Pink Thunbergia

Pink thunbergia is blooming in one of the front step flowerpots i brought indoors in October. Thunbergia is a vine, usually with a yellow flower. When i saw this pink flowered variety, i splurged.

Although the plant's name honors a Swedish scientist, we can think of it as honoring another Swede--Greta Thunberg, who, at the age of 15, became a world-known climate activist.

Due to climate catastrophe, hundreds of plant varieties are being lost forever every year. Hundreds of creatures go extinct every year.

Yes, change happens, but fatalism is not the answer. We do what we are moved to do. 15-year-old Greta was moved to call a school strike in Sweden. What are you moved to do?

CBD Doubt

 I harvested my two 5-foot tall hemp plants in September and dried the flowers. Then i packed three half-gallon jars with the sticky, dried flowers. In one half-gallon, i added coconut oil and set it in the basement for 2 months.

I looked and looked for recipes for CBD body creme. I asked advice. I found shea butter, cocoa butter, and beeswax in the DIY section of the food coop, along with almond oil and mango butter. But what to do with the ingredients?

Doubt stymies me every time. Some people just launch into new territory, but i am stumped by doubt. I used to call it procrastination, but that feels like a character flaw and another reason to beat myself up.

Now i call it Doubt and recognize this stuck-in-the-middle-ness as a hindrance. It feels like a hindrance; it feels like my way forward is blocked.

Eventually, i chose one recipe, one path forward. The next batch, i tried a different recipe. Good-bye doubt. Hello variety.