4/30/2008

Granny Sue and her Blue Bottle Bush

On her blog on March 3rd, my friend WV storyteller Susannah Holstein wrote that she was collecting blue bottles to make her own blue bottle bush to keep the evil spirits at bay. Not only that she added a lot about the lore behind the blue bottle bush.

Right then I knew I wanted to send her a blue bottle for that tree. I frequent thrift shops so I thought it would be a snap to pick up a blue bottle and pop it in the mail.

HA! Shows how much I know.

Blue bottles are scarce as hens teeth as I soon learned. I was beginning to think I would have to settle and buy a jar of Vicks vap-o-rub, clean it out, and pretend I had found it. But I persisted and finally ten days ago I snagged one.

Coming home from the Safeway in Kensington I swung my car into the parking lot of the old Kensington Town Hall which has been for years a thrift shop run by the Prevention of Blindness.








I had just about given up finding one when I stepped into one of the smaller back rooms and - - there it was - a doozy of a blue bottle - sitting on a top shelf, glowing in the sunlight - just waiting to be a part of Granny Sue's blue bottle bush.




















I packed it up and shipped it off to West Virginia and as you will see on her blog today it arrived in one piece - in time to be a part of her blue bottle bush. It's a something! Don't miss it.


The way things have been going for us lately I am wondering if she is to something - - --
I am going to start collecting blue bottles myself so that I too can put up a shield that will keep the evil spirits away off our roof.

1 comment:

Granny Sue said...

Okay, if you want to build a bush, I've got a bottle for you. Several, actually, since I ended up with some extras (mostly wine bottles. Dear me, we had to drink that wine!).

This was one of the most fun projects I've done in a while. It's so...off the wall?