mint, black magic, and children's books

so i was helping my mom with the gardening (and by that i mean shuffling around in flip flops lugging a bag of fertilizer from the front of the house to the back of the house for about 3 min.) before the rain started. anyway, i was looking at the back of my house - gosh, i haven't been there in years - when i saw ..

well actually, before i continue on that. isn't it incredible? that there are certain parts of my house that i haven't explored in years? since i went off to college? since i grew up and didn't play outside in the dirt anymore? i've been taking my dog for walks lately (i'd say jog, but who am i kidding, i jog at a leisurely fast walk pace) around my neighborhood and i see houses with kids i don't recognize [new families]. i mean, they were an essential part of my childhood and it doesn't seem that long ago (fine, 10 years), so how can they not live there anymore? these kids i remember in elementary school are now in high school trying to be all cool (heh) and oh, just wow!

oh yeah, so... in my mom's backyard i saw MINT! fresh, mint leaves. mmmm... i don't know if many people knew this (i barely remember this), but i remember at one time wanting to live in the wild, hehe, be one of those resourceful youths, and study herbs and learn how to make polutices and fend for myself with whatever concotion i could create. :)

mmm...

:snaps out of daydreaming: actually, my mom said that it had been there for months (doh). anyway, i'm looking up recipes using fresh mint. i'm so excited! i watch alton and rachel [alton brown, rachel ray] all fancy with their fridges and inside are these zip lock bags with fresh herbs wrapped inside damb paper towels, and now i am joining this elite class! whehehee!

i can't wait to have my own kitchen and then i'll go pick these herbs and store it in my fridge. hah, i even saw alton have a little velcro ziplock bag inside his. maybe i'll do that too...whehehee. can't wait. :)

but anyway, seeing the mint made me think of a book i read when i was little. (and by little i distincy remember 6th grade.) it's the book that made me want to know more about herbs and basically be able to fend for myself in the wilderness. i can't find it now, i've been trying to google it on and off but i just can't find it. it doesn't help that it has a generic title, "black magic" or so i remember... and i *think* my memory serves me correctly.

anyway, it was about this orphan or something, and she grows up but she learned all about herbs and using it to make medicine. hrm, and then somehow she ends up working as the nurse for a princess or something, and teaches her what to do. but it ended up having something to do with black magic and the bubonic plague because she eventually had to fend off the "black death" with the herbs that she gathered, and something about how the children would sometimes be posessed. man this sounds dumber/scarier than it actually was. it was pretty fascainating. i remember one part about having this elaborate sketchbook with blank pages and how she'd go around gathering herbs and sketching them and writing down their medicinal properties..

man, maybe this is why i'm like this. i see so many familir qualities. wanting to have a sketchbook and start/write down useful information. i remmeber the notebook was pretty...it probably had a ribbon for a bookmark too.

you know what, maybe it wasn't called "black magic" but more like "black death" or something...agghh... i'll continue searching for it.

anyway, i realized that there were a lot of great childhook books in my youth (hello, laura!) [laura ingalls wilder] and i want to be able to remember them/peruse them in my leisure. i find them particularly... soothing. mmmhrm.. and i know i definitely need it in times like this.

therefore, it is now my side hobby to find books that i read as a youth that i loved! books that i checked out in the library but now that i am working can now buy! muwaha!

so i definitely first started with "where the red fern grows" by having my brother buy it for me for my 16th? 15th? some birthday. hibisca bought me "little town on the prairie" for my 18th birthday i believe. actually, well those series are a bit specialier to me. i actually asked her not to buy it for me bu tshe didn't listen but oh well, i still love it anyway. :) but yeah, i find that whenever i am particularly stressed, or have done something noteworthy and congratulatory then i buy myself one of those books in her series. so i have to ration it out because i already have bought some. heh, i actually only have a few and i'm eyeing one in paritcular that i really want to read so i better do something praiseworthy soon! haha...

but yeah, so i remembe rreading "rifles for watie" when i was little which also made me realize that i loved the genre: historical fiction. or well, i at least like those. i really ought to stop saying i like particular genres when i only read a couple books (cough, <5)>.<

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WHY does "black magic" return all these books on african americans and the showbusiness? gagghhh..smalls, you're killing me...

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okay i give up. i'm going to post it on one of those blogs aka goodreads that says, "what's the name of that book" and hopefully someone will reply back to me. it's a pretty nifty idea.