt. Vernon for their annual Flower Mart. 
Baltimore's Visionary Art Museum's annual kinetic sculpture race - "a race through Baltimore of wacky, imaginative, TOTALLY HUMAN-POWERED WORKS OF ART, DESIGNED TO TRAVEL ON LAND, THROUGH MUD, AND OVER DEEP BALTIMORE INNER HARBOR WATERS, constructed out of used bicycles, gears, and parts, created by a lunatic genius who tinkers around in the garage or backyard.

Jim Thorpe, PA
This is just a small sampling of the delights in Jim Thorpe. I've narrowed the number of photos down by focusing on all things Alice in Wonderful!

Light City is the nation's only large scale light and ideas festival and it's right here in Baltimore. Don't miss it! Color, lights, community, music, bands, floats! Experience Baltimore's Brilliance!
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It's unsettling that there are such contrasting perceptions about Baltimore, a city I've grown to love. Yesterday I read a disturbing article detailing the police corruption through the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). The article ended by saying "Baltimore can't run a school, a  police department or even a zoo". 

Admittedly, there is truth in that statement, and yet it disturbs me to see only one side of multifaceted city, so rich with warm and wonderful people, history, inventions, gardens and parks music and the arts . . . . It reminds me of a fable I read years ago. 
​

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all six of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant, 
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
God bless me, but the Elephant
Is very like a wall.

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! What have we here?
​