Lavender Stick - Goodbye Lie excerpt



  lavender stick before dog attack

I like history and many of its gentile customs. One of those customs is the making and gifting of a lavender stick. The lavender stick or wand in the photo was given to me many years ago by a friend.  Handmade, it has always been one of my treasures.  In spite of it now being half chewed, it still is.  You see, Abby, our singing, joke-telling, talking Chihuahua got hold of it,  leaving her chopper marks behind. (Do a search on this blog for Abby or scroll down through past posts to find out about her.) I caught her in the act of destruction as she proudly trotted it about the house.  Happily, I was able to retrieve it.  Bent but not completely broken, it is visually less than its former self.  Additionally, the sweet lavender scent has been replaced by the pungent odor of doggie tonsils.  Oh well.  I still have the picture.

 

I made mention of a lavender stick as a gift to Breelan Dunnigan in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie historical novel.  Here is a short excerpt from that novel:

     With every meeting, Breelan discovered Trip to be more attractive. When they weren't together, he sent a daily messenger with suitable gifts, all of which were to be carried, eaten or looked upon. Aware of the proprieties, Trip understood that a gift to be worn was too personal and certainly too improper to accept. One day the present was butterscotch candy. On another, an envelope of lily-of-the-valley seeds was accompanied by a note saying he didn't know if the warmer weather in Fernandina was conducive for this particular specie's growth, but it might be fun to give the seeds a try. Then, it was the sheet music to Vanishing Moments. He'd penned along the margin:

We danced to this song the night we met.

                     A time remembered, I shan't ere forget.

      Later, a scented lavender stick tied with pastel ribbons was discovered on the porch. Finally, Trip surprised Breelan with a charcoal drawing of them both, side-by-side on a swing. He wrote how he'd described her beauty to the artist. The resulting resemblance was remarkable!

     The most exhilarating event of all was the ride in a hot air balloon. Two days before they were to set sail for Fernandina, Trip turned his back to Nora and Will and the man in charge of controlling the basket in which they all flew, and took Breelan's hand. Up there in the blue of a cloudless New York City sky, he said, "What I'm about to disclose may shock you."

Discover how to make your own lavender stick by clicking on the link below.  Thank you, Fairegarden. http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/how-to-make-lavender-wands