remedies

{through the bus shelter window, dried up weeds...}

{bus shelter windowagain , pretty weed shadows on snow}

This week I have spent with a sick frog dwelling in my throat. (Je pense que je préfère l'image en français, avec 'un chat dans la gorge...' les chats sont plus agréables...) Anyhow, this snarky creature alternates between fits of dry coughy pain & intense mucosal productions. Blahhh. Anyway, my mother has just lectured me on going-to-the-health-centre-immediately! (well, tomorrow morning anyway...) But I don't really want to, because there's little they can do for me. If it's viral, I'll be told to take cough medicine for the symptoms, & I can't because it will cause a reaction of doom with other medicine I take, & I don't want antibiotics... I mistrust them, because of their overprescription (in which they only rival anti-depressants & birth-control for most freely given prescriptions) & also because I don't think I've had any since the disgustingly delicious 'banana medicine' of my childhood which often proved useless.

So, I have been attempting to soothe myself with tea concoctions. I have found after many cups over the last few days, the best for appeasing raw throats is a simple mix of:

-- 1 tsp. fennel seeds
-- 1 (heaping) tsp. wild mint

steeped a good five minutes. This mixture is traditionally good for annoyed stomachs as well, but seems to coat my throat as well in a rather heavenly manner. If one can find them, boiling the leaves of fennel & inhaling the steam is good for throat & lung issues.

Another useful mixture is a little more complex, with more dried herbs needed... It's really lovely for relieving headachey-ness & tension, as well as cold symptoms, & also, I'm told, the after-effects of imbibing...

-- 1 tsp. rooibos tea
-- 1 tsp. wild mint or peppermint
-- 1 tsp. fennel seeds
-- 1/2 tsp. chamomile flowers
-- 1/4 tsp. yarrow
-- 1/4 tsp. mallow
-- a few little pieces of dandelion root

Or, take a heaping tsp. of Chickadee Farm Herbs' 'Everyday Herbal Tea' & add a little rooibos, some extra mint & a nice pinch of fennel & dandelion root. The rooibos is especially nice (gives it some depth of flavour + b-vitamins!) Let this mix steep for about 3-5 minutes. You can add honey if you like.

Then, of course, if this isn't helping your throat, there are stronger draughts to drink. Like my baba's more formidable concoction of:

-- very hot water
-- lemon juice
-- honey
-- a nice fat clove of raw garlic, minced or pressed (it really does cure everything)
-- a generous splash of vodka, (in case, you know, it's bacterial & this will kill the germs.)

I'm tempted to prepare some, but I have no vodka in my possession. Maybe I'll add more garlic... (& then not only will my immune system rejoice, my blood will be toxic to vampires...) or, at the very least, tomorrow I'm going to Café Mosaics & eating a very, very large bowl of tomato-garlic soup.