A Resurgence [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

In a surprise move, the mint-gone-fallow has made a resurgence – just in time for the latest batch of sun tea. It is a sign of the season that Kerri had to chase the sun, moving the tea jug a few times from the fast approaching shadows.

I wrote a post yesterday and tried to stay away from current events. I was mostly successful though I felt remiss all day. It was as though I was ignoring the most important thing. And, I was. A few years ago a car caught fire in our elderly neighbor’s driveway. Even though I was in the middle of a zoom work call, I ran downstairs and across the street and pounded on her door. She didn’t want to leave her house until I explained the fire was near the gas line to her home. My post yesterday felt like I was turning my back on the driveway fire.

A few times I’ve heard others say, “There’s nothing we can do.”

I’ve asked the same question more than a few times myself: but, what can we do?

The corporate news seems hellbent on normalizing the monstrous. I wonder why some reporter hasn’t asked Mike Johnson why he’s being derelict in his duty to impeach a president who’s regularly declaring war on the cities of this country, who is using the justice department to prosecute people he doesn’t like. The unhinged speech at the UN would have been enough to evoke the 25th amendment for any past president. Are you seeing footage of the protests happening all around this nation? Neither am I.

Someone asked Mark Elias if we were crossing the river into authoritarianism and he responded that we crossed that river a long time ago. “Our shoes are already dry,” he said.

The fire is raging near the gas line of the national house. The very least we could do is care enough to bang on doors to wake our neighbors. Democracy is not dead – not yet. If we act, if we wake up a few neighbors, who knows, there might still be a resurgence.

read Kerri’s blogpost about MINT

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Mint And Magic [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

In folklore, garlic is supposed to ward off evil spirits and, according to Bram Stoker, it is especially useful at repelling vampires. I imagine that the protective properties dissolve once the garlic is sauteed with onions: evil spirits and vampires alike could not possibly be repelled by the intoxicating aroma of garlic and onions.

According to some traditions, mint, in addition to fostering tranquility, also has protective properties. Instead of vampires, mint defends against “negative energies and entities”. Since we in these un-United States are awash in negative energy and ill-intended entities, I am comforted that in our herb garden the mint is exploding out of its pot.

I suppose it is a silver lining to climate change that our summers are hotter and more humid which seems to be a super-steroid for mint growth. I’m considering planting a moat of mint around our house. I’m considering sending mint to all the people I love. It seems increasingly likely that they – and we – will need to fortify ourselves against the rising tide of negative energies and the entities that the republicans recently funded. I am considering wearing a necklace of garlic to ward off Stephen Miller and Russell Vought – the first legitimate vampires I’ve witnessed. Apparently Bram Stoker wasn’t just fictionalizing things.

In magic traditions mint has healing properties and is especially useful in enhancing mental clarity and sharpening focus. It is a calming agent. For these reasons I am pondering the virtues of sending mint to maga. Hey! That’s a catchy phrase for a campaign! Mint-To-Maga. Has there ever been a group of people in the history of humanity that was in greater need of mental clarity and calming down? That would require more mint than currently spills out of our pot but in the recent decimation of green energy in favor of fossil fuels, climate change is guaranteed to roar ahead unimpeded so my sudden mint production need has an unintended boost. After my mint moat is planted I’ll start looking for a farm.

I should have sent them mint before the election. I should have known this administration would suck the life-blood from the very people who voted them into power. Well, I did know but confess that I thought it would take longer to execute. Negative entities move faster than I knew. And, now that I think about it, I should have sent garlic prior to the election though I doubt it would have done any good. Maga seems hellbent on giving their blood to the Nosferatu. By now you’d think they’d have realized that they are being fed a steady diet of red herring and are, themselves, the primary food source of the Project 2025 vampires.

Fattened as they are on lies and gleefully cheering their own demise, I doubt that any amount of garlic can now protect them. It could possibly take a mountain of mint and more than a little bit of magic to calm them enough to reclaim a modicum of mental clarity – but I think it is still worth a last-ditch effort. My Spine-for-Congress campaign was a complete failure and now that their Mega-Murder-Bill is unleashed and aimed directly at the red states – and the rest of us, Mint-for-Maga just might help the red-hat-crew open their eyes before the negative energies suck them – and the rest of us – dry.

read Kerri’s blogpost about MINT

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Grow The Return [on saturday morning smack-dab.]

A lot of love and attention goes into Kerri’s garden. It may be small but it is a mighty source of pleasure and satisfaction.

I’ve found that there is no better antidote for feeling defeated in the world than taking a break and smelling the basil. OMG. The lavender makes me close my eyes and smile. The mint clears my mind. The tomatoes fill us with hope and renewal as we daily cheer them into existence.

What goes around, comes around. So much love and attention goes in to her garden and what comes around, what comes back to us, is nothing less than a miracle. Smells and tastes that affirm how great it is to be alive. Tastes and smells that can turn a dark day into something brilliant.

read Kerri’s blogpost about TOMATOES

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