Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Chitter Chat


I picked those on my walk yesterday. Helmet flower, a type of scullcap. They look like tiny orchids to me. Such a gorgeous color. I guess it is the season of purples and lavenders. 

Speaking of purple, Jessie and the boys came over today and the first thing we did was pick more mulberries. For an experiment we tried putting a sheet on the ground and shaking the branches. 


This was fun enough but we realized that a lot of the unripe berries fell as well as the ripe ones and also, that it's probably easier to pick the berries from the branches rather than getting down on our knees to pick them off the sheet. We ended up with almost two gallons that I sent home with Jessie. I'm about mulberried out for the moment. 

Boppy wasn't here so the boys were disappointed but they made do with their mom and Mer. It was a happy, casual visit and I got to read the boys some books, one a new one that I'd gotten out of the little give-one, take-one library box a few houses down. I hadn't even read it when I read it to the boys and we ended up enjoying it quite a bit. 


I realize that I reread the same books over and over to the children and they like that and I do too but it's nice to have a new story now and then. 
"That was really good!" I said when we finished it. 
"Read it again!" August said. 
I told him that we would, but not right then. He was okay with that. As I read I sometimes ask the boys if they know what a certain word means and we discuss that. Today the word "scold" was used but I knew that August already knew what that one meant. Last week when they were here and we were all sitting on the back porch steps we were discussing something- I don't remember what- but the subject of spanking came up. 
"Oh, August," Jessie said. "You've had so many spanks in your life."
"No," he said, "I haven't but I have had a lot of scolds."

After they left today, I found this on the back porch.


I have no idea what that was about. 

We're getting company this weekend! To protect privacy, I shall not name the beloveds who are coming although I am sure most of you could guess. So of course I want to get a few things in order. Mostly that means washing sheets and quilts and so forth which isn't really work. So I did a lot of that and I also...wait for it...double-swept and double-mopped the kitchen, pantry, and bathroom! Whoo hoo! All throughout Mr. Moon's carpentry work I kept ignoring the floors in that area as he was tracking in everything and who cared anyway? But today I really did take a good look at the situation and got out the broom, the dustpan (actually, I do sweep the kitchen about three times, at least, every day), the mop and bucket, the white vinegar and Fabuloso. 
Oh, you know my house smells good! 
By the time our company gets here you won't be able to tell that I've done it but I will know and feel a little bit better. 

And last night I kept fretting and fretting about the pantry situation and wanting a place for the home-canned goods. I kept walking in there and looking and thinking and I finally figured it out. I took one basketful of stuff off a bottom shelf, moved two bins from a middle shelf, and TA DA!


Room for what is hopefully to come. 

Let's see. What else? 
Oh! Yes! Where was Mr. Moon today? 
Well I'll tell you where he was. 
He was at the sawmill picking up the boards that he'd had milled out of the black walnut and the cherry laurel that we had cut down a few months ago. And oh, my GOD! Such beautiful, beautiful wood. 



I foresee some very nice tables in my future. 
This so sweetly reminds me of my grandfather who was a wood-buyer for a cabinet making company and he loved wood and was an excellent carpenter and wood-worker. In his small garage in Roseland he had built a rack in the side of it where he stored some precious boards he'd bought in his days of traveling across the country to find the wood his company needed. Also within that garage he he had set up a woodworking bench and his tools and still had room to park his Rambler. He had hung a fishing bobber from the ceiling of the garage that marked the place to which he pulled up his car. When the bobber gently tapped the windshield, that was that. 
I think that my grandfather would have approved of Glen Moon. And I'm pretty sure that Mr. Moon would have loved my grandfather. 

That's Lloyd today. The Confederate jasmine (can we please rename this stuff?) is blooming so profusely that its scent is almost overwhelming and I know that it has really hardly begun. It will be completely overwhelming before its time is over. 


And I found this when I went into the hen house to collect eggs. 



Did someone tell the hens to rack 'em up? 
Three obviously rebellious ladies laid in other nests and so today's count was fourteen which means that every hen laid an egg today. 
Phew. So many eggs. 
There are worse problems to have. 

Love...Ms. Moon

22 comments:

  1. expecting a tiny tricycle in a few months.
    Your growing season is so long, pretty much all year round? Ours is short and has not yet begun, just flowers. When the berries happen it is a mad house canning frenzy , but not in this house, not any more.

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    1. I thought that too! What IS the gestation period for tricycles?
      Yes. Our growing season most definitely is all year round. That was one of the things that was heavily advertised in the early years of trying to get people to move to Florida. People were more interested in growing things then.

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  2. what a fun and full day! Getting ready for your weekend *guests* has to be exciting...um....I think I know who's coming! And now an entire shelf for your canned treasures! And the hanging bobber in the garage to gauge *how far* is something that brought back childhood memories for me......of Dads bobber......just a gentle tap, and you know you are good. Thank you for that memory, which was great for me today!

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    1. I'm glad that was a happy memory for you too. Granddaddy also sewed a little thread onto the midpoints of his blankets so that he could arrange them on the bed and fold them more easily.

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  3. I like the x rated bikes there.

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  4. That wood is past beautiful. My dad and my brother would be walking around and around, fondling it. So glad Mr. Moon kept it to be milled. I bet the fellows who cut down the trees are jealous.

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    1. Wood is just so beautiful, isn't it? And it smells so good too.

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  5. My Daddy owned a cabinet shop when I was very young (in addition to his full-time job) and I loved walking into the shop. Today, the smell of sawdust and lumber bring back such wonderful memories. I hope you enjoy your guests, slathering mulberry jam on your homemade biscuits for breakfast. As Andy Taylor used to say when he looked at what Aunt Bea had made.....'OooooooooWeeeeee'

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    1. The smell of shellac is my instant ticket back to Granddaddy's shop. And sawdust, too.
      There may well be biscuits. We shall see.

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  6. That wood is beautiful. It's sounds a like a lovely day in Lloyd and the hens did their bit too. You have lots of eggs, you can make creme brulee:)

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    1. Creme brulee is my favorite. I have discovered, though, how dangerously easy it is to make flan which is almost as good.

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  7. This post is like a dream to me -- the mulberries, the flowers, the canning, the wood. So, so beautiful and peaceful.

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    1. Nice things, aren't they? Sweet things. And real.

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  8. The Hens are playing Pool and the Grands are apparently doing Circus Acrobatics... it all made me Smile, Thank You for Sharing it.

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  9. Your hens are very organized! I've never heard of someone having boards milled from trees they cut down in their yard, but that's a cool idea -- especially if you can turn the wood into furniture. What a great conversation piece that would be. "We grew this table!"

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    1. I had a friend who actually wanted to start an urban wood company where he would remove downed trees from people's yards that they didn't want and have them milled. Never went anywhere but I thought it was a cool idea.

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  10. My kids loved "Roly Poly Hippo Takes a Bath" and I read it over and over. It doesn't really matter what you read I think, it's just the act of sitting with them, loving on them and the rest follows!

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    1. There are some books that I am quite certain I have read literally hundreds of times. And some of them I never tire of. Some, however, I have finally gotten rid of because...NEVER AGAIN! But you're right. It's the sweet closeness.

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  11. In my next life, I'm going to be a carpenter. Is there are more useful art? And it IS an art. That wood looks just beautiful.

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    1. I agree. Although I wouldn't mind being like Lon- a carpenter AND a musician. That's a pretty awesome combination.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.