Deborah Adams's Blog, page 57

Sniffle, sneeze, cough

Promise

Neither snow nor rain nor March ice nor gloom of relentless April rain stays Lemon Balm from its growth.

Good for relaxation, mental clarity, concentration, restful sleep, deterring ants and other critters, and attracting pollinators.

Steep leaves in hot water for tea; add chopped leaves to fruit salad or muffins; use in place of basil for a lemony pesto.

Optimism

Mud boots, ready to be put away because spring is here.

May you be inspired

I'm honored to be the guest poster for today on the Femmes Fatales site. The Femmes hold a special place in my heart, and certainly THEY are all born to write. Are you? I hope the post inspires you to accept that.

Re

Dirty book

Every few months, Mary Saums (one of the super-talented Femmes Fatales) and I get together at a restaurant halfway between our homes to catch up on the details of each other’s lives. The conversation is seldom linear.

Inevitably we wind up talking about books we’ve read recently – what we loved, what we hated. At our meeting last week, Mary suggested that I share some of my favorites here on this blog. That was perfect timing, because I’ve just had one of those ‘I wish I’d written that’ mom...

Free the slaves

The following is a re-post of an article that I wrote several years ago. Not much has changed. I hope you'll read thoughfully. Should you choose to do more than just think about it, an organization called Free the Slaves has information and resources to help you get started, whether you are working with a religious group, a student group, or as a concerned individual.

Almost 20 years ago I decided to try a few days without meat and it became a habit. People get very upset about that. Ask any v...

A day in May

A late spring means my garden is just now getting planted -- not much to do except wait for seeds to sprout. But the gorgeous weather of the past few days begged me to ramble in the great outdoors and there are plenty of things in bloom.

I took the camera with me on a walk around the property today so I could share some spring joy with you.

After browsing through the slideshow, you may want to visit Project Laundry List and/or What's Blooming Now.

Dances with bees

The bees arrived on Monday and settled onto a gourd that hangs on my garden fence. (Click the pic at left to see the larger image.)

I was so happy that all these pollinators chose to bless my garden with their presence ... and then I realized that they could not continue to live right out in the open like that.

Sure enough, the next morning they moved to a pile of brush in the woods. And the day after that, they moved to another pile of brush in the woods. Then they moved again ahead of the on...

A retreat of one's own

While looking for ideas for creating a personal retreat, I came across the Retreat Day website and felt sure some of you would enjoy it as much as I did.

Here's the first thing that caught my eye: "You can't buy anything on this site, nor join any organization."

Retreat Day offers a list of things to incorporate into a personal spiritual retreat -- things to do, prayers, meditations, etc. "The perspective of this site is Christian, but the basic concepts can be used by people of any faith. This...

Which Wine Would James Bond Drink?

I like wine, I like humor. So when Charlotte Rivington offered this guest post, I couldn't resist. Read and learn, my friends.

When he’s not sipping a shaken vodka Martini that is? We all know the scene in From Russia With Love where Bond spots the villain by the fact that he orders red wine with his fish, so how can we avoid getting thrown off trains because we’ve chosen the wrong tipple? We don’t all have the benefit of MI6 training but there are some simple rules that can help you avoid s...