Daphne and the Bay Leaf

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Art for Housewives

Sometimes we go for a walk at Villa Ada. I took a clipping from one of the laurel shrubs and stuck it in a pot on our balcony. Now it’s growing and aims for the sky. Laurel, aka bay leaf, is used in cooking. But it has more than just flavour. Bay leaf helps treat digestive problems, lowers blood sugar, eliminates bad cholesterol, and helps fight insomnia. And, in you boil the leaves and inhale the steam, you can get rid of phlegm and reduce a cough.

In Greek myth, Daphne was a naiad, that is, a water nymph. She was quite lovely so the naughty Cupid put a curse on Apollo causing him to fall madly in love with her. But Daphne was not interested. She tried running away from the arrogant god but he chased her and demanded a kiss. Desperate, Daphne cried out to her father, the river god Peneus, for help. To save her from Apollo’s lust, Peneus transformed his daughter into a laurel tree.

In Greek, the name Daphne (Δάφνη) means “laurel”.

Bernini’s statue of “Apollo and Daphne” at Villa Borghese depicts the beginning of Daphne’s transformation into a tree. Her fingers have turned into branches and her toes are now roots that keep her well anchored to the ground.

So for all you tree huggers, don’t squeeze the laurel.

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Related: The Metamorphoses of Ovid…read on archive.org HERE.

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Thalassophobia

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Art for Housewives

I was 19 when I was pulled by a current off the Long Island coast. Scared, I tried to stay calm, float parallel to the beach, and, above all, not waste energy struggling to fight the current. “Just keep your head above the water” my instincts told me.

Instincts can make mistakes but they aren’t liars. And, although I eventually arrived safely on shore, the fear of deep water has never left me.

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Note: “Thalassophobia” is the fear of deep water. The term comes from the Greek “thalassa” (sea) and “fobos” (fear).

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Replace

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Art for Housewives

Things can’t always stay the same.

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Don’t Break on the Bend

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Art for Housewives

Life is no longer linear. It’s full of curves, blind spots, and lacks a continuous flow.

It’s easy to be insecure when you can’t see where you’re going. So, for everyday life, why not follow the guidelines used for driving through a curve:

“Ease up when going inside a curve then accelerate when going out.”

In other words, stability is a straight line.

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Bewitched

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Art for Housewives

It was hot and my thoughts were drowning in sweat. Listless, I decided to try resuscitating myself in the kiddie pool. Instead, I fell asleep and entered a densely populated dream world. That’s where I met Lolly Willows. Lolly was a middle-aged spinster who, tired of her controlling family, moves to a small village where she lives with her cat, Vinegar. No longer willing to do the duties expected of her as a woman, Lolly decides to become a witch. When she meets the devil, she tells him that women are like sticks of dynamite waiting to explode. The devil, “a kind of black knight, wandering about and succouring decayed gentlewomen,” tells Lolly that, in exchange for her soul, he will give her the sensation of freedom and a life of her own. Lolly has no fears of such an exchange because, she says, “Women have such vivid imaginations, and lead such dull lives. Their pleasure in life is so soon over; they are so dependent upon others, and their dependence so soon becomes a nuisance…”

Moral of the story: if it weren’t for men, witches wouldn’t exist.

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Note: Lolly was a character invented by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978). A musicologist, Sylvia, anti-fascist and gay, used writing novels to promote female empowerment.

Bibliography: Lolly Willowes, or, The Loving Huntsman can be read via archive.org HERE.

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