Monday, August 23, 2021


 This is one view of what the garden looks like now. It's a weedy, scraggly mess. The banana peppers are still going strong and in some cases have pulled the plant over with their weight. I am not really interested in pickling more of them than I already have. I mean- how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper need? 
Still getting a few eggplant, a few okra. The vegetables that thrive in the late summer Florida heat. 
Or can at least tolerate it. 
And...the field peas are still coming on strong. And today, right before it rained, I picked a big basketful and then I sat on the couch and shelled a bunch. 


Sorry about the thumbnail. You use your thumbs to unseam the peas so you can shuck them into the bowl and that's just the fact of the matter. As you can see there, we have several varieties of peas but we're just mixing them all together. They're all delicious although I can't really swear that about the black ones as I have never grown those before and we didn't grow them on purpose. But they are so lovely!


I should save some for seed. The most traditionally bean-shaped, light-colored ones are white acre peas. The rounder ones are crowder peas. And then- those shiny black ones. 
If you've never had a bowl of fresh field peas (not to be confused with green or English peas), you have no idea how delicious they taste. They cook into an almost creamy sauce and need nothing but some rice to go with, salt, pepper, perhaps a little oil, and the hot sauce of your choice. 
Or not.
The hardiness, heat and bug resistance of these peas is probably one of the reasons that people survived living in the south. If game was scarce, you could always depend on these peas, fresh, or dried, for protein and calories. And if you had some fish to go with them and maybe even a little piece of pork to cook with them, you were living high on the hog. 
As we still say around here. At least some of us do.

So Mr. Moon did not catch an alligator last night. I asked him when he got in if he did and he laughed and said, "No," as if he hadn't expected to anyway. He came home before eleven so he wasn't out that long. I had started watching the David Geffen doc on Netflix while I was eating my supper ("American Masters: Inventing David Geffen") and it had captured me. I had to make myself turn it off and get to bed before it was over. I really loved it. I had no idea that he'd been so instrumental in the music that I grew up loving. 
That wasn't a pun. Trust me. I've never made a deliberate pun in my life. 
There were so many clips with Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro and Crosby, Stills, and Nash AND Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, The Band...on and on and on. He truly came from nothing and he created, if not everything, a whole hell of a lot. And that's not even counting his career in making movies. 
Dreamworks? 
David Geffen was one third of that operation. 

I finished watching that today while I was shelling peas and then I started watching the Netflix series, "The Chair" and it is going to entertain me while my husband is gone, I am sure. Who doesn't love Sandra Oh? 

Speaking of Mr. Moon, he spent all day in town getting things done before he leaves in the wee, small hours of tomorrow morning. As in- about 3:00 a.m. His flight leaves at six and he has to get to the airport two hours before the planes leaves. I have a bit of FOMO about this trip, as much as I really do not want to go to Las Vegas at this point. I remember all of the flights he and I have taken in the early, early morning hours to go on adventures together. Yes, we used to go to Las Vegas occasionally and yes, I do love to play Black Jack, and we've flown to California and of course, my favorite, dearest destination of all- Cozumel. 
I remember those six o'clock check-ins, filled with anxieties, eyes gritted with not enough sleep. I remember the kind airline employees who walked me through my worries, who said things like, "Cozumel? Oh, lucky you!" I remember getting to the Miami airport and feeling as if I was already in a foreign and exotic land, drinking a Bloody Mary at an entirely inappropriate hour of the morning.  
Just us. Just us. 
And now he's going without me but I was invited and I do not regret turning down the kind offer. I don't think I could handle the masking, the trying to pretend that everything was normal when it is so not, even the constant bells and whistles in the casinos which I sort of used to get off on back in my younger years before I became a socially ignorant and anxious agoraphobe. 

Ah lah. 

I'll be fine here at home. I'll be lovely. I'm going to try and get some of the garden cleared, weeded, and ready for fall planting. I can watch TV and crochet or shell peas. I can meet up with my kids. I can do, well, whatever I want to do which is actually what I can do any time but will be more apt to do if I'm not worrying about or fussing over my husband. 
Or so I tell myself. 
Meanwhile, I'm going to go make his supper. The last one I'll be making for him for awhile. 
I hope his sister reminds him to eat. I'm sure she will. And drink water! It's going to be so hot in Las Vegas and the humidity is so much lower than we're used to. 

All right. He's a grown man. He'll be fine. 

And so will I.

Love...Ms. Moon

21 comments:

  1. A little update on my mammo….I chickened out! I postponed it because of the anxiety….so now I have another two weeks to worry. Yeah, I know….how stupid!

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  2. You totally will. You can do things you don't get to do when he's there.

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  3. I hope you find all sorts of lovely ways to entertain and sooth yourself while he’s gone, and to take care of just yourself for a while. And ... those field peas! This Northern gal loves all the peas and beans there are! I went to a conference in South Carolina years ago, and they served the tiniest little beans (“rice beans”?) and they were one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted! I grew - and loved - black-eyed peas (though our deer loved them even more.). Next year I’ll try field peas again. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Maybe they were lady peas. Those are quite small, I think. Or maybe zipper peas. Whatever, I'm sure they were delicious. If I were you, I might try going online to find different varieties and see if you can order seeds there.

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  4. Enjoy and safe travels to Mr. Moon.

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  5. Well - thanks for explaining what the word "peas" means to you. I had no idea. Surprisingly, here in Merrie Olde Englande we eat green English peas and generally speaking no other unless one is from our significant Caribbean population where "rice n' peas" does not indicate the usual green pea. Anyway - All I am saying is "Give Peas A Chance"!

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    1. "Rice and peas" are more like what I'm talking about. I still haven't been able to buy a can of mushy peas and try them. Perhaps Phoebe would like them, though.

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  6. I'm sure Mr. Moon will have a wonderful time and so will you - you'll just do it differently! I don't like flying but I loved the luxury of having a couple of glasses of wine at Geneva airport and a smoked salmon lunch while waiting for my flight. It cost about as much as a kidney transplant but whether it be London/Zurich/Geneva I always treat myself at the airport. It's part of the holiday - and it takes the edge off fear of flying!

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    1. That sounds perfect! I love the idea of you having an elegant little meal in an airport. And it IS part of the holiday, isn't it?

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  7. Your garden has certainly produced a huge amount of food for you this year! Do you stop planting for winter like we do in Illinois or do you keep on planting all year long in Florida?
    I am not much of a gardener so I do not know these things.
    Have a great week!

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    1. Oh, no! Our BEST garden (in my opinion) is the fall and winter garden. That's when we get all of our salad greens, my favorite arugula, the lettuces and the cabbages, the carrots, the collard greens and mustard greens. It's not hot and the bugs are not as bad.

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  8. I hope he has a wonderful time with his sister! I’ve been to Vegas once and that was enough. I’m not much of a gambler. Lovely beans! You know, I’ve always considered Miami as a foreign place, even after 40 years of working there. I just heard the news about Charlie Watts, devastating!!! He was the elegant, classy stone. It’s not going to be the same anymore. Heartbroken. Much love and enjoy your alone time. It always feels like stolen treasure to me.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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    1. I learned about Charlie from reading your comment. I was hoping so hard you were only referring to the fact that he'd had surgery and wasn't going on tour.
      I am gutted.
      But I am grateful you told me.

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  9. that's what you call a weedy garden? honey, come look at my flower beds. besides it being too damn hot, all my work time has been going on in the studio.

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  10. Oh no! Charlie Watts! Hugs, Mary.

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  11. Honey, he'll be ok.

    RIP Mr Watts. Damn. I guess we don't live forever...

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  12. The Chair: It's the kind of tension I don't like to watch. We just watched the first episode, and all the actors are so good. But, no.
    Jenny

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.