Maters!

I just had my first tomato sandwich of the year. I just wish that it had been "Rooster maters".

"Rooster" as he is called, used to bring "maters" to sell when I had my little shop in Raymond. People would come in and specifically be looking for "Rooster maters" because he grew the best. I sold several hundred pounds of tomatoes for Rooster the three years I was in business.

When I went to the Tomato Festival in Crystal Springs this morning, I fully expected Rooster to be there. I was looking around for him and called him up on my cell. I did get in touch with him, but unfortunately, his "maters" came in early and not good. He's been through a divorce and problems with custody of a child, and just isn't into farming this year. Needless to say, I didn't get my "Rooster maters" that I expected.

I can remember well the days that Rooster would call me: "Ms. D__, how many buckets of maters you need today?" When they were coming in good, I'd get 3 or 4 buckets, which weighed about 25 pounds each, and I could pretty much sell 100 pounds of tomatoes within a couple of days. The season for "real" tomatoes isn't long. Yes, folks that have garden tomatoes harvest up till frost, but when you are dealing with tomatoes coming in from a farmer that has a few hundred plants all coming in at the same time, well, enjoy it while you can.

If I didn't sell them, I would put them up in the freezer myself. I did many a bag of tomatoes. Some plain, some with fresh basil and oregano from my little gardens in front of my shop. Just writing about it makes me sad and miss my place.

So, anyway...before I get all nostalgic about the fact that I couldn't make it as a small business, let me post another pic from the Tomato Festival in Crystal Springs.

There is no tomato that you can buy in a grocery store that compares to a "real" tomato grown locally with no gassing for color, no storage time, literally straight from the field.

Enjoy them while you can!

Here we go round the Mulberry bush!!!

Have you ever had one??

I have memories of climbing the mulberry tree out by my Grandmother Reynolds' house. I don't remember being stained by the berries like I was today when I picked some to take to my Mom in the hospital. She was so surprised. She said it had been years since she had a mulberry.

You don't see many of them these days. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe people consider them worthless trees and cut them down? They aren't ugly trees. Nice, big green leaves. I can't say I noticed when it bloomed, so the bloom must not be very showy, but it obviously had to bloom or there wouldn't be fruit as there is now.

It looks a lot like a blackberry or dewberry, but is much sweeter. The fact that it grows on a tree is what facinates me.

My Mom told me they used to paint their fingernails with mulberries. She did admit that it was hard to do without getting their fingers covered with the juice.

Ya think???

As I was picking them I got stained like you can't believe. Of course I was eating as I was trying to get pics, but still...

I'm just glad my friend has a mulberry bush (which is actually a small tree) so that I could give my Mom a little taste of nostalgia today.

Even though after picking a few, it looks like I'm leaving a crime scene...

So, have you ever had a mulberry? Just curious...

1st Annual MRBA Picnic

The MRBA gang.

The Grillmeister

Old Bopper & Blues4You

The Banner.....and pictures being taken of the banner by Cardinallady, Parrotmom & Old Bopper

Ok, I'm having trouble labeling pics, but we've got Ace, me and The Boss; Cardinallady tending her vegetables, little Jojo and his big sis, the birthday girl, Jazz in their fab sunglasses.

We had more food than we could eat!


MsRamona and Sprout (from the backside)

Candlefly or Moth? What do you call it?

So, I was out on the porch the other morning and saw the most unusual candlefly I had ever seen. For those of you who are not from the South, a candlefly is what we call a moth.

It was so incredibly perfect with its markings, I felt compelled to research it. I found a cool website for butterfly and moth identification and it is a Clymene moth, in the Tiger moth family. I even found a site where a woman had seen one outside her church and though she had seen a sign.

Thus, the upside-down picture:

Now, do you get why she thought she was seeing a "sign"? I totally get it.

So, anyway, a while later, I was back out on the porch and our resident anole, CT (so named due to the crooked tail), came running across the porch.

He stopped in the little patch of shade just under the post where this lovely candlefly was resting. About the time I said "Oh no!! CT, don't do it!" (like a lizard can understand me), he pounced!!

Ok, so at this point, you can see that the Clymene has an orange hindwing. Because when CT got him, he was upside down in his mouth.

Let's just say it's nature at work, okay?

For more information on the Clymene moth: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3677

I am curious as to who refers to moths as "candleflies". I know a couple of my co-workers who are not Southern bred had no idea what I was talking about when I said it.

Have you ever heard that term?

The cutest little things

Well, my little batch of babies is going to their new home tomorrow. I'm going to miss them, but it's time. They are pretty much running all over the house, and it's time for me to start working on the next batch. Yes, that's right, I never posted a blog about it, but Junior popped the first week of May, and her's are in my closet with eyes just about to open. I've got to start working on socializing them. They may be a little harder since every time Jr. catches me trying to pet them she growls ferociously and I'm afraid she'll move them out. Maybe not. Tammy Faye didn't.

Thankfully, it appears lil sis has found homes for this batch, too. Bless her. Now, if I can just catch TF and Jr.! That's the real challenge. I can't get within 10 feet of them without them bolting through the catdoor. hmmm, maybe if I had someone outside with a cage open on the ledge of the catdoor... may have to try something like that.

Anyway, my first batch of babies are just as cute as they can be and I've enjoyed them, but it's time.

When kneecaps misbehave...

It ain't pretty. Yes, this is an actual picture of what my knee looked like within a few hours after the "incident"

Do you know what it's like to be walking along, I'll admit walking at a brisk pace, but nothing out of the ordinary, and suddenly, without warning, your knee just absolutely gives way? You have no knee. It doesn't exist. Well, let me tell you what happens. You end up on the floor. Crying (or cussing as was the case with me). Yelling "OMG MY F$#$ING KNEECAP JUST FELL OFF AGAIN!!!" or something to that effect.

At first, it doesn't really HURT per se... The nausea factor kicks in a bit when you realize that you've just grabbed a piece of falling body part and put it back where it belongs. Then the fun begins. This one was taken a short time after the "incident".

Then a short time later... it grows...

So anyway, to make a long story shorter, afterward you are writhing in pain and it looks like the pic that I posted at the top of this post.

I took this just a few minutes ago. This is what it looks like right now. I just removed the brace and wraps and you can see that the swelling has now dispersed itself throughout the whole area. Which is a good thing. Being an expert on this subject (since this is the THIRD time this has happened to this knee! ) I know what to expect.

I'll spare you the remaining pics, but suffice it to say, this really stinks. It means I'm back on ice packs and wraps and weeks of braces and a crutch.

Are we having fun yet?!?! LOL!!

Never seen it...

Well, shoot! I had a whole blog post written about the pink locust and blogger ate it. Well, actually the computer locked up and my post disappeared, so I don't know if it was blogger or not.

Anyway, this is a beautiful plant that I want to learn more about.