Well, today I've finally done it. Out with the herbs, oils, and molds again, I am back to making soap. My soap is what led us to buying the store in September 05, did you know that? We were wondering if the Weed Patch might like to buy some of our soap. Turned out the store itself was for sale, and we bought it two months later.
It feels so great to be back soaping again. I haven't seriously made soap since we bought the store, and I've been a bit sad about it. I have no idea whatever sparked my interest in soap-making originally, it just came to me one day while I was working in the campus ministries office at SPU when I was a sophomore in college. Steaming pots, golden oils, clean fragrances from herbs and plant extracts - I find it peaceful, I guess. To be buried in such things, working such a simple, timeless, and industrious process, resulting in such sweet endings. Not unlike baking, really.
Anyway, it is wonderful to be back in the game. Hopefully everyone loves the soap and gobbles it up, so then I have to make more and more. I don't mind at all being stuck in my kitchen if I get to be baking up such wonderful goodies. I have a few more kinks to work out in my process, but if everything goes as planned, I should have soaps in the store by next weekend.
As I write this, I am watching The Secret Garden - Frances For Coppula's 1993 version with Maggie Smith. Kate Maberly plays Mary Lennox, and although she doesn't have the appearance described in the book, she embodies the character perfectly. Sour and dour and dark in the beginning, slowly blossoming into something pretty, due primarily to another simple and rewarding process, gardening, as well as the the good influence of having people in her life that care a whit about her.
If you haven't seen this version, I highly recommend it. It strays from the book only a little, and is a very sweet way to spend a couple hours. I still have my childhood version of this book, I can remember reading it several times. I am the type of person to read a good book over and over, rather than just once. When I was young, I didn't often have someone to play with, as we lived far out of town and had no neighbors, and my sisters are several years older than I. So, I was often left to amuse myself, which really wasn't hard at all to do, especially when we lived in such a nature's fairy-land, and my sisters would give me fun plays. One was to build a fairy garden. You'd gather small sticks, flowers, rocks, pine cones, and other bits and bobs of nature, and build a little home in the middle of the forest - tables, chairs, beds, all out of sticks and leaves. My sisters told me that when I left, a fairy would move into it. Although I didn't REALLY believe in fairies, it didn't stop me from having great fun pretending, and after creating such sweet little spots, it was hard to believe a fairy WOULDN'T move in.
Ah yes, such fun games to play as kids. I wouldn't mind playing them as an adult. But then, sometimes it is nice to just go away by yourself, lay down on the stairs, and vacuum....
