Take me home, country roads: Part 2

I'm a farm girl at heart,

even though I've been city-fied.

Roaming around Anne's property brought back lots of "comfort" memories since I grew up with 2 sets of rural grandparents.  

When I see a building like this, I can't wait to look inside.

Not only did I see exactly what I expected to see:

the ubiquitous detritus of a life more grounded in self-sufficiency (save everything because you might be able to use it in the future), I also smelled exactly what I expected to smell: old wood and engine oil and something indefinable but akin to a hay bale warmed by the sun.

Bliss!

I'd like to take this moment to point out that the lensing effect in the above photo of a hand-hewn door latch was not created with an app but was a naturally occurring event that I captured with my phone.

Country magic!

Truly, I could've have hung out at Anne's house for my entire visit but since we were in God's country my friends managed to force me off the property for a brief visit to town and then some hiking.

Speak of the...!

I wanted the local flea market to be more engaging but there were no piles of moth-eaten, hand-stitched quilts or stacks of rusted scythes and pitchforks.  The best item, by far, was this tableau of Jesus turning water into wine. I might've shelled out the $10 if only the stream of miracle liquid was fiber optically enhanced. 

What I wasn't going to shell out $10 for was a jar of local maple syrup.

I appreciate the time involved in this handcrafted treat but them's city prices!

The weather was MUCH warmer than we expected

but it didn't stop up from hiking.

There were many beautiful things to see on our hikes.

I could have sat and studied the sheen and texture of this tree for an hour.

I was intrigued by the stone chairs in this camp site.  Might be fairly comfortable with the addition 

of a sleeping bag for cushioning.  Could always retreat to the hammock if comfort was not forthcoming.

Great rock formations!

This photo won't be filed under "death defying selfie," mostly because I didn't take it, but I make no secret of the fact that I am scared of heights so I only stood up long enough for Pat to take the shot.

...nervous...

Items of interest that I found in the woods:

Items of interest that, luckily, I did NOT find in the woods:

And then it was time to head home...

...after a quickie visit to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

Diana and I pondered, "Not a single bathtub?  Not even an old timey copper tub to splash around in?

Nope.

The gardens of Monticello have been maintained in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson who spent decades collecting seeds and plants and experimenting with their growth in the Virginia climate and in the midst of all the beans, melons, squash, and tomatoes, there was a trellis of this plant:

The same weed my neighbor lady was eating off my fence!

Still don't know what it is.

I wanted to buy seeds for a perfect little cantaloupe I saw in the garden marked "nutmeg melon" but the gift shop was out of stock.  Surely a cantaloupe the size of a softball could beat out the cavalcade of voracious Florida pests that rule my backyard; I'd be eating it before they even knew it was there.

Sounds like a good excuse for a return visit.

I'm going to close this post with a non sequitur blurb from the magazine "Women of China."

Anne had a few issues at her house and they were a glimpse into a very different culture.

Sounds like common sense: take pictures, look at them through the years, 

think about when the photo was taken.

Now we have a complex Chinese name for that process. Yay! 

Take me home, country roads: Part 1

I know, I know!

It's too easy a title for a post about a trip to West Virginia.

But I'm sticking with it.

     I am starting this post with a mini-rant.  Stop complaining about air travel!

Yes, you have to take your shoes off.  Don't wear knee-high lace up boots!

Yes, you may be patted down by a stranger.  I was patted down WAAAY more thoroughly in a Muslim country than ever in the USA.  The fact that it was a fully veiled woman who did it didn't make it any better or worse.

Yes, the planes are cramped and miserable.  You are not in 

an episode of "Mad Men"! It's 2014.

Wear comfortable clothes, footies with sport slides, and be grateful you are able to travel at all.

Ahhh....I feel better. And things are looking up:

Apparently, TSA agents are undergoing "friendliness" training and on the day I passed this über simple grading stand, I'm pleased to say I was able to tap the green smiley face.

My smiley face turned to a frowny face

when I had to travel on a puddle jumper to get from Florida to West Virginia.

My problem with air travel is I'm afraid of it.

I wasn't going to pay $20 to sit on the aisle by the exit door so as punishment for my thrift, I was smashed up against a window with nothing to look at (or listen to) but the propeller and when I look at a propeller, I am helpless to do anything but mentally chant, 

"KEEP TURNING...KEEP TURNING..."

Thank goodness my friends had the common sense

to get me to a winery within minutes of landing.

The grapes were beautiful and we couldn't resist a giddy impulse to eat them right off the vine.

Our experience was only lightly tinged with regret when we were told they were laden with pesticides.

Oh well...the wine tasting was still yummy and fun.

Chemical load, be damned!

We then headed to my friend, Anne's, home in rural West Virginia.  Here was my view every day:

Really, really nice.

Some official institutes just released survey info concluding that Florida is the flattest state 

in the US  and West Virginia is the least flat.  

Diana, who joined us from Missouri, pointed out that Missouri still has the most meth labs. 

 She's SO competitive!

There was an abundance of fabulous fruits and vegetables.

Aren't these gorgeous?

If only someone could tell me what they are.

I know the stripey red things are some kind of amazing tomato but I thought the yellow things 

were bell peppers until I studied the photo later and saw they had tomato-like stems.

Whatever they are, I'm sure they're delicious.

When you see this picture...

...you probably think, "What nice firewood."

Wrong!

These are mushroom logs, inoculated with the spores of edible mushrooms.  I have never seen such a thing and I wish I could have mushroom logs in Florida 

but I'd probably only grow a crop of palmetto bugs.

Payday!

We ate this 'shroom for dinner.

Here's a mushroom we found in the woods:

Like some kind of Chihuly piece.

We did NOT eat this one.

And here is a tiny little begonia from Anne's garden.

Just looking at it makes me want to scream, "Totes adorbs!!!" 

I Give In...

     I kinda thought by mid-September we'd get a little break in the heat.

I was wrong!

     I've been a trooper this summer, getting caught up on loads of backbreaking yard work.  Hydration is key but there comes a point where I feel like I should just pour the water over my head since it will instantly come out as sweat anyway.  As you can see in the above photo, I've decided to "pave" the middle section of my backyard.  The mulch was nice until I introduced chickens and after that, I realized I needed a different approach.

     I know that many a farmer and gardener has cursed a preponderance of rocks on their land but in Florida, all rocks must be begged, bought, or burgled ("filched" might be a better word but I wanted to stick to the "b" theme).  My burgled rocks have come from areas where old pavement and sidewalks is being torn up.  Hopefully no one missed a few chunks of broken concrete.

     I steadied my nerves and cut back my "Miss Joachim" orchid from Singapore.  All the new starts have been claimed but since Miss Joachim gets bigger every year,  I'm expecting 6 new babies next summer.

A quick product review: Windex Wipes

Does this look streak-free to you?!  'Nuff said.

But allow me to balance the bad with the good:

     I bought this treadmill in Missouri from Montgomery Wards sometime in the late '90's, early '00's and here it is in Florida, a testament to the fight against built in obsolescence.  I expect a call from the Smithsonian any day now.  I would also like to proudly point out my equally old Sony headphones.  The foam ear pads melted off in my sweat a decade ago and I had the rather clever idea of using newborn baby socks as a replacement.  It's clever, dammit!  Stop calling me cheap!

Since I'm being haunted by the weird "Serenity Now" logo, 

I figured I should stick close to home...

The chicks are growing up.

     I admit, this is a TBT-style baby picture taken about 3 weeks ago.  They look like teenagers now but unlike human teenagers, I can't get them to leave the (hen)house.  I've been propping the door to the run open so the older hens can get back to foraging and the babies haven't yet figured out that they are allowed to roam too.  I suppose it's for the best.  Kind of like a those teens that drag their feet when it's time to get a driver's license:  they'll do it when they're ready.

Orchids love misery.

A couple of my happy flowers.

I'm still accomplishing a lot at my work desk.

The heat of the sun forces me inside by about 8 AM so I use that time to create for my SolOpsArt Etsy store and watch Netflix episodes of "House, MD" on my laptop.

     After puzzling over it for months like a string theory problem, I finally came up with a beautiful way to display Peace River fossilized deer antler on a necklace.  This necklace has unakite beads which is a mineral first discovered in North Carolina not that long ago.  Deposits have since been found around the world but I'll always lovingly think of it as home grown.

An Ode to Crab Rangoon

I will begin this post on edibles by bemoaning the slow extinction of the crab rangoons that I've enjoyed for decades:

Look at them!  They were things of beauty.

     Every foray to a Chinese restaurant in my 20's, 30's, and 40's included an order of crab rangoon in the "traditional" four-cornered pocket form.  Always crispy and yummy, some fillings were better than others but overall, they never failed to please.

     I understood that these treats could be a regional expression when on a trip to Dallas in the 90's I couldn't find a Chinese restaurant that had ever heard of them.

     I moved to Florida in 2004 and for a time, the crab rangoon I knew prevailed until a few years ago when things began to change.

The first time I ordered crab rangoon and received an order of these, I was perplexed:

This flat soggy triangle is becoming the new norm.

Not only have I yet to bite into a crispy one, the filling tastes like cream cheese and sugar.

Did I miss something?!

It took a couple of reminders to get Mike to stop thoughtfully ordering them for me.  

Does anyone know where I can get the old standard in central Florida?

Closer to home (in my yard), edibles are thriving...

sometimes without me even knowing it.

One of my Trinidad friends dropped by and was excited to see a particular typed of weed covering the fence on one side of my yard.  I was on the verge of ripping it out by the roots (it always goes haywire at the end of the summer) but she informed me that it is a type of bitter melon and proceeded to pick every green seed pod she could find (once the pod turns bright orange, it is no longer edible).

I've always shied away from cooking with bitter melon, almost entirely because the name sounds unappetizing.  My neighbor instructed me in its preparation so I gave it a try.  The pods are small and by the time I cut the seeds out of each one, there wasn't much left to cook but I fried it up with oil and tasted it.  Intense flavor and not something I enjoyed however I could see it being used as a solid base note when cooked with other ingredients.  

The truly delicious part of this experiment is that, in exchange, she returned with a bag of fresh Trinidad-style fritters made with spinach, garlic and hot pepper.

Yum!!!

And finally...a PINEAPPLE!

It was years in the making but it tasted so good and I got 2 pups off of it (see the mini-pup at the base?) so in another 5 years, this fruit will be fruitful and beget 2 more pineapples.  I think production will be speeding up, though, since I've started planting them in the front yard:  they look much happier.

I've added my first varietal pineapple: the red pineapple.  

I got the start from a friend and the long welding gloves and saw were absolutely necessary in its procurement.  The leaves of this bromeliad are very long and heavily spined.  

While I was in their yard I picked up poop.

Tortoise poop, to be exact.

These nuggets of leftover tortoise edibles will make all my edibles grow faster and stronger and unlike the poop of many other animals, tortoise poop doesn't need to be composted; apply directly to plant, apply directly to plant, APPLY DIRECTLY TO PLANT.

Chicken poop is too strong to use directly from the bird so I'm still devising the perfect collection/compost system.

Btw, I named this young girl Lucy in honor of the recent film.  She's a forceful little bird.

I've caught other birds in my yard, namely mockingbirds and cardinals, eating the seeds of the southern magnolia by my deck.  

Who knew?

It was birds that planted my giant papaya tree.

I will have a bounty of fruit through the fall and winter!

Try as I might, I couldn't seem to grow another papaya from seed.

Finally, a merciful friend hooked me up:

She gifted me with a healthy, homegrown papaya plant and a pepper plant to boot.  

This papaya will go in the front yard.

I went farther afield to take advantage of the scallop season in Homosassa, Florida.

This yielded several delicious meals of scallops

and the silver lining to a golden day...

My new favorite SPF shirt!

It's from the Breathe Like a Fish company and it's super cool and comfortable AND protective.

The summer is winding down but for us Florida dwellers that just means the outdoor activities and lifestyle are ramping up.