Mostly Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Last night when I was making our supper, Glen kept saying things like, "You shouldn't have to make your own birthday dinner," and I kept reassuring him that I was enjoying myself so much. And I was! I steamed the spinach for the casserole in a skillet and then used the skillet to cook the salmon in. I already had leftover rice which I mixed up with the spinach and an egg and a little evaporated milk I had leftover from the scallop thing I had made the night before with salt and pepper and a little parmesan. I baked it in the pretty green casserole dish, perfectly sized for a two-person casserole that I recently thrifted. I baked it in the toaster oven/air-fryer so the kitchen didn't get heated up from using the big oven. 
I cooked the salmon in a little olive oil with salt and pepper, lemon juice and dill like May taught me. That was it. 
And the corn on the cob was simply boiled for a minute or two. 
It was sort of a very perfect dinner and it was pretty and I got a great deal of pleasure from making it and eating it too. So did Mr. Moon. The eating part, I mean. I am grateful to be able to cook good things for us and I am grateful we have the means to be able to grow some of the things we eat and to afford those we don't grow. For me, cooking is for nourishment and pleasure. And some nights, it is just a joy. 
Of course the man cleaned up the kitchen afterwards and I have to say my slice of Publix carrot cake was every bit as delicious as I had hoped it would be. 
It was such a good birthday. 

And today was special too! I picked up Hank and we went to lunch together and we sat and we talked and we talked and it was just so much fun. That darling boy of mine is a wonder. All of my children are so different and I find each and every one of them so enjoyable to be around, to talk to, to hang out with. We are at ease with each other. It is a blessing indeed and I do not take that for granted. 
We stopped in to the two little thrift stores in the same plaza and although we did not buy anything, we had such a good time looking. Hank found an old copy of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew which was a favorite of mine and a favorite of his. Oh my Lord, what a silly and dated book it is and we loved it so much. I just looked it up and it was published in 1881! There was an entire series written about the poor Peppers and their saintly mother, all written by Margaret Sidney. It was fun, admiring and criticizing and waxing nostalgic about so many of the items. And laughing so hard about others. Hank and I pretty much raised each other, along with May, and we have so many shared memories. 

And that was my beautiful afternoon. 

Mr. Moon is still dealing with Tom things and probably will be for quite awhile. 
Sigh. 
As he said yesterday, "This is not what I had bargained for." But back when Tom asked him to be the trustee of his estate, he was in fine health and relatively young and the whole idea of what that might eventually entail was just a shimmer of a possible future reality. 
And yet, here we are. I admire him and Tom's friend Jim who is helping Glen with all of this so much. It's a huge task, both on the legal side and on the possessions side. 
Especially that one. 

But right now Glen's in the Glen Den, shelling the peas I picked today. I didn't even go out to the garden yesterday at all which I believe may have been a first for me in many, many months. We're still getting some nice things.

I started a new bottle of pepper vinegar today and discovered I was out of white vinegar. Why I did not put that on my list I do not know but I used the apple cider vinegar, along with balsamic and wine vinegars. Now that should be interesting! 
I need to pickle my jalapeños. I doubt I have enough to fill up a quart jar but still, I use them in cooking and there's no need for them to go to waste. 

Here's what the Seminole pumpkin is doing today. 

And here's a new baby, growing on the vine which is covering the east side fence. 

I am fascinated by this vegetable. I think I am going to start calling it The Seminole Hulk Pumpkin Vine. 

While we're at it, here are two zinnia pictures I took. The ones in the garden are just about spent. Done and dusted for the most part. 
Sigh. 
But the garden by the kitchen still has a few beauties that look pretty healthy. 

This one is a tiny bit past its expiration date but the colors are still fantastic. 

And now a picture that I meant to post yesterday, but due to my narcissistic birthday ramblings, I forgot. 

That was in the Tallahassee Democrat, the local newspaper and it is of our Gibson out on the field practicing with his new high school's marching band. 
Do you have any idea how freaking hot it is out there? 
So freaking hot. 
We are very, very proud of that sweetest of the sweet boys. 

It has rained here which yes, did give me a delicious scent of petrichor but which now seems to have released the scent of something dead. It's not horrible, but here on the back porch, it's definitely smellable. It could be the corpse of the fucking giant Georgia Thumper that Mr. Moon smashed with a whelk shell because it was the only thing he could find at the moment, on the back porch steps and then tossed to the side of the steps. 
I would really rather not have seen that. 
But what I'm saying is, is that the grasshopper was so large that it's inevitable decay could be the cause of the death smell. 

Life in Lloyd! Too much nature. Etc.

Love...Ms. Moon