Fortean Type Hospital Experiences

 One could say just being in the hospital is weird enough. Especially after spending two weeks in, then a week and a half out, then back in again for another stay of a week. Thankfully, spouse is better than ever all the hell he's been through and things are looking good.

While there -- I spent the nights there with him, as most of each day -- two odd things happened.

The first: deja vu. I had at least three distinct cases of deja vu. I haven't experienced deja vu in a couple of years, at least. It was something I experienced all the time as a child, up into my teens, and then occasionally as an adult.  It was both unnerving and kind of neat in a strange way.

The second event involved tarot cards. While staying in the hospital with my husband, I would dash home to take care of the house, then rush back to the hospital. As I was leaving the house one day, I had the urge to bring a deck of tarot cards with me. I usually carry a mini-sized deck with me but wasn't during that time, and anyway, I felt the urge to bring a larger deck with me.

So I picked up my Tarot Wonderland deck and left.

Later that day, a CNA came in and mentioned the tarot. I said "Speaking of tarot," and pulled out my deck. She said to me "I knew you were all about that, I could tell by looking at you, that's why I mentioned it." She asked if I could give her a reading, which I did. And we had a nice conversation about sage and candles.

I don't know what it is about me that has some people just know I'm "all about tarot" but there you go.

Skylaire Alfvegren: A Bittersweet Find

 Going through old files and notebooks today and I found this sweet letter from Skylaire Alfvegren, who very suddenly passed not long ago. Still cannot believe she is gone.

I am very sad that we never met in person. We talked on the phone, emailed -- even got together with a friend of hers who moved up here awhile back -- but never met Skylaire in person. She was an inspiration to me and I will always be in gratitude for her friendship.

Mysterious Chinese Seeds and Teal Metallic Spheres

You've probably seen the reports of Americans receiving packets of seeds from China. Seeds citizens have not ordered. From CNN:

(CNN)All 50 states have now issued warnings about mysterious, unsolicited packages of seeds that people across the nation have received in the mail in recent weeks.

The packages appear to be coming from China, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Photos shared by state agriculture departments show packages marked with labeling from China Post, which operates the official postal service of China. Some of the labels also indicate that the packages contain jewelry, although inside is typically a packet of seeds in clear, plastic packaging. (CNN)

Weird to be sure. All kinds of conspiracy theories will come of this. 

Related, sort of: about a month ago, I soaked some lemon seeds from store bought lemons, thinking I was going to start a little lemon tree plant. Not to plant outside; we live in Western Oregon, not good for lemon trees. But maybe an indoor plant. Just curious to see what would happen.

After about three days of soaking the seeds, which looked perfectly normal when they came out of the lemon, the seeds were not your typical lemon seeds, but perfect little spheres.  Not only were they spheres, but a shiny, metallic teal color.  Very strange. I have never seen that before. 

More curious now, I waited to see what would happen after I planted the seeds, er, spheres. Lots of sprouts. I kept them going; after a couple of weeks, the sprouts died off, leaving three dark green shoots. They look promising. 

I wish I had the idea to take a picture of the spheres, but I didn't. But here is an image of the little lemon (?) starts. 

Right now they're on the railing of the porch, they seem to be doing fine. When it gets cooler and the shoots get bigger, I'll plant them in a bigger pot and we'll see what happens.