I found a place in Vacaville that sells a wide variety of herbs. You can order online, and if you order in bulk you get wholesale prices. I found many of the herbs I need on their website.

Morningsunherbfarm.com

I found all kinds of fun mints like pineapple mint, orange mint, and ginger mint. All the plant guides have warnings about mint, that it is an invasive plant and will grow too quickly. I like this type of plant, maybe that means I won't kill it.

There are a few plants I will have to shop elsewhere for.

Hibiscus is going to be a difficult one to find. Because it is native to tropical environments, It is a tender plant here. I need to grow Hibiscus for that beautiful red color it gives the tea. And the flowers have a higher souce of vitamin C than citrus.

Stevia is a natural sweetener. The leaves zero calories and tastes sweeter than sugar. This is the secret of Yogi tea. I am drinking Yogi's Coconut Thai tea right now, and sure enough, stevia is an ingredient.

I think I am going to start with small plants in containers and transfer them to the ground in the spring.

Here is where the herbal tea garden is going to go. It's the only spot on our property that gets enough sun because of all the gigantic sycamore trees shading our yard. I don't know hardly anything about gardening, but I have picked herbs that supposedly grow well here in the Sacramento area and grouped them by how much water they need to flourish. If all goes as well as I hope (and of course it won't, right?), my herb garden will contain these herbs.

Lemon balm

Chamomile

Fennel

Geranium

Ginger

Hibiscus

Jasmine

Lavender

Mint (peppermint, pinnapple mint)

New Jersey Tea

Rasberry and Strawberry

Yarrow

Of course, the tea garden of my imagination also has a romantic iron bench, jasmine wrapping its fragrant blossoms around a white trellis, and butterflies flitting around the blossoms of my plants.

In reality, I'll be happy if I don't kill off the plants in the first few months of keeping them.

Ice and snow everywhere. I now know the meaning of "bitter cold." Californians have no clue.

Across the frozen river to the left are MIT and Harvard.

The public transportation system in Boston is supposedly very easy and efficient. We did not use it this trip. We were babies and relied on the GPS system in Linda's car.

I love the iron gates, the cobblestone sidewalks and the brick buildings.

Being in Boston gave me a sense of American heritage that I have never felt before growing up on the West Coast. History is everywhere.

New York photos will be posted next.

Did you know that the Bull isn't on Wall Street?

It is my fifth night in MA and it's supposed to snow tonight. Today was a wonderful lazy Sunday, beginning with visiting a new church, chinese for lunch, scrapbooking in the afternoon and chili and ice cream for dinner. Yesterday was our big day in New York. We started the day by walking through Columbia University, even though it was a Saturday, just to see the campus. I liked the campus. It seemed to be a bit of a santuary in the middle of a chaotic city. Then we met up with Kyla and Kyle and ate at a little Italian cafe for lunch. Then we hit the streets, the six of us, for some touring. I have been to NYC once before to see a broadway show, but this time we did plenty more. We took the 70 floor elevator ride to the top of the Rockefellar building for incredible panoramic views of the city. I had my first subway experience and I have decided that a subway train-driver would be a great career option for an albino person. We saw the site where the twin towers once were, and stepped into a small museum for 9/11 remembrance. At this site, there is a timeline for the day, beggining at 8:24 am and throughout the day. All six of us could remember where we were the moment we first heard that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. I believe that the entire nation can remember that very moment.
While there, I kept thinking about Haiti in light of the disaster that just occured. It helped put things in perspective.
The rest of the day was spent walking about the financial district and trying to find that darn bull. What do you know, that its not actually on Wall St. We didn't end up finding the bull, but we did take pictures in fron of the Stock Exchange. All in all, it was a fantastic day and I am overly grateful for the Gelsingers who were willing to drive us into the city to meet my cousin. And I am just giddy over the fact that I was able to meet my now-jr. high-math-teacher cousin who I grew up painting toenails and building forts with as grown women in the bustling city of New York. I guess we really have grown up.

Bookstores and Boston and Tea.

Whenever I am feeling uninspired, I go to a bookstore. After meandering the store for several hours, browsing all kinds of topics and genres, I return home revived and excited for life. It works everytime. Tonght I bought a paperback copy of Huckleberry Finn. I read the first paragraph and I was convinced it was time to re-read this classic.

Wednesday morning we leave for Boston. At Border's tonight I browsed a few book on exploring Boston by foot. I can't wait! I have never been to Boston before, any suggestions on what we might do? On the agenda is to visit the grad schools I am applying to for next fall and figure out how to get around the city using the wacky color-coordinated public transportation system there, and of course seeing the Gelsinger's new house! Also we plan to meet up my cousin New York City for the day- pay a visit at Columbia and explore the financial district as well.

My newest ambition-and we'll see how this turns out- is to start an herbal tea garden in which I grow my herbs and dry them to make organic loose leaf tea for myself and gifts. I am sure that I will blog about this project along the way, mistakes and all.

I like the bookstore. Where do you go to get inspired?

A Day in the City

Chevy's on the Water- first stop of the day.


















Random chess tournaments on Market St.


















Four Policemen having a pow-wow at a donut shop. Couldn't pass this picture up.





























Osha Thai - a few blocks south of Union Square. The curry and spicy rice dishes are wonderful and the prices are good. The atmosphere is "young singles" so the restarant and bar are pretty loud. Great for people watching, not so great for conversation. Overall, if you like good thai food, this place is worth trying.
















Samovar Tea Lounge in the Yerba Buena Gardens. Excellent tea and atmosphere. If you are a tea drinker, I reccomend stopping here for your next trip to the city. http://samovarlife.com/tea-lounge/

In Quest for a Pet Cow

Last night I had a dream that I was exploring a house that was for sale, while the owners who were trying to sell it were drinking lemonade on the porch, chatting with Josiah. The backyard was lush and green like a tropical oasis. There was a pond with fish thicker than I had ever seen before. Sipping water from the pond was what looked like a cow. I squinted my eyes to see if my mind was playing tricks on me. What made this cow so peculiar is that it was tiny. It was no larger than a medium sized dog. In my dream, I ran over to the miniature black and white cow to pet it. I ran to the owners of the home and to Josiah to ask about this small dairy animal. The female owner smiled at me and said, "Oh yes that's a mini cow. She's my little baby." At this point, I was ecstatic. A miniature cow? Ever since I was five years old I have had dreams of owning a cow and the idea of a mini cow romanced me even more.

I woke up from the dream slightly depressed from the high I experienced in my sleep. Miniature cows don't exist. Right? Curiosity took me to a Google search for "mini cow." An hour later, I found myself on a rabbit trail of research about the mini cow breed. Turns out they do exist, that the market for the breed is growing, and that they are more economical and docile than standard sized cows. In other words, they make good pets. You can imagine my euphoria after I discovered this. My dream has always been to own a pet cow. While other little girls my age were romanced by horses and ponies, I was mesmerized by the black and white cow. Something about having a farm with a dairy cow to milk has captured my heart for years. I would dream about tending to my cow, while painting landscapes of the pastures and of course, writing children's books about the animals on the farm.

As I grew up, I shed a part of that dream in the name of "practicality." But over the last few years, I once again long for that life I dreamt of as a child. Someday I do want to have a small acreage farm with at least a couple (perhaps miniature) cows that I can milk and provide organic dairy for my family and write about the little things that happen on a farm. It's not a dream to save the world, or to gain recognition or fame, but to fulfill some longing for myself that I was nearly born with. Milking a cow might perhaps not be the most noble calling in the world, but it is something that is so ingrained in who I am that for me, it is the noblest of pursuits.

What is it that you really want to do? What is that thing that you were born longing for, and perhaps in your adult life have tossed aside as you "toughen up" to the world? People will always try to tell you that some aspirations are more noble than others. I think this is untrue. Even the most "insignificant" things can have infinite value.

I have admitted my childish, somewhat self-revealing and embarrassing dream. I can't be the only one. Right? What is your secret little "insignificant" dream? I'm not talking about the ones you list in your resume or use to impress an employer during an interview. Yawn.

It could be as ridiculous as owning a pet cow.

This Wandering Star

When I get to heaven, tie me to a tree
For I'll begin to roam and soon you'll know where I will be
I was born under a wandrin' star
A wandrin' wandrin' star

-From the western musical, "Paint Your Wagon."

I love the humor in these lines. And those of us who were born with restless hearts identify with the truth they capture. Some people are just born with a insatiable thirst for adventure. Perhaps when I get to heaven I will ask to be tied to a tree, but during my time here on earth, I plan to roam until my spirit of adventure is satisfied. And that, I fully realize, may never happen.