Incense makes you happy!

Or at least, one of the major components of frankincense affects areas in the brains of mice which are associated with anti-anxiety and anti-depressive effects.

It's unclear from the abstract whether they actually administered the chemical by inhalation -- they seem to be implying that, but I find it unlikely. I'm going to have to pony up the $7 to flex my rusty neuro chops on the actual article to find out.

I know burning frankincense makes *me* happy.

A Walk in the Woods

projectmothra and I made a visit to a little arboretum that I just became aware of, not far from our home. It's an odd little place. You need to drive through a dirt road that winds through a private golf course to get there, lined with signs reminding you that you were going through private property and better stay on the village path or it was trespassing. No one else was in the parking lot or on the arboretum trails the whole time we were there, though you could hear lawnmowers and voices from the course. The path itself was basically a pleasant if muddy 3/4 mile loop trail around a swamp, with a few options of spots to walk up and away from the loop for a bit.

There were also a variety of wildflowers in bloom, lavender and pink ones with rounded petals, red-and-yellow trumpets, and deep purple trumpets. I couldn't recall any of their names.

Little signs on occasional trees noted the species and a useful fact or two about each of the major species found there. One tree there was marked as grey birch, and although I don't recall noting one in years, I immediately recognized it from my childhood. It's got little brown pods on it (apparently officially called "catkins") on it that when dry in the spring look very much like unground peppercorns. I used to call them "pepper bushes", as the ones by my house ran broad and low, not much like trees really, and they grew on the edge of the woods behind my house. I used to grind them carefully between two rocks and use them to "spice" my mudpies and other botanical mock-food creations.

I think I'll visit here again.