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Inspired mainly by Erin, I've decided to play along with the Encyclopedia of Me. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to finally send the camera in to Canon and get that mysterious error message taken care of! I've photographed for almost all the posts already, planner that I am! ;)

... is for amethyst. This is my birthstone. I've worn an amethyst ring on my right hand for the last 9 years or so. When I was pregnant with James, I worked overnight shifts as a nurses' aide for a time, and one night the stone fell out of the ring I'd worn all those years. Last summer, when my depression was getting so bad, I really began to miss this thing that had come to define a part of who I was. Then my husband gave me this new one for our 7-year anniversary, and I have never taken it off again. I love it so very much ... it ties together my past, present, and future so neatly and is representative of both negative and positive aspects of my life. So, it's very meaningful to me.

...is for Anne of Green Gables. I discovered Anne when I was 8, and the influence of these books has continued to live on in my life in a big way.

...is for "all better". Inspired by an idea in this book, I created this basket of first aid and other "feel better" remedies when Elisabeth was quite tiny. We use the arnica and the Rescue Remedy more than anything else. But there's a good supply of other useful items, especially a variety of colorful bandaids, our most commonly used essential oils and homeopathic remedies, teething aids, and so on. To quote Mitten Strings for God, "The wicker basket, stored high on a bathroom shelf, invokes a ritual -- it means that time will be taken to ease a pain, that I care, that I will do my best to bring comfort." So true. So important.