I got some chamomile and cedar at Cambridge Naturals a while back. I love shopping in the bulk herbs section there. They've got rows and rows of big jars holding everything from the mundane (cinnamon, oregano) to the extravagant (whole vanilla beans) and the fantastic ("ceremonial white sage"?). I've been drinking a lot of chamomile tea lately because the caffeine in black tea gives me a headache. (I know that caffeine is supposed to relieve headaches, but it seems to have the opposite effect on me.) I wanted to try making it the old-fashioned way, with a strainer, rather than buying tons of individually-wrapped bags. More fun that way, and less waste.The cedar was an impulse buy. I ended up putting it in the coat closet. The smell of cedar always makes me think of my parents' house, where there is a grove of red cedar in the side yard. My dad cuts down the trees that grow too close together and carves the wood into elaborate, sweet-smelling things: headboards, shelves, walking sticks. He even made me a cedar doorstop when I left for college.
I was thinking about college this weekend when I started checking electoral-vote.com again. In fall 2004, one of my co-workers at the library introduced us to the site, and we checked it first thing each day when we arrived for work. Three of us were big-time liberals, and one guy was an undecided moderate, so we tried and tried to convince him not to vote for Bush. I think we finally won that argument, but of course, we lost in the end. Maybe our candidate just wasn't compelling enough; our arguments were anti-Bush rather than pro-Kerry.
But I'm feeling different this time around. I'm really excited and hopeful about Obama, even after last week's underwhelming debate. And really looking forward to the VP debate!
