Thursday, December 29, 2022

Lloyd, Florida


Yesterday's walk went so well that I decided to do it again today although I took another route. I walked down to where the old truck stop used to be and where there's still a convenience store, a liquor store, a gas station, a subway, and a motel right near the interstate. That Johnny Appleseed guy has been standing in front of what was the truck stop since at least 1978. He has lost part of one arm but it does look like someone painted him fairly recently though lichen is growing on him like some sort of tropical skin disease.


I have never gotten an explanation why Johnny Appleseed would be represented in front of a truck stop in North Florida. As far as I know, Johnny himself never got this far south. He seems to be a jolly sort though, doesn't he?

My route led me past the fally-down house. It truly is going now. 


One of these days, it will completely collapse unless it is torn down before then. Honestly, I'm surprised every time I go by it to see that it is standing in any sense of the word. 


It still calls to me somehow with its sinking walls, still holding remnants of the wallpaper that some woman, at some time, hung, perhaps after the children were asleep, by the light of a lantern. There are other houses on their way back to boards and dirt around here, though none so close to succumbing to gravity and time as this one and those are all houses that were at least a little bigger, a little prouder in their architecture. Some of them are still savable, I'm sure, and possibly worth the effort, their bones appearing to still be strong and straight. One of them especially breaks my heart as it was obviously owned by a hoarder. There's junk piled up all over the front porch, and the windows on each side of the front door have been boarded over. The people who owned it lived in a trailer behind the old house and I imagine it just got too hard for them to heat and perhaps their possessions crowded them out. I do not know. The old man died some years back and I have not seen his wife in forever so I imagine she's gone now too. The house must have been lovely at one point. Not palatial in any way, a simple one-story old Florida house but it was sturdy, I imagine, and graceful in its way. I heard it was the doctor's house at one time and he had the first telephone in the community so if anyone needed to make a call, they could go there and use the phone. There's a very tall sabal palm in the yard along with untended camellias and azaleas. It was loved once. I somehow still see hope in it but that hope dwindles with each season. 

As I was walking down Old Lloyd Road, which is the road we live on, the road where the post office and the dump and My Gypsy Soul Boutique are on, a train came through. The railroad tracks run right behind my house and our post office was a train station at one time. I stopped on a little bridge over an offshoot of Lloyd creek to take a picture. 


The water is very low and stagnant there now, as you can see. Hardly picturesque. 

But this is Lloyd. We are funky here with our dump right off the road, our falling-down houses, our trailers and prefab homes, our Dollar General, our sad little boutique that represents someone's dream. And yet, we are also beautiful with our majestic ancient oaks, our towering magnolias, our camellias and azaleas and old train station and our little piece of this road where there are several very old beautiful houses shaded by those oaks, the magnolias, pecan trees. 
I often wonder if people who have gotten off the interstate to perhaps walk their dogs, get gas and a Subway sandwich are curious about what they would see if they took the road they exited on and went down it for a little ways. I am sure that almost none of them have any idea that if they drove that road for about ten miles they would dead-end into one of the most beautiful spring-fed rivers imaginable. That on their way they would pass tiny communities where people have lived for generations and for eons, too. Long before Europeans ever got here, the Indigenous people called this area home. 

It is peaceful here tonight. Our friend Tom is over to watch an FSU football game on TV. Mr. Moon bought wings and veggies for them to eat and I am about to put a loaf of French bread in the oven to go with the rest of it. I'm going to eat some of last night's leftover barbecue shrimp with rice. It was so delicious and I'm sure it will be tonight as well. I feel safe here in Lloyd in this old house under the oaks and magnolia with the palms and camellias I've planted surrounding me. I feel safe and I feel at home in a way I've never felt any other place I've ever lived. I have neighbors of all colors and faiths, beliefs and social strata although none that I personally know who are what we might call fabulously wealthy. We wave, we say hello, sometimes we stop and we chat. When I am walking and a car pulls up at a cross street or a driveway, they always, always, motion me to go first. 

I am fabulously wealthy. Not by the definition that Forbes would use but by the definition that I myself would use. I get to live in this funky place in this beautiful old house where I have found peace. Where Johnny Appleseed stands guard half a mile down the road, offering whatever that is he is offering. Doughnut? Apple? 
A gift. Of that I am sure. 
And I take it gratefully.

Love...Ms. Moon



27 comments:

  1. top photo of Johnny is a charming "duh". That statue is such a cool Florida thing to have in your neighborhood! It would be fun to take a road trip through Florida to collect all of the questionable road side art with a camera. There must be loads!

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    1. Forty years ago you probably couldn't have photographed all the cool Florida roadside art in a lifetime. Now, it would still probably take at least a year.

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  2. What a lovely tribute to that little out-of-the-way place you call "home!"

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  3. odd.....Johnny Appleseed stands with a donut is his hands? What? But.....the essence, comfort and joy of Lloyd shines through in your post........ your life is surrounded by history and lovliness........what could be better?
    Susan M

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    1. Not a whole lot. Maybe a swimming pool for our summers...

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  4. That fellow is holding out an apple, and the hat is a faithful replica of Johnny Chapman's tin hat. I did some extensive research on Appleseed (at least five hours of reading!) some time ago, and scanned my notes for a Florida reference. He left a lot of relatives behind, some in Florida. He left a lot of valuable real estate and nurseries to his wife. I also think he died at a fairly advanced age. We Ohioans know about him; he was born here! Perhaps someone is more informed than I and can give us a real story.
    Your Florida soliloquy is wonderful; its like a Johnny Appleseed story from an old history.

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    1. Well, if Johnny had made it to Florida, he might have stopped in North Florida. I doubt apples would grow much farther south. Having read Debby's links, I can see how they tried to make him into "BP Man" but he is unmistakably Johnny Appleseed.

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  5. https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/food/cooking/this-florida-family-is-making-apple-jelly-from-only-fruit-traced-directly/2339342/

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/johnny-donutseed-statue

    He seems to have started out as Johnny Appleseed and along the way turned into BP man. The missing arm held a cup of coffee and the apple was repurposed as a donut.

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    1. Yes! I remember the cup of coffee now! Indeed. Thanks for those links. Now I know a lot more. Good work, Debby.

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  6. You seem to be doing well with your walking. I used google street view to take a look at Johnny Appleseed and Joyner's. I even wandered past your house:) The internet is an amazing thing.

    I'm glad you had a good day. Jack and I did too. It was warm here, barely below freezing and we went for a walk with the two dogs.

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    1. The internet is an amazing thing. You can see all the things I talk about.
      Barely below freezing is warm? Oh, you deluded woman! Actually, oh you STRONG woman!

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  7. And the angel biscuits were amazing, so light and fluffy!

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  8. You sound so happy to have found your home there.
    I was happy to see that Debby found the info on your Johnny Appleseed! That is the best thing about the internet!

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    1. You are so right, Ellen. In many ways, the internet is such a gift.

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  9. Like Pixie, I took a google maps tour and found the gypsy soul boutique and the post office and might have even found your house. It all has a lovely feel about it and seems so green and peaceful.

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    1. You probably did find my house. I'm so glad you could visit.

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  10. I love every word of this peaceful post. I'm glad you have your "at home" place.

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  11. I am very drawn to the fally-down house too for some reason. I can't say why but you painted the picture for me. And yes, you are indeed wealthy beyond words!

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    1. It just seems like it has so many stories to tell. Not rich people stories but the stories of the lives of people who slept under that roof when it was straight and true.

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  12. There must have been a fruit stand, or a produce market of some kind, on that corner many years ago. Just a guess. It's hard to believe that just seven or eight years ago I was able to stand inside the fally-down house. I don't think I'd fit now!

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    1. I do not know about that, Steve. I know that Abe, a man who lives sort of catty-cornered across the street told me that when he and his wife were first married they did live in that house.

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  13. 37paddington:
    A beautiful post.

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  14. Catching up here after being away for family Christmas in Nevada City, CA, and then having the grand boys here for 3 days of Nana Camp. Reading your posts is like visiting home with another branch of family. So glad that Mr Moon's got checked out after his fainting spell and that the results of the tests were positive. We had 12 in one (big) room for opening presents, so I can relate to the Christmas Chaos. Wishing you all the Best of the New Year x0x0 N2

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.