Often times, after a visit with Mike’s parents, my mother-in-law would send us home with bunches of fresh herbs from her garden. Thyme, parsley, and always rosemary. Her bush was thriving and robust, and had been there for a very long time. Most of the time, I would make rosemary roasted potatoes– adding copious amounts of chopped fresh rosemary to olive oil dressed potatoes, and a good shake of sea salt and a grind of black pepper.

About a year ago, I was sent home with some rosemary cuttings. Most of them were stripped and used to make roasted potatoes, but i took one of the cuttings and rooted it. I remember doing this a little before our annual trip up north to visit my parents for a week. I wasn’t sure if it would survive, but it did, growing from a spindly little thing to a robust plant after I transferred it to a planter on my balcony, where it thrives next some unidentified sprouting bulbs that my mother-in-law gave me once upon a time. Where they tulip bulbs? I honestly don’t recall, but I’m glad to see them so happy and green. I think Ellen would be happy about it too.