Hi all you wonderful aromatherapy friends! 

This is me trying to be positive.  Of the 12 newsletters I write, February is my least favourite, because February is not my favourite month. I have become so fed up with the dark nights. I know it is getting lighter, but the weather is dark, the news is all doom and gloom and all the people with SAD syndrome are really struggling. However, changes are on the way in March with the appearance of Daffodils, Crocus, Tulips, Forsythia and many others.

As most of you know, I foster young cats. Kitty Cat PALS brings in colonies of feral cats. They are checked by the vet, neutered or spayed and released back to their own area. The kittens and young cats go into foster homes to socialize, get their shots, spaying or neutering and are then adopted out to their forever homes. I have 4 at the moment, but tomorrow my little black and white boy goes to his forever home. Somebody needs to invent a word that means that you are sad and happy at the same time.

I have learned so much from having these cats. I have had cats all my life, but it is only since I have been fostering these feral cats that I realize how complex, how loving, how mischievous, and how intelligent they are. They are so much fun.

As far as cats and essential oils, I always follow Caroline Ingraham's advise. She lives in England and specializes in animal aromatics. Caroline travels the world doing seminars on how animals benefit from using essential oils. Her basic theme is that animals have an inbuilt ability to self-select the correct foods and medicines. This is a vital component to the survival of mammals in the wild. In field trips, scientists in search of raw materials for new pharmaceutical drugs have been known to follow and closely observe how primates make their selection of medicinal plants within their natural environment. Forty percent of all of our pharmaceuticals contain constituents originally found in plants.   

I thought this was so romantic and appropriate for February's newsletter:

FOREVER YOUNG

Forever young you'll always be,  

Tucked deep inside my memory,

And though the sands of time may race,

For me they'll never change your face,

And though I will grow old and grey,

Forever young you'll always stay. 

Barb