OT Good thoughts Please

That's so good to hear, Nightmist. Aren't children amazing! . In message , NightMist writes

Oh, that's good to hear. Best wishes to her for a full and sopeedy recovery.

Now I may not agree with all that stuff (I ain't saying either way! ;) ), but it sounds like fun! And all that positive energy cannot help but improve things!

Could you tell me about the bottle tree? That sounds intriguing...

Nothing better than good news :-) We live to serve! (Servus!) Roberta in D

"NightMist" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@news.madbbs.com...

Wonderful news! I hope she continues to improve -- and quickly! :)

and loaded down with blue. Mama now has a bottle

Sure.

Bad spirits and suchlike are facinated by shiny things, compelled (as in obsessive compulsive disorder) to follow mazes or figure out patterns, and count things. So circles and spheres can keep them going nigh unto forever.

A bottle tree is aught but a tree or shrub that has bottles thrust into and about the branches. Some people go to the trouble of hanging them like christmas tree ornaments, some don't. A bottle tree will catch bad spirits out in your yard before they get anywhere near your house. They will follow the circle and get caught in the bottle. The color blue is magic against all things evil. That is why some folk paint their doors blue and suchlike. I myself have a blue glass fisher float in my window and wear an ancient turquoise bead around my neck. So blue bottles are favored. Milk of Magnesia used to come in cobalt blue glass bottles, and those were a favorite for bottle trees for years. Now days I have known people to fill clear bottles with water colored with indigo (indigo has magic all its own) to get blue spirit catching bottles, though the color doesn't come well unless you fuss(1). One of my aunts filled a bunch of fancy Avon bottles with colored water of all kinds and tucked them about in a shrub. That was a bottle tree that caught people as well as any badness floatng about! (G)

And finally, yes pieced quilts are a magic of that order. Particularly endless patterns, patterns with circles or spirals, scrappy, and crazy quilts.

NightMist (1) natural indigo prepped for dye needs to be exposed to oxygen before you get a good blue out of it. So you get a rather weak blue, sometimes even green, while it is still fluid.

Thank you. :)

Interesting! I wonder if this has anything to do with the Bavarian custom of "rose balls". Nearly every garden in the region has at least one shiny glass ball, looks like a Christmas ornament on steroids, stuck on a pole amid the plants. And every person I ask gives me a different explanation for the origin of the custom or why they think they need them. Trying to blend in -I have a large violet ball, an emerald green frog, and a blue pottery bird. Roberta in D

"NightMist" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@news.madbbs.com...

They are called gazing balls. I have 4 of them, just because I like them. Gen

(snip)

I thought that the "Victorians" called these 'gazing balls', they reflect the garden thus increasing the pleasure of the garden.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA

Seems like I've heard or read that the gazing balls are supposed to help one see the garden fairies or sprites by catching their reflection.

Wonderful news Nightmist!!! Prayers for continued recovery are still coming your way.

Hugs, Mika Queen of PaperPiece Klutzdom

Mine don't reflect anything but light -they look like colored tree ornaments, not mirrors. People here have told me that they used to be stuffed with straw so the ladybugs would have a place to nest (hence rose balls, ladybugs are good against aphids). Others think the straw is supposed to attract all the earwigs to one spot. Both of these explanations seem ridiculous. My opinion: they just look cool, people have "always" had them, and people tend to copy their neighbors. Roberta in D

"Bonnie Patterson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I asked DH who is the font of all knowledge about such things. He said that since all the fey are reputed to be able to disguise themselves with glamours that that would actually work in a way. A glamour affects what you see, not what really is. So if a being that is casting one wants to change its reflection as well, it has to cast another glamour on the reflective surface. So you might see a butterfly in your garden, but if you see its reflection you might see a fairy.

NightMist