Musings

We spent the day on and (mostly) near the beach. We got out early to enjoy that low-angle light, and it’s a good thing—already almost HOT by 8:30 am!

Circling in the car behind the dunes traveling from one place to another, we found these large bloom clusters; I have no idea what they are.

Late in the day, we found this lovely juxtaposition of light and shadow, shapes and colors.

On a late-day beach wander, we found this sea-denizen, or its fading carcass. Such striking, amazing colors!

Posted at 9:56 PM | 2 Comments »

The title is apt for our day; we did cover some ground. We also kinda went underground through this tunnel. I could not even read the last line of the sign “No trucks except standard height…” because, irony of ironies, truck-roofs had so damaged it that the letters have been bashed to near-oblivion.

We also went through tunnels of trees. The green is beginning to pop. (Apologies for the insect grease.)

Then we made it to the ocean! Yay, Atlantic! Substantial marine layer for after noon…. Thanks, K!

Southbound, we dodged some serious traffic, as the Day-tone-uh race (rrrrrrrr) was underway as we slipped south past it, keeping thousands of vehicles in actual parking lots and not out on the roads. Above we could see the Wingfoot One, but without the customary Goodyear name…and instead a hashtag advertising a Goodyear ad-video that will premier tomorrow.

Safely past the motor mecca, we headed for a place that advertised it’s fine view. Walking through the parking lot, we were glad we found a regular space, as apparently handicapped vehicles get special avian…attention…the kind that can damage the paint job.

Turns out the restaurant gave us seats to a terrific sunset show, and decent enough food. Won’t go back, but it was perfect for this evening.

Tired, we reached our destination. Yawn. G’night.

Posted at 9:08 PM | Comments Off on Covered some ground

Rural small towns in the Deep South: you will find churches, but not usually this large and fancy.

You will also find evidence that there used to be more buildings.

Go far enough south, and you will see Spanish moss (not a moss at all) festooning the trees, often oaks.

Monocropping trends towards trees and…

…cotton (decorative sample). Also pecans and sometimes peanuts (neither pictured).

The soils tend to be sandy, sometimes nearly white. You may see horse hoofprints.

And you know you’re in a small town when the restaurant puts the game to keep the kids occupied out in the street.

* (Chinese) Happy New Year!

Posted at 9:05 PM | Comments Off on Gung Hei Fat Choi!

Spring is arriving. I also have seen several cherries/plums in bloom around town. And camellias. Seems too early for the woody shrubs! Bulbs, yes….

Posted at 6:43 PM | Comments Off on Spring blossoming

My valentine and I are both mushroom fans. So I created this menu: big mushroom sauté, marinated baked chicken, pot of rice vaguely pilafed, radish side.

Here’s the marinade for the chicken: chopped garlic and mint, lemon zest, fresh-ground black pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt. Also spooned it over the chicken while it was baking (twice). Put the marinated chicken on halved green onions (more fussy than my usual cooking style), with a few mint leaves—both to flavor the meat from below. Added the lemon slices a third of the way through the baking.

The mushrooms…sliced, sautéed in butter with a bit of salt—oh so simple. Added some chopped garlic and a few of the cooked mushies (and salt, duh) to the rice as it cooked. Added sliced green onion tops to the rice a minute before it was ready—and let it steam for a few minutes after the fire was off. Just put the salted, halved radishes in the microwave for a bit, presto!

Happy Val-Day!

Yes, it was yummy. Yes, there are leftovers for tomorrow. Chef is smiling for two lovely reasons!

Posted at 8:37 PM | Comments Off on So French, my Valentine commented

Among today’s errands, we went to a mega-store of international grocery products. This is one product I saw in a locked glass case. No price. I decided not to ask. Not sure how much English the vendor had, anyway; in hindsight, probably enough for prices.

Our next stop was to de-grime-ify the Prime coach. Love this place. There are stations where you vacuum and where you swab the exterior with big, wet, soapy long-handled brushes. All provided. Then, you go to the machine that takes your credit card and pay for as many chemical additives you want to add to the basic 4-dollar wash and dry. And fold in the side mirrors and put the tranny in neutral before entering.

Neutral is tricky to hit in this vehicle, not sure why. And the in-folded mirrors were extended by the whirling swabbing, cleaning, rubbery fingers and brushes by half-way through the Tunnel of Clean-a-tion.

Learning a bit about superionic water, so unintuitive to me when I read that it conducts electricity like a metal. Apparently, the asymmetrical magnetic fields of Neptune and Uranus may well be explained by superionic water. I live a sheltered life to just be learning about this NOW?

Posted at 8:01 PM | Comments Off on Is what it is

Martini-lunch day…

…celebrating my FIL’s 92nd birthday.

Posted at 6:59 PM | Comments Off on Salud!

This story-of-the-day’s-walk is self explanatory and has no plot: Look! A Dekay’s brown snake! Right there!

The other story takes longer to write although I took it in in about three glances. I have no picture* for it—too scary-sad for my personal taste. We were walking down a side street—no traffic, and the road was smoother than the sidewalks. And I saw up ahead lots of small pieces of broken, rotten branches. I said, oooooh, I’m not walking right there; looks like that tree is shedding! Then I realized that the small black car parked along the curb had four star-breaks in the windshield—thankfully, not broken all the way. But.

* In the kale-substitute photo, I quite how the droplets are lensing the sky above….

Posted at 6:58 PM | Comments Off on No moguls here

Now that we’ve plowed through “Peaky Blinders” (did not expect to enjoy it so much), we tried “Britannia” (nope; too…trite?), and now we’re sampling “Victoria.” Several times we’ve seen the notation “faint voices” in the subtitles…so poetic.

Vague, indistinct, pale. Synonyms of faint.

Also, foggy, cloudy?

Posted at 8:35 PM | Comments Off on Faint voices

Today’s beautiful is decorated, glazed, pottery garden ball, decorated with stylized peacock-feather eyes. They mimic leaves and vegetation, no?

The mundane was walking two streets that workmen had been busy along—digging around every utility pole. Looks like they were digging below the ground surface to reveal and examine and maintain the bases of the poles. They are good-sized (to carry the lines along the street), and brownish, like they’re impregnated with tarry compounds. Yet, below ground, some were fine, others were shaved we assumed because the “wood” surface-layers were no longer undamaged, others had a rotten layer that the workers removed. We could not tell how the poles would be rehabilitated. Depending on the weather, maybe I’ll recheck tomorrow. BTW, I thought the brown paper was to protect the above-ground pole from being…tarred (or swabbed with whatever they’ll apply).

And that is today’s story.

Posted at 7:56 PM | Comments Off on Beautiful, then mundane