Tea & Teardrops

I was making myself a cup of raspberry leaf tea this afternoon and all of a sudden the smell brought back so forcefully to me the smell of Mama's herb room. With my eyes closed I could swear I was back there. I could hear her humming under her breath like she always did when she was grinding up the herbs and making her concoctions. She was so happy doing that. We used to laugh at her and tease her about being a "witch doctor". But what she gave you always worked. Always. That was her calling. I think she was born maybe "out of her time". Now days people scoff at herbal remedies and homeopathic medicine, but what do they think our ancestors used back to the beginning of the human race? Even non-human animals will use plants and earth and bark and such for cures. It's been documented by scientists who study animals in the wild.

Anyway... the scent was so strong in my mind that I was in the herb room with her. I admit I cried a little bit. Sometimes I miss her so much. I think she was trying to tell me something, but I haven't figured out what yet. I will have another cup tomorrow, or maybe the blueberry leaf. She always said they were good for keeping your sugar down. My uncle Gene swore by the blueberry leaf. She also recommended Bilberry leaf, but the store didn't have any when I was there. So I got raspberry leaf and blueberry leaf. I've had them both several times since I bought them, but neither ever had the effect on me that it did today. That's why I think she was trying to speak to me. I think she wants me to remember something she told me about treating diabetes. I will go somewhere quiet tomorrow to sip my tea and remember.

Postcards from a long time ago

Have been busy these past couple of weeks with scanning old family pictures and putting them on a web-page. These things are really a treasure beyond price. You can see the family resemblance all the way back. Truly a treasure...

Another priceless treasure in my keeping is an old collection of postcards that my great-grandmother Edna Teague Bell kept. I believe they are all to her from various family members and friends. The earliest postmark I have seen so far is 1909. I am working on scanning them now. I have about one quarter of them done, so far. I will put them on a page, as well, once I have them all scanned.

I just had to share this one, tho... it is too funny.






The back of the post card reads,
"Hello Edna, how are you. We are having some rain. I forgot when your birthday was. Come down I have got a rich man to give you. May W".

I am not sure who May is, I don't think it is Edna's sister. She is most likely a cousin or other relation. I just thought that was so funny, "I have got a rich man to give you." Edna was my great-grandmother. She married late, for that time. She was in her 30's when she married Thomas Bell. She was a nurse and had been taking care of Thomas Bell's sick wife. After that wife died, she married him. That must have caused some raised eye-brows back then, not to mention whispers behind hands. However, it worked out for them. They remained married until his death, and had 5 children: Edward, Burl, Mattie, Clara, and Utley. Mattie was my grandmother, my Mom's mother.

Well, back to work. Have lots more postcards to scan. My sister and I did this several years ago, but the images were lost. I've been promising her for a year or longer that I would scan them again for her. She is the family genealogy guru. I'm just the keeper of the pictures.