I have poison ivy … again. Thankfully, this time it’s only a small spot in the crook of my elbow. Yes, it’s tremendously itchy but I have all the necessary defenses to keep myself from scratching this itch. In particular, I have memory. 

So, let’s go back, briefly, to another spring and another case of poison ivy. Eight years ago, I spent a lovely spring weekend digging in the dirt. I pulled weeds, raked leaves; you know the drill. Two days later, I noticed a little spot on my left arm. By that Friday, my arms and legs were covered with red, itchy poison ivy sores. It became badly infected and I made multiple trips to the doctor for treatment. It was my first encounter with poison ivy and it was a great teacher. 

That experience also gifted me with an amazing memory. Someone — no, I am not telling — recommended a foolproof treatment for poison ivy: gasoline. Yes, you read that correctly. To treat poison ivy, this individual told me to pour gasoline all over the affected area(s). I love everything about that recommendation: that it was said with such purity, with a great desire to be helpful; that it involved covering over half of my body with a highly toxic and flammable liquid; and that the individual had absolutely done that to their own person (I know for a certainty because I asked).

To this day, I remain convinced that pouring gasoline on my poison ivy would have killed it. It would likely have killed me too. Sometimes the host has to die in order to remove the infestation, right?

The weather has been very spring-like here: sunny, then cold, then rainy, then windy, then sunny again. Today looks to be one of the sunny days but later this week we are expecting temperatures to drop below freezing. Those of us who live in the freeze zone can thank me personally. I brought the freeze to us by anticipating summer and seeding our newly dug wildflower bed. I knew that it was too soon but I did it anyway. And I enjoyed it so much that I’m not even sorry, though I might be when I have to do it again after the freeze….actually, no, I won’t be sorry even then because I’ll still be digging in the dirt.

We have 10 butterfly chrysalides hatching today. Four butterflies are currently perched on the side of the habitat while their wings dry. We got to watch the fourth one emerge, sliding slowly out of the chrysalis and landing in a heap on the habitat floor, wings crumbled. It doesn’t take long for their wings to straighten, and now each of them is resting. We’ll have to let them go over the next several days but the weather here is going to turn chilly again. I hope they don’t have to move in with us. 

Watching the butterflies makes me think about how closely our own transformations match theirs. Perhaps we should take a lesson from them and be a little more gentle with ourselves as we emerge and stretch our damp and wrinkled wings.

Over the weekend, Haley made paneer masala, a homemade cheese in a fragrant tomato-based sauce with chili powder, whole cinnamon sticks, ginger, cardamom, fennel, and garlic. The house smelled amazing. This one can be a multi-day project since the cheese should rest overnight. I’ve included the link below in case you are interested. 

This week’s recipes are yogurt cake and the latest internet sensation: deep-fried pasta. I’ll report back on the results for sure. 

In case you are wondering how the real work goes, my YA protagonist has taken matters into her own hands. She has a crush on TWINS. What’s a girl to do? More importantly in this case, what’s an author to do?!  

My MG verse novel is half-finished and on a brief hiatus. My protagonist is so angry and sad that I’m afraid she might kill herself. I don’t want that ending for her so I need to take a break and think about how she can save herself. I’ve killed off a protagonist before but I’ve never had a protagonist commit suicide. That might be too close to home for me to write and too dark for a MG audience to read. 

Back to work on that romance. One of the twins wears a talisman ring. I wonder what it symbolizes for him?

Stay safe.

Here’s the paneer masala recipe. Enjoy!