Memorizing Molecules

I recently bought a super-cool set of coasters from this artist.

The weird markings are actually chemical structures of aromatic molecules with punctilious names like d-limonene, linalyl acetate, geraniol and a-bisabolol.  These little guys are so delightful to me that I've displayed a few around my massage room.

 

Sometimes during a massage, I'll catch myself glancing at a molecule and trying to name it.  So if you're a massage client and hear me mutter  "Linalol C₁₀H₁₈O" or catch me whispering "Linalyl acetate C₁₂H_2oO₂" you'll know why.

I'm officially an aroma nerd.

Upcoming Workshop: "Starting an Art Journal"

On Saturday April 17th, I'm taking a break from my aromatherapy activities to give attention to another of my passions:  Art Journaling.   I'm teaching a workshop called Starting an Art Journal.  If you're interested (and local), it will be in State College, PA and I have room for two more participants.     Below is a description of the day taken from my flyer as well as photos from my last Art Journaling workshop.   You can see my own journal pages here on my Flickr account.

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"Starting an Art Journal"

with Liz Fulcher

Explore your creativity in a spontaneous, playful and

imperfect way that will have your inner muse dancing with delight!

What is Art Journaling?  Art journaling is vehicle for expressing yourself when words aren't enough.  It's also an invitation to your inner child to come out and play!  Art skills are definitely not required since I emphasize the process of being creative, rather than the product.

In this one-day "playshop", I will take you step-by-step through a few simple techniques and "recipes" that will enable you to transform a simple blank book into a unique and personalized visual journal.    This workshop is designed to be playful and fun and will include lots of paint, stamps, music, aroma (how can I not include aroma?) and maybe even cookies and milk for your inner child.    You'll return home full of inspiration and resources to help you continue creating art and words on your own.

We will: 

~Discuss various types of visual journals;
~Use acrylic paints, colored pens and rubber stamps to create several two-page backgrounds;
~Choose images from magazines to create a collage;
~Design and render compositions that reflect your personality and mood;
~Engage in writing exercises designed to spark your imagination and get you writing;

Supplies: All supplies will be provided.  You are welcome to bring a favorite rubber stamp, scraps of paper or anything significant that you might like to incorporate into your journal.

Clothing:  Acrylic paint doesn't always wash out of fabric so Dress to Mess.

Date:    Saturday, April 17, 2010 

Time:   9:00 -  4:00 p.m.

Place:   The Mt. Nittany Institute of Natural Health, State College, PA 

Cost:     $70  +  $7 Materials Fee 

Register:  Call 814-238-1121

BEFORE (background only)

AFTER (with journaling added)

One Year after the Earthquake Hit Home

Villa Sant'Angelo is a beautiful medieval village in the mountains and lies in the province of L'Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo region of Italy.  Villa, as we affectionately call it, is about 90 minutes east of Rome and the home of my former husband, Michele.  In the twelve years I lived in Rome, Villa was our weekend respite from the chaos of the city.   It was cool in the summer and always full of children playing outside.  My former in-laws have a huge house whose front door empties right into the town square.  Until they were 17, my sons spent every summer of their lives running, playing soccer and riding their bikes on that piazza and up and down the narrow alley-like streets.

One year ago today, at 3:32 a.m., an earthquake 6.3 on the Richter scale hit central Italy.

 Early that morning I walked into the kitchen where my son Gianluca was having breakfast.  He said "Mom, there was an earthquake in L'Aquila and it hit Nonna's village."  Nonna is his grandmother, my former mother-in-law.   I've lived in California so I know about earthquakes.  Even in Rome we had to run out of our apartment once or twice after a tremor and we'd talk about it for a day or two then life would continue as before.  I imagined this to be the case in Villa.

Not so.   L'Aquila was at the epicenter and affected 26 towns in the area surrounding L'Aquila.  One of the hardest hit was our dear Villa Sant'Angelo.  The town was devastated with over 90% of the buildings destroyed.  Seventeen people were killed, among them several dear friends and relatives.

This post would be more effective with photos of my kids playing on the square before the quake, but I still need to dig them out for scanning - which I will do one day.  In the meantime, all I can find are "after" photos which still shock me.

In the photograph below you can see two homes that had been attached.  The one on the right, with the metal shutters, is the home of Michele and his family who were, gratefully, not home that night.   To the far right is an oval window and the window directly above that was the bedroom we slept in during years there.   The house to the left belong to a cousin named Concetina who didn't survive.  You can even see the bedroom of Michele's mother which was left exposed when the wall came down.  (click on the pics for a full view)

This is the church across the piazza from Michele's home. We attended many a mass and wedding here. I can still smell the sweet aroma of frankincense that would hit your nostril upon entering.

  
An alley my sons used to run up and down on their way to the soccer field.

This is what the streets looked like before the quake

How many hours did I spend on this piazza pushing a stroller, riding my bike,
walking with my sons, chatting with friends and relatives?

The iron gate on the right led to the home of Pasqualina, one of my favorite people and Michele's cousin.  She was hilarious and lived in NYC for many years so her english was excellent.  She had a fabulous sense of humor.  I spent many afternoons in her kitchen drinking coffee talking about life with her.  Sadly, she didn't survive.

 A campsite for those who lost their homes.  People are still living here.

What still haunts me is the realization that with all the holidays, weekends, summers we spent in this town, with all the time I spent visiting people whose homes are no longer there, with my wedding in nearby L'Aquila, this earthquake could have happened while I was there.  But it didn't.

I could have just as easily been sleeping inside one of those buildings whose walls came down. My boys could have been playing in the home of a friend whose house collapsed. My sense of gratitude for our having escaped this tragedy is profound.  I wonder if that's how the people who didn't go to work that fateful day on 9/11 feel?  

So today I am, in my own way, honoring the residents of Villa Sant'Angelo and those who are no longer with us. 

And giving deep thanks that my family was spared.

Some things I learned this Easter

Here are a few surprising lessons I learned over the Easter weekend:

Having a spontaneous picnic on the trampoline is awesome

 This boy is going to know more outdoor survival skills by the time he's eight than most men learn in a lifetime.

My husband can sit on his haunches for a really long time.

 

Throwing rocks in water never gets old.  Ever.
(The proof is here and here).
And my husband can even perch from a rock on his haunches.

 

2 1/2 year olds have a lot to say that's worth listening to.

Singing puppet sheep are fun to watch...

no matter how old you are.

 

If a group of parents are standing in a parking lot waiting while two slow teenagers hide the eggs,
only one adult (guess who?) thinks to run up and offer help.

Egg hunting encourages competition at an early age.
I'm not sure I like it.

Don't wear sandals in a dry thorny pasture
unless you want stickers in your feet.

Live in the moment.
Eat the chocolate you've got before hunting for more.

Walking on a railroad bridge is loads of fun.

There's a thrill of finding a treasure
when you come upon a couple of old railroad spikes.

If I were...

If I were a month I’d be May

If I were a day I’d be Friday

If I were a time of day I’d be 6:00 a.m.

If I were a font I'd be papyrus

If I were a planet I'd be mars

If I were a direction I'd be south

If i were a piece of furniture I’d be the kitchen table

If I were a liquid I'd be an essential oil

If i were a gemstone I'd be an opal

If I were a tree I'd be an Atlas Cedarwood

If I were an element I’d be water

 If I were a tool I’d be scissors

If I were a flower I'd be a red geranium

If I were an element of weather I'd be a sunny day

If I were a musical instrument I’d be a player piano 

If I were a color I’d be orange

If I were an emotion I’d be inspiration

If I were a fruit I'd be a ripe fig

If I were a sound I’d be pouring rain with a bit of rolling thunder

If I were a car I’d be an orange Karmen Ghia

If I were a food I’d be baklava

If I were a place I’d be Terme di Saturnia

If I were material I’d be well-worn cotton

If I were a taste I’d be bittersweet

If I were a scent I’d be patchouli

If I were a body part I’d be the hands

If I were a song I'd be Baba O'Reilly by The Who

If I were a bird I'd be a magpie

If I were a gift I’d be given late

If I were a city I’d be Florence

If I were a door I'd open onto a flower garden

If I were a pair of shoes I'd be slip-ons

If I were a poem I'd rhyme and be funny

This exercise was more telling about myself than I expected - the answers came easily and were not necessary "my favorite things."  Why not give it a try!  To read two more, go here and here.

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Don't forget...today is the last day to vote in my poll and giveaway!

My Blue Room Earrings

Julie Broberg is an American living in Denmark.   We met one year ago in April when I stumbled upon her Flickr account and was mesmerized by the photos she had posted.   I wrote asking what camera she used which led to a friendly exchange of emails and an invitation for me to visit her blog Moments of Perfect Clarity   It may sound corny and cliche, but I was so inspired by her words and images and unbridled creativity that a month later I created this here bit 'o writing. 

When Julie declared me a blog crush last May, that I was it.  I had become a firm disciple of Julochkaism*.   (*Julochkaism:  A doctrine I just this second made up whose principles embody: "writing as the new praying", art journaling, retreats know as "blog camp"and taking photographs of shoes, eyeballs and daily life).

In the past year Julie as been responsible for depleting my savings account has inspired me to purchase my Nikon D60 and MacBook Pro.  The only reason I don't have an iPhone is because AT&T isn't my cellphone provider.   If this pattern continues, I may find myself buying a 17-acre farm in the future.  Check out her latest project.  It's remarkable and I'm so glad that I only have to read about it and not actually get in there and clear cobwebs. 

Last December, Julie held a  contest of sorts for what she considered the best thoughts on the meaning of one of her photographs.  To my utter amazement, I won (scroll to the bottom this post to read about it).    Julie promised a handmade prize and sure enough, it arrived a few weeks ago.  I've been wearing it ever since.

Thank you Julochka for the Blue Room Earrings (named for her studio) made by your talented little hands.   More importantly, thank you for enriching my life in the past year with your constantly evolving creativity and your friendship.  I can't wait to see what you get up to in 2010.

 

What Do I Wish to Take a Break From?

Girl at Mirror, 1954
The Saturday Evening Post, March 6, 1954 (cover)
Oil on canvas
The Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge (Massachusetts)

They say men think about sex every 7 seconds.  I'm betting American women think about their bodies every 5 seconds.  With me it's about every 3 seconds. 

From the time I wake up in the morning to just before sleeping at night,  I am aware of my body size.   What I actually weigh doesn't matter - thin or heavy, eating well or binging - the awareness is constant. 

I wish to take a break from attention on my body and just relax with who I am, how I am. 

What do YOU wish to take a break from? 

A Poll and a Giveaway

THE POLL
I'm trying to make a decision about something and would love your help.

In about 6 weeks, I'll be launching an online store to sell my line of essential oils.  I began selling essential oils in 1998 as a way to provide a high quality product to my  aromatherapy students when they were difficult to obtain locally.   The objective at the time was to keep sales small and local.  I didn't give much thought to naming the line so when Liz's Garden Aromatherapy popped into my head, that was the name I gave to the small company.

Now, 12 years later, I feel blessed that my career as an Aromatherapy Educator has blossomed and as a result, essential oils sales have grown and my audience has gotten wider.  I can no longer ignore the need for an online retail store. 

Here's  my self-imposed dilemma...

Do I keep the name Liz's Garden Aromatherapy or change it to The Fragrant Muse Aromatics?   This is a decision I need to make now before propelling the business further into cyberspace.  What are your thoughts, opinions or advice on names for a line of high quality organic oils?   I would also love to hear your thoughts on why you made the choice you did.  It's always interesting how a name sounds to someone else.

I have placed a poll bar on my right sidebar where you can vote until Monday, March 22.  If you have something different in mind, you can either let me know in a comment below or email me at thefragrantmuse@gmail.com.

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THE GIVEAWAY

I've decided to host a giveaway.  The prize is a 15ml bottle each of our most popular therapeutic blends:  Allergy/Sinus Relief and Muscle/Joint Relief.

How can you win?    Just leave a comment here by Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. EST.  On Sunday evening the winner will be chosen using the very non-scientific method of printing out a list of folks who have left a comment, cutting out the individual names, putting them in a hat and letting my husband reach in and draw out a name. 

Remember the contest will run through

Sunday, March 28, 2010 at
5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (NYC time).  

 The winner will be announced here on Monday, March 29th  


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Throwing Muddy Stones into Icy Water

Last fall I wrote this post about taking The Bean to the Susquehanna River where we ended up in a fever of rock pitching.   During a recent cold weekend with too much time spent in the house, I suggested we bundle up our little man and take him to the now-icy river bank and try it again.

No need to give this child instructions.

    The minute we reached the river, he bent down
and picked up a muddy rock.

 

James began skipping flat stones
(Note he's wearing his Cifelli Hat to which he's added feathers)

Some things don't change with age.