Fun Times with Summer Family Visits
By Marilyn Zink
My family has descended on us for several days of island time.
There are six of them – my mom and dad, my sister and her youngest son, who is 11, my brother-in-law and my brother. After giving everyone refreshments last night, chai tea, and helping them get settled for the night, I was knackered (ie, beat, bushed, tired).
But I decided to write in my blog anyway. I sat up in bed writing away, similar to how Meg Ryan typed on her laptop in Sleepless in Seattle.
Earlier, I proudly showed my mom and sister my herb garden, proudly pointing out the lavender, bergamot, oregano, hollyhock, borage, creeping thyme, lemon thyme, woolly lamb’s ears and Echinacea.
I have more herbs than that – those were just the highlights. My sister, who lives in Northern B.C., was quite intrigued by some of the herbs I grow.
This morning for breakfast we all had cereal – I had planned to make them my Spice Pancakes (check recipe section of this blog for it) but they beat me to it, hauling out the cereal boxes.
I was surprised to discover that my sister, mom and dad wanted to eat my Kashi Go Lean cereal– which has a variety of healthy grains.
My father is conscious of eating healthy after dealing with a triple bypass 10 years ago. My parents use a lot of olive oil in their diet. Now at 81 my dad is still going strong. He got me started on plants as he was a landscaper.
During our visit, I’m sure he will find something to do with plants. In fact, within 10 minutes of being here, he was already in my garden, eyeing my Clematis and muttering something about clips to attach it to the post.
I’m looking forward to a good visit with my family.
Marilyn Zink is the publisher.editor of the Herbal Collective magazine, www.herbalcollective.ca.
