Tuesday, April 9, 2013

It is the calm before the storm here. And in fact, it is very, very calm, since I'm the only one in the house while Lis is down at the camp kitchen with her groom's cake which we got in the oven this afternoon after we went to the store. I have some chicken cooking with celery and mushrooms and leeks to make chicken and dumplings tonight and Vergil and Jessie will come over to eat with us and tomorrow, of course, Lily and Jason and Owen and Gibson and May and Matt and Hank and Glen and Lon will all be arriving.
That will be the storm.
I am looking forward to it. But I am also appreciative of this quiet, this peace.

This is just an unbelievably lovely house. Of course it's always a bit odd to cook and to sleep in a house not your own but there is something magical to it too. As if we have suddenly slipped the bonds of our own lives and suddenly find ourselves living a different life in a different place with different pots and pans and light switches and grocery stores and views and sounds and smells. I like it.

Lis has been focused all day and she will be for the next four days. When she bakes a wedding cake it is a most profound gift of love and effort. She does not make one type of cake for all the layers. No. She makes a completely different cake for each layer with different fillings and they are all amazing. No white-cake with buttercream wedding cake for this lady! And of course, there is the groom's cake and so in this instance, she is baking four separate cakes, four separate recipes, and...truffles.
She always makes truffles.
Perhaps I will make the truffles. I have done that before for her.
She decided to do the baking in the camp kitchen and that is a wise decision. Plenty of room, unlimited refrigerator space and of course, the giant Hobart mixer. It is a beautiful thing. The old gas ovens look funky but seem to bake quite nicely. I am in awe of her as she organizes, as she prioritizes, as she does what she does.
Lon helps her with the assembly of the cake. As with everything in their lives, they are a team. And when the cake has been oohed and ah-ed over and sliced and served and eaten, they will play music together for the reception. Even as she has worked today, she has talked to Lon on the phone about production issues for the music he is recording at their studio where they work together at that business too. And on top of all of that, she is making ribbon flowers, her beautiful wearable works of art with antique ribbons and jewels. There is absolutely no one on the planet like Lis Williamson.

Oh, Lizzy. How I love you!
And Lon. Dear, loving Lon who made Jessie's mandolin and who will help Mr. Moon build the bower under which Jessie and Vergil will be wed.

Sort of hard to imagine, isn't it? All of this sweetness. All of this joyful effort. And this is just a tiny piece of everything that's coming together to make this wedding happen. People from all over are doing things to help and it is a true community event.

Well, I guess that's about all I have to say right now. The supper is coming along and I have a big pot of green beans cooking too. After I read Steve Reed's post this morning about a large portion of green beans, I have been craving them. Better to crave green beans than to crave doughnuts, I suppose.

The sun is setting and the hills around us are changing colors and it's such an alien sight to me- the mountains- that I hardly feel as if I am looking at something real. It's odd. I can recognize and appreciate the beauty but it is not what makes my heart feel as if it is going to burst out of my chest. For that I need the water and for each and every type of geography, there is someone who appreciates it and feels as if that is home.
This is good.

I am, however, enjoying being someone who is living in this place right now and it is the completely right place to be. I can make chicken and dumplings anywhere and Lis can bake wedding cakes anywhere and in that way, at least, we are flexible.

I will not discuss our hips.

Let's all sleep well tonight. Life requires that we do.

Love...Ms. Moon







13 comments:

  1. Oh my...I've missed a bit.
    Sending my congratulations and love and all good things to you all.
    yo

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  2. Big love to you and yours. May the wedding be pure bliss.

    XX Beth

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  3. I love this post so much. And i love Black Mountain (and Black Mountain College) having gone to grad school at Warren Wilson, in Asheville. And I love that you all get this week of beauty. I'm reading it all from my living room where, finally, I can hear the spring peepers down in the reservoir woods and it seems fitting.

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  4. I can't wait to see that cake -- well, all of it!

    And I'm sorry for your hips. You've been standing too long?

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  5. I am so very very much enjoying this trip.

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  6. Is a groom's cake a southern tradition? I had never heard of it before until Steel Magnolia's and now here.

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  7. Yes, it's a common southern thing, Birdie.

    I am hearing your voice and am glad for it. You sound good.

    I ate green beans tonight too :) ILY

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  8. How moving this whole enterprise is. How wonderfully communal. Such love.

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  9. I am so glad you have wifi! And the wonderful scenery! And Liz! And the coming storm of love and chaos!

    I was wondering this morning what I would do if you weren't able to post, and I figured we'd all survive, wouldn't we, if we had to go a day or two without hearing from you?

    So glad you are keeping us posted, this is such a wonderful thing to share in, thanks so much.

    I can't even imagine the cake and truffles, that best friend is a keeper! And music too?

    Wishing you all the best times and memories. Tell Jessie to soak it all in, don't get caught up in the details, just enjoy the best party of her life, to begin her new life.
    xo

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  10. Your surroundings sound wonderful and the people that are and will be surrounding you sound wonderful too and so do those cakes. And just think, tomorrow you will get to see your boys and your man and your other children and Lon and the picture will be completed! I am so glad for you. I predict the most marvelous wedding in the world! Sweet Jo

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  11. This sounds like it's going to be a really remarkable event! It's great to hear about everybody pitching in in their own way to make a special day really special. Love it.

    I'm glad my green beans inspired you! :) Funny to think that what I had for dinner in a Paris cafe is affecting your meal on the other side of the planet. What's that saying about a butterfly's wingbeats in one place creating wind across the ocean? Or something like that.

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  12. If I were a cake, I'd want to be one of those cakes.

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  13. This is the real way to have a wedding. One that harkens back to another time when people worked together as a community of friends. I think that is wonderful. It is so much better this way.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.