#c: rosarian

[deercliff]

Two Consumptionverse sketches. First time I drew Clement after revamping hir character, and also its quite anachronistic because I don't think the word "polycule" was a thing in 2000. And me fighting a war with myself about giving Renato a big stupid sword.

[semi-imaginary-place]

FFXVI Rewrite Part 2: Jill, Clive, and Joshua, Changing the Timeline

I want to continue Jill's established character as someone who gave up everything from her dignity to her morals to protect the women of Rosaria. She too is being crushed under the weight of her guilt of what she did under the Ironblood but she would still be determined to protect the people she had sworn to protect. While Clive is running around chasing Joshua and coming to terms with himself, Jill is plotting a rescue effort to Iron. This then comes to an intersection with Cid's plans to destroy the Mothercrystals. For Clive, he has just seen first hand what a decade under imperial rule has done to Rosaria, he sees its people standing up for their nation, and so him contacting his uncle Byron isn't only reconnecting with the only family he has left, it’s not only about stopping the Blights, it's about Rosaria and reclaiming for Rosarians the lives and freedom they had lost. I also do want to add to this section a quest where Cid tests and confirms that crystals are leeching aether from the land and causing Blight. Clive and Jill can also open up and bond over their shared crushing guilt. Both of them have killed large amounts of people with their eikons (though more deliberately in Jill's case), both of them of have been exploited as tools of war by their conquerors/captors. So while Clive is running around, at some parts Jill is pursuing her own agenda.

The next chapter is the assault on Iron and emancipation of the Rosarian women at Drake’s Breath. Clive is still the player character; it is plot important that Joshua and Clive are the only playable characters because Ifrit and Phoenix were once one eikon. However, while Clive might be the player and perspective character, Jill is the main character for this section, her actions drive the plot here. The party splits with Jill securing an escape route for the women with Torgal while Cid and Clive cut a path for the Mothercrystal and cause a distraction for Jill. They meet back up at the Drake’s Breath and Jill kills the priests like she deserves. During the boss fight Clive has to run around stabilizing the area and escape route while fighting off minor enemies while Jill fights the boss in the background. Additionally, Jill is the one to strike and break the Mothercrystal. Iron makes better sense at a first assault because the main power struggle in the game is between Dhalmek and Sanbreque, with Waloed waiting for a hint of weakness in Storm. Meanwhile Iron is more of a side player and so their weakening does not affect Valisthea's power balance as much as going after any of the other Mother Crystals. Jill reminds me of one of those bulls that been raised in iron shackles, the adult bull is more than strong enough to break free but because it was too weak to do so when it was younger, it stopped trying. Likewise, Jill's shackles are not of iron but they bind her all the tighter and this arc is about her breaking free and remembering that she is powerful both literally and metaphorically.

I'm changing the Mothercrystal lore in the game. Ultima came into conflict with the dragons in ancient times. In a last bid to stop Ultima, the Eldest Dragon shattered their body into the Mothercrystals to act as a seal on Ultima. The Mothercrystals drain aether from the land in order to power the seal on Ultima, but as the land is running out of aether the seals are weakening. The Blight was an unforeseen side effect of the seals. When Ultima breaks free, they then repurpose the accumulated aether from the crystals to power to their world creation spell. There used to be 8 Mothercrystals total. Now there are just 5: Drake's Breath in the Iron, Drake's Head in Sanbreque, Drake's Fang in Dhalmek, Drake's Tail in Crystalline, Drake's Spine in Waloed. Even on the map on the official FFXVI website other unknown structures can be seen in central Ash for example, 3 Mothercrystals have been lost to time. The Ten Thousand Tomes confirms Dzemekys Falls is the former location of a Mothercrystal, Drake’s Eye in the Northern Territories, Drake’s Horn in Southern Ash. The relatively recent fall of Drake’s Eye in addition to the spread of the Blight is what drove the Northern incursions into Rosaria, resource scarcity driven conflict, the exact same conditions that Elwin used to justify his proposed invasion. For Dzemekys I’m keeping that humanity angered Ultima and were smote but I’m changing that it was a Mothercrystal and changing the location of the last Mothercrystal (Drake's Wing? Drake's Claw?) to perhaps eastern Ash, islands off the coast of Ash, or central Storm near where the original Hideaway was.

When Drake's Breath is destroyed the first of the seals on Ultima is released and the beginning of the doomsday apocalyptic phenomena start happening although slightly differently in this rewrite. First is the activation of Fallen ruins, second the activation of the robots, third the wraiths, fourth more and stronger fallen and aether creatures as well as the beginning of aetherfloods. Then finally when the 5th and final Mothercrystal is destroyed and the final seal broken, all hell breaks loose and the apocalypse is unleashed upon Valisthea, aetheric storms cloud the skies and aetherfloods spread across the lands. Unlike in the game where the sky changes and the aetherfloods appear after the 4th Mothercrystal (Twinside), here the changes happen after the 5th (Waloed).

Like in the actual game when the First Mothercrystal's heart is destroyed, a portal opens with a partial Ultima that the party fights. As the party is overpowered but before Cid can go sacrifice himself, Joshua intervenes saving them but is unable to kill Ultima. I am dropping Joshua sealing part of Ultima inside himself because that had no effect on the story, that plot thread went no where in the end. Joshua as well as the Rosarian women are returned to Rosaria where they are reunited with their families, Joshua and Byron included though Joshua hides from the other Rosarians. This furthers the Rosaria subplot we seen in the game with Martha and Eastpool and the Guardians of the Flame.

A change I am contemplating is reinstating a party system into this story. This game doesn't feel JRPG enough, where's my party system? These would be AI controlled characters but players would be able to choose how many characters besides Clive are active at once with a maximum of 3. Some characters will be unavailable for certain parts of the game like Jote would not be available for eikon fights. Clive is your classic JRPG sword boy the main damage dealer. Jill is the true all-rounder with physical and magic attacks. Joshua is the healer and he's like wet tissue, he has decent magic. Jote is the tank with some support abilities but little offense. Cid is another damage dealer with big hits. Torgal is the only character that can't be incapacitated, he attacks, he heals, but most importantly he's a good boy (unlocks magic later in the game). I never said the party was balanced. Or maybe not, implementing this would be a pain as FFXVI isn't character focused so explaining why party members aren't there sounds annoying.

In this story the brothers are reunited much earlier so that their relationship can develop. Clive and Joshua's relationship is the core of the game The game starts and ends with them. Their relationship is what kicks off the plot of the game from Ifrit berserking to Clive seeking revenge unknowingly against himself. They are plot critical with plot critical powers, that Ifrit and Phoenix are the eikon of Fire split into two beings and the intended vessel to cast Ultima. And yet despite the relationship being at the center of the game, so little is done with them. Joshua is away for most of the game with Clive not knowing he survived and after they are reunited nothing is done with them. The earlier reunion gives time for Joshua and Clive to reacquaint themselves with each other. The last time Clive saw Joshua he was a 10 year old boy, the Joshua before him now is a man and in many ways a stranger. Clive never got to be there as Joshua grew from boy to man, he will have forever missed that part of his brother's life. And not only did Clive think he has lost Joshua, he thought that he was the one who killed him. The same murder against whom his quest for vengeance has been his sole reason for living for the last decade.

Another reason for the added time before the timeskip is to develop Jill and her relationships. Jill is also weighed down by massive guilt over the things she has done for Iron. Before Drake's Breath she is much more closed off and her arc with Clive is mostly about lost childhood friends because just like Joshua she and Clive are now very different and very traumatized. So pre-Drake's Breath it is about stumbling when this didn't before because they don't fit together like they used to and learning to reacquaint themselves with each other. After Iron, Jill finds closure in dealing a massive blow to Iron, killing the zealot who tortured her and enslaved the Rosarians, and freeing the enslaved Rosarians. She begins to open up after this and bonds with Clive over their shared experiences. In many ways during the missing years Jill and Clive's experiences have been similar though Jill's have been worse. Both were kidnapped as children and enslaved as weapons of war, forced to fight for the very people who enacted violence against them. To both their masters Jill and Clive were expendable tools to be exploited until no more use could be squeezed out of them and they died of overwork. Both of them see themselves as monsters over the many deaths they have caused as Dominants. The difference being that Clive fought to stay alive so that he could complete his revenge against Ifrit while Jill fought in what was probably a futile effort to protect the Rosarian women and children she had sworn to take under her wing. Jill also killed on a much larger scale in eikon battles and was likely treated worse given she was given no armor or equipment and her clothes were in tatters. Clive and Jill were also treated as subhuman by their oppressors. For a decade Jill shouldered the role of protector and champion all on her own, but through Clive and Joshua and most importantly Cid she comes to terms that she need not fight on her own, and with that realization she makes Clive her Vassal because together they can do more than each would have done alone. So before the timeskip Clive gets Phoenix as a teenager, Ifrit when he returns to Phoenix Gate, Garuda after defeating Benedrikta, Leviathan after proving himself worthy to its Dominant, and Ramuh at Drake’s Head as Cid’s dying wish. One place to put Shiva would be at the end of the first part of Jill’s arc here during the lead up to Leviathan, but there’s another place I am considering.

The next arc I am completely making up because not having Leviathan in the game throws off the elemental balance on a meta level and having all 8 would be significant in Gnosticism. Joshua is following a lead on someone who might know of Ultima, the Dominant of Leviathan and semi-rogue champion of the Crystalline Dominion. I am making this arc for several reasons. The unexplained absence of Leviathan/Dominant of Water while also establishing 8 eikons and elements was always strange, why bothering establishing 8 elements and corresponding eikons if its never explained what happened to Leviathan, and Leviathan is a classic Final Fantasy staple so it's strange that it is missing. I also always found the Crystal Dominion's neutral zone reasoning to be a bit weak, for example in real life Switzerland has a reputation of neutrality because of its difficult geography and history of shooting down all aircraft regardless of affiliation, there has to be something to back up the Crystaline Dominion because just crystal export. Giving them a Dominant gives them the military power to back up their sovereignty, and their Dominant flying the coop also significantly weakens their position and further explains Sanbreque's later invasion. Leviathan's Dominant of Water is hanging out in the Southern Isles fighting sea monsters for fun and so this offers the opportunity to introduce Cid as a master engineer as well as introduce Mid and the Enterprise. The game never establishes Cid as an engineer, we only hear about it after he's dead from Mid and that is such awkward storytelling as well as a missed opportunity. The build up to Leviathan is Joshua tracking down the precise location while Cid and Mid build the Enterprsie together. We only meet Mid after the timeskip in the actual game and we don't know how old she is. Aso, she's adopted so getting the ages just right isn't that important, and kid genius is already an established character archetype so what's one more. This would necessitate a younger model for Mid but I think it is worth it. In this story Mid builds the seaship the Enterprise here with Cid to create a callback in the final arc when she builds an airship of the same name this time without her dad. Leviathan's Dominant couldn't stand the Crystalline Dominion but is the opposite of cooperative and things escalate to a fight with Clive at severe disadvantage since priming puts the ship in danger of burning and sinking. I'm not a fight choreographer I don't know maybe they evaporate all the water in a shallow sea and then beat up Leviathan. However, she would rather die than stand down, but as she dies she spits they are fools if they think getting rid of crystals will solve all their problems. With Leviathan’s fall, Twinsides’ position weakens as they can no longer pretend to have the protection of an eikon.

Next is Oriflamme and Drake's Head, things happen similarly to in the game with Sanbreque breaking treaty to invade the Crystalline Dominion and abandon Oriflamme. This is Ultima's second appearance as another of their seals is released and they grow in power. Stronger now Ultima makes a bid to take possession of Clive and Ultima, once again he is stopped but this time at the expense of Cid. Cid dies later in this story than in the actual game because he's a great character and I wanted more time with him, to build his relationship with Mid, to show his engineering prowess instead of just being told. Since Joshua joins earlier in this story the more time allows Cid to help mentor Joshua too, in reckoning with his father's dream and legacy and how despite Rosaria falling, Joshua can honor his father's work by helping the Hideaway and Bearers. This extra time before the timeskip has also allowed Clive and Joshua to reconcile with each other. They have each lived 10 years apart from each other with only their memories, they are both changed men and it would have taken time to reconcile the old and the new and form a new relationship. The sovereignty of Rosaria is no more, both of them are nameless outlaws out against the world, and they have both seen much of the world. The children they were no longer exist and now they have to stumble through all that together.

In the game, the 5 year timeskip was mostly pointless, it had very little effect on anything, so little changed that a lot of things felt frozen in time. Thus, I am greatly reducing the timeskip to about 6-12 months. The expansion of the pre-timeskip period was partly to establish Clive's major relationships like Jill and Joshua so then when the timeskip happened change could be seen. In this story whereas before the timeskip those relationships were just starting and we see the first few steps of development, after the timeskip they have solidified, Clive has settled into the new Jill and the new Joshua. Removing the 5 year timeskip also removes Joshua's inexplicable avoidance of Clive which happens in the original game. So sorry no dilf 30 something Clive, or at least not in the main story. Clive is about 26 by this point. Despite aging the characters down especially after the timeskip I think the story still works partly because most of the characters are adults already but primarily because the amount of trauma and hardship these characters have gone through would have aged them.

Read this in one long post

Read this in parts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 .

[catboyclarity]

For the OC: 7, 9 and 31

For the Creator: A, D and C

No character was specified so I’m just going to do Rosarian bc they’re my special baby

7. What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

Generally being alone in nature during fall and winter, as well as smells of smoke and such. It’s a complicated feeling for them due to their traumatic past, but they don’t wholeheartedly hate or avoid it either.

9. Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

They don’t make a habit of it and feel that swearing too much gives off a lack of control. If they think a swear would help their case then they will deploy one but they try not to other wise.

They are very old and don’t remember their first swear.

31. Who are they the most glad to have met?

By the time I get them to the end of their story it’s Renato but at the start they crazy hate him lol. They don’t really have anyone they’re super grateful to have met…probably the most is Lane, their old second-in-command, but it’s not a super deep gratefulness they mostly just appreciated what he could do for him.

A) Why are you excited about this character?

They are extremely personal to me and a symbol to me of my own healing journey from my own trauma. I also just think they’re neat. I love them.

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

I wouldn’t say I had TROUBLE but I changed their story role very very much from creation. This bitch went from “minor character who dies horribly in the prequel” to “endgame romantic interest” good for them good for them.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

So their human design hasn’t changed that much from my initial pass at it but their werewolf form used to be this nasty disgusting orange color lol.

[oceanssapart]

⚓ Captain Gian Harlowe & Rosarian IV, The Merrow Queen, Thirty-Fifth Queen of Inys

‘Captain,’ Ead said, and Harlowe grunted, ‘at the Inysh court, there are rumours about you, spoken deep in the shadows. Rumours that you courted Queen Rosarian.’ She watched his brow darken. ‘They say you meant to take her to the Milk Lagoon.’

‘The Milk Lagoon is a fable,’ he said curtly. ‘A tale whispered to children and lovers without hope.’

‘A wise young woman told me once that all legends grow from a seed of truth.’‘Is it you or the Queen of Inys who desires the truth?’

Ead waited, watching his face. Those eyes were in a distant past.

‘She was never much like Rose.’ His voice softened. ‘She was night-born, you know. They say that makes a child grave . . . but Rose came into the world at the lark’s calling.’

🍊 The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (@sshannonauthor)

[rosariumpublishing]

The Rosarium Publishing September 2018 Newsletter

Read any of our works lately? Post a review on Amazon or Goodreads! We’d love to hear from you!

What’s been on your to-read list that you #finallyread? Tell us on our Twitter!

Levar Burton (Star Trek: TNG and Reading Rainbow) read aloud the stories of two Rosarians

Jaymee Goh’s (@jhameia) ghost story "The Last Cheng Beng Gift"

Carlos Hernandez’s "Fantaisie Impromptu No. 4 in C#min, Op. 66” from “The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria”

Upcoming events with Rosarians:

Bizhan Khodabandeh (@mendedarrow) will be at the Richmond Zine Fest on October 13th at the main branch of the Richmond Public Library located at 101 East Franklin St!

SPX @spx (September 15th-16th) attendees include

Bizhan Khodabandeh (@mendedarrow) at the DC Comic Conspiracy G8-10

Marguerite Dabaie

Whit Taylor

Also attending will be Rosarium Head Bill Campbell and Marketing Manager Melissa Riggio!

John Jennings, Damian Duffy, and Stacey Robinson will be at SolCon The Black and Brown Comix Expo at The Ohio State University September 27-28th!

J.M DeSantis at Baltimore Comic Con September 28-30th

Maurice Broaddus will be on The Writing Excuses Cruise September 22-30th as well as the following library events:

Meet an Author, Be an Author

Indianapolis Public Library

October 13, 2018

Indiana Sci-Fi & Horror Writers Festival

Indiana State Library

October 20, 2018, 10a-5:30p

Writing Out Loud author series

Michigan City Public Library

October 27, 2018

Jaymee Goh (@jhameia) will be at The Gaslight Gathering Steampunk Expo, October 5th - 7th

 And AfroComicCon in Emeryville, CA, on October 20th.

Marguerite Dabaie will be at MICE Oct 21-22 in Cambridge

Sunspot Jungle is open for PRE-ORDERS!

Throwback to one of our older comics - Manticore by Keith Miller and Ian Gabriel!

“The Aryan race warrior. A Colombian drug lord. A Korean hit man. A career stick-up man.

The wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The puke Cho-mo-kiddy-toucher.

And you!

This ain’t the Breakfast Club and these are ain’t your new friends. Welcome to the Protective Housing Unit (PHU), home to some of world’s worst criminals—many of whom so reviled they must not only be shielded from the American public, but the general prison population. This is your new life.

Simon, a white-collar criminal, is a new transfer to Pensacola Federal Prison Camp. He’s having a hard time adjusting to prison culture, and his newfound “friends” aren’t all that interested in making his new life any easier. Everyone in the PHU has his own agenda; alliances are, at best, temporary; and even the notion of friendship is laughable. But all that is about to change. This brutal yet familiar life they’ve all grown accustomed to is about to come to an end as a mysterious stranger is transferred to their unit and these hardened inmates start to die… Horribly.

One at a time.”

 Rosarians in the Wild

We at Rosarium like to say that we've been "introducing the world to itself since 2013." This past weekend, Dutch author, Corinne Duyvis, and Dutch artist, Aimée de Jongh, met for the first time in Amsterdam. Here, Aimée is holding up her illustration for Corinne's story, "The Applause of Others," which will appear in SUNSPOT JUNGLE, VOL. 1.

[marinaparrott92-blog]

Keeping A Yard In Winter months.

When you have a flower landscape, maintaining flowers need to be your problem especially in wintertime. Cold foods items (particularly dairy or mayonnaise based) should be kept under 40 degrees F (4 levels C) or lower. Both our yard as well as dog organisations outmatched on the topline as well as in working incomes for the one-fourth. Just before you start making use of feline preventives for landscapes, you could want to look at ensuring that to begin with, the creatures can't access your garden.

A winter season garden may have the tendency to look bare and also dull, specifically if you stay in a very cold climate. If water becomes gloomy or foul odoring in a little starter water landscape along with a drinking fountain, clear away 10 percent from the water coming from the bottom with either a pump tube or water pump.

Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden, a climbed yard in Bulla, Victoria, house community of the rosarian Alister Clark, consisting of all his enduring cultivars. Regarding plants and household pets go, have fun with your canine to begin with to tire him out, and garden during your dog's nap times. Also I do rarely obtain inspired good enough to round up hen manure for my splendid household garden. A Moss Backyard is actually an encounter, it is actually an emotion of charm as well as calming calmness, even in a mini fashion ... All a present off The lord. A rock yard design could be an useful convenient and exquisite option for your landscape in the lasting so long as you have special treatment in preparing that out prior to completion. That additionally should be actually remembered that the region taken up by the office needs to be actually certainly not much more than HALF of the overall location from your garden. I additionally found dark blue Lupines and also white colored and red Pincushions and also yellow Desert Sunflowers and a handful of others that I could not determine. Shower room ceramic tiles can also be recycled for creating varieties in the landscape for aesthetic objectives and also as water drainage assistances in plants in pots vegetations. Incorporating natural products, additional ground, garden compost, manure or various other forms of nutrients to the soil will certainly ready the fine backyard bed that will definitely keep your shade vegetations. In chilly landscapes, the beneficial position is one where snow often tends to gather over the winter season. At the Educational institution from Sheffield, James Hitchmough's job is actually full and revolutionary from massive capacity; Nigel Dunnett at Sheffield is an eco-friendly roof covering, rain backyard as well as lasting planting guru. For those of us in the western globe, managing a garden with many winter season may be daunting and include hardships. CrossCab supply Tunbridge Wells taxi companies as well as vehicle solutions at extremely affordable and also inexpensive fees. However with a little research and a really good strategy you could properly increase backyard yard in the fall. A landscape construct can be as rustic or even official as you http://fborenato290.host-sc.Com/ feel free to, make your choice, as well as style what matches your style. At that point you are actually probably going to have a pre-formed pool liner, if you really want to receive performed fast as well as cheap. As our experts search for methods to save loan in this particular economic climate and along with veggies being actually apex in rate, it would be actually a great idea to grow a landscape along with a variety of veggies.

[muzycznyjeszua-blog]

Mutual Benefit - C. L. Rosarian

[bethestaryouareradio]

RX from the Garden

“Hope and faith flower from the cheerful seeds of the old year to the sprouting garden of the New Year's dawn.” ~Terri Guillemets

For the past few weeks it seems that everyone I encounter has been sick with a cold or flu or has been nursing a loved one who is suffering from such malaise. The drastic change in weather conditions plus the excitement and multiple engagements of the holiday season have exacerbated this season of illnesses. To help aid in the symptoms that are bothering you, the closest pharmacy may be your garden.  

Food has always been the best medicine. What we eat and how we eat it determines our vitality and our health. Culinary herbs and spices such as basil, mustard, oregano, and thyme enjoy both flavor enhancing and digestive benefits. Using echinacea or goldenseal, both bitter herbs, can be helpful in clearing congestion and boosting your immune system. Chamomile or passionflower tea helps you relax and unwind, quieting your body and your mind.

A natural remedy to soothe a sore throat and still a cough that I have been using for decades in my work as an actor is a hot tea brewed with a combination of grated ginger, torn mint leaves, the juice, rind, and leaves of a Meyer lemon mixed with honey. (If you are fortunate to be a beekeeper as our Lamorinda Weekly publishers are, the most valuable honey in the world is derived from the bees in your garden!) This herbal tea tastes delicious and really helps with clearing my sinuses. For an extra boost of vitamin C, add the juice and rind of a naval orange to the concoction.  Pair almost any herb with ginger and lemon for an extra healing enhancer.  If you have an upset stomach, motion sickness, or feel nauseous, chewing on a slice of ginger root relieves the symptoms rapidly.

Herbal medicine, herbalism, or phytotherapy has been utilized for centuries around the globe in many cultures for the prevention and treatment of illness. Contained in many plants are powerful chemicals that can assist with natural healing. However, before ingesting or using any plant as a medication, make sure you are certain of its identity and be aware that allergic reactions can occur. If in doubt, leave it out.  Always consult your physician for any ailments that worsen. Pregnant and breast feeding women need to err on the side of caution by always discussing any new remedies or herbal concoctions with their doctor before using,

Here are a few of the botanical medicinal plants that many people already grow in their gardens that I have safely used as a natural prescription for illness.

Basil: Besides being extraordinarily flavorful in just about everything, adding basil leaves or flowers to your salads, sauces, and stews aids digestion, alleviates anxiety, and reduces gas. As an annual herb, basil grows vigorously in the warm weather and is slowly dying back at this time of the year. Harvest the leaves now to freeze or dry.

Bee Balm is a bergamot with edible flowers. The leaves are spicy and the shoots can be made into a pesto just like mint or basil.  Dry the bergamot leaves and flowers to use in a steam bath to loosen phlegm and coughing.  Make an herbal compress of the plant to treat bacterial or fungal infections.  Bee balm spreads vigorously by runners just like mint. It is a pollinator attractor and can be harvested all year long.

Calendula has been used for centuries to heal burns, wounds, and rashes. It can be used topically or ingested. The edible flowers are filled with antioxidants and I love adding them to salads and frittatas.  Dried flowers can be added to stews and soups to enhance your immune system. Calendula spreads by seeds and in my garden, it flourishes year around because as a plant dies I scatter the seeds elsewhere and within a short time new plants emerge that flower quickly.

Lemongrass is not a very pretty plant but it is popular in Asian dishes and is used throughout the world as a tea to soothe many health issues including headaches, indigestion, anxiety, coughs, colds, flu, and insomnia. For motion sickness or flu, make a tea of lemon juice, catnip or mint, ginger, and basil. Like many herbal teas, lemongrass is best combined with ginger for swifter results.

Passionflower is used in teas to alleviate pain such as headaches, earaches, or cramps.  It also promotes better sleep.  In winter this vibrant vine dies back but will return in the spring, preferring a full sunshine location. It is a short-lived perennial, producing flowers for a few years before dying. The Cherokee Native Americans were known to use passionflowers to decrease inflammation from thorn wounds, although I haven’t used passionflower for this purpose…yet.

Mint is a beautiful and functional botanical herb. Mint leaves will root in a glass of water so when you find a mint that delights you, take a snip and start growing your mint garden. All mints are invasive and will take over your landscape. It’s best to keep mint in a container. Spearmint, peppermint, pineapple mint, and catnip all make excellent teas that will help ease the effects of the common cold, comfort a queasy stomach, and promote sounder sleep. As a culinary herb, it is stimulating chopped into a salad, soup, or made into a jelly.

May you benefit with wellness by visiting your garden pharmacy, Wishing you a very healthy and happy 2018.

Happy Gardening. Happy Growing,

Cynthia Brian

Not To Be Missed: ⎫ Tune in to my live radio broadcast on Wednesday, January 24 from 4-5pm PT when I’ll be interviewing renowned rosarian, Michael Marriott of David Austin Roses in England. He’ll give us the tips we need to prune as well as how to plant bare root heirlooms. http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/2206/be-the-star-you-are

Read more, see photos: https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1123/Digging-Deep-with-Cynthia-Brian-Garden-pharmacy.html

Cynthia Brian, The Goddess Gardener, raised in the vineyards of Napa County, is a New York Times best selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are1® 501 c3. Tune into Cynthia’s Radio show and order her books at www.StarStyleRadio.com.

Her new book, Growing with the Goddess Gardener, is available at www.cynthiabrian.com/online-store. Available for hire. Cynthia@GoddessGardener.com www.GoddessGardener.com

[deercliff]

OC Kiss Week Day 4: Lost

A much younger Rosarian kissing their late husband directly after killing him. Don't worry, he had it coming <3

[deercliff]

OC Kiss Week Day 3: Sunrise

Rosarian has a big sun motif both in-universe and out of universe, so I just wanted to draw some rosren kissing. Nothing more nothing less.

[deercliff]

OC Kiss Week Day 1: Almost

Renato and Rosarian getting interrupted!! Tfw you wanna make out but you're both pack leaders. Idk how canon this is, but the person calling out from offscreen is Rosarian's second, Violet, who really hates Renato with a passion and does not want her boss to smooch him.

[deercliff]

OC Kiss Week Day 6: Reach

Bit of a symbolic reach here. I drew the moment when Renato and Rosarian...actually decide to be together. They have serious differences and problems and need to meet in the middle and reach for each other instead of pushing each other away. Im so normal about them and didn't get emotional drawing this.

Also I finally got to draw Rosarian with their hair up, which is my favorite Rosarian.

[deercliff]

OC Kiss Week Day 5: Darkness

Decided to draw rosren first kiss for this! Impulsively kissing your long-time political frenemy after he helped you get home because you were having a very bad PTSD episode: maybe not a great idea?

[deercliff]

Renato and Rosarian got some new refs for Artfight cuz I'm doing Artfight for the first time this year. I'm Deercliff there as well, and team Werewolf, obviously.

[deercliff]

Some information about some werewolves (blank)