Thursday, July 31, 2025

There Ain't No Fun Without The Funk


I took that picture of Maurice yesterday as she was lazily attempting a bit of a grooming. I only wish she'd use that emory board on her claws. I thought she looked so pretty. She's laying in the exact same place right this very second but she's not even pretending to try and pretty herself up. She is asleep. 

She's probably exhausted due to the fact that her daddy's home and she's had to completely reorder her thoughts on that whole situation. She has to adapt when he leaves and then readapt when he comes home. 
I understand! It's not easy! 
We'll both survive. 

So I was reading the online edition of the Tallahassee Democrat today, which is the local paper, and on one of the inside pages I found this article:


When I saw the words "Lake Seminole" I knew I definitely needed to read what they said about the lake the log cabin is on. 


Yet one more reason to love the place! 
In reality though, snakes are much like alligators in that some of them can kill you but mostly they don't. Alligators are generally easier to see, for the most part. Snakes aren't fond of showing up unannounced where people are hanging out. 
I tell you the snake I'm most afraid of and that's a water moccasin, aka, cottonmouth. I was going to post a picture of one but even just looking at photographs gives me the willies. They are not a pretty snake. And I don't care what anyone says, those fuckers are aggressive. Most snakes just aren't. They will bite generally only in an extremely threatening situation. They would rather just slither away. But I've seen water moccasins stand their ground and strike out. 
Let's face it. Florida is out to kill us.

So I sent that article to Glen and he was very defensive about it, pointing out that every body of water in Florida probably has the same number of snakes as the lake his dock is built on. He's probably right, but Jesus. Seeing it in black and white was not reassuring. 

I decided to go to town today today. And I didn't even need to do any shopping! But I'd read an article, also in the Democrat, about a new antique market that also sells handmade items and home decor things and I figured I'd go look and see what they had. 
The place looks deceptively small from the outside. Just sort of a regular storefront situation.
But my god! There were hallways and rooms and more rooms and more rooms and more rooms and it all went on for miles and to be honest, everything in there was so grossly overpriced that I couldn't believe it. And not everything there are antiques, either. A lot of the stuff was just cheap shit you could buy at Home Goods or TJ Maxx although I'm sure they'd deny that. Much of what they have is reproductions. I saw a little table that I liked the look of, took a drawer out and realized it was probably made in a factory in China. I saw a rattan chair that was, I do believe, authentic, and I liked it although it wasn't upholstered in bark cloth like it should have been, but just a yellowish canvas, and they were asking $495 for it. 
There wasn't one thing in all those rooms that I felt as if I must have. Or even vaguely wanted. 
But the store was clean, the goods were clean and not funky, although come to think of it, being "not funky" isn't exactly a plus when it comes to vintage things. Not always. 
They also have a little coffee shop area and an area where you can get- wait for it! A high tea!
Just the ticket, right? 
Someone has sunk a ton of money into that place on the space alone. They have different vendors but I can't imagine what the build-out must have been like or what the utilities cost or how they think they're ever going to even break even. 

Here's a lamp I sort of liked.


It reminds me of something Morticia Addams would have had in her parlor. I couldn't even find the price tag on that one and no, I did not bother to ask. I really and truly did not see one thing that was priced at what I would have considered a reasonable amount. I saw a purse that I was attracted to- it was my style- and I picked it up and by golly, it was made by the same company that makes a few of the purses I've gotten new at Marshall's only this one cost almost twice as much as what I'd paid for new. 
Neither antique or vintage. Just...used. 

I am so bitchy, aren't I? 

Well, yes, but in this case I'm only telling the truth. I went in there with a good attitude, hoping that it would be a place I'd want to go back to. 
But nope.
Also, it had that scented candle, potpourri-ish smell. 
Just no funk at all. 
No fun at all either. 

So Mr. Moon is home and back in his chair. I know he's exhausted. He said he's been up and down the stairs at the lake house a hundred times. And probably most of those times he was carrying wood and/or tools. Or god knows what. He picked up the stove, dishwasher, and microwave today and hauled them to the house and got them inside. I'm interested to see what the fancy new-fangled stove is like to cook on. The old Tallahassee, family-owned business where we always get our appliances can't get the basic model stove we wanted for at least four or five months and so Meghan, from whom we've bought many appliances, did right by us with a much updated stove for their cost and Glen, having been in the selling biz most of his life, checked it out and yes, she was telling the truth. 


I have no idea how to cook on a thing like that but I suppose I shall learn. Otherwise, I'll be building fires in the backyard and cooking in iron skillets and dutch ovens. 
We know that's not going to happen.

Anyway, that's all I did today. 
Nothing constructive at all. 
I guess I'll go cook something on my gas stove that I do know how to operate and it will not be leftovers of anything either Glen nor I have eaten. This will be a change. 

I'll be reporting in again tomorrow. 
Probably. 

Love...Ms. Moon


Butterfly lily. 
The blossom looks and smells like the wings of angels. 
I swear. 




50 comments:

  1. That lamp is funky enough!
    How in the world do you know what angel wings smell like? LOL
    Snakes 🐍 of any kind ... no thanks!

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    1. I just do know what angels' wings smell like. Butterfly lilies.

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  2. I have always wanted to try high tea. Although not at a place where everything is overpriced. You would think they would realize their store is a luxury and lower their prices. I'm not really afraid of snakes. Most of the time they are retreating before I even see them. I really hope you learn to love the cabin. And I will enjoy your commentary along the way.

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    1. I went to a "sort of" fancy tea once. My old yoga teacher loved to make all those frou-frou things and serve them up in fancy ways. It was not my...cup of tea.
      I may need to see a therapist about this house.

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  3. I would do no trade with deceptive shop owner. I was in a shop that had a very old looking Remington poster in a very plain frame. He wanted $300. Google lens is so great. The poster was a reproduction an available on ebay for $17.

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    1. I frequently use google lens when I'm thrift shopping or antique shopping to try and figure out the value of things. Of course, the downside is- the dang store-owners do too.

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  4. The aggressive water moccasin sounds lethal. In FL is there an effort to keep them at bay, especially in places where people spend time enjoying the waterfront?
    On occasion, we have sharks along our coastline and near beaches. Lifeguards on duty alert swimmers and clear the waters. I recently heard they are using drones to monitor coastlines for sharks and to alert swimmers to get out of the ocean.
    I love high tea done right. London high tea is the best. The old (long gone) Ritz Carlton in Boston, MA did a nice high tea too.
    I find prices are getting crazy high, and lately quality is often low.
    Bloomberg news warns sellers are going to be passing on the increase cost of tariffs to consumers.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. There's really no way to deter snakes, as far as I know although they are not fond of inhabiting areas where many humans gather.
      We have shark alerts here too sometimes and I would think that very popular and populated beaches would use drones to check for them. It's always creepy AF to see drone footage of a school of sharks surrounding an area where a lot of people are swimming. And by the way- Florida is known as the "Shark Bite Capital of the World."

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  5. High tea is a workingman's dinner and involves knife and fork type food. I doubt if that would excite you
    The posh one with the tiny sandwiches and fancy cake and raised pinky is afternoon tea. You're welcome!
    As is Mr Moon, though I think after his exertions a high tea would be more sustaining.

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    1. Someone needs to educate these people. It will not be me.
      https://rabbitcreekmarket.com/tallahassee-high-tea-events/?srsltid=AfmBOor7M_TNlfnKktZnvnK7phMLW9bRJufto_myazagJIZlojSdVUdq

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    2. Also- I looked it up when someone from Australia commented that no, high tea is the fancy tea and guess what? It IS in Australia, but not in Great Britain. It's confusing.

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    3. Thank you! This misuse drives me as batty as raised pinkies do. Margaret

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  6. Gasp, I swear my parents had that butt ugly lamp, but a different yellow gold shade. I hated dusting that thing. It probably ended up in the trash because I sure don't see it in the house now that my brother lives there.

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    1. Maybe it got given to a thrift shop and they sold it to someone who loves it and has it placed lovingly where it can be observed and appreciated. There should be a sarcasm font.

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  7. High tea is...yeah..:D I'm not a high tea girl. Ha. I wish I could focus on tea. Yeah, no. I love funky smelling antique stores though.

    Maurice is perfect. She has a routine.

    - Nicol

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    1. I have often said that Maurice is as attached to her routines as I am to mine.

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  8. As long as snakes stay in the wild and unseen...I'm cool. I periodically run across them on my walks through wooded areas. I think they're mostly garter snakes or rat snakes...whatever Ohio has to offer. I know I come close to incontinence when I stumble upon them. Thankfully, they usually skedaddle into the bush. When I moved to Miami, I was told when walking my dogs (pugs at the time) to watch out for pygmy rattlers and corals snakes. Those were not stress-free walks!!
    That lamp is certainly 'of its time'. I'd be curious as to how much they're charging for that.
    Paranormal John

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    1. I've heard that the venom of pygmy rattlesnakes is worse than the diamondback's. I do not know that for sure. I'd just as rather never have any personal experience with that situation. Coral snake venom is famously known for its toxicity but from what I understand, they have a much harder time actually biting a human. I suppose that is reassuring.
      Whatever the lamp cost, it was way too much. Trust me.

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  9. Rattle snakes are the only ones I know about. I like them and they are very shy plus give a person plenty of warning. The others sound scary- terrible way to die- painful, I hear. Yes just another reason to absolutely love the log -ish building that just got a new mystery cooker. That shop sounds so disappointing. I would blow the whistle on them. Who do they think they are fooling. NOT YOU, no sir! What the hell is "high" tea? Psilocybin? Oh I see...it is High because it is served on a high table , more to nosh than afternoon tea. I might question the authenticity....

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    1. Haha! "High" tea!
      I'd love to give that market an honest review but I can't bring myself to do it. I don't want to contribute to their downfall.
      I questioned everything about that place as to authenticity. Might as well question the tea party aspect too.

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  10. It sounds like good progress at the cabin. As far as the shop, it sounds like a tourist trap and high tea? Seriously? Don't mind me, I'm just fretting about the biopsy I apparently may need...

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    1. No. It's not a tourist trap. We don't really have those here like they do in towns that get more tourists. Tallahassee isn't exactly known for that.
      I had biopsies of my uterus once and although it was NOT comfortable, it wasn't agonizing either.

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  11. Why did I think the log cabin was in Georgia?? I may be losing it. I know I don’t comment enough but I always read ❤️ Are you going to eventually move to the cabin? Love you othermother. Sj

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    1. No, no, NO! You are not losing it. Lake Seminole is partly in Georgia and partly in Florida.
      We are NOT moving to the cabin. And yes, the cabin is in Georgia.

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  12. That store looks and sounds like the sort of place I like to waste time in, apart from the potpourri smell, just looking and wondering why on earth anyone would buy this or that.
    I've seen pictures of cottonmouths, they're not at all pretty are they?
    That new stove looks like an induction cooktop, my daughter has one and loves it. Your line about building a fire outside for your cast iron pans reminds me of "granny" in The Beverly Hillbillies.

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    1. I'd rather shop in a store that might have something that appeals to me. Wasn't happening there.
      No. Cottonmouths are not pretty. Maybe to their mamas they are.
      Yes. I think it's an induction cooktop. I need to do some research on how to use one.
      I might as well BE Granny.

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    2. Induction cooktops require special pots, but keep the heat in the pot instead of heating up the entire kitchen!

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    3. From my daughter who has one: Copper or aluminim pots don't work unless they have an induction compatible base (these days most pots do, out here at least), some grades of stainless steel won't work either. She says her cast iron works just fine on her induction top.

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    4. The enamelled cast iron pots work brilliantly, says T.

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  13. It doesn't sound like that new store is going to make it does it, I mean those prices!!!! And probably mostly made at the same place as Walmart too. I bought a backpack in Lindos on Rhodes years ago and it suits me perfectly for when I travel. Then I bought another one, same thing, different colour, in Kandy, Sri Lanka and both of them were made in China. I guess there's no getting away from it really, is there!

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    1. I think that goods made "locally" are more appreciated than they used to be but they are, of course, more expensive and I, for one, am apt to buy something that's not as pricey. Which makes me a big old hypocrite.

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  14. I’d be much more snarky than you about that new “antiques” market. Ridiculous when these places are asking more for used goods than they cost when new. I saw lamps like that in every home when I was a kid. A few of my aunts had them, too. My mother even had a lamp with the identical base, except no hanging things and crystal and a more tasteful shade. But Mitzi Himmel had that exact shade on all her living room lamps! Anyway... I couldn’t live in Florida with the alligators and snakes. The butterfly lily photo is a beauty. Your decor makes for great backgrounds.

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    1. Now, see? You lived with more fancy people than I did. I never saw a lamp like that as a child ever. The people I knew when I was a kid were mostly retirees from places like Tennessee who settled for some bizarre reason in Roseland. They had pretty basic taste. But there were some excellently funky lamps too as there were some Bohemians in the group. I remember my mother got two large table lamps as housewarming presents when my grandfather built us a house. They were, as I recall, pretty hideous. They were ceramic and the color of tomato soup speckled with something black. Pepper? My brother broke one accidentally and my mother was livid. A scene ensued which I will never forget although my brother denies it ever happened. I suppose he's blocked it. Anyway, Mother glued that lamp back together and it was even more hideous than it had been before but she used it.

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  15. Yes, that lamp is truly from another world. Great conversation piece and looks like it would last forever! I would say you had quite a busy day, and good luck cooking with the new stove. Once you get used to it, it will be a breeze, and I bet your cooking will turn out even better than before.

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    1. Wait! What? My cooking could get even better than it is?
      Hahaha! I need to concentrate on getting some pans for that kitchen or I won't be cooking anything.

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  16. As a ten year old, I was playing on a country bridge with a friend, when I fell in the muddy water flowing under. It had water moccasins in it that we had been tormenting earlier by throwing rocks and gravel at them while they lay on the opposite bank. I froze in place terrified to move. My friend who was nine at the time, found a way to the opposite bank, waded in and grabbed my hand, pulling me to safety. From that day forward, snakes have caused a revulsive terrible fear for me. I don't even like looking at pictures of them, 74 years later.

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    1. Ana- that is truly, truly a nightmare of a story! You must have been horribly traumatized. I would have been. Thank goodness for your friend. She was so brave. It's understandable why snakes are so revulsive to you.

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  17. I inherited the fear of snakes from my Mom who was deathly afraid of snakes and couldn't even look at a picture of one. She said it would give her nightmares. I'm sorry to hear about the snakes near your cabin's lake...
    I watched that Ed Sullivan show and it was fabulous. But it made me want to cry that we are still dealing with the haters that they showed from those days. :(

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    1. Well, I assumed there WERE snakes on that property. That's just the way it is around here.
      I agree with you totally about the Ed Sullivan thing. And yes, the haters are still among us and they voted in Donald Trump.

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  18. I thought the cabin/lake house was in Georgia. Now why did I think that. The alligator alone would stop me from swimming in that lake. Nevermind the snakes.

    I've been in antique markets like that that just go on forever like rooms were just added on helter skelter. There's a shop here that started out as an antique market but now it's just more like a flea market where you can rent a stall and sell whtever you have.

    Does that stove have one of those smooth glass tops? No burners? I would not like that.

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    1. Lake Seminole is partly in Florida and partly in Georgia. Glen's house is in Georgia.
      I seriously got lost in that antique place. What a cluster fuck.
      I, too, have been very reluctant to try the glass top stoves but I hear from reliable sources that they are good. I need to learn how to use one.

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    2. I think glass-top stoves can be either electric or induction; it’d be cool to have a couple of each type of burner, wouldn’t it!

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  19. It's so disappointing when a promising-looking "antique" store turns out to be full of stuff that's not antique.

    As a former newspaper editor myself, I have to agree with Mr. Moon on the snake story. That just seems like a patently ridiculous article. Did they do a snake population survey on every lake in Florida? Or are they talking about lakes in areas with the biggest variety of snakes? (In which case I have to doubt there's any variation from one lake to the next.) No need for the "USA Today Network" to demonize the reptiles and make one lake look more snake-laden than another. I call dubious journalism! LOL!

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    1. Okay, Steve. Thank you. You have made me feel MUCH better! But I know you're right. The article did say that out of the 27 varieties of snakes in Florida (and I assume in south Georgia too), there are 26 to be found in and around Lake Seminole.
      But you know Florida. Go outside and take your life in your hands.

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  20. I hate how the media will try to "outrage" at every corner. Now, as to "Let's face it. Florida is out to kill us." - I come from Queensland, Australia and know the feeling. On the upside, it makes life just that bit more special. I disagree with Boud - High Tea is the three tiers of overpriced finger foods over here too. If you need a knife and fork, its just Tea (and then instead of dinner you have supper)

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    1. I suppose that life is more precious when you're surrounded by constant threats of death and destruction. That's one way to look at it.
      All right. I have looked up this high tea/afternoon tea situation and in Great Britain, Boud is correct. High tea is eaten at night and is a substantial meal. In Australia, high tea is what we here also call the fancy kind with the tiers of little goodies. So you are both right.

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  21. At least they didn't, as some papers do, claim the lake was "infested" with snakes. It's where they live. If you don't mess with them, they don't mess with you. I do think water moccasins are aggressive, but it seems most water creatures are more aggressive than their land-based counterparts. Guess life is tougher in the water.
    I've had a glass-top stove. You're not supposed to use cast iron on them, but I did. Just have to remember not to drag them around. You're also supposed to use special cleaners, but I used Bar Keepers Friend. Worked fine. Replaced it with an electric stove with regular burners when a burner went out because I'm cheap and so was the new stove.

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  22. Water moccosins are indiginous to Ohio, too, though I've never encountered one. My run in with a poisonous snake was in Colorado, by the side of the road with a flat tire and two or three of mom's grandchildren. Rounding up curious boys was a treat.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.