Summer Sweetness

I have truly enjoyed myself today and honestly, the most exciting thing that's happened is that when I went to the post office and was checking my box, the postmistress said, "Miss Mary, there's a package for you." 

Now THAT my friends, is small town living at its best. 

And no, we shall not be discussing Jason Aldean and no, I have not listened to the song and no, I have not read the lyrics and no, I don't have time for that mess one way or the other. 

So. What else did I do on this day I've enjoyed so much? Well, I took the trash and I cleaned the toilets. I also played with my sourdough dough that I started last night, and I worked in the garden some more. Mr. Moon has pointed out, and rightfully so, that "my" sweet potatoes are taking over the whole garden and I pointed out, and rightfully so, that there ain't much left for them to take over but that he should feel free to cut cut back whatever vines he wanted to. 

He was not enthusiastic about this idea. He is in the middle of taking care of lots and lots of other things right now including closing down his car business and listing Dog Island for sale and all of this business requires a lot of activity like looking for car titles and, oh hell, I don't know. But he's doing the things I can't and so I can surely deal with sweet potato vines and you know how much I love being in the garden anyway, even if I can only handle an hour or so in this heat. 

The sweet potato vines were indeed overtaking the okra and some of the peas so I cut and pulled some of them. I do not want to pull the ones that are rooted because that's where the potatoes will be but the vines that are just snaking about like kudzu trying to cover the entire planet were up for grabs. Literally. Now, I know for a fact that the vines are edible and are part of the diet of many cultures. I had no idea about this until a few years ago and I've only tried cooking them once. I should try again because that's a wasted resource if there ever was one. It's also true that cutting the vines back encourages the growth of the tubers so there's that, too. 

In my trimming I accidentally uncovered two smallish sweet potatoes and I am going to try very hard this year to do a better job of harvesting that crop and preserving what I dig up. 

And then after I played with the sweet potato vines, I did some weeding around the peas. I think there will be more of those coming along shortly. I had thought about going to the river after I reached my limit with the heat but then I got to thinking about supper because you know I am obsessed with food. I knew I wanted to make a gumbo to go with my sourdough and that takes a lot of time. So I took a shower instead and got to work chopping and stirring a roux, and peeling shrimp and making a stock with the shells and so on and so forth. Because I never really figured out how to make gumbo or even tried before I hit my later sixties, I am making up for lost time. Here's what it looks like at this point. 

The shrimp will go in right before we eat and I'll make rice to serve it over. This is good stuff, y'all. 

I wish the okra had come from our garden and the tomatoes too but they did not. The peppers, however, did. 

That's what came out of the garden today. That poor last little cucumber. Bless its tiny heart. 

Just as with the camellias in the winter, the zinnias will no doubt be over-presented here while they last. I can't get enough of those glorious colors. 

And so it's been a pretty perfect day here in Lloyd for me. I've done the things I love to do and done a few things I don't love to do but don't mind doing and give me a tiny feeling of accomplishment. For this moment, everything here in my tiny world feels pretty okay and I am grateful for that. 

Here's a cartoon I saw in the New Yorker today. 

And if that doesn't sum up what I am feeling these days, I don't know what does. Again I want to say thank you all for your thoughts on this "whole house situation" as I've been thinking of it. I surely am learning a lot about myself because of it and if I distance myself from myself, if that makes any sense, it is quite interesting. 

Meanwhile, here I am, happy with the sound of the crickets singing as the sun is doing its slow dance to meet up with the horizon and my kitchen smells like heaven. I expect I'll hear that juvenile owl again soon as I have been hearing it every night. I am sure its parents must be ready for break from that demanding baby. 

Time to go stir the gumbo and bake the bread. 

Love...Ms. Moon