Clacks, Rue and Flavoured Water | Calm Thoughts to Drift Off

In this calming Season 7 finale of The Insomnia Project, hosts Marco Timpano and Amanda Barker guide listeners through another gently wandering conversation designed to help quiet the mind and encourage rest. In “Clacks, Rue and Flavoured Water,” the hosts explore dreams, plants, and sparkling beverages in the slow, soothing style that listeners have come to love.
The episode begins with Marco recounting a vivid dream about arriving on the mysterious Clack Island. Curious about whether such a place might exist, Amanda joins the investigation, bringing her thoughtful research skills to the conversation. Their quiet exploration of dreams and curious places unfolds in a relaxed, reflective way that invites listeners to simply drift along with the discussion.
Along the way, Marco shares a small story about rescuing Gerbera daisies from the curb and wonders about the surprising resilience of pansies. The conversation continues into the garden as he discusses rue, an herb that recently caught his attention while browsing at a store.
Amanda then turns to a refreshingly simple topic: flavoured bubbly water. She reflects on what makes some sparkling waters pleasantly crisp while others miss the mark, offering a calm and lightly humorous exploration of effervescent drinks.
Whether you’re listening in bed to help with insomnia, winding down after a long day, or playing the episode quietly while working to ease anxiety, The Insomnia Project provides peaceful, meandering conversation designed to help you relax. It has become one of the top sleep podcasts and sleepcasts for listeners seeking a calm, gentle audio experience before sleep.

​Clacks, Rue and Flavoured Water
(Original airdate: July 31, 2023) 

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation that's meant to help you just chill, relax, and who knows, maybe even fall asleep. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda:  I'm Amanda Barker and I am one step away from falling asleep on a hammock right now.

Marco:  Okay, well there you've heard it from Amanda.

Amanda:  Amanda.

Marco:  That's Amanda. And this is the last episode for this season. Season seven.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I hope you enjoy it. We have a huge back catalog, so none to worry. We will be back in the middle of September, so not too long. Far away.

Amanda:  I love when you say back catalog. It makes me feel like we're like Springsteen.

Marco:  We are a little bit. Except we own our own music. I think he sold.

Amanda:  But listen, it's all for sale.

Marco:  It's all for sale.

Amanda:  Anybody who wants to buy that back catalog, come make us a deal. Sure.

Marco:  If you're. Imagine a wealthy magnet who can't sleep and this helps you buy our back catalog. No problem. It'd be awesome. Um, yeah, so that's, that's, that's, uh, a little bit of housekeeping, if you will.

Amanda:  Or housekeeping as I say it.

Marco:  Yes.

Amanda:  I'm just all about the. This is what happens when I'm tired. I think I just get more. I get more Virgo.

Marco:  Yes.

Amanda:  I get. Not Vertigo. I get more Virgo and I get more sag. So I get more nitpicky and you laugh it off. I don't know.

Marco:  I don't know. I just. It doesn't bother me. I guess I want to travel. Makes me want to travel. Speaking of travel, we just got back from a weekend away and that's why we're feeling a little bit zonked on this Monday. And it's odd. People will be listening today thinking, wait a second, Wednesdays and Thursdays is when the episode comes out, what's happening. But we wanted to finish the season with the end of this month. So I'm GLAD it was 31 days because I didn't think we'd be able to do it.

Amanda:  Yeah, we got that bonus day today.

Marco:  We got that bonus day.

Amanda:  I'm thinking of today as a bonus day.

Marco:  What makes a bonus day for you?

Amanda:  Well, when you get that extra day of the month, it can be like, okay, you know what? In this case, today, it's not August yet. We're still in July. There's plenty of summer left.

Marco:  Sure. I love bonus days when I was a kid where it was like, oh, today we don't go to school and you forget about that and you wake up and it's like, no, there's no school today. There's a PA day or whatnot. Or if you're working and there's a scheduled holiday or a resource, if you

Amanda:  get paid every two weeks and you get an extra pay period week. Some people that Happens to them, sure.

Marco:  That's wonderful too.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  If you haven't had a chance to give us a five star review yet, please do so. That's the only thing I'll mention today.

Amanda:  That's our bonus day.

Marco:  That's our bonus day. When you, when you're able to do that. Makes. Makes our podcast stand out a bit. And that's always good.

Amanda:  Well, what did you want to talk about today? To end off this month and end off this season?

Marco:  You know, I feel like we've talked quite a bit about flowers. That, uh, lately been my topic du jour.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  Ever since I read an article that says that, you know, men are reluctant to talk about flowers because we've been conditioned to feel that it's not a masculine topic to talk about. I've made it my mission to sort of talk about flowers and appreciate flowers. And I just want to say this. So they are doing quite a bit of work in front of our home right now. The city is replacing pipes and there's

Amanda:  pipes and know that it's the city. And we're not people who have a luscious lawn that we're paying people to do work. No, it's, uh, our front of our house is a sidewalk.

Marco:  Yeah. Ah.

Amanda:  Pretty much the city's ripping them all up.

Marco:  Ripping them up. And it's just been a little bit of a harrowed mess out there. But it has slowed traffic on our little quiet street, which makes me happy.

Amanda:  That's true, actually. See, there's the silver lining.

Marco:  Most definitely. What I wanted to mention was that there was a gerber daisy growing somehow in the curb of our street near one of the hoses that is currently.

Amanda:  Is that what it was? And also you say Gerber, not gerbera.

Marco:  I say gerber.

Amanda:  They're both correct, I think.

Marco:  Of course I say Gerber.

Amanda:  And do you say caramel or Carmel?

Marco:  I don't know. I always feel like I say the wrong one when I, I notice it when it comes out of my mouth that it feels wrong. So I think caramel. Uh, I think I said caramel. Can I have a caramel sundae the

Amanda:  other day or whatever. I think you said caramel and then you said, wait, is it caramel?

Marco:  These are hard things, karma. Like Carmel, California.

Amanda:  And I'm like, I dreamt last night that somebody was making fun of how I said draw drawer.

Marco:  Oh, for drawer.

Amanda:  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, fair enough.

Marco:  Um, I dreamt that I was off the coast of Clack Island. I think I told you this island, which I don't think exists. But in my mind it was.

Amanda:  Is that what it was called? Clack Island.

Marco:  Clack Island.

Amanda:  I'm going to look that up.

Marco:  Yeah, Clack Island. And it's in northern, Northern Ontario.

Amanda:  Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to look up Clack island, and if it exists, we'll have to go there.

Marco:  I'll tell you this, folks. If you're looking for a spot to take your dreams to go to Clack Island. It's a beautiful little island somewhere in the north. Is there a Clack Island?

Amanda:  There is a Clack Island. We gotta go where I just made a commitment, so now we have to do it. It's part of the Great Barrier Reef in, uh, Queensland, Australia.

Marco:  See, I was thinking Ontario. So tell me about Clack Island.

Amanda:  All right, I will, man.

Marco:  We're gonna go on a deep klaki.

Amanda:  It's at the tip of Cape Melville in Bathurst Bay, Australia. And it is northeast of Denim island and Flinders Island. Um, it is a major place in Aboriginal m. Ritual and mythology.

Marco:  I see. Okay.

Amanda:  It also has a large number of paintings. Really. It is the traditional center for male ritual activities. It's the resting place of the two culture heroes, um, Ichibiya and Albaren, who are the dominant figures of traditional mythology in the region.

Marco:  Wow.

Amanda:  It's almost like it came to you and. How do you say male ritual activities.

Marco:  There you go. It was in my dream. How do you spell that?

Amanda:  Clack C L, A C, K. That's

Marco:  how I envisioned it.

Amanda:  There is a Clack island in Northern Australia in Queensland. I don't know if we could go. It's part of Flinders Group National Park.

Marco:  Mhm. But there's no Kla island in Ontario because that's where I. That's where my dream took me was to, I guess a place. I know I haven't been to Australia, but I would like to certainly go. Of course I've been.

Amanda:  But I've never been to that area. So certainly if we went, I would want to go to that area. So that's really interesting. Oh my goodness. Okay. There's a Clark island in Nunavut.

Marco:  Okay. No, no Clack.

Amanda:  Because Nunavut would be more what you were dreaming of.

Marco:  Mm. But it was Clack. I remember it being.

Amanda:  Oh, that's Clack island is, um, the

Marco:  reason I remember it being Clack was definitely in Australia. In our car we have a device that is magnetic that we can put our phone on so that it stays.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And it makes kind of a clack sound when you put it. And when we were driving, I said to Amanda, can you clack the phone on there so I can see where we're going? And we both laughed at the word clack. So it stayed in my head.

Amanda:  But it's interesting that it's a very important place spiritually and that it's, uh, for male rituals.

Marco:  There you go.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  So there knows what was going on.

Amanda:  Who knows indeed.

Marco:  Okay, so back to my gerber daisy. So there was this gerber daisy growing out from the curb, uh, where there was a big blue hose distributing water to all our neighbors because they're doing pipe work. And it was growing in between the two. Between the hose and the curb was a beautiful yellow gerber daisy.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And my fear was when they start to remove the hose, the daisy would be no more.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I plucked it very gingerly from the curb and I planted it in our planter. And it looks like it's living its best life. That's great, because it was a little bit kind of crooked trying to figure its way from the curb. And now it's sort of straightened itself out.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And then I go the next day, and there's an orange gerber daisy next to where the yellow one was.

Amanda:  Oh, wow.

Marco:  So I gingerly dug that one up, put it in our planter next to the yellow, and they look very happy. If flowers can be happy, I think

Amanda:  they can be happy for sure.

Marco:  Yeah. So. And I did something else recently. And then I'll get off my flower train.

Amanda:  No, stay on it. Stay on that train all the way to dreamland.

Marco:  So you might remember from an episode this season where I talked about getting this planter of pansies.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  Purple and orange pansies.

Amanda:  Clack island pansies.

Marco:  Clack island pansies. I'm not a pansy.

Amanda:  This is. The whole episode is just you saying things weirdly and me calling you out,

Marco:  which is totally fine. My mouth is just. My lips feel like rubber. They're just on. On their own journey.

Amanda:  We're tired today. I think it's fair to say so.

Marco:  If you saw me, you wouldn't be like, that's the kind of guy who's gonna buy orange and purple pansies. I would say it, but I saw,

Amanda:  because I know you.

Marco:  I. But pansies aren't my thing. And certainly those two colors are not my colors.

Amanda:  I mean, I. I wouldn't. There's never been a moment where like, you know what? You know what Marco's thing is? Pansies.

Marco:  You know what I Should buy Marco for his birthday a bowl of pansies.

Amanda:  Well, now.

Marco:  So I saw them. They looked.

Amanda:  Pansies have gotten a bad rap. I think we bring pansies back.

Marco:  You can eat pansies.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  In your salad.

Amanda:  We didn't. I could have cut them up and put them on. We had salad for lunch.

Marco:  I don't like eating flowers, to be quite honest with you. That's not my thing.

Amanda:  Well, um, I didn't do it.

Marco:  Okay. So I saw them in the window. Not in the window. I saw them when I was walking to the grocery store, and I'm like, oh, these look really pretty. So I got them. I put them in our front.

Amanda:  Mm.

Marco:  They were wonderful in the spring. Then in the summer, they got a bit leggy. They started to kind of creep over the planter that it was in, and they were, like, really kind of just, like fast and loose pansies. And it got a little bit too much. M. So I said to you. I said, can I cut back the pansies? And you're like, they're your pansies. Do what you wish.

Amanda:  Is that what I said?

Marco:  No, you were nicer than that. Actually, I don't.

Amanda:  I don't really remember this, I'm sure.

Marco:  I think you can. And you said, don't worry about it. If it doesn't work out, it's. It's all good. We really enjoyed them. So I cut the pansies, and I put them in a bowl of water. Not a bowl. Uh, uh, a vase. A square, stout vase.

Amanda:  Uh-huh.

Marco:  Or do you say vase?

Amanda:  Vase.

Marco:  Right. So I put them in that. And those pansies lasted so long.

Amanda:  They did. Yeah.

Marco:  They lasted so long that I'm like, why aren't we putting pansies in vases? Or vases instead of these other flowers that just weep and go away so quick? So that's my tip. If you have pansies, cut them back, put them in a vase or vase.

Amanda:  Oh, my mom does. If anyone wants to follow wonderful flowers on Facebook, go to my mother's Facebook page. I'll tell her to let people in. Her name is Valerie Barker.

Marco:  All of a sudden, she's got thousands of followers.

Amanda:  I guess you'd have to Facebook friend me first, which you're welcome to Amanda Barker. Just let me know how I know. Um, and, uh, Valerie Barker is my mom, and she puts a bouquet cutting from her garden every single week.

Marco:  It's true. And I always like them.

Amanda:  They're lovely.

Marco:  Yeah, it's great.

Amanda:  She just fills her Facebook up with flowers. I love it.

Marco:  I'll take a photo of the gerber or gerbera daisies and put it on our social media so people can see it.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And see how I salvage these wild flowers.

Amanda:  And what if somebody comes in and says that's not actually a gerber daisy. What you have here is a orange mum of the daisy variety.

Marco:  That's fine too.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  I don't have a problem with that. If you want to, if you want to help, help educate me on flowers.

Amanda:  Flower debate.

Marco:  It's my, it's my thing this year. 2013, year of the flower for me.

Amanda:  2013, 2000, we've come back in time.

Marco:  2023, you're the flower for me.

Amanda:  You're just off by a few there by a decade.

Marco:  So I drove yesterday the whole way and I was hoping to find a little what we call en routes or these little, um, drive offs from the highway.

Amanda:  Yeah. What do they call them in the States? There's a word for them in the States, I can't think of it. Truck stops, I guess.

Marco:  Sure, truck stop.

Amanda:  But it's one of those comprehensive ones that's like five different sort of places to eat in one, you know.

Marco:  But we had also committed to going to a friend's birthday. We had to be there by 8:30 and we got into a bit of traffic at the border and so it just took forever. And I knew that we didn't have time for me to pull over.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  On anything other than a truck. Truck stop. M. And so we didn't. And I just drove straight. And I'm pretty, pretty zonked. So if I'm sounding a little bit off, it's because we're both wonky today.

Amanda:  That's okay.

Marco:  So. But I wanted to also say that above and beyond the daisies and the pansies, you.

Amanda:  Hm.

Marco:  Like to drink bubbly water that's flavored.

Amanda:  Oh. I did not see this curveball of

Marco:  conversation coming because we had a conversation on this moments ago.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And I asked you of the brands, which ones you prefer. I won't ask you of the brands, which ones you prefer, but what makes a good sparkling flavored water for you?

Amanda:  I um, don't want it to be too sweet.

Marco:  Okay.

Amanda:  I don't want it to taste like, oh, there's not sugar in here. I thought there was. I want it to mostly taste like soda water with just a hint, a promise of something more.

Marco:  I see. So then what flavored bubbly water do you prefer?

Amanda:  Well, it's gonna be, it's gonna sound contradictory because we both really love cherry Bubbly.

Marco:  We do.

Amanda:  And that one's pretty heavily flavored. But I like the flavor. But I might. I don't like anything. I can, I can say the ones I don't like, right?

Marco:  Yeah, of course you can.

Amanda:  So I don't like raspberry bubbly. And when we say bubbly, some people call it buble. I think it's called bubbly.

Marco:  That's a brand. B U B L Y. I think

Amanda:  it's owned by the. One of the big ones.

Marco:  Sure, sure.

Amanda:  Um, but there's also also controversial name Lacroix or Lacroix, depending on where you live and who you are. But I do think it's. Well, it's controversial. Obviously the original word is Lacroix, which means the cross. Right. But it's from a spring that is more commonly called La Croix because it's from La Croix spring in like Washington or something.

Marco:  I see, I see.

Amanda:  And everyone there calls it La Croix and that's what it's called from, so.

Marco:  Got it.

Amanda:  I don't know. Anyway, right now I'm drinking a peach pear Lacroix.

Marco:  Mhm.

Amanda:  Very tasty.

Marco:  I'm not a big fan of the BlackBerry flavored ones.

Amanda:  Yeah, you don't like BlackBerry.

Marco:  And the watermelon one tastes like cucumber to me.

Amanda:  So I don't mind it as long as I'm embracing that it's cucumber, not watermelon.

Marco:  I know. The problem is I look at it and I think, oh, watermelon delish. And then it's cucumber and I think

Amanda:  it'd be too sweet if it actually did taste like watermelon.

Marco:  That's fair. That's fair. And I do like cucumbers, don't get me wrong. Speaking of cucumbers and watermelon, I made a tremendous cucumber watermelon feta salad.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  That just needs to be stated.

Amanda:  You keep talking about it.

Marco:  I know, I'm so.

Amanda:  We don't want to make people hungry.

Marco:  It's true. So ignore that.

Amanda:  But uh, I made a beautiful tomato salad for lunch.

Marco:  It's true.

Amanda:  No one has to hear about that.

Marco:  People who are listening might be thinking is, has Marco's basil that he planted for from seed coming up yet?

Amanda:  Yeah, I've been wondering and yes it has.

Marco:  I've got a nice. Finally I've got a nice crop of basil or basil. Do you say basil or basil Beasel Beezel.

Amanda:  Wow, controversial pronunciation.

Marco:  So my bezel is. My bezel is up and it is tasty. But we have so much sage That I don't know what to do with the. And our sage looks so beautiful.

Amanda:  Yeah, it does.

Marco:  So if you have sage ideas you want to pass our way, I should

Amanda:  make some ravioli with buttered sage. I'll do that. But. And then what else is sage good for? Stuffing.

Marco:  Sure. But you could make a sage tea.

Amanda:  I know you always say that. You always pitch me teas.

Marco:  I'm going to make a sage tea.

Amanda:  I don't want to drink a sage tea. Really?

Marco:  Imagine an iced sage tea.

Amanda:  I can imagine it. I don't know if I can imagine it.

Marco:  How about a cold brew iced sage tea?

Amanda:  I mean, it could be good. I don't know. Sage is good for stuffing or, uh, dressings and turkey, like that kind of thing. I don't know what else it's good for. I gotta look it up. Sage recipes.

Marco:  Can I talk about our roux?

Amanda:  Yeah, talk about roux. And I'm gonna look up things to do with sage.

Marco:  I mean, it's gonna look up things to do with sage. I don't know why it's coming. I never call her that. But that's how it's coming out today. So I discovered rue this year. And I don't know if you know of ru, dear listeners, but let me tell you about rue. R U E. Supposedly it's from the Sage family. That's why I bring it forward. But I don't know, it doesn't seem like sage to me. But I was at our, uh, local garden shop and they are discounting a lot of the flowers and peppers that haven't been purchased. And I'm like, let me see what's there. And I was looking for cilantro. That's what I was on. Look on the hunt for. And I'll be honest with you, the cilantro looked pretty measly. Didn't look great.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  But I bought it. But the roux looked great. And I was like, what is this roux I've never heard of? Right. And I think we may have talked about it on the other, uh, I can't remember a couple shows ago. So I bought the roux. And it turns out it's a very good medicinal plant. M for many things, but for pain in particular, which I thought was interesting. But I liked it because it's the type of plant that comes back every year. What's that called? Not perennial.

Amanda:  It is a perennial.

Marco:  It's a perennial.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  So it comes back every year. It's not a. What's the other kind of plant? Annual Annual. So it's a perennial. I'm m like, I'm going to get this. I'm going to plant it with our mint. It looks pretty, it looks decorative. And I'm like, that way I don't have to worry about that box. It'll come back next year and everyone's happy.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  But I had a sore ankle. So I was like, well, it says that the oil from the plant is very good for sore muscles and sore aches and pains.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I'm like, I'm gonna go snip a piece and rub it on my ankle. M Nowhere did I read that's what you do. But that's what I did. And lo and behold, it made my ankle feel better, Amanda.

Amanda:  And so I have to support this. So I had been working on my feet quite a bit last week and he did the same thing to my feet. Just rubbed it all over my feet. When I came home. They were like, you know, it was one of those, I've been on my feet all day cement. They're just tired, exhausted, sore. And it was amazing. It was like magic, honestly. Like he rubbed it all over my feet and I'm telling you, it was gone. The pain was gone. I feel like we're doing some sort of weird multi level marketing pitch or something right now.

Marco:  No, the reason I'm just telling people about a plant, the reason I bring that up is because then I went into a store on the weekend, like a mystical shop, you know, that has crystals and books and incensey things and little, uh, angely type things. And I walk in thinking Amanda's gonna walk in behind me. And instead Amanda, look, get, takes one look in the store, realizes there's nothing in that store we want or need. And it's not the best example of that kind of store. It was very small.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So. And it had a lot of jangly clothes and beads and things like that that geared mainly for women too.

Amanda:  I also was drinking a delicious Fresca and we had already been in one store and they wouldn't allow drinks in the store, so I didn't want to deal with that. And there were wasps and I didn't want to leave my frisk outside with a wasp.

Marco:  So I walk in thinking Amanda's gonna walk in behind me and she goes, oh, I'm just gonna stay outside. And she closes the door behind me. And I was like, goodbye. I was like, oh no, now I'm in the store.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And every, every. All the eyes were on me.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I was like, oh. Ah. So I start looking around, and I'm looking at all these things that I don't need or want.

Amanda:  Right.

Marco:  And they're all quite pricey. So a jangly necklace attached to a jangly vesty, uh, thing was very expensive, and happy birthday, and I didn't want it. So I was looking and looking and looking, and I was like, I gotta spend a little time in here because we made a little bit of a kerfuffle when we walked in. So I was like, okay, I think it's fine. So I wanted to spend some time to show that I was a serious shopper

Amanda:  and I'm committed to the story, even though my wife is outside enjoying it. Delicious fresco.

Marco:  And I'm like, okay. So I'm looking and I'm looking, and they had things that were not my style. But then I saw they had a little. What would you call it? Like, you know, like a Chiclet stand. Like a, uh, chicklet stand where you would.

Amanda:  What? You know, like Chiclets. The gum from the 80s.

Marco:  Yeah. I couldn't think of gum. So, you know, when you go into a store and where they put the gum, it's kind of like a little stand of some sort. That's Amanda hitting the table. Uh, even though I. I always say watch your feet on the table.

Amanda:  Okay. But. And then when I have sciatic nerve

Marco:  stuff going on, that's what the roux is for.

Amanda:  Yeah.

Marco:  Okay. So what would you call a Chiclet stand? A gum stand. A gum for.

Amanda:  I'm never not gonna call it a Chiclet stand. No. You know, you have a. When you have a large display of Chiclets, and you're like, I just want. How do I display all these Chiclets in my store? I've just got so many flavors of Chiclets. Oh, I know. Let's get a Chiclet stand.

Marco:  So this person had what I'll refer to as a Chiclet stand.

Amanda:  This is why we don't do this when we're this tired.

Marco:  So. But there was no Chiclets in the Chiclet stand. There was instead, shocking smudge sticks. So, uh, conceivably you could call it a smudge stick stand.

Amanda:  Okay, well, I'm not allowed to laugh at any of this anymore, so. Okay, not allowed. But just.

Marco:  I don't think you choose not to.

Amanda:  I don't think it's a good choice. Sure.

Marco:  So there was a bunch of smudge sticks, right. And I was, like, looking at them, like, oh, that's Cool. You know, the, the, the sage ones, actually, they were all sage. And then I saw there was a bundle of what looked like green twigs.

Amanda:  Right.

Marco:  And I was like, I've never seen this kind of stick, smudge stick that was made of green twigs. I've seen it with sweet grass and I've seen it made with, um, white sage. White sage and with, um, lavender and things like that. But this looked very twiggy. Like when you, when you bundle a bunch of twigs.

Amanda:  M. Right.

Marco:  If you were to like put them on the side of the road to have them taken away for the season kind of thing. Right. So I was like, okay. So I picked up this bundle of green twigs and I turned to the woman who's engaged in a conversation with another woman about Newark and how she flew in from the Newark airport. Okay. I interrupt and I say, what is this bundle of twigs? Like, what are they in this smudge Chiclet stand?

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  And the woman said, oh, that's a rue bundle. And I was like, I stopped in my tracks and I said, what? And so I interrupted their conversation. And this woman was trying to tell me about rue. And it was like, oh, no, I've discovered rue this year. And the woman who owned the shop, who, um, had a very particular look to her, she was a very awesome, energetic type person with very short hair. And she turns and she says, yeah. She goes, when I bought them to sell, it had a very distinct scent to it. I said, yeah, roux has, uh, its own sort of medicinal scent to it. And then she was trying to remember what it was good for. M. And then I said to her, I just recently planted in my garden. And I told her what, what I was using it for. So we got, we both got very excited about something that she wasn't excited about. Nor was I when I first bought it.

Amanda:  Awesome.

Marco:  So I ended up buying the bundle of rue and Amanda was concerned when I crossed the border, if that would be problematic. Wasn't a problem. Nor did I mention we had RU in the car.

Amanda:  All the things to cross a border with. I don't know if a bundle of herbs.

Marco:  Green twigs. Yeah.

Amanda:  Green twig, dried herbs in a stash, like bundled up and then wrapped in paper and then put in a brown bag.

Marco:  Like, certainly we would not recommend it.

Amanda:  I don't think it was the wisest choice.

Marco:  It probably wasn't. But I needed to bring that roux home. So now it's home.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  So I'm going to need to figure out what to do with It. But I have a bundle of roux.

Amanda:  Mhm.

Marco:  Even though I have a tremendous amount of roux in the garden that I could probably bundle late in the fall.

Amanda:  But did you buy it because you thought you wanted to show you were a serious shopper of this, um, Roux Chiclet stand?

Marco:  I think I just got excited about the roux. And at that point we had conversed so much and I.

Amanda:  How much was that?

Marco:  Five bucks.

Amanda:  Well, uh, what are you gonna do?

Marco:  I didn't think that was too much.

Amanda:  I don't think it's too much.

Marco:  Everything else in that store was so expensive for things I didn't want or need.

Amanda:  But again, five bucks us.

Marco:  True.

Amanda:  That's a six dollars. Fifty dollar a roux.

Marco:  Yeah.

Amanda:  In our monies. But honestly, she was lovely and the store was lovely and our trip, which we'll talk about in later episodes, was lovely as well.

Marco:  Yeah, we'll talk about that in the Patreon episodes. But that brings us to the end of this episode and the end of our season. Amanda. Wow. What a lovely season. Is there something you remember from this season that we did?

Amanda:  I don't remember a thing. Right. Uh, my brain is tabula rasa. Is that what they call it?

Marco:  Never heard of that.

Amanda:  Tabula rasa. You never heard of that?

Marco:  No. What is that?

Amanda:  Blank slate.

Marco:  Oh, but what are you saying? Tablet Ralaza. It sounds like somebody's name is what I heard. Tablet Raza.

Amanda:  Tabula rasa. Isn't that what it's called?

Marco:  I've never heard this term before.

Amanda:  Oh, God. Have I made this up? I don't think so. I feel like this is like Psych 101.

Marco:  It might be something like. I thought Clack island wasn't something. When you discovered Clack island was.

Amanda:  And it came to you in a dream. So now we have to go. Yeah. Tabula rasa in Latin means scraped tablet. It just means that, um, the human mind, uh, is blank before ideas are imprinted on it. It's a concept. Right.

Marco:  Well, listen, we hope you are tabula relazza right now.

Amanda:  Tabula relaxing.

Marco:  We hope it's your tabula is completely relaxed from this episode and we will see you will hear us next season. Any messages you want to leave our listeners with Amanda.

Amanda:  I just want everyone to let go and let life take you where it wants to.

Marco:  There you go. And until next season, we hope you're able to listen and sleep.