Been a long time since I took a bath! Don't worry, there's been showers in-between.....but I mean a REAL....long, soaking BATH! Dare I admit, *I* nearly forgot how mind-centering and therapeutic this feels...this luscious slice of me-time! ME! A soapmaker who has plenty of reason to test-drive my own wares! How could I omit BATHS??? Well, one gets busy, you do hygiene quickies (showers) to get on with the busyness of other things to get done.....that's how you stop taking baths.
Big mistake.
I am vowing not to neglect this ritual for so long ever again! I dare say, I may have lost my connection to me.....
Yesterday late afternoon I finished up work for the day, the house was empty of attention-usurpers, so I decided to indulge. Dang it, if I don't take some me-time, no one is likely going to serve it up to me on a silver platter. I took it and did not feel guilty! Mwhahahaha!
I heated-up the water,
added my favorite potions: baking soda and sea salt (for every mermaid needs her salt),
dribbled in some fragrant scent oils,
grabbed a bar of patchouli, cinnamon & hemp oil soap,
stripped down and dove in!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........(shuddered at the exquisite luxury enveloping me!)
I took with me into my tub an edition (June 2010) of Faerie Magazine, and lo 'n' behold, in it was featured an article by Avril Tyrrell on "Thousand Islands" (how did I miss this eariler?)! "Imagine fragments of paradise scattered across a sapphire river flowing between verdant pastures. The native people who lived in North America for many centuries before European explorers discovered it, named this place "Manatoana" or Garden of the Great Spirit". This grabbed my attention because I grew up in NY, spent MUCH of my childhood camping at the 1000 Islands with my family. In many ways, I consider the place the birthplace of my imagination and fanciful directions. I loved nothing better as a child than to venture into the woods or shores there and act out Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel, be both lost within, and at one with the trees and forest spirits there! It is nothing short of *magical*!
Exerpt: Travelling through the region in 1848, years before development arrived, England's Rev. James Dixon described the islands as "...the most perfect fairy scene in the world." Situated in Ontario on a stretch of the St. Lawrence River...
I had a sudden pang of longing for and deep connection to my childhood haunts.....like I was 10 years old again, riding on a motorboat out to one of the islands with my Grandpa to fish, ...Grandpa in his bowtie and jacket even while fishing...."Throw out your line and see what you bring up!" he'd say, as sunfish after sunfish hit as soon as line hit water!
There are beautiful haunts everywhere.....you need only look a bit further, or find them hiding under rocks right in front of you! There may be magic in your own bathtub! Throw out a line and see what you bring up!
Have a magnificent Friday!
~Carol :)
2 comments:
AHHH, the soak sounds wonderful!
I went to the 1,000 islands when I was 10 with my parents...i remember every bit of that trip (it was a stop on our way home from Niagara falls) I especially loved Boldt's Castle (which i understand, they wrecked by finishing some of the buildings and opening a gift shop etc.) and the most expensive home/Island with all the gargoyles that was build by a Junk man. it is wonderful place!
Susan
@Susan
Yes Susan...and there's that lovely romantic story behind Boldt's Castle....how the Boldt family visited the 1000 Islands in the 1890's and enjoyed it so much, George Boldt (millionarie proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel) bought property there, including 5 acre Hart Island in Alexandria Bay. He demolished the existing 80 room cottage on the property and hired an architect to design a 6-story turreted and towered castle, complete with drawbridge, and every aspect designed to integrate with the landscape. He renamed it Heart Island to honor his beloved wife Louise. Work began on building the castle, but 4 years later in 1904, near the castle's completion, George planned to present he castle to Louise on Valentines Day, but Louise died suddenly of a heart attack. George was so devasated, he left and never returned to the castle, it sat unfinished for years, the victim of vandals and
disrepair.
The Bridge Authority acquired the property in 1977 and began plans to make it a tourist attraction, which it opened as in 1979. Weddings are held there.
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