Milestone

Well, I keep being reminded that it is anyway. A half century. 50 years. Ok, I made it this far. What next?? I'm overweight, my hair is falling out, having hot flashes (or power surges, if you will) and have too many cats. Oh well. Being 50 is better than the alternative, right??

Testing the BB

This is my first attempt at posting to my blog from my Blackberry. I have been very negligent lately in my posting, just haven't been inspired, but am feeling the need to write a bit. So, I guess the drought is over. Literally. It's been raining for days.

I just watched a show on the Create channel (one of the PBS stations I get now) about the Cayman Islands. Good memories of my visits there, but wondering if I'll ever have the chance to go back. Maybe...

I have Ringo laying on my leg with his front leg pinning little JB down. JB's tail is flopping up and down and is exciting TJ, who is on the floor beside the chair. I'm wishing I knew how to take a picture and upload it with this device. Need to figure that out next. Now to see if this posts.

Andy Warhol....Are you KIDDING me??

I had no idea.

That is, I had no idea that Andy Warhol was "in" to cats.

My friends just got back from their vacation at the Mensa Convention they always go to and the one this year was in Pittsburg, PA. I have been Ghost-sitting (friend's cat) for the past few years when they go on their adventures. They usually bring me something back as a happy, or "Thank You", if you will, when I "Ghost-sit". Last year they went to Denver and they brought me a fabulous necklace with a bear claw symbol and turquoise inlay. They go to the Labor Day festivities in New Orleans every year and last year brought me a pink tank top that says "I want to be Barbie, the B---- has Everything". This is the kind of guys they are. So, anyway, this year, they went to the Mensa Convention in Pittsburg and they went to the Andy Warhol Museum. I had NO IDEA that Andy Warhol was in to cats!!!

I'm THRILLED, to say the least, to get this book they brought me. It's called "CATS, CATS, CATS" and it contains a lot of drawings and quotes by Warhol. The cool thing is that, as I'm reading it, I can SOOOOO relate to what he's saying!!

"It's all in your attitude" YA THINK???

"What makes a person spend time being sad, when they could be happy?" Good question.

"People, I think, are the only things that know how to take more space than the space they're actually in."

Was Warhol a genious, or what??

He may have been defined as a genious later in life, but, I think his work prior to becoming famous for his Campbell's Soup cans and Marilyn speaks volumes.

"It's not what you are...its what they think you are".

Hey, that's my motto!

I love this one. "You have to be willing to get happy about nothing."

That is SO true.

I've already read thru the book and am looking forward to going thru it again. I'm also want to do some research into Warhol and his "cats". This book seems to indicate he had 25, all named "Sam".

It'll be interesting to see what I can find out.

And, I'm SURE you'll be subjected to more quotes from the book as the mood strikes me.

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?