Oh Lord

I had completely written my post yesterday evening when I ONCE AGAIN spilled club soda and a teeny bit of vodka into my MacBook. 

I hadn’t even had a sip of it!

I don’t think I’ve done this in almost four years but it ain’t the first time. 

So. I panicked. 

For the second time that day. 

The first time my nerves got the better of me was when we were getting that storm. It was not a cry wolf situation. When I got up the wind was howling through the trees, the birds were making hysterical tweeting noises and Maurice was completely freaking out. Jack was not happy either. 

We started getting tornado warnings. Lily reported that Jason had seen a tornado off the interstate on his way to work. May and Michael were hunkering down in the stairwell of their apartment. And so forth. 

It got pretty intense as the squall line reached us. Glen and I, believing, perhaps falsely, that it’s best to open windows during a tornado so the glass doesn’t break out of them, opened the doors at either end of the hallway creating a wind tunnel and soon, things were flying off the piano. We sat down under the stairwell and watched live-streaming weather reports and waited. I had to take an Ativan. That’s how intense it felt to me. 

But the storm was moving fast and in a fairly short time, the tornado warnings had been called off and the birds began to eat at the feeder again so I figured we were probably safe. 

And we were. 

We didn’t even lose any trees. Branches and limbs, yes. Trees- no.

At this point we began to get the rain and thunder and lightening but after that wind, those felt very minor. 

So that was how I spent my morning and then the rest of the afternoon I did household stuff and cleaned up a couple of garden carts of mostly very small twigs and some larger branches. 

All was well until…the vodka-soda incident at which point I just gave up and would have probably jumped off a cliff if there had been one handy but since there wasn’t I just did all the stuff you’re supposed to do when you get liquid in your laptop and NO, putting it in rice is not part of that.

I cannot tell you how upsetting it is to me when I don’t have my MacBook. It is my portal to the world where all of you live. Also to my crosswords and the newspaper. Yes, I can access some of these things on my phone but it ain’t the same. 

At all. 

I talked to an Apple tech guy this morning. First off, let me say that their tech help is second to none. I wasn’t on hold for a minute. And James, the man I spoke to, was very reassuring and advised me to leave the MacBook alone to dry out for a day or two before I started researching repair options. And that is what I’m doing. 

In the meantime I’m writing this on my phone and I probably won’t be commenting on other blogs although I will be reading them, or answering comments on my posts. 

And please know that I feel incredibly lucky that Glen and I and all the kids and grandkids are fine and dandy. No harm, no foul. People to the west of us in places like Panama City were hit hard. I drove into town today and saw a lot of downed trees and I shake my head in wonder that we escaped with no damage.

I hear though that we may be getting similar weather to what we had yesterday two days from now. 

Global weather changes at its finest!

In case you’re wondering, the picture up top is my new pot with collard greens, kale, turnip greens, turnips, and onions simmering away. They were still growing in the garden two hours ago. 

I picked them when I got back from getting a pedicure and going to lunch with Jessie and Liz. It was just what I needed. We laughed so much and so hard at lunch I thought they might ask us to leave. 

That’s it. Let’s hope I can post this. 

Love…Ms. Moon

I have about zero hope that I can get this post online. My MacBook is in the shop due to the fact that although I like vodka and soda, the MacBook does not seem to tolerate that particular beverage very well, especially when administered via side ports. 

Sigh. 

Also, for whatever reason my app to post via my phone is being janky and cranky and will not fucking post! 

Unless you’re reading this in which case it did. 

But I am writing the post anyway because I am addicted to my evening blog writing and that’s the simple truth. 

All is well here in Lloyd except for the technical difficulties. I had to go to town today to deliver my magical blogging machine to the Computer Doctors which for some reason was very anxiety-producing. The guy behind the desk wore a mask but at one point when he was focusing on what he was doing with my laptop, he pulled it down under his chin and the room we were in was rather small. 

Ugh. 

I did find out that my MacBook is 8-12 years old which is older than I thought it was. The flight of time is fantastical, isn’t it?

Aside from that, life continues as usual. Dottie and Dearie are still a darling holy mother and child unit, traveling the yard. The little peep is replacing down with feathers and still is lighter than a fleeting wish when I pick her up to put her in her baby coop at night or lift her out in the morning. Mr. Moon has been shelling peas as if it was his job. He’s taking a break from that right now to mow the yard. The green beans are still producing over-well, the zinnias are blooming, the pine cone lilies are putting out their beautiful cones, the young hens are not yet laying, the cucumbers seem to be infested with the damn vine-borers, the mosquitoes are still hungry, I have many eggplant swelling and ripening in their magnificent aubergine way, I actually bought tomatoes today and I still love my husband dearly and daily I find more reasons to do so. 

I guess this is enough. I really doubt that these words are going to get published but it has soothed me to write them. 

I hope all is well with each and every one of you. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Testing

1,2,3...

Testing

1,2,3...

Testing

Having a bit of trouble with my MacBook as well as posting via an app on the phone. So. 

Trying this. 

I am alive and not dead. Having a MacBook situation here involving liquids which got into the MacBook due to user error. 

All is well but I’ll not be commenting on blogs until this is all resolved. 

Be well, y’all. 

Love...Ms. Moon.  

How good will THIS be?

Oh boy, I'm so excited!

I'm preparing a sort of bistro-style Belgian dinner for some close friends this weekend, and it occurs to me that cooking seasonally, locally, is getting easier all the time. The increased availability of local meats and dairy products is what I've been wishing for since we returned to Tallahassee three years ago.

We'll start with a wheel of Titan from Sweetgrass Dairy. This individual wheel is of younger affinage than the sampling we tried a couple of weeks ago; a very different animal to be sure, but incredibly good in its own way. This is a really stellar washed rind goat's cheese -- more German than Belgian only in that the wash for the rind is Celebrator, a German Doppelbock. The cheese itself is less pure and self-conscious than most German cheeses, a distinction that can also been seen between German and Belgian beers.

We'll have veal birds braised in Matt's own Belgian Blonde ale: A well-seasoned forcemeat of Sweegrass's ground veal and Thompson Farm's pork wrapped with proscuitto and pounded scallops of veal (the veal for the scallops also from Sweetgrass), browned thoroughly and braised gently in the heavenly summer brew that will also accompany the dinner. I'm sure that a bit of cured local ham or bacon would easily rival the proscuitto. In fact, Sweetgrass's pigs feed on acorns from the oaks in their pastures (think Serrano ham), even though they receive much of their nourishment from whey left over from cheesemaking.

... served with a potato gratin (potatoes are not local this time of year) made with Kurtz and Sons or Sparkman's milk, SGD cheeses, and homemade creme fraiche. If we'd really planned well, we could have used heavy cream from Full Circle Farm for the creme fraiche.

... and... Ms. Martha's tiny ladyfinger field peas.

For desert, a fig clafouti made with figs from Turkey Hill, milk from Kurtz and Sons, Tupelo honey, and eggs from Ladybird Organics. I may offer some Tupelo honey-sweetened creme fraiche alongside.