Tuesday, April 4, 2023

How's Your Day Been?


 I finally got out and walked again this morning. It was already too warm and way too humid for comfort but it's not nearly as bad as it's going to get. Also, I knew that when I got home I could sit on the porch in front of my new turbo-fan and I did and it was awesome. 

That tree is growing in the front yard of a deserted house which is next door to my neighbors who had the Trump signs up for about eight years. Now they only have one DeSantis sign. "Keep Florida Free." 
Free of joy, free of freedom, free of autonomy, free of civil, personal, voting, women's rights. And so forth. The man just seems to damn unhappy to me. So joyless. So bent on making everyone else as miserable as he is. 
But that has nothing to do with that tree. The tree itself is dead but is covered in resurrection fern. The beautiful rain we've been getting has indeed resurrected all these ferns recently which is as much resurrection as I need. When it is dry, the ferns curl into little brown tightly clutched frond fingers but when it rains, they unfurl beautifully, stretching out to breathe and bask. 


They do give this old tree a witchy appearance though, don't they? 

When I got home and after I'd cooled off some I went out and picked more mulberries. It has gotten to the point that I really wish those birds would come back and help me with the harvest because I am just about DONE with this. I may pick enough to make a pie for Easter but that could be that. I spent all afternoon making jam and got five pints and two half pints and even though this time I used TWO packets of pectin, it is still not gelled. And I cooked it down for a very long time. My giant pot was filled to the brim with the fruit and sugar. 


I boiled it down to about 2/3's full. I started out stemming the berries today because it's just so more esthetically pleasing. The stems, once cooked, do not interfere with the pleasure of eating the finished product at all. They are the tenderest of stems. Anyway, after I'd stemmed about five thousand berries I said, "This is ridiculous," and I quit. 

I started listening to "Fleishman Is In Trouble" yesterday and I'm not sure what I think about it. I did not like the series and I wish I hadn't seen as many of the episodes as I did because I can only visualize the actors who portrayed the characters in them as I listen. And I did not like the actors very much, especially the guy who played Fleishman. The book is okay although I do not like the way the POV is given to Fleishman's best friend, a woman journalist, as it rings so wacky to me. A man's female best friend should NOT know so much about his sex life whether in or out of his marriage. It just seems like in real life that would be icky. It's a device that I'm not buying. But I'll probably finish listening to the book. All fourteen and a half hours of it. Five down, nine to go. 

Mr. Moon got up early and drove down to get his boat and was home before ten. He's spent the rest of the day over at Tom's, planing boards. I think we'll both be tired tonight. I know I am already and my hips are sore from walking and standing all day long. My knee, I am happy to report, feels okay though. 

As soon as I finished with the jam and cleaned up that mess, I started an easy soup with beans and red peppers and green chili peppers and tomatoes and onions and garlic and corn and leftover greens and some chopped-up pork that Mr. Moon smoked last week. I added in some chili powder and cumin and chicken Better Than Bouillon and it is simmering away. All I have to do is dice up some avocados and toast some tortilla strips to top the soup and serve it over rice leftover from last night with plenty of limes to squeeze into it. I think that will be a good and simple supper. 

I wonder what the human orange butt wart will be eating for supper tonight. I'm sure he'll be out on bail after his very stressful day of being arrested and having to plead not-guilty to 34 felony charges. Will he be staying at his Manhattan residence in the penthouse of Trump Tower where everything is golden and resplendent or will he be flying home to Mar-A-Lago in Florida where I am sure everything is also golden and resplendent? Will he be eating Big Macs or KFC? Will Melania be reminding him that if he hadn't cheated on her three months after their child was born WITH A PORN STAR he would not be going through this mess? 
Will she be drilling him with her steely gaze and taunting him with the fact that in prison, the only breasts he'll be able to have access to are man boobs?


Ooh boy. 

This may become interesting although in my heart I know that Trump is just going to use all of this to further his persecution conspiracy theories to his blind followers and they are going to weep and rend their garments and if he does indeed get the Republican nomination, they will, without doubt, vote for him. 

I have little hope for the future.

Love...Ms. Moon

26 comments:

  1. resurrection ferns.....just gorgeous! Maybe they will keep that old tree standing upright! I cannot fathom why your jam is not jelling.......just NOT. I've made zillions of jars of jam over the years (never mulberry).....and never had a batch NOT jell with pectin. Yours must be a *Moon* variety of perplexity berries! I won't talk about you-know-who......yes.....there will be rabid followers of that man no matter what. WTF?
    And I want your soup!
    Susan M

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    1. I think it's just a mulberry thing. I've made peach preserves and fig preserves and blackberry preserves and they all thicken up. It is not something I'm going to worry about. It is delicious as a syrup.
      That soup was surprisingly good.

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  2. Bob in Camden, South Carolina calls Trump Thing45. I rather like that - refusing to use the monster's name. He has pleaded "not guilty" to 34 felony charges. His army of knucklehead supporters and outraged GOP figures still want to stand by him as if he is being unfairly dealt with. I say forget the law, just think about the kind of man Thing45 is. Surely America deserves a better leader than someone who lies, cheats, sleeps with porn stars and prostitutes, doesn't read books and bullies others. Forgetting the law but just at a moral level, he should be unelectable because his vile character is plain to see.

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    1. You would think, right? That his character alone would make him unelectable. There are so many theories why this has proven not to be true. I have my own and none of them say anything good about a large population of the USA.
      I sometimes use his name because I think that in refusing to do so, we are giving him more power. It's like- he's some sort of deathly powerful evil superhero and he's not. He's a man. As you said, a vile man, but one who is not above the law and who should be seen for what he is.

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  3. magic nature, those ferns. Your jam sauce I am sure is fabulous, pancakes, biscuits, over ice cream. oh yes please.
    The orange babyman may get by just paying a fine or getting a spanking, but there are so many court issues lined up for him this month, that will be his happy easter, his glorious spring! Oner seven million dollars from his duped people donated for campaign but will probably get eaten up by his law team. A feast for them! But, wait, isn't that illegal?

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    1. I do not understand how he can make these claims about campaign funds and then use them for his own purposes. And doesn't it seem like he must have hired and fired at least every attorney in the country by now?

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  4. I certainly don't get why these mulberries won't gel. Maybe mixed with other fruit they might. Not that I think you're up for further mulberry experiments just now.

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    1. Yes, I have thought about using apples in with the mulberries because they have a lot of pectin in them. But you're right- I think I am just about done with the mulberry preserves this year and shall enjoy them as they are in sauce form.

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  5. I am not a jam making expert, but I'd be suspicious about that pectin.

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    1. There is a very good chance that because I have not used it before I am wary of using too much which is, obviously, not enough.

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  6. That tree is both weird and fascinating. Have you tried lemon juice in the mulberry jam? I don't recall my mum ever making mulberry jam, we didn't have any around back then. Perhaps you could google "why doesn't my berry jam set?" or something like that. Mum used to buy bottles of liquid, I think it was called "EzySetta" or something like that.

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    1. I do use lemon juice with the berries as well as a little vinegar. They need the tartness. My mom used "certo" in her strawberry jam and they still sell that here.

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  7. I googled and now we have "Jamsetta" in packets at supermarkets. Google also tells me the stems should be removed and every recipe I just skimmed through has lemon juice to help set the jam. Also if your jam doesn't set you can thicken it by adding cornstarch mixed with a little water to make a slurry.
    I suggest trying the lemon juice as well as the pectin which you might need more of since mulberries have very little on their own.

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    1. I do use lemon juice in them and even a little grated lemon peel in the last batch. There is no way on earth I am going to stem all those berries so if that's what it takes to get the stuff to set, it's just not going to set.

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  8. I'm not sure that Melania will be that bothered to be honest. This is just my opinion but that looks to me to be a match made in heaven!

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    1. I cannot believe she hasn't divorced him. I honestly, honestly just can't. I'll be he's got a pre-nup that's tighter than a lockbox.

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  9. I hope he gets indicted for his other crimes too...He can use up all of those donations on lawyers and I hope he still ends up in jail.
    I don't know shit about making jam. :)

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    1. The jam they sell in stores is delicious!
      The thing I want Trump to get put in prison for is treason. That would be a very good day.

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  10. no bail and no mug shot, NY doesn't require bail for white collar crimes. and he flew back to Florida to air his grievances. I'm not sure Melania has much to do with him these days.

    I did some weeding yesterday but not too much. it was a Tuesday with the regular grocery shop after breakfast, my night to cook which meant doing all the prep work after lunch because drumming at 5:30. even so it was 8 before I got dinner on the table.

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    1. Tuesday sounds like it WAS a very full day!
      Yeah. No mug shot. Dammit.

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  11. What kind of fool believes a man who has been the epitome of evil, when he says “if they’re coming after me they’re coming after you”? Total right wing nuts who’ve let their politics define their stupid lives and don’t have an ounce of decency among them…that’s who! By the way, I edited the word FUCK out of this post seven times when I want it to be every other word.

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    1. You can always use all the "fucks" you want at my house. Or in my comments.

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  12. Trump insists there was no affair. Maybe Melania buys it. I can't believe she would, but who knows?

    I had the SAME problem with Fleishman. I could not figure out why that narrator was even there, and how does she know so much? I'll be interested to hear what you think as it evolves.

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    1. I seriously doubt Melania believes him. Although- I had a husband who told me he wasn't having affairs and, well...
      Yeah- what IS the point of this narrator? I am far enough along that I think I can grasp what she's trying to do there but it's all a bit tortured to me.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.