My Buddy Rosemary

08 Aug My Buddy Rosemary

Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly known as rosemary, is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region.

I happened across Peter & Karen at the entrance to the Ballard Fred Meyer yesterday. I had done a minor carpentry project for them some dozen years back when my career was in house remodeling. They were glad to know I’m now a landscape contractor, they want someone they know can do nice carpentry to build a fence and complete an unfinished porch. I’m glad to be that guy. This is the place in this style of narrative where the writer introduces the qualifing adverb: however. Instead, I’m going to stay optimistic.

It’s true that the years of using a hammer have taken their toll on my wrist to the point where I spend some evenings looking up natural remedies for joint pain. It’s also true that I generally just power through whatever ailment is pestering my generally good mood. I didn’t mention any of this to Peter or Karen, but they related their experience of going to a restored Medieval garden in France and how the plants each had medicinal properties. They were thrilled with the garden tour. Afterward I daydreamed an image of a bracelet made of rosemary that would soothe my inflamed wrist. However, that’s not among the properties that rosemary can offer.

I have a chronically neglected, picked-nearly-bare potted rosemary plant next to my BBQ station. It almost never gets watered. It’s never been fertilized and if I’m guessing correctly, I don’t think it even gets sunlight where it sits. But I thank it each time I snap off a sprig when I’m cooking salmon. I thank it for the savory, “it’s time to have spaghetti again” aroma it gives off when I brush past it.

So I looked up the historical uses for rosemary. No one has used it for carpenters wrist. If I end up making a bracelet from it, I’ll let Wikipedia know.