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no Jewelweed yet
Sunday, May 4 2008
It was cloudy and cool this morning, but by the time Gretchen and I reached Penny and David's place in greater Marbletown, the sun had come out and we could have our brunch out on the deck. P&D have been very accommodating of Gretchen's veganism of late, to the point where the only non-vegan thing at today's brunch were filets of smoked fish (which is less sinful in Gretchen's belief system than milk is). Gretchen had made her famous biscuits, though she'd been unable to make the tempeh gravy normally served with them and had made chick pea gravy instead. This inevitably lead to a discussion about what sorts of farts we could be expected to produce.
After we ate, we all went on a walk (with our two dogs) up Bush Road to where it meets up with Peak Road. Aside from a couple new McMansions and some peculiar old ranch houses occupied by cat ladies, the houses of Bush Road are architecturally interesting and differ dramatically from one to the next. Most of the houses are occupied either by eccentric rich people or reclusive celebrities.
On the way back, Penny and I gathered clumps of earth from the streamside brook. Penny was hoping the mint and horsetail could be transplanted to the banks of the brook further downstream, where it suddenly plunges down a steep ravine and passes behind her boxy wooden house. A tiny Poison Ivy plant was in one of the clumps I harvested, so I had to lather up with soap the moment we got back (there is no Jewelweed, the natural antidote, available at this time of year). Penny is immune to the effects of Poison Ivy, though she is easily skeezed out by the possibility that snakes or spiders might be hiding in tangled wads of mother nature.
(I notice that the Wikipedia entry for Jewelweed claims that the plant has been shown to be "devoid of any anti-itch effects." But I for one have never claimed Jewelweed to be an anti-itch remedy. I consider it an antidote to Poison Ivy, but if one lets it advance untreated, you're going to need more than Jewelweed to fight the itches.)
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