Alien cures

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Inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #70: alien

 

What an interesting prompt from V.J. this week.

Sometimes I also feel like an alien in the same way that V.J. does. As I juggle multiple health issues that are often met with a doctor shrugging his or her shoulders commenting: I’ve never seen that one before. Before giving up. Time and again.

So imagine my surprise and fascination upon entering a General Store exhibit (at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont) this summer. Filled with – among other things – items from an actual pharmacy circa early 1900s.

I could have spent the entire day in that one building. Hundreds of medications, potions, elixirs and tonics in their original packaging. With claims for cures for most everything that could possibly be wrong with you. I noticed a proliferation of products to help babies sleep at night…and cures for all things bowel related. Interesting!

This is how people were “medicated” back then.

All of it alien to me.

old drugs

That face on the orange box (described as the “laughing baby” trademark)…Sorry, that baby is NOT laughing. He/she/it could possibly qualify in the alien category.

Was it really tasteless? I wonder. At first I thought it was to help babies chill out, but apparently not.

However…

Got me thinking…perhaps there may still be one pill out there somewhere that could cure all kinds of peristaltic problems. Ahem. Plus dizziness and headaches. And costiveness. Yes, I had to look that one up: aka constipation.
Dr. Harrison where are you.

old drugs 2

And if all else fails, there is always the Electric Cough Cure. That chloroform and codeine combo could make a comeback if we’re lucky.

old drugs 3

Unfortunately that wouldn’t cure what ails me.

Either would the cough remedies.

old drugs 4

But I’ll bet babies who cough would sleep well at night.

 

[All of these products are displayed in glass cases – hence the reflections…]

 

Seeing Double

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Lens-Artists Challenge #69: Seeing Double

 …let’s double our pleasure and focus on things that come in twos.

~~~

First: A glimpse back at summer…a pair of seagulls hanging out at the beach.

pair of gulls copy

Next: A reminder of what is coming.
snow post

Two deck posts united in snow after a heavy wet March snowstorm. Looks like frosting to me.

AND…

Because today happens to be Halloween…I couldn’t resist an additional double from the family archives.

halloween 1995
Halloween 1995

A sibling pair of trick or treaters dressed and ready…let’s go!

 

Kitchen lines

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Inspired by Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Things Found in a Kitchen

BeckyB: lines&squares

 

ready to make

 

Watch me!

 

What I remember most are her bright red fingernails.

Each shiny nail a perfect oval.

I must have been quite young as her hands were close to my line of sight at the kitchen counter. Watching my mother demonstrate how to flute a pie crust.

First flatten the dough onto the pan’s rim. Press your right forefinger into the dough on the edge. At the same time, pinch the dough around it using your left thumb and forefinger…to form an even point. Repeat the process around the pan until there is a circle of neat grooves. Sealing the top and bottom crusts together. So the juices from all the freshly sliced apples don’t leak out during baking.

The process of fluting is difficult to explain – which is probably why she showed me. Many times.

She was careful. Gentle. No hurrying. No impatient sighs. Voice unusually soft and low. See? This is how you do it. I was mesmerized. Each indentation she made on the crust’s edge forced bits of dough and flour onto and under her nails…red polish slowly disappearing. The tips of her fingers eventually a dusty white.

My mother also wore matching lipstick…which outlined the ever-present red slice of discontent on her face…

…which momentarily slipped away when she was working on a piecrust.

Calmly focused on the pie pan as she expertly rotated it…pressing her manicured fingers methodically into the fresh dough…she was an Artist at Work.

Creating a masterpiece. All her own.

 

 

Sunset at the lake

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Sunset

…please share your favorite sunset moments, whether they are at the beach, at the city or over the mountains.

~~~

Since I love watching sunsets…and therefore taking photographs of sunsets, it was a bit of a challenge to decide which photo to use for this challenge.

sunset vermont
Sunset over Lake Champlain

So I settled on my most recent sunset experience. I took this photo in June when visiting friends at their summer cottage on Lake Champlain in Vermont. This is the view from their back porch…looking out across the lake…New York state in the distance.

I sure could get used to that view!

 

Shreds

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Inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #69: kindle

How do you ignite motivation when stalled? Or perhaps, you perceive need for a kickstart elsewhere.

~~~


To write or not to write?
That is the question.

Well, not the entire question.

To procrastinate or not to procrastinate?
That is the real question.

How to get past that pile of crap sometimes planted squarely in the way…

How to ignite a dormant fraction of an idea that briefly appears – and perhaps even feels momentarily brilliant…before it evaporates in a mist of uncertainty? Ghostly voices echoing unimportant not good enough who cares…before sinking it into the muck of inertia.

So I plod on, searching for the proper mix of kindling.
To ignite…to spark.
To silence the ghosts.

To harness the energy in such short supply.

My current mantra…
Hold on.
Begin.
One sentence at a time.
The purpose will make itself known…

…When I was in college I wrote every day. Didn’t think twice about it. Not just research papers. Or chemistry lab reports. But a personal journal with a jet black cover given to me by a girlfriend – a full size sketch book.

Fresh kindling tumbled forth without fail…plenty of sparks back then…filling pages…line by line.

Questioning. Worrying. Wondering. Planning.
What if? Why not? Why now? How will I? Should I? Oh no.

Careful script or hurried scrawl. Grand calligraphy moments of introspection.
Unfiltered and often painful, it was all there…

This past summer, I revisited – and read – what I had written decades ago.

Pages of words to heal.

Their purpose…fulfilled.

shreds long

Time to let them go.

Layered life

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Lens-Artists Challenge #68: Layered

…we invite you to explore Layers. You can include images of buildings, landscapes, seascapes, clouds, etc.

~~~

I am always fascinated to get a glimpse of what goes on in the hidden places. The mysteries of plant life navigating from seed to stem to flower. Or whatever its destiny may be.

The intricate dance of soil, water and nutrients essential for success…seems miraculous.  Tender shoots of life making their way to the sun. Surviving despite obstacles…both nature and human caused.

A cross section of one hidden place was on display recently…when a recent rainstorm dislodged a support wall alongside a brook near the town park.

layers of plants

My first thought was to crop the image to highlight the layers of exposed roots and stones in the center. Then I realized…no, it is all part of a larger and equally complex layered landscape. In a scene that literally stopped me in my tracks during a late afternoon walk.

This brook also travels south and eventually empties into a tidal river that flows behind old brick buildings in the downtown area.

A site for more layers.

There I discovered plant life…layered in glorious fall colors…crawling up, down and across a brick and stone canvas.

layered walls

Stopped in my tracks once again.