Near the sea, we forget to count the days

Yes – that’s true.  I’ve mentioned that, for a while, we lived in Galveston.  We had a house on the west-end and on a bayside canal.  And, I miss it still every day.  Now, I live close to a river.  Not the same.  No briny air.  No pounding surf.  No calling seagulls.  And, no interesting things to see.  Rivers, creeks, lakes – all those things – are pretty enough but they are boring 99.6% of the time.

When I lived there, I walked down to the beach every day.  It was a calming, soul relaxing exercise.  And, I never knew exactly what I might find.  One day, there were oranges.  Oranges as far as I could see, washed up on the beach.  Really weird.  I read later that several crates of oranges had washed off a ship and come ashore.  The ickiest was the swarm (cell, pipe, or an array - odd since, they are a form of fish, but they are never considered a school – useless info file) of eels.  Evidently they had been caught in a strong tide and washed ashore.  They weren’t all dead and some were wiggling around the beach.  However, after walking a few steps, hopping over eels, I decided to come again another day.  In the spring the Portuguese Man-of-War washed ashore – must avoid those, even on land they still sting.  Land crabs raced all over the beach along with the Sanderlings.  Nice.

I love weather at the seaside although sometimes the wind got to be pushy at best and screamingly annoying at worst.  Still, fog, rain, sunshine – it was all good.

Although this option wasn’t so pleasant.  Aftermath of Hurricane Alicia in 1983 –

Pelicans have made a big comeback.  The fishermen on our canal hated it when they came swimming or flying by as it sent the fish hurrying the opposite direction.

At the beach there is always something to see, like

Castles

and flowers

TX Beach Primrose

I’m not sure what this is but

It’s all metal and had the

Number 53 on it.

Very cool driftwood

I always think I need to
take something like this home
but I haven’t figured out how yet.

 Shrimpers

and coconuts

and shark’s teeth

 and sea beans

 and fish scales

and odd things

Oh – and …….

Shells

From long ago to now, I still cannot go to the beach without bringing something back.  I do miss it!

Take care

material consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat

First of all – I hope all the Mommies out there had a very happy Mother’s Day yesterday.  I did.

I went into Katy and spent the afternoon with my youngest daughter and grandson.  We went out to lunch at Pho 3D and then we went over to the 99 Ranch Market.

I had heard Shannon talk about the market several times and was curious.  Such an interesting place!  Full of different and unusual things!  I think we spent a couple of hours there just looking at food.  The 99 Ranch Market is 99.9% oriental food.  The remaining 1/10% is a short isle of English, American, and Hispanic choices. 

First of all, these are only a few of the items that caught my attention but I didn't want to go on and on and on for a really long time.  Some the items I saw,  I have no idea what they are but, I like the packaging.  And, I did like many of the Sake bottles.

I really liked the various mushrooms (of which there were many different types).  They're very cute!

Tofu, or bean curd, is a food cultivated by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks.  Of course, I’ve seen tofu before, however I’d never seen it in liquid form and you seem to have a choice – white or green.  I like the green one, it's pretty.

Red Salted Eggs are duck eggs that are soaked in brine, packed in damp, salted charcoal or covered with a thick layer of salted charcoal paste.  They wind up with a briny aroma, a gelatin-like egg white and a firm-textured, round yolk that is bright orange-red in color. They are boiled or steamed before eaten.  They have a red coating to distinguish them from normal duck eggs.  

Jackfruit a sweet mild flavor fruit used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, or mixed with shaved ice.  And, by the way, this is the largest fruit that grown on a tree.

Nagaimo is a nutrient-rich tuber than can be cooked like a potato. Its texture is crunchy and somewhat sticky.

Taro is also like a potato but, has a nuttier, richer, and more complex taste overall. Compared to a white potato, it has three times the amount of fiber, and is also a rich source of potassium, iron, vitamin C, and vitamin A.

I did like the name of this - Forbidden Rice.  It’s one type of black rice, which turns to a deep purple when it is cooked. Sounds good but I couldn’t find out why it’s “forbidden”.

Durian is a sweet and buttery fruit with very little juice. Durian can be eaten fresh or used to make various types of desserts.  It’s actually known for its very strong, somewhat unpleasant smell, so much so, it is banned from most public places in Southeast Asia, including hospitals and trains. 

Now, I’ve always been told everything that grows and lives in the ocean is edible if prepared correctly.  And, I’ve had crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops, all kinds of fish, squid, octopus, conch, lobster, oysters, seaweed.  However, I have to say I’ve never had jellyfish.  (Shannon is holding a package of instant jellyfish.)  Or cooked squid balls (and actually, that’s squid meat rolled into balls – don’t be naughty).  Or squid tentacles, black sea cucumber or bbq eel.  You can get all that at the market along with fish heads (just the head).  Still, I am pretty adventurous but I might be better off trying something prior to know what it actually is.

Then, there were chicken feet (yes, I’ve seen those before but these were really big chicken feet – like as big as my hand big), boneless duck feet, and pig uterus.  Maybe not.

Ice Cream – I have a hard time with taro (which I’ve had before as a vegetable) or avocado as ice cream.  I’m thinking Bluebell doesn’t make those kinds.

Grass jelly is a brown-black jelly made from a mint-like herb, Mesona Chinensis. Grass jelly is also known as chin chow or divine grass. It is a popular dessert in East Asia, normally eaten in jelly form or drunk as a beverage.

And then there was the bakery.  Such pretty cakes, torts, sweet pastries.  I was bad – bought four different pastries (but I did share them with Shannon!!!).

Take care

OK - just one more.  And we worry when the okra gets big .......

Chinese Okra

Outside stuff

I’ve spent the past several weeks outside working to get the yard in it’s “pulled together” state.  I work like a wild woman March to June because with June comes really truly summer.  Summer here is usually hotter than the hinges of hell. 

So, do you ever wonder where certain descriptive terms come from – “hotter than the hinges of hell”.  I’m pretty sure no living person has any idea even IF there are hinges on hells door and much less if they are hot or no – could be freezing cold.  One source says “Colloquialism of the American South, "Hotter than Hell's Hinges" is the ultimate superlative for a subjective judgement of heat.”  Hmmmmm interesting though it still doesn’t really tell us anything.  Fact for the useless info file.

Oops, side-tracked there.  By the time June rolls around, it is usually much to hot and humid, for me at least, to work outside.  I mean, it’s not unusual in June to walk out at 6am and already have the temperature sitting at 80° with 90% humidity.   So, I’ve been working at getting flowerbeds cleaned out, things labeled, things planted, things trimmed, weeds pulled, and basically to a point where I don’t have to worry with it quite so often.

One of the things I did today was to pull up the squash plants.  Sadly, they had been attacked by the perfidious squash bug.  I did get one nice sized spaghetti squash, so not all was lost.  Anyway, I needed the space for something else.

While working, Morgan, who was sitting in the yard keeping an eye on the dastardly squirrels, gave a yip and ran inside.  Hmmm – bee bite maybe.  A few minutes later she came to the door, looked out cautiously and ran over to me.  I was sitting in the grass getting ready to plant Milkweed.  She came right up close, looked me in the eye and waited.  This is her way of telling me she’s going inside and not coming back out.  Which she did.

In between, getting the yard settled, I’ve been busy with all sorts of other things.  I believe I’m mentioned that I’m a member of the Wharton Garden Club.  I joined in 2005, shortly after moving to Wharton.  In the 13 (omigod, that just can’t be right!) …. In the past 13 years it’s grown from a small group to a very large group of men and women interested in gardening.  We have speakers that talk on different topics.  Take field trips.  And, once a year have our fundraiser – a plant sale.  Many of the members start months in advance, potting up plants from their yard for this sale.  This year our sale was held last Saturday. 

It was very successful with many, many dozens of plants for sale then sold and only a very few left when all was done.  I did swear that I WAS NOT going to come home with a car full of plants.  (My yard goals this year included the promise of “No New Flowerbeds … No Enlarging Existing Flowerbeds … No more Potted Plants.”  OK that may have been completely unrealistic although I haven’t enlarged or made any new flowerbeds (2 out of three’s not too bad).  And – I was sort of successful – came home with only six plants of which 3 had to find a home in the ground; the remainder staying in pots.  (I shall probably be complaining about those additional potted plants come next November and I have to move them inside.)

My job during the plant sale was to be available to answer questions, which mostly I could. 

Then, this week we had our May meeting.  Ta-Da! - I was the speaker.  And, I was completely not ready.  Never mind that I’ve known for a year that I’d be doing the program in May.  I tend to work on it later rather than sooner.  Still, I’m pretty comfortable giving talks on plants – my topic was “things that survived”, that is survived the 2017/2018 year of tornado, hot and dry summer, flood, more hot summer, snow, and ice – so I talked about several plants that surprised me by not dying, their usefulness and benefits.  No one threw rotten tomatoes or booed, so I guess it went well enough.

How’s things with you?

Take care