Wednesday, June 8, 2022

The Season Of Sweat Is Upon Us


This is what Violet and Pansy looked like last night when I went to shut them up. Violet has always roosted on a ledge rather than in a nest at night and she is teaching her baby to do the same. She has her wings spread like that because of the heat. And Lord, it is hot. 
Here's what Darla and her darlings looked like. 


They are all getting so big. I wonder if they'll all continue to sleep together when the children are grown. It's a definite sign of maturing when the chicks can make it to a ledge or a nest to roost, rather than on the ground of the hen house. And so much safer for the babies. 

It's been another hellishly hot day with no rain in sight. I managed a shortish walk this morning without dying and then I did too much outside. I sometimes wonder if I'm trying to kill myself. It's just that there's always so much to do and it nags at me and nags at me until I do it. Of course it's never done so this is ridiculous behavior. Sometimes I think, Well, I'm getting older and trying to do all of these things is perhaps more than I should be doing and then I think of those women who run marathons at eighty and old grannies who keep a huge garden up into their nineties and I feel like a wussie. 
This is yet another problem with our world in which we can access information about people all over it, not just in the village where we live with a hundred or so other people. In a village of that size it is quite possible to be the best at something, whether it's growing the biggest cabbages or baking the lightest bread or telling the funniest stories or singing the prettiest songs or sewing the warmest quilts or being the best at herbal remedies. Post a picture today on FB of YOUR pickles and someone else is going to post a picture of theirs which make yours look like shriveled, pale sea-creatures captured in a jar. Open a catalog and see a woman of eighty-two who is still absolutely stunning and making a very fine living as a model. It never ends. And as much as I'd like to think that I do not compare myself to others, I am as human as the next person and so of course I do! I don't care as much these days, but don't we all measure ourselves and what we do by the accomplishments of others? 
How I wish we did not. 

Well. I suppose you can tell that my mood is still somewhat...impaired. But Lis is coming in soon and I am cooking the very last pot of last year's field peas and I have been working a little bit at a time all day on a tomato pie. I've made the pastry and have roasted a few tomatoes and have others draining on dish cloths and I've grated cheese and sauteed some onions. It's all ready to put together. It's a tradition for us to have tomato pie together in the summer. We started it in Asheville when we used to go up there to see Jessie and for Lis to go to the Swannanoa Gathering when the farmer's markets were bursting with the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. Oh, what beautiful trips those were! Tomato pies are sinful. They are an excellent example of how you can take one of the most perfect and delicious foods on earth and turn it into something that will give you a heart attack as quickly as a pound of bacon. Some people actually PUT bacon into their tomato pies but I do not go that far. As I told a friend the other day, one should only make and eat one tomato pie a year when the tomatoes are ready and ripe and bountiful. There is no excuse for it otherwise. 

Tomorrow the televised hearings covering the January 6 Capital riots of 2020 will start and I hope to watch as much as I can. 

Mr. Moon and Chip will be on the first leg of their journey to Dog Island to take supplies over there for the new flooring as well as a new washer and dryer and then they will come back here tomorrow evening, sleep and get up early to meet the ferry taking everything over. I have to tell you that I am not happy about the idea of those two men working in this heat, dragging things up and down the stairs of the house which is built on pilings to prevent flooding during hurricanes. I would not call them old men but they cannot be called boys anymore either. At least the house has air conditioning and they have promised to take lots of breaks. 
I do not believe them. 

Off to go build a pie which is the only construction work I'm interested in doing. 

Love...Ms. Moon









38 comments:

  1. I have such lovely memories of you and Lis visiting me in Asheville, and making the most delicious tomato pie ever! How I wish I could taste that one you made tonight. I bet it is as scrumptious as anything else on this planet.
    Maybe just one more this year will be in order when you come up to visit again in a month? :)
    Love you, Mama!

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    1. Oh, I think I can probably manage to make one more tomato pie. I swear to you- the one I made last night was the best one I've ever made. I will try to do that again!

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  2. That tomato pie looks like a work of art and you have inspired me to give it a try some time. Thanks for the adorable photos of the chicks. It's great to see how the are growing up.

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    1. The chicks are just closer and closer to adults every day. It's sort of crazy.

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  3. The tomato pie is beautious. Those men probably will take plenty of "breaks", working in the air conditioning.

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    1. I don't trust them to do that. They'll wait until their exhausted and probably in the first stages of heat stroke.

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  4. That pie looks great. I really want a piece. Or three.
    What is it about retired men that impels them to prove they are still young and strong and invincible? My neighbor is doing likewise, perpetual motion, heavy lifting, pushing through. I think it's about fear of being old, me.

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    1. Could be, Liz. But it's a real, true thing.

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  5. I've never made, or even tasted, tomato pie - and that is a shame. Can you share your recipe? Those chicks are so big now. Who will take care of your chickens when you go to the mountains?

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    1. I will try and give an approximation of how I make tomato pie. It was SO good. I don't have a chicken sitter yet. I need to get on that ASAP.

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  6. I have never heard of tomato pie but now I can think of little else!
    What you are going through right now will pass, it is a stage- the clock ticking just before you are officially an elder...It is not a sad thing.
    That is what I think anyway. "is that all there is" syndrome, maybe.
    I am older than you so I can say things like that and get away with it, like i know what I am talking about- right?

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    1. Well you DO know what you're talking about so I will listen to you and pay heed to your counsel. Thank you.

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  7. Well l am glad your feeling a bit less unhinged. I have been feeling exactly the way you described so eloquently ❤ l like the look of that pie. I never had one here in the UK Talking of the UK MUSHY PEAS! Mary on The Real Housewives of Orange County they were in a fancy restaurant and one had British Fish Chips (fries) and MUSHY PEAS! l mean the chips were in a sort of tower but there it was. Girl I thought of you Instantly! Then the ever so fancy Heather Dubrow served Steak with Brit Style Chips wrapped in paper just like they should be. Heh Heh Maggi xxx

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    1. I haven't watched any of those Real Housewives in forever but if I had seen that episode, I would have thought of you!

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  8. that tomato pie is a thing of beauty and sharing it with Lis will be divine. Never made one but now you have inspired me. And yes....don't we all *compare* ourselves in relation to others, as much as we try not to.......... guilty as charged here too. Your chicks are growing so fast- they don't stay teeny for long. Enjoy your weekend!
    susan M

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    1. It was the best tomato pie I've ever eaten. Which of course, is another example of comparison. Any tomato pie we eat made of home grown tomatoes should just be appreciated for the glory of what it is.
      And yet- it really was the bests I've ever made.

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  9. Violet and Pansy made my day....and it needed making! I'd never heard of tomato pie. OMG! That looked SO good. I'm an Ohio boy and I don't think they make things like that here? Our loss. I lived in Miami for a while, and I know what you mean by that Florida heat! It's quite cool here tonight with lots of rain. Try to send some cooler weather down your way.
    Paranormal John

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    1. Well, supposedly tomato pie is supposed to be some southern thing but up until about ten years ago I'd never heard of it. I'm thinking someone like Paula Dean invented it and sold us all on the idea that it's a traditional thing.
      Yes. Please send us some cooler weather. I would truly appreciate that.

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  10. Mmmm...that tomato pie is perfection! Making my mouth water. Just told Paxton yesterday that it's almost time for our yearly tomato pie. And yes I confess I'm one of those that adds a tiny bit of crispy bacon bc if I'm gonna be bad might as well be real bad! Such a treat!
    Angie D

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    1. I swear to you, Angie- this pie was so good that bacon, holy as it is, would have only distracted from the taste. It was that good.

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  11. The tomato pie looks delicious. When you were describing it I was thinking it sounds just like pizza without all the other toppings. I agree that things do get harder as we get older and we really do need to let go of a few things that we do every day that really don't need to be done every day. Women in their 90s with fruitful gardens might just have a sparkling clean kitchen and the rest of the house gone to heck. Ease up on yourself a bit, you don't need to wear yourself out each and every day. I hope the men remember they are no longer young when working on Dog Island.

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    1. It could sound like pizza but it is nothing like pizza.
      You're right about letting a few things go here and there. I've never been fond of housecleaning so that's not so hard. The yard and garden though make me feel so guilty when they get really out of hand.
      The men do remember that they are no longer young but they seem to want to believe that if they just try hard enough, they'll be able to do all the same things they could when they WERE young.
      Sigh.

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  12. Wow that looks good! I've never heard of tomato pie before. The day can come when we slow down a bit as I've discovered. Just can't seem to accomplish as much on a given day. Some things seem to take longer. Reconciled with myself I'll not be one of those exceptional centurions who seem not to have aged. So, we adjust and adapt and life goes on.

    Interesting that Violet chooses to roost on a ledge. Guess she likes variety in her life and the nest is just for laying eggs. She's hot all right -- your title about sweat reminded me of a saying my mother had from horse and buggy days. "Horses sweat, men perspire, and women glow."

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    1. Violet is a bantam chicken and they are a tiny bit wilder than the regular-sized chickens. I have had banties that slept in trees, refusing to roost in the hen house at all. She is a sly and wily and little hen and that is why, I think, she has survived so long.
      I have heard that saying before too and let me tell you- my "glow" drips off my face to the point where it gets in my eyes and stings.

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  13. While I love your beautiful flora and fauna (and your beaches of course), your heat would just kill me! Hell even 25°C is too much for me!

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    1. Oh my god! 25 C is like heaven to us. We say things like "It never even reached 80 today!" Fahrenheit of course.

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  14. You make a very astute point about knowing too much about the outer world rather than measuring oneself by one's immediate community. I hope that this comment does not disappear like the one I wrote yesterday. I AM NOT SPAM! I AM A HUMAN!

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    1. It was in the spam folder. I found it and supposedly published it. I know you are not spam. You are Yorkshire Pudding.

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  15. That tomato pie looks fabulous! Is it a bit like the deep dish pizza they serve around Chicagoland?
    I worry that I am too lazy but the days keep zooming by no matter what I do during them so does it really matter?

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    1. Nope. It is nothing like Chicago's deep dish pizza which I am a huge fan of, BTW.
      I like your point about time and it is so true.

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  16. I had the same thought as Ellen D -- is a tomato pie basically a deep-dish pizza?

    The chicks are still cute, even in their awkward adolescence. Do you have a better sense of how many are roosters?

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    1. Nope. Not a pizza in any way, shape or form. A delicious thing all its own.
      I am not sure about the roosters/hens thing yet but I have my suspicions.

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  17. Oh my, that tomato pie looks divine and cheesy. Is the recipe a secret or might it be shared? I don't blame Jessie for putting in an order for another one this year, when you go to the mountain. Enjoy your time with Lis. The men will pace themselves, and will no doubt feel very accomplished for their labors. What kind of floor are they putting in?

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    1. I will try to share the recipe but you know me- I am a sorta-used-a-recipe-sorta-didn't sort of cook. Of course I will make Jessie a tomato pie when we go to NC!
      Lis and I had a good time. She is so good to me. So kind.
      They are going to put in one of those fake-wood floorings that is made from vinyl or something. I don't even care. Whatever they put in is bound to be better than 1980's shag carpet and I am not even kidding you.

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  18. Tomato pie sounds SO good! I wish I had some fresh tomatoes to make one with. This heat is just ridiculous. It's supposed to be over 100 degrees almost every day next week. Ugh. I hate the heat and humidity of the summers so much.

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    1. You will have tomatoes. Be patient.
      This heat is so exhausting. And humidity does not help at all. I hate it too.

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  19. I'm less able to handle the heat than I was. As a teenager I thought nothing of 95 degrees heat and the sun hitting your head like a hammer when you went out. Now, I hide in a dark place at about 85 deg (30 C) and found it really tough when it hit 33.

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  20. That tomato pie does indeed look very yummy. It's almost unbearably hot here and still dry as a bone. some forecasts are calling for a week of triple digits...in June! but the app on my phone just says high 90s.

    Humans aren't designed for huge crowds. I read somewhere somewhen that people can only tolerate so many interactions/relationships before being overloaded. It's one of the reasons those who live in big cities don't make eye contact with people they pass or encounter on the streets. Small towns and villages are probably the best living environments.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.