Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Beauty Everywhere


Now that is what I call a beautiful garden. I took the picture on my walk this morning, again on White House Road. I wonder if someone plants it just for his or her own family or if the greens are sold. I have no idea. The paler greens to the left are lettuces but I can't make out what the greens on the right are. Sometimes when I think about how we humans do, in fact, get our sustenance from the sun via the photosynthesis of plants, my mind almost explodes with the wonder of it.
We are made of stardust, we live on sunlight. Okay, a few degrees of separation occur in all of that but it's still basically true.
Isn't that just something?

I took this picture today too.


Spanish Moss, hanging from an oak tree. You know, I've lived around Spanish Moss my entire life and until just a few moments ago when I googled it, I did not know that it is a form of a bromeliad. There's a very fine article HERE if you have any desire to learn more about it. 
The older I get, the more I realize I do not know. It's a bit depressing and at the same time, thrilling. 

So I met Lily and Jason and Magnolia and Jessie and August and Levon for lunch today. We went back to Tan's because Jason hadn't eaten there in a long time and had a hankering. I'll go to Tan's any time. Jessie didn't eat anything there because of her very strict study-diet but she sipped some tea and the rest of us enjoyed vegetable curries and noodles and rice and tofu and other less pure forms of protein. It was, as always, delicious. The woman who may or may not own the place but who is always there and who takes our money has the most delightful speaking voice. She teases me about sometimes paying for my children's and grandchildren's lunches and sometimes not. "What? Grandmother isn't paying for everyone today?" 
She's always cheerful and always friendly. "You come back soon!" she says, knowing that of course we will. 

After lunch, the kids played by the fountains outside the nursery next door and as always, were fascinated by the green glass stones in the gas fire place. They couldn't be more thrilled with them if they were the emeralds of the Aztec kings. 


Jessie says that Levon has become very particular and picky about what he wants to wear. Today he chose August's old fox dress that I made. That child is so beautiful these days that my heart can hardly stand it. I tear up every time I study his face. I know this sounds absurd but I truly do want to live long enough that this little boy, possibly my last grandchild, will remember me. I think if I died tomorrow, the older four would probably have at least a vague memory of me but Levon probably wouldn't. And I so want him to. And I want to see more of who he is becoming. He is still very shy and very much prone to wanting to sit on his mother's lap although if she's not around, he's far more apt to engage with me. He and his mama and August and I went into the nursery and he found one of the kid shopping carts and pushed it around like a pro, just as he did last year when he had barely begun to walk. Generally a small child pushing one of those things is just a disaster. They run into everything. But Levon seems to have a preternatural ability to steer. He pushed that little cart around for half an hour and only bumped in to one thing which is better than I did with my own cart at Publix today. 
Jessie wanted some flowers and so she and the boys picked out pansies to plant. 


He felt quite important, pushing Mama's plants around. I was so proud of him. 
And guess what? 
I bought my beet seeds. 
Now to get them in the ground. 

I am quite pleased with the way my bread came out tonight. Here's what it looked like when I plopped the risen dough into the hot dutch oven. 


I've just taken it out and it looks like this. 


All praise the power of the Yeast of Lloyd! 

That's all I have to say tonight except that it's really damn cold. Florida cold. We'll probably survive. 

Love...Ms. Moon


23 comments:

  1. You seem to make about a loaf of bread a day, but you can't possibly eat a loaf a day. Where does the rest go?

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    1. No. It may seem that way but honestly, I've only been making one or two loaves a week. And it does seem as if there are always a few other people around to share it with.

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  2. You're going to see your grandchildren grow up. I'm sure of it.

    That bread looks scrumptious!

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    1. Well, we'll see but I can't really imagine living another twenty years.
      The bread WAS good.

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    2. What is this 'can't possibly' of which you speak? This is why I don't make bread...

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    3. Haha! Well, of course it IS possible to eat a loaf of bread a day but we try to restrain ourselves.

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  3. Another lovely day, and that bread looks gorgeous!

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  4. Another good day. The grandkids are gorgeous and yes they fill your heart. Usually we have the little guy every weekend but couldn't this past weekend because of stuff we had to do. I miss him so much.

    I'm still trying to bake a good loaf of sourdough. My starter hasn't died which is promising and the last loaf tasted like sourdough. I've got one on the go right now, hopefully it turns out well. Smells sour.

    Stay warm my friend.

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  5. it all looks like lettuce to me in that big garden. sounds like a fine day and of course you are going to live long enough to see them grow up.

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    1. Might be. I'll check it out more carefully this morning when I walk.

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  6. You could easily live another twenty years! Never say never! Glad Levon is getting some use out of the fox dress. I did know that Spanish moss is a bromeliad, but it's one of those facts that's heard and easily forgotten. I bet you've heard it before too. We did a whole unit on Florida history and ecology in the fourth grade and I remember learning a lot of stuff like that -- including local Pasco County history. I bet they don't teach THAT anymore.

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    1. If I have ever heard that, I sure don't remember. I think we did a unit in fourth grade on Florida history too but I'm pretty sure that the term "ecology" did not exist at that time. At least not for the general public. And no, they probably DON'T teach that anymore. Especially not local county history.

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  7. All your grandchildren are so very beautiful. And as your reasons for wanting to live, well those are the best reasons there are. Honestly, my own mother looms large in the life of her grandchildren, and I think have had an enormous part in making my two who they are today. I get intimidated sometimes, wondering if I will ever be able to do as well as she did, as well as you do. I'm eager to try.

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    1. Your mother lived pretty long into your kids' lives. Not long enough for them or for you, I'm sure. I do want to be a part of my kids' memories and even a bit of who they become. Mostly I just really, really want them to have a place in their souls where they know that they were loved fully, joyfully, and unconditionally when they were little. That is what I would love to leave them more than anything else.

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  8. I would be so happy if I had a garden like the first picture. Wow. And I'm also happy to hear now is the time to put beet seeds in the ground. It was 40 degrees yesterday morning when I woke up in Orange County.

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    1. It's chilly for those of us who aren't used to such temperatures.
      Yep. Time to plant the beets!

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  9. You'd be surprised how long memories are of grandparents and aunts and uncles:

    and I love the look of that bread. makes me want to start my winter crop of it, soon. I don't bake in the summer, makes the house too hot with a woodstove going, so I get the summer off. But it's getting cold enough up here (it was 15 above this morning) that it will be a boost and not a burden.

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    1. I can't imagine anything cozier than having a woodstove on with bread baking in it when it's cold. Go for it!

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  10. If it's Florida cold it's probably as warm as toast! I remember the Spanish moss when we walked on the Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation on the coast of Georgia in 2002. Hell - even that is seventeen years ago! It seems impossible.

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    1. Seventeen years can go in a flash, can't it? It's a little scary.
      I wouldn't call it warm as toast here. It's been getting close to freezing every morning and actually, I noticed today that some plants did get a bit freeze-burned at some point so I guess it did dip down to at least 32.

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