Hi everybody.

Back from the "Wedding of the Century".   It was wonderful.

A beautiful wedding and ceremony.     Erin and John and their families did a perfect job of planning.

I was priviledged to be asked to read the petitions at the wedding ceremony.  Erin is my god daughter and I am so proud to call her that.    When she was a little girl, she once told me that we have a "special relationship".   I agree with  that am so blessed.


I got to Chicago at about  10am and my friend Maureen picked me up.  She drove me to the hotel and we had lunch and the best visit.   We shared what we are doing and what is coming up in our Celtic futures.   I will be coming back to Chicago in October to be a part of her Literary Salon at IBAM.  She edited my forward/introduction and liked it.   I have to get myself published or at least on the brink of publication before IBAM.  I think there is a market for my book.  It has not been done before.   The patron saints of all 7 Celtic nations.  It has been an adventure and a wonderful obsession for me.  If any of you know of a publisher to contact, let me know.

It is very warm here.

Dia dhuit

mary 

   

AUNTIE BRANDL'S WONDER SALVE

8 ounces sweet oil

4 ounces red lead

3 drams olebaum

2 drams burnt alum

2 drams camphor

Heat oil to boiling point. Add all ingredients except camphor.

Boil until lead turns brown.

Take from fire and immediately add camphor. Beat until cool.

NOTES : This salve was used for healing sores. Auntie Brandl sent some of this salve to Grandma Helen Ziegler Deeley when Dad had Tularemia (contracted from contact with rabbits). He had a sore that would not heal. The envelope with the recipe had a note on it to "Put on Hutz's toe" My dad, Hutz, swore by it and after it was gone tried to get Mom to make more. Some of the ingredients are no longer available. Actually we aren't sure what some of them are. To top things off, according to my brother George, who has a PHD in Water Pollution (Chemistry) the red lead is poisonous and illegal anyway. Mom used to have a bottle of sweet oil (which may have been too old to be of any use) and a small sample of the original salve. I am not even sure from transcribing the writing if I spelled correctly and olebaum may be oledaum or even olebalm. If I ever find out I will correct the recipe and update this page.

Don't you love the word drams. It is a really cool word. I looked it up so that you don't have

to wonder how much a dram is.

1 dram = 0.0625 ounces and was originally both a coin and a weight in

ancient Greece. There is a lot more information in the definition, but it is really much more than we need to know.