Prick! Goes the Scorpion's Tail

I'm trying to study for my computer science midterm tomorrow but...

I keep coming back to this.



So twisted and I LOVE it. Isn't she amazing?

Foraging & Catnip Tea

Well, I'm veering off the well-trodden stinging-nettle-harvesting path and taking you down the less-traveled road of....

Catnip hunting.

It's not quite as awesome as nettle and it's not really hunting, because catnip grows like a weed. You could really just sit still somewhere in the forest and at some point catnip would spring up next to you. But given E and I don't live in the forest (barely), and we did have to get up off our lazy butts and go on a little hike to "find" the stuff, I'm calling it hunting.

As we entered Pogonip state park through a secret entrance (you'd never find it unless you knew where it was), we passed the remnants of an old lime mine from the mid 1800's. Apparently Northern California (centered around San Francisco) was a center for lime manufacturing around the same time as the gold rush.



It didn't take long to find catnip; it was growing just off the path. Like I said, it grows like a weed, not only here, but throughout North America. It's native to a large part of Eurasia (specifically Eastern Mediterranean), but *apparently* settled in well when brought over from the old world. It has properties similar to valerian root and has been used for millenia in food and medicine.




Almost every plant you see there is catnip, and this is a sparsely covered area compared to others we found. It looks remarkably similar to stinging nettle: the leaves are heart-shaped and pointed, with about 5-7 veins on the young plants, 1.5-3 inches in length, and fuzz that looks spiky but is actually soft. The stems are rigid, softly spiked, square-shaped and hollow. We brought gloves with us to make sure we didn't make a mistake and get stung, scissors to trim off the leaves, and a large trash bag to put everything in. That's E getting down and dirty. :)

We were there mid-afternoon; most of the forest was in the shade, and off in the distance the sun shone brightly still in the valley by the sea.



We collected about a trash bag full and headed back home early, as we didn't want to be stuck there when night fell (there's been a slew of crimes here lately). When we got home, we trimmed the leaves from the stems, rinsed them, and made catnip tea.







I poured 4 cups of water over about 2 cups of catnip leaves and brought it to a boil, then simmered for about 10 minutes. It doesn't need to be done for that long--five should be more than enough--but I like my tea strong. I strained it and proceeded to have a nice drink. Catnip is a member of the mint family, so of course the tea is quite minty (not one you'd put sugar in), but it's a little sharper, for lack of a better word. Almost like it has a bit of a kick.

Catnip has the opposite effect on humans than it does on cats (I'm bringing it home to my kitties this weekend); while it excites and energizes our furry friends(who only sniff the stuff), ingesting catnip has a relaxing effect on us, both mentally and physically. It's often used as a sleep aid and to calm tummy aches: the organic compound nepetalactone is responsible. I happen to be feeling its calming effects right now, which is nice, because I have had a bit of a stressful day. Don't get me wrong; I love my major. But sitting at a computer for 5 hours desperately trying to get your program to run right? *Draining*, to say the least. I've been living and breathing this one goddamn program for two weeks now(it has to find the roots of a polynomial, if you'd like to know). So finally getting out of the lab, going for a hike, and drinking some tea is helping a great deal in keeping me sane.

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Update: totally forgot to mention the treasure we found sitting on an eroding cement block by a babbling brook. Behold:


We wondered who left it there, and whether it was on purpose; we figure it must have been, as it was in plain sight (for those who were wandering off the path). We decided we were meant to find it and brought it along with us. I've leafed through it and it talks about things like brain waves, clairvoyance, light and darkness, dreams, healing energy, something called "reading the aura"...basically everything I take with a grain of salt but still love to read about. I'm starting to read it and keeping an open mind. Who knows, I might learn something very important from this little book we happened upon while searching for nettles catnip.
(Yes, you might have had an inkling that we weren't in fact looking for catnip at first...it's true. We were looking for nettles, but found none, so settled for catnip. But we're not altogether disappointed, because I can guarantee you that after drinking a couple mugs of catnip tea, you have no worries left. I'll let y'all make of that what you will).
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Hope all your weeks have been nice and relaxing. If not, perhaps it's time to drink some catnip tea.

xoxo
Maralah

Music From My Mind to Yours

Rock'n'roll speaks to my soul.
And Imogen Heap, although she's not strictly rock.
My heartbeat syncs up to these when I listen to them, they infiltrate me, titillate me, remind me of the power music has over me;
but not all music. Not the shitty kind.

Time to bring it down again.
Don't just call me pessimist.
Try and read between the lines.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't
Welcome any change, my friend.

Yes there's lots of Tool in here, I very nearly worship them.













p.s. This nettle business has been popping up everywhere, someone fill me in! I'd love to know more about it (I could google it, but blogosphere ladies (and gents) seem to be the interweb's foremost authorities on the subject)

xoxo
Maralah

Parlement of Foules

Mini-[belated]-rant about Valentine's Day:

As a girl who once had an anti-Valentine's Day party, but is now in a committed, oh so loving relationship, I have mixed feelings about the holiday (I was not in a committed loving relationship at the time of my party). On the one hand, I understand that many people hate it, claiming that (no matter what their true reason for hating it is) people "shouldn't need a special day to celebrate their love, they should celebrate it every day". To that I say, CHILL OUT. That's like saying, "why should you celebrate your birthday? You should celebrate your age EVERY day!", or "you shouldn't celebrate your wedding anniversary, you should recognize and appreciate your marriage ALL THE TIME!". News flash: people tend not to forget their ages and the fact that they're married. I, for one, appreciate my relationship every day. And I really try and do something every day to show my boyfriend that I care, and love him. But the vday-haters need to give us humans a break. It's always nice to have an occasion set aside for these things.

Have a heart for Valentine's Day.
And substantial section of this post:

But this morning something I *do* take issue with was brought to my attention. I woke up to texts from my aunts and uncles, all saying "Happy St. Valentine's Day!", and it reminded me that this all started with a saint. And given my very thorough 7-year Sunday school education (I was raised catholic), I was surprised to realize that I actually had no idea who Saint Valentine was, or why his feast day was a day for lovers. So I did a little research.

It turns out that very little is known about Saint Valentine. He was first mentioned in Church logs around the 3rd century, and it is written that he died on February 14th. Historical records show that there were actually two or three Saint Valentines, and that there was a virgin martyr Valentina.



The traditional story tells that the saint officially associated with Valentine's Day, Saint Valentine of Rome, performed secret weddings for Roman soldiers in the 3rd century, when the Emperor Claudius II prohibited marriage for his military men. As most Saint stories go, Saint Valentine was caught, told to renounce his Christian faith *or else*, and when he refused, was killed.

However, the feast day of Saint Valentine was not associated with romantic love until my man Geoffrey Chaucer came along in the 14th century. Apparently, he was the very first to reference this idea in writing, in his 700-line poem the Parlement of Foules. Now this excited me, because I love Chaucer. It must've been my 13th birthday when my parents gifted me a 100-year-old copy of The Canterbury Tales, in the original Middle English, and I proceeded to memorize the prologue. I can still recite it, remembering it as clear as day. Middle English is so romantic to me; speaking it is almost like singing, it's so incredibly melodic.



Anyway, his poem (as I take it) is about a dream signaling the beginning of Spring, about a flock of birds (foules) assembling to choose their mates. From what I've read of Chaucer, I believe I can safely say that he loves to reference mating birds in his writing. In the prologue to The Canterbury Tales he also speaks of fowls "making melody" in the night, as he recounts the beauty of rainy April.

Here are the three stanzas that reference Valentine's Day(the first two are sequential, and the third is farther down in the poem):

For this was on Seynt Valentynes day,
Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make,
Of every kinde, that men thynke may;
And that so huge a noyse gan they make,
That erthe and see, and tree, and every lake
So ful was, that unnethe was ther space
For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.

And right as Aleyn, in the Pleynt of Kynde,
Devyseth Nature of aray and face,
In swich array men mighten hir ther finde.
This noble emperesse, ful of grace,
Bad every foul to take his owne place,
As they were wont alwey fro yeer to yere,
Seynt Valentynes day, to stonden there.

Ye knowe wel how, Seynt Valentynes day,
By my statut and through my governaunce,
Ye come for to chese -- and flee your way --
Your makes, as I prik yow with plesaunce.
But natheles, my rightful ordenaunce
May I not lete, for al this world to winne,
That he that most is worthy shal beginne.

The language seems at first not so different from modern English, but there are some words that, while spelled the sam way as a modern word, mean something completely different. Take the line "Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make"; "make" actually means "mate" (if you think about it, there are similarities: both reference the creation of something). Thus the line translates to something like, "When every bird goes there to choose his mate". I would honestly be ecstatic to do an entire translation of this right now, but this post is getting a little long, so perhaps I'll save it for another day.

Anyway, after Chaucer's poem, the love letters started to fly, and there the Saint Valentine's Day: For Lovers edition was born. Centuries later, our consumerist society took up the practices of buying jewelry and chocolate in heart-shaped boxes for our expectant loved ones (side note: while I have no problem with [fair trade] chocolate, I do have a problem with the significant amount of waste generated by this holiday; paper cards, toxic chemicals and plastic wraps on store-bought flowers...).

I know this post actually came a day after Valentine's Day. I sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful one :)

xoxo (for real),
Maralah

The State of Things

The *only* downside of having a blog is that it is an excellent place to procrastinate.

Little things have been coming and going and changing. The sun is beginning to warm when it shines and I feel like it must be Spring already, but all too often the Winter chill rolls through the streets still lined with barren trees and I am reminded that we have a few months to go.

My little garden was entirely green a couple months ago, having sprung to life from very humble beginnings back in August. At one point they were all standing tall with their little leafy arms spread out wide, but now my cilantro and tarragon have reached the end of their lives (this season) and my other babies are shrinking a little and just holding on. The exception: my parsley is apparently immortal. Whenever people come over I ask if they want parsley, because it just keeps on giving and I can't seem to use it all fast enough. Anyone have any recipes, edible or otherwise, that call for obscene amounts of parsley?


Also, little weeds have sprung up all over, but in the same way that I can rarely bring myself to kill spiders, I can't bring myself to pull them. I gave them life, after all, turning this little patch of dry, shallow soil into a new home for my leafy friends. It seems cruel to kill them. My herbs are old gents and ladies now, anyway, so the young and the wild can come in for a bit until the old ones are ready to be reborn.

I haven't been to see my ocean in weeks. I see her from afar every day and I feel her call to me. I'm sorry, I say, I'm up to my ears in homework and midterms and need to get A's this quarter. Sometimes I hear her laugh at me. After all, of what importance are grades when you're an ocean? Sometimes I wish I had her job instead of mine.



I've also begun to feel increasingly unsafe. There are "bad cities" and "bad parts of town" everywhere, but I didn't think I lived in one (I did research this when deciding where to look for a place). Until, two nights ago, there was a shooting about three blocks away from my apartment, right along my usual running route, at 7:30 at night. Some idiot with a rifle thought it would be a good idea to try and mug a college student waiting at a bus stop, because us college students taking public transit have *so* much cash on us all the time. He got her backpack (new textbooks for you, hooray) and shot her in the back of the head. Miraculously, it lodged itself in the back of her skull, the surgeons removed it, and she's going to make a full recovery. But still: rifles should not be handled by idiots, or by anyone, for that matter. I probably shouldn't get into gun control in our country right now, because it's the one issue I can't firmly state my position on.

{I believe guns should be completely eradicated, but know that even if they're made illegal that won't happen, at least for a very long time, so some other logical solution has to be figured out. And that's not likely to happen soon either, because the majority of our government *cough congress* is more preoccupied with public image and reelection than anything else, and can't seem to get anything productive done. So there. I stated my position.)

Anyway, taking intermediate microeconomics this quarter, I have become increasingly more convinced that congress has no idea what they're doing with the budget. Did you know that congress has no required compliance training? If they get voted in, they're in, no matter how much they're lacking in economic know-how. These are the people who are deciding what to do with our nation's money: guys (mostly) who majored in political science, which teaches you how to win elections and stay in power, not how to manage the entire public sector of a country once you're in office. I believe that if even basic economics courses were required for congressmen and women, we would be in significantly better shape.

Well, that's my shortened spiel on government. Now I have to stop writing words and go start writing formulas (math intensive econ midterm tomorrow). Oh please let sweet Summer come soon.

xoxo
Maralah

What's the World to be?

This is a song released a couple years ago by Epica, one of my favorite symphonic metal bands.
Every once in a while they drop the metal and go pure melodic.
This is one of those instances, *and* it's about the current state of our planet.