Golden Trees and Fallen Fruits

She woke up in an unknown yet comfortable place. She took a moment to adjust to her surroundings, then she realized that she was finally on a trip with her best friend. She rose from her bed and exited the room to freshen up.

Knowing that her best friend tend to wake up later, she decided to fix a breakfast for both of them. She finished her breakfast and took a shower. When she had exited her room, already dressed up and freshly showered, she saw her best friend standing before the table with a hint of sleepiness in her eyes. She told her best friend that she would take a walk in the nearby park for awhile, and she had cooked breakfast for them. She exited the apartment with her beige trench coat to keep her warm.

Fallen autumn leaves were scattering across the park. The trees themselves had orange and yellow tinted leaves. Some people were running, cycling, having a picnic, and simply did the same activity as her. She kept on walking deeper into the park until she saw a group of oddly mesmerizing tree. The trees were tall and had golden leaves, almost identical to the hue of the precious metal. They also had several round fruits with the same color as the leaves. Suddenly, all of the fruits fell from the tree within the exact same time. She didn’t realize there were other people nearby, until she heard rustling and murmurs. She witnessed people gathering the golden fruits. Some of them ate it and had a smile on their faces.

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A woman approached her and offered her the fruit. The confusion must be obvious on her face, so the woman told her everything she knew about the trees. The autumn scenery provided a perfect camouflage, while the other seasons made them stood out since the color of the leaves didn’t change. The trees only produced ripened fruits on autumn, and those who tasted it would taste happiness. At that, her expression turned grim as she knew that happiness would never last. But before the woman before her could reply, she heard her best friend called her name. She turned around, and there she stood a couple of feet from her. The women gave her another fruit and told her to enjoy it while it last, then she walked away. 

She approached her best friend who stood there next to a bench. The people around them were still gathering and eating the fruit. She gave one of the fruits from the mysterious woman to her best friend and sat down on the bench. Just like those who were eating it, her best friend’s features radiated happiness after she took a bite of the golden fruit. She was curious, so she asked her best friend about the taste. Her best friend told her that she never encountered a taste like that, but it strangely made her happy. She internally sighed, thinking whether or not she deserved happiness while storing the fruit in her sling bag. She masked her true emotion with a smile so natural that her best friend seemed convinced that she already sampled the fruit.

Magical Calendula

As a tea lover, I was drawn into other types of tea like herbal and flower tea. And recently, I've been drawn into flower tea so much that I haven't purchased any regular tea bags which are easily found at the nearby stores and mini markets. Why do I put up with ordering flower tea from online shops when I can just walk several meters from my home and buy a box of tea bags, you might ask. The initial motive was the taste and benefits, since flower tea and herbal tea aren't from tea leaves and therefore contain no caffeine. My biggest curiosity was on the taste since I have to admit what makes me avoid coffee is the taste of the caffeine whilst tea have lower caffeine level thus making me able to tolerate the taste.

I think the first flower tea that I had was chamomile, but it was long ago that I'm beginning to forget the taste. Then rosebud tea, I fell in love with it. Next was forget-me-not, which might not be as popular as other flower tea. And now, I still have some calendula tea in my kitchen. Which is the star of this particular post.

I made a mistake of putting more than one flower buds and boiling them, so I was not prepared for how strong the taste was. Despite of the attack of the bitterness, I could tell that the bitterness was different with regular tea and other kinds of tea from tea leaves. Just like how the sweetness varies between sugar, honey, and maple. At that moment, I vowed to change my method to place only a bud of calendula into a cup and pour the boiled water in. And I always sip my calendula tea that way, leaving the bud in the cup when the tea was completely drained into my system.

Calendula is one of a variety of marigold, and I was impressed by how soothing the scent of the steaming tea make me feel although the effect isn't as strong as rosemary tea. After I drank it, I concluded that flower tea and herb tea may have more calming effect than regular tea for me regardless of how often I drink it. Which is why I only drink them when I'm feeling under the weather and not regularly. I only take them when I need them.

One day, I felt my eyes weakened as an effect of staring at a screen for quite a long time. I was aware that one of the most popular thing to soothe the eyes is sliced cucumber. Though I haven't tried it, I have tried using chilled teabags in the past. They worked, obviously, but I only have dried calendula. I wondered if I can use the used buds over my eyes since the buds aren't as small as rosebud and forget-me-not. Though I haven't found anyone who use extracted calendula buds to soothe their eyes, I found interesting benefits of calendula from healthline which noted the antioxidant properties in the flower among other benefits like anti aging and its healing properties. I also found that Kiehl's also launched a series of products featuring the flower.

Convinced by what I read, I began to slightly change my method. When the cup of calendula tea is warm enough for me to drink, I scooped the buds and petals into another cup and added some of the tea to keep them hydrated. Then I chilled them in the fridge. I use two buds for each of my eyes, so I repeated the same steps for the second bud and placed it into the same glass with extra water for both buds. I dabbed the buds over my eyes and felt my eyes refreshed and soothed. I discarded the buds and left with the extracted water which turned into deep orange liquid with several petals scattering in it. I didn't know what to do with it, but then I remembered what I read from my research and the fact that the flower is used in several skincare products. Then I had an idea.

I remembered something about the effect on acne, so I tentatively dabbed it over my stress caused acne and kept the rest of the extract in an empty bottle to let it chill in the fridge. The next morning came and the size of the acne was significantly reduced from my forehead. One thing led to another, so I kept dabbing my eyes with the buds and stored the extract into the bottle until it filled approximately a quarter of the bottle. I then bought a package of compressed sheet mask and used the extract to create DIY sheet mask. I use them twice a day and leave them on my face for less than 20 minutes.

The first thing I noticed after using it was how hydrated my skin felt, similar to what I feel whenever I use brand produced sheet masks. Now, my skin feels less oily and the acne is gradually decreasing. I also noted that it might take longer time for the acne mark to disappear, but the process of reducing the size and redness is relatively quick on my skin. Satisfied by the result, I made a decision to keep on using the dried calendula at this particular order: separate and chill the buds with some of the water, sip the tea, buds for eye, and extracts for sheet mask.

With this new-found knowledge, I think I might experiment when I try other types of flower tea. I'm really excited to experiment with lavender tea as it's another well-known flower used in skincare, although I might not use it for my eyes since the buds are way smaller than rosebuds. But until then, I'm using the dried calendula in those orders above until I'm running out of it. The only warning I'll give if anyone else is using calendula is allergy, which I have found in this website. Also, there are other methods to use calendula for skincare (like this one); but the only reason I use calendula extract (or technically tea) is that I have dried calendula while some may use ground calendula or calendula tincture with additional ingredients to complement the type of calendula they're using. I'm comfortable with using just the extract and sheet mask, so anyone else can use any type of calendula and other ingredients which are comfortable for their own skin.