Sunday, January 1, 2023

First Day Of The Year We Call 2023


That was Maurice yesterday, helping me as I trimmed the confederate rose. No matter where I am in the yard or what I am doing, she always shows up, absolutely and completely uninterested in me or what I am doing, or so she says. She's my faithful little tiger cat and I do love her strange and confused soul. Right now she has one eye that is weepy and red around it but I am treating it with antibiotic ointment with golden seal mixed in and it is getting better. She probably got in a fight as tigers will do. 

Our 2023 began quite well. Mr. Moon went duck hunting and no one ended up in the hospital AND our old and very dear friends Karen and David came by for a breakfast visit. It was incredibly good to see them. They live in Tennessee but have kin right down the road from here and so we get to see them occasionally. We catch up on all the news of kids and grandkids, and each other. I love them so much. At one point when I was making breakfast and we were all in the kitchen, Karen said something that moved my heart so much I had to go and hug her hard. There are people on this earth that we must be meant to know and love. We find them and we just know it and even if you see them only rarely, the connection is still so strong, so real that there is no denying it. 
I made us a big old Sunday breakfast with biscuits and sausage and eggs and grits. I put out the rest of the tomato gravy I'd made and home made peach preserves. It was a feast. And then they had to get on the road back to home. 

I did a little more yard work this afternoon. Not too much, but it was prickly work because I was trimming the sego palms. The people who lived here before us planted these things right in front of the front porch and I am not sure why. I have nothing against a sego palm, even though they are not truly palms at all (we have discussed this many times) and although they are interesting and ancient plants, they are a bitch to trim due to their prickly leaves which can slice through a glove and deliver a puncture wound, and every time I trim them I get a rash on my forearms. 

Do you know what this is? 


Don't let your mind descend into the gutter. It is not an orange testicle but is, in fact, the seed of the female Sego. Her center looks like this. 


Isn't that just the most fascinating twisty, sexy structure? 
The male Segos grow an extremely masculine cone which sends out a pollen that pollenates the seed of the female. 
So I do not mind the plant in and of itself but it's really not the most appropriate plant to have growing in front of a porch. And we have many of them. I did half of them today and got a garden cart full of fronds. 


Their needles are not as sharp and deadly as the ones on the Canary Island date palm but until one of those comes along, these will do. Speaking of which, Mr. Moon told me that he'll rip out those date palms for me and I am so happy about that. I swear on a stack of Bibles that I'll never plant another one of those lethal-weapon plants again in my life. 

So since we live here in the Deep, Moss-Dangling South and it is New Year's Day, black-eyed peas and greens must be eaten. This is the way of it and if you do not follow that ritual you are risking...I don't know. Your life, I guess. Good luck for the new year, health, happiness, money, success, a good sex life. ALL OF IT! 
Not that I really believe any of that shit. 
However...



I swear I wasn't drunk when I took those pictures. 
Anyway, if I was being truly traditional, I would have cooked the peas with hog jowl or at the very least, a ham hock but I had neither. The ham I bought at Costco out of pure panic before Christmas is in the freezer, still wrapped in its shiny red Christmas foil. But I got a little ham steak at Publix, or to be honest, Mr. Moon got it for me, and I've cooked the peas with some of that. It won't be nearly as good because hog jowls are about 90% fat but I added a little olive oil to perk it all up a little. Or grease it all up a little. The greens are from the garden and have a half a piece of bacon cut up in them along with small-diced turnips and onions. I'll cook some rice and heat up some bread and we will eat it up and thus ensure our great and good fortune for the year. 
If nothing else, it's real good food. 

So yeah, here it is, a new year but like I said yesterday, I don't really get too invested in the calendar and how we mark time. I had a good day of sharing a meal with friends, being with my husband, working a little in the yard. I am not feeling quite as overwhelmed by all the yard work that needs doing, realizing that I can go at it slowly, slowly, at my own pace, especially now in the more fallow part of the year although very little stops growing entirely in our part of the world, no matter the season. I am honestly delighted with the new pruners and loppers I got for Christmas which make that job much easier. I am grateful that I am still able to do these things, albeit more slowly. I swear- I do not know what I would do with my time if I didn't have a yard to tend. 
I guess everything has to go a little slower as we age. Everything except my emotions, it would seem. It takes so very little for me to weep, to feel tenderness, pain, and gratefulness. I suppose it's sort of like getting to the last days of a vacation, the last pretty bon-bons in a box of fancy chocolates, the final pages of a book that we do not want to finish because it has delighted us so much. Every moment, every taste, every page takes on more weight and more meaning and more sweetness when we can see the inevitable ending rising up quickly before us. 

Oh- here's another thing that goes so swiftly as we age- time. 
This is hardly a cosmic revelation, but a simple truth. 

Speaking of which, it is time for me to go cook the rice. 

Love...Ms. Moon






36 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about people who are just so special, even if not related- they are such a fantastic bonus! I know many who are just that- you feel like you must have been sister/brothers in a past life! Your cooking looks and sounds amazing! All the best wishes to you and your family for this new year- may it be kind to you and all of us❤️ Thank you for blogging!😘

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    1. Thank you for commenting, Ricki. I appreciate that.

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  2. (Sorry- that last comment was from Ricki in New York!)

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  3. Happy New Year, Mary! Is that hoppin John? The black eyed peas dish?

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    1. I think that hoppin' John refers to the peas with rice. And some sort of pork so it's almost hoppin' John and it was when I served it over rice.

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  4. I *knew* you would post pics of your traditional new years dinner of *hopping (or hoppin") John! Thought of it last night as I began soaking my pinto, red and black beans for our beef and bean chili that has now been simmering all day. No rice, just the chili and some hot buttered tortillas! Not Hopping John, but fairly traditional in this household! Lovely way to begin a new year with a visit from old friends too.....
    hugs from Calif
    Susan M

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    1. Whenever we're in Mexico for New Year's, I always just figure that any of the beans I eat will suffice for luck. Yours sound delicious.

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  5. I love your southern cooking and all the pics you post. So delicious looking.
    I'm from northern stock and my mother was German....so you know what I ate...cabbage...and lots of it in every form. LOL. Speaking of southern cooking, I had mentioned visiting Cross Creak and touring the home. This was many years ago. I remember we then ate at a restaurant that was (or so it seems now) close by. On the menu was 'alligator'. I tasted
    someone's and as I remember it looked like the white meat of chicken and sort of tasted like chicken. My question is, do they still serve alligator in Florida in restaurants? Another question. I've been reading about all the pythons in the everglades and reports of them moving further north. Is that ever a concern and discussed in your area. Sorry for all the questions. You're such a wonderful source of Florida information/history. Thanks!
    Paranormal John

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    1. Cabbage is okay and I do like it but it can become wearisome after a time but what can't?
      As to your question about the alligator- I bet you that they still serve alligator at the restaurant where you ate near Cross Creek. They do serve it around here. In fact, last week when Mr. Moon and I went to a Cajun restaurant, the server informed us that they were out! I don't think I've ever eaten it.
      Whenever I hear about the pythons moving north I get worried because dammit- that's probably inevitable. I am very respectful of snakes and their beauty but goddammit! The day I see a snake in the wild that's big enough to eat a deer is going to be a very bad day. That was a good question. I do not know if the "experts" are discussing the issue of the pythons moving here or not but I imagine they are.

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  6. Sounds like a very good day, cooking, gardening and visiting with friends. Actually, it sounds like heaven, your own slice of heaven.
    Happy New Year Mary:)

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    1. It was pretty awesome. Happy New Year to you!

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  7. I've made and consumed black eyed pea, bean, and Christmas ham bone soup. So 2023 is also all sorted for me. Happy to know the Moons are set as well!

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  8. Happy New Year to you and yours, Mary! I, too, made collards from my little garden, some black-eyed peas, etc. etc. I had a few spoonfuls and am waiting for the money, health and sexiness to appear.

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    1. Damn. Me too! I could use some of all those things! I'm so proud of you for growing collards in LA! I think they are far nicer than kale but that's probably because of my southern prejudice.

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  10. A nice day...I hope there are many more.

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  11. A busy day in the yard for sure. How lovely to spend time with dear friends. Now I need to go and google grits. I've got the biscuits which aren't cookies but more like scones.
    Thank you for the botany lesson - they are fascinating plants but your description of the hot, moss dangling south has me feeling all bothered and itchy! Or maybe it's the delight that is a Melbourne summer that can't make up its mind.

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    1. Grits are a sort of cereal made from dried and ground corn. Have you ever had polenta? Like that but...grittier. We love them but know the rest of the world may not which is okay. Grits were a staple of life for many southerners during hard times. Corn grows well here, and when ground into grits, keeps indefinitely if bugs and mice are prevented from getting into them.
      I'm going to post a picture of Spanish moss in trees for you this evening.

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    2. Thank you, Mary. You have also triggered a memory from uni about a vitamin deficiency caused by only being able to eat corn because of it's availability.

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    3. Yes! Pellagra! Good memory! Better that, I suppose, than starvation. Some people have put forth the theory that the reason southerners here in the US were so stereotyped as "lazy" and slow-moving is because of all the nutritional defects AND the parasitic worms. Those are still common. Poverty has a terrible effect on health, as you know, as we all know.

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  12. I hate reaching the last page of books when I have been so immersed in the story, I want it to go on and on and never end.
    There were no black-eyed peas or greens here yesterday. Well, there were greens but they stayed in the fridge. I fried a small steak and sliced it onto fresh bread and butter and that was my entire dinner. Today there will be salad.

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    1. That steak sandwich sounds delicious.
      I so know what you mean about books.

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  13. I wonder why it seems to take us an entire lifetime to realize that we can tackle enormous jobs bit by bit? I'm scrubbing my entire house at the moment (and enjoying it) in one hour stints but if I go back to the start it looks overwhelming. I get it when I was still working but why put such pressure on yourself when you're retired eh? I guess there truly is only one way to eat an elephant!

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    1. I need to remember that one-hour cleaning tip. It's such a good one! And yes- only one way to eat an elephant.

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  14. Black-eyed peas for us as well...do or die.
    hughugs
    Donna

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  15. Well, do you know that I have never eaten black-eyed peas or greens in my whole life, Mary Moon? I wonder where traditions begin sometimes...

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    1. Well, traditions seem to be regional, for the most part. I can and cannot imagine a life in which black-eyed peas and greens are not eaten.

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  16. Mmmmmm...that's some yummy-looking New Year's food! Those collards really make my mouth water. We don't see collards here too often -- sometimes in the Caribbean markets.

    I'm sure I've said this before, but you might be able to sell those Canary Island palms. It used to be that nurserymen would come and remove them in order to sell them on -- not sure they still do that. That might be true of the sagos, if you want to get rid of those too. I've always heard they're valuable.

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    1. You should get some collards from the Caribbean market! You could probably grow some. Those greens also had turnips and mustards and a little kale in them too. They were mighty good.
      I'll check on that idea about selling the date palms. One of them actually looks like it's slowly dying though.

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  17. 37paddington:
    Bringing in the new year with dear friends, what could be better. I read something earlier today that said, "I'm an introvert with people who steal my peace. I'm an extrovert with people who bring me peace." That rang kind of true. Happy 2023, my dear friend.

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    1. That is it, exactly! I love it. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being you.

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  18. Cat always comes out from wherever she is when I'm out in the yard and follows me around. We both had visits on New Year's Day. I bring a lot of stuff to Melissa, Rocky's wife, for them and their mess of grandkids from SHARE, stuff that has to be given away that day or thrown away if we don't have enough freezer space so occasionally when she makes a lot of food she sends Rocky down with plates for us. And so she did yesterday which we are always grateful for because she's a really good cook and then we don't have to cook that day.

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    1. What a nice way to trade goods and services! I am so glad that those foods don't go to waste. I'm also glad that Melissa is a good cook!

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