I am sitting here typing this new post with the sniffles, itchy watery eyes, a sinus drip causing me nausea, a runny nose and a cough. That's right a sinus head cold! I'm sick and it sucks! I have taken Sudafed, Day Quill and Benedryl one of my personal favorites (the fact that it makes me sleepy has nothing to do with it....who told you that?!). I have taken just about any over the counter cold/sinus relief, with the exception of one item.
It's only one word....one measly little word that make me shake to my bones at the very thought of it. CASTORIA. I'd rather stay stick before taking it. My Grandmother thought castoria or as she would call it "cas-terl" was the cure for any ailment. When I was a little girl, her shot-gun house was filled with rowdy children of various ages. If one child was sick everybody got cas-terl. I remember her shoving spoonfuls of that hidous, pungent flavor down my throat. So much that it would make me gag. I think, I did hurl once. As soon as it began to work, I began to run....straight to the bathroom! As a 9 year old girl what seemed like an eternity was only hours of running back and forth to the bathroom. Something I can appreicate now as a woman... but still not enough to make me take a dose of cas-terl. Honestly though, whatever ailment I had, was in toilet ten times over. In no time I was back to playing and feeling normal again. Some say there is no cure for the common cold....they haven't met my grandmother.
That was one of her many old wives tale or home remedies. It was sure and proven for a cold, cas-terl was cure. Amongst others were powered mustard mixed with water to make a paste, she would plaster it under the feet and say this would take care of your high blood pressure. If you had arthritis, she would tell you to take some copper wire, (you could get this from a plug of an old lamp you don't use anymore) and wrap that were the "Aurthur" is. When I had my son in 1998 I was new to the mothering game. Thank God for my grandmother. My son was only a few month old when he first experienced constipation, I made a doctor's appointment for him and told my grandmother. What had I done that for? She told me, as she only calls me by my nickname, "Boid! Bring nat baaaby year!" Now.... you have got to know that I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Needless to say we have our own distinct language. So then, I shall translate. "Bird!, bring that baby here." And so I did. It's not like I had much of a choice. She took my son and sent me to the refrigerator to fetch her some fresh parsley. Ofcourse I am thinking, what the hell is she going to with this, certainly he can't eat this. She took one stem of the parsley and inserted a small piece of it in his naked little bottom. Let's just say it worked! Who in heaven, earth, hell and even purgatory would think of such a thing????
I guess growing up my grandmother's time they would use traditions that were passed down from their African ancestors. I know she expressed to me on numerous occasions that they were poor coming up. Most of them had no money to see a doctor and no matter how sick you were, you still had to get up and go to work. So they did the best they could, with what they new how, to get better.
I can't imagine what life used to be life for them back then, but I am grateful. And although we have come so far from old wives tales and home remedies that now we just make an appointment, I to this day sometimes use some of her old remedies....except cas-terl.
It's only one word....one measly little word that make me shake to my bones at the very thought of it. CASTORIA. I'd rather stay stick before taking it. My Grandmother thought castoria or as she would call it "cas-terl" was the cure for any ailment. When I was a little girl, her shot-gun house was filled with rowdy children of various ages. If one child was sick everybody got cas-terl. I remember her shoving spoonfuls of that hidous, pungent flavor down my throat. So much that it would make me gag. I think, I did hurl once. As soon as it began to work, I began to run....straight to the bathroom! As a 9 year old girl what seemed like an eternity was only hours of running back and forth to the bathroom. Something I can appreicate now as a woman... but still not enough to make me take a dose of cas-terl. Honestly though, whatever ailment I had, was in toilet ten times over. In no time I was back to playing and feeling normal again. Some say there is no cure for the common cold....they haven't met my grandmother.
That was one of her many old wives tale or home remedies. It was sure and proven for a cold, cas-terl was cure. Amongst others were powered mustard mixed with water to make a paste, she would plaster it under the feet and say this would take care of your high blood pressure. If you had arthritis, she would tell you to take some copper wire, (you could get this from a plug of an old lamp you don't use anymore) and wrap that were the "Aurthur" is. When I had my son in 1998 I was new to the mothering game. Thank God for my grandmother. My son was only a few month old when he first experienced constipation, I made a doctor's appointment for him and told my grandmother. What had I done that for? She told me, as she only calls me by my nickname, "Boid! Bring nat baaaby year!" Now.... you have got to know that I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Needless to say we have our own distinct language. So then, I shall translate. "Bird!, bring that baby here." And so I did. It's not like I had much of a choice. She took my son and sent me to the refrigerator to fetch her some fresh parsley. Ofcourse I am thinking, what the hell is she going to with this, certainly he can't eat this. She took one stem of the parsley and inserted a small piece of it in his naked little bottom. Let's just say it worked! Who in heaven, earth, hell and even purgatory would think of such a thing????
I guess growing up my grandmother's time they would use traditions that were passed down from their African ancestors. I know she expressed to me on numerous occasions that they were poor coming up. Most of them had no money to see a doctor and no matter how sick you were, you still had to get up and go to work. So they did the best they could, with what they new how, to get better.
I can't imagine what life used to be life for them back then, but I am grateful. And although we have come so far from old wives tales and home remedies that now we just make an appointment, I to this day sometimes use some of her old remedies....except cas-terl.
2 comments:
I once saw Auntie J stick use the parsley trick on DM when he was a baby (her oldest grandson). I was about 8 or 9 and I thought that was the craziest thing I had ever seen in my life. LOL
Dee used to give me a laxative called Castoria all of the time. And guess what, I LIKED IT. Haaa-Haaaa!!
I think you are refreshing, funny, and that extremely rare get away I need every so often. I find this fascinating and incredibly entertaining. You are a great writer. Colorful and spontaneous. Your experience penetrates the soul, that body of knowledge we all share but act like we don't have it in common until its mentioned. My imagination is running now and wanting more. Like a book more.
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