Saturday, April 14, 2012

It's A Good Morning

Well, good morning from Lloyd, Florida. It's another beautiful day here in paradise and once again, it's the time of year when I wish we could offer click-on-this-to-smell-the-picture because the Confederate Jasmine is blooming and the air smells like what I imagine French courtesans might smell like and honey, that's a real nice thing.

Such a tiny flower but there are hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. I don't know. Tiny white pinwheels of fragrance.

I made us some eggs and grits this morning and some of the venison sausage that Jason made from a deer he shot last year. It was tasty.
I talk about food a lot, don't I?
Yes. Yes I do.
Well, as a default topic, food has a lot to offer and is generally more interesting than the weather and yes, I talk about the weather a lot too.

Speaking of weather, it's pretty perfect here lately. Warm during the day, cool at night. Breezy and lovely and the humidity isn't bad. This will not last for long so we're soaking up every drop of it we can. The doors and windows are open and this sweet goodness pours in.
Now- could we use some rain?
You bet.

Okay. On to the garden. Here's a squash blossom:

I know. You've seen squash blossoms before. There is nothing special about this one. You can see a baby squash growing behind it if you look. The other day, Owen and I were in the garden grazing on raw collards and mustards as we do


and I showed him the baby squash. "I want to eat it!" he said but I told him we had to let it grow. He agreed. He picked up the hoe and I showed him how to use it. He hoed for awhile and then said what I knew he'd say which was, "Phew. Hard work!"

In this case, he's right.

Anyway, like I said, it's a beautiful morning and the skink was sunning on the back steps.

That's a skink. There are actually two of them who live under those steps and I didn't realize that until I saw them both together the other day. All skinks look alike to me but I'm sure if I were a skink, I would easily be able to tell the difference.
They're sort of odd, aren't they? Sort of snake-lizards. A bit off-putting. Not cute.
Okay. You get my drift.
I think that "skink" is a good name for them. Mr. and Mrs. Skink. They have my full permission to live under my back steps.

We've put the baby chickens out.

They love it outside. They run around and flap their wings and they can already actually fly. I think that banty chickens may have better powers of flight than your regular-sized domestic chicken. They take little short hop-flights and they could already get out of that pen if they knew they could but we put the screened lid down so they can't.

I picked them some sour flowers as the kids call them. Oxalis is their real name. They liked them.

If there anything cuter than baby chickens eating flowers?
I don't know.
Maybe not in Lloyd today.

A good friend of Lily's is throwing her a meet-the-baby-shower today and I need to get into town and play with Owen and Gibson so their mother can do a little tidying in preparation. I'm glad this lady is throwing the shower because we're all so lame that we'd never do it. I myself had four babies and one shower. Well, party shower. You know what I mean. I'm sure I took hundreds of showers during those four pregnancies. Or thousands. I don't know.
Like the Confederate Jasmine blossoms, who would bother to count?

Well, it's easy to count the number of aloe blossoms. One per plant.
But they're big.

Impressive, isn't it?

So that's pretty much it around here today. Mr. Moon is working on the boat now and I think we might take it out on the river tomorrow. Gibson can have his first boat ride. We'll drink cold soda and lay back and let Bop and Owen steer the boat slowly down the St. Marks river which is about as pretty a river as you can imagine. We might even get lunch afterwards.
Sounds good to me. I hope the swamp magnolias are blooming and I hope y'all are having a nice weekend.

The Punch Brothers are going to be on Prairie Home Companion tonight.

They're so damn cute.





Jessie- that's for you.

So anyway, I'll be listening and drinking beer and dancing around my kitchen cooking our supper tonight.

Good plan, eh?

Maybe I'll put a sprig of jasmine behind my ear.

Let's all dance on.

Love...Ms. Moon

14 comments:

  1. I had 6 babies and 1 shower. It's cool here and green. We could also use some rain. And a river.

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  2. What a great garden tour. I sure did enjoy myself.

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  3. When I was a kid I had honeysuckles outside my bedroom window. They had the most wonderful fragrance in the world.
    Did Owen get a hair cut?

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  4. OO. baby chicks eating flowers is VERY cute. I'm amazed they can fly already, they still look all small and fluffy. I think bantams are probably much closer to wild hens, maybe, they have better survival skills?

    A friend of my daughter's has a pet skink. They love it, so, I dunno, I guess they're appealing to some :)

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  5. Holy crap, this post made my head full.

    Owen with his hair cut is a different little man, a brand new level of adorable.

    How have I missed the Punch Brothers? Instantly addicted.

    I want to smell your garden. Aloes bloom?? Your chicks eating flowers is almost too much.

    Skink is the strangest reptile name. We used to catch 5 lined skinks and I always mess up and call them 5 tailed, which is a really creepy idea, because if you grab them by the tail it comes off and wiggles about to confuse predators and they grow a new one. That has grossed me out for most of my life.

    Well this comment cleared out a little room in my head. Thanks for sharing, and so glad the sun is shining inside and out for you.

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  6. Skink is practically an onomatopoeia. I think I might like use skink as a verb. Like slink. But more reptilian and not sexy. But people would probably think it was a typo. Maybe I'd use it as a pejorative. My ex-husband is a skink. Creepier than a snake.

    See how you get me going, Mrs. Moon. You make me think about what's out there in my world--to smell, to see, to take note of. You make me think I should eat flowers, and cook something wonderful with the man who loves me. That I should dance and remember to smell the night blooming jasmine. That I should open my window wide and let it wash over me while I dream.

    Thank you.

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  7. That skink is kind of fat too. Do you leave him and the Missus food as well? :-)

    Have a fun evening. Sounds perfect to me.

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  8. Punch brothers! Thanks Ma, you know me well.

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  9. Skinks always look so fat and self-satisfied.

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  10. I love the word skink it's just such a terrific in-the-mouth word. There is jasmine in the yard of the neighbor behind me. It is heady in the summer.

    I will sure listen to Prairie Home Companion today!!!


    xoxox

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  11. The skinks aren't prevalent here yet. Those little chicks are really cute. It's a chilly day here!

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  12. ps. Mary, have you ever eaten fried squash blossoms? I threaten to every year but I've never done it.
    xo

    psps. My word verifications are DROFFIC and STYPP which both sound like names from a Charles Dickens' novel.

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  13. Kristin- Who couldn't use a river? Lord, Lord.

    Elizabeth- We are on the edge of civilization. Oh. I just realized that. I like it.

    Rubye Jack- Owen did get a hair cut. In fact, he got all his hairs cut.

    Jo- A pet skink???!!! You are shitting me. Well. Whatever.

    Mel- Honey, writing this cleared my head. So thanks. And I am glad for your comments. Always.

    Denise- If we can't let our windows open to let the breeze blow over us, then something is wrong. I have no doubt that your ex is a skink. None at all.

    Nicol- No. But they eat every plant I leave on the back steps. They have stripped the gardenia down to the bone. Damn them.

    HoneyLuna- I listened to them and you were in my heart with every note. Damn! But that Chris guy sure can play.

    DTG- I swear. You're right.

    Madame King- I, too, love the word "skink" and Carl Haaison (I am not looking up the correct spelling) named one of his most beloved characters that. Yes. I have eaten a squash blossom but it is mostly batter so let's let it live and become a damn squash.

    Syd- It's odd, isn't it? These lovely low temps at night?

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  14. Sounds like a pearl of a day, and i'll be dancing to the Cajun music on the radio as i cook dinner -- a good gumbo, with lots of smoked turkey.

    Food is a good topic, you are right.

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