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| WHO ARE ALL THESE OLD FOLKS, ANYWAY? |
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| TANSY... |
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| ...FLOWER HEADS |
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| WILD CARROT... |
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| ...FLOWER HEAD |
Sunday, 9:00 AM. 70 degrees at the ferry dock, 65 degrees on the back porch. Wind WSW, with light gusts. The sky is mostly clear but hazy, the humidity 82% and the barometer steady, at 30.08". We got back from Milwaukee last night, but Buddy will be at the kennel until tomorrow morning.
We had a good trip, but the weather was terrible on the way south Friday. South of Wausau we ran into consecutive cells of thunderstorms with torrential rain, high winds and hail. Most traffic stopped on both sides of the road a number of times, and people got under bridges if they could to get out of the hail.
The weather was so bad that we were late for the Nathan Hale Class of 1954 reunion dinner, but we did get fed and were there for the entire program. When we walked in I thought perhaps we were in the wrong place, as it was filled with really old people. Eventually I began to recognize some folks but mostly I had to look closely at name tags. I don't know why people kept squinting at mine.
The program, of course, consisted mostly of memories of times and persons past, and it was quite sobering to realize that fully one-third of the class is deceased. A lot of self-depricating humor prevailed, and I can tell you I do not wish to hear another nursing home joke. One joke I will pass on:
The elderly man ask his wife, "Whatever happened to our sexual relations?" She answered, "I don't know either, but we haven't even gotten a Christmas card form them in a long time."
The most prominent blooming roadside plants on the way south as far as Wausau was Tansy, Tannecetum vulgare, in the sunflower family, the Compositae. Its golden yellow flower heads are a cheerful traveling companion. In England it is called golden buttons, a very descriptive common name. Tansy has very aromatic leaves, which were used to strew over dirt floors in the Middle Ages. It had many herbal uses in the past, particularly for stomach complaints and worms in children. The dried root is said to be a remedy for gout, from which I suffer, but I have not as yet tried it (I am pretty careful with herbal self-medication). Tansy is of European origin and is on the Wisconsin DNR prohibited list of invasive plants. It is everywhere, at least north, and as far as I can see does no harm. But you don't want it in your garden because it spreads vigorously. In any case I think worrying about Tansy is pretty much a "fools errand."
South of Wausau the most prominent blooming roadside plant is Queen Anne's Lace, AKA wild carrot, Daucus carota, in the parsley family, the Umbelliferae. Its lacy, greenish-white flowers are quite attractive and it too is of European origin. In England it is called bird's nest, which is quite descriptive of the flowers when going to seed, as they curl upward like a bird's nest. All parts of the plant are used in folk and herbal medicine, mainly as a diuretic and an aid to digestion. The roots look nothing like a domestic carrot, which was derived from it. Leave this plant and any that look like it pretty much alone unless you know them, as many plants in the family are poisonous to one degree or another.
One last word on the 60th class reunion: inside every old person, there is a young person; wondering what the hell happened.
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