Full Snow Goose Moon

 

Hey Y'all, 

The Full Snow Goose Moon rises today at 5:08, the sun sets about 5:22, that is pretty close to being in sync. Should be quite a show. 

Paula and I will bundle up on this blue-bird day, so clear and crisp and travel somewhere with a unobstructed view. I wonder what Eddie B is doing this afternoon? He has the best moon watching spot in this part of God's Earth.

Sorry I missed the FMA deadline for December, my bad, that moon caught me middle of finals.

During a trip to the Cajun Prairie in Eunice we were privileged to enjoy a visit with Malcolm Vidrine, one of the Prairie Gurus. Mac recommended that I read George Monbiot's REGENESIS.

This quote from p. 25 from that book:

"Learning about the soil has taught me, to a greater extent than ever before, that we establish our truths from information that's patchy and shallow, beneath which lie realities we scarcely imagine. Widely accepted claims are based on hearsay and myth, while scientific findings, however dramatic and intriguing, are scarcely known beyond a small circle of specialists."

This has been a pretty good read so far, I'm learning much.

11-22-22 I visited Avery Island and Dr. Mr. Garrie Landry to view the Native Soapberrry, Sophora affinis he found growing there in several locations. I was treated to spectacular fall color and a plant looking very much like Pistachio, a close relative. Rick Webb suggested Chinese tallow when I sent him a photo. It was fun to fool the old master. But, Rick also suggested that this "native" is not native to our Avery Island. What??? Charles Allen says native to NE Louisiana clay soils, cultivated elsewhere. Go figger!

My take is that after a cooler than normal and drier than normal fall, our normally weak, washed-out fall color has been intensified to a point that we can do a bit of leaf-peeping ourselves down here on the gulf rim.

11-24-22 Happy TG y'all. My branch of the Forets gathered up at elder child Rachel's home in Cecelia. I am so grateful y'all. 

After an all afternoon drizzle, we arrived home to a full bodied 4.5" toad strangler.

TG Margaret, 2022

 

A Recipe for Dressing and Love (a haibun)

My mother made the dressing, the whole meal actually, but especially the dressing. Only Ballard cornbread mix would do, baked in a cast iron skillet to the perfect shade of brown. Sauté the trinity--onions, celery, bell pepper--in pure, smooth butter. Mix crumbled cornbread with vegetables, a sprinkle of sage, soak in chicken broth. I used vegetable broth instead the year I was vegan, but my children vetoed the change. Nostalgia for Dot's dressing, an original recipe. Today I ask my mom if she remembers the recipe. She doesn't. Whether evidence of memory loss or just the passage of time, I tell her, "It's OK." I open my recipe book, find the handwritten sheet of paper and begin, again.

Her cornbread dressing
mixed with a heart of kindness--
Recipe for love

Margaret Simon, draft

11-25-22 Three day camping trip to Chicot cancelled! P sick with upper respiratory congestion. Voice gone, visit to doc-in-box reversed her downward spiral tho. Good call on my part. 

I walked out to prairie meadow this afternoon to see a small hawk lift off with a rat in tow. Pretty cool stuff y'all.

Lost

By David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

12-7-22 Full moon happened without notice from me. Again, sorry.

David Lee shared this bit of poetry on the edge of COVID-19:

from not buttermilk but scalded milk sky

a splendid sun

spangles the cobwebs

sharpens

maple leaves to shards

of fragmented light

the world released from darkness

by

the unbattening breakthrough

of dewglow

sudden scent of brightness

as if

all the other senses

had pulled in and

stored every unused energy

scintilla

until the sharp light

broke

through their bondage

and now braided with

wowsling sounds of morning

like night creatures

or small winds

moving

through brambles on their way home

to warm nests

 

David Lee

Seaside, Oregon

20 January 2021

Thanks again Dave.

12-11-22 Eddie B sent photo of a collected Louisiana Iris, a normal April bloomer, in full bloom in his yard. Climate confusion y'all.

12-19-22 Eddie B again. reporting a Green Hummingbird feeding on his firecracker plant. Big cold coming so i suggested he get a feeder up to keep winter hummer alive during flower killing cold. Also reported nice Bolide Meteor on 11-17. Instead of normal long tail, this one had a blunt stunted tail, like a shuttle cock. The one Bolide I have experienced in my life was like a giant sparkler, really spectacular. 

 Eddie B is perched on the edge the great swamp but out in the middle of big cane with long views East and West, he gets to enjoy lots of sunsets, sunrisings, moon rises, moon sets, meteor showers, and bird watching, the lucky dog that he is.

12-21-22 Winter Solstice y'all! Celebrate it...

From Braden Doucet, Biology major, recent graduate, favorite student:

"It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling..."

• Aldous Huxley

A New Year gift from David Lee, a brand newly hatched poem-

           Nocturne

Moon Over the Mediterranean

                    January 2023, Benalmadena

The outbuilding, its mist sparkled roof

shining as if hewn from some

gigantic precious stone

waymaking its path for sliding moonlight

and back snagged curtains so the curious night

alurk and await bursts into the room

like a warm, eager to please puppy

Outside the tall palms sentineled

black on the downside, silvery light about face

sleeping parrot laced leaves shimmering

with diamond etched dew purl

hover beneath the first full moon

of the winter’s holy Solstice

in the pale almost starless sky

When I asked Dave if he would allow me to place his poem lovingly in this FMA for your enjoyment, he said:

1-2-23

Hey you Sir Possum,

Sure and why not?  Since many of the folks you send the FMA to are old and very loved friends, who else would I rather see it first?

Have fun in the woods, watch out for ticks.

New quotation (to moi) that hit me squarely in the solar plexus, from Najwa Zekian: "These mountains you are carrying, you are only supposed to climb."

Happy 2023, feliz nuevo ano, abrazos y amor,

dave aka clovis ledbitter

Thanks Dave, we are honored!

1-1-23 thru 1-4-23 Chicot State Park Louisiana. Paula and I spend a grand few days here in the woods. Almost too many trees for cell service, reliable cell service. We hiked, rode our bikes, cooked outside, burned lots of firewood and just plain relaxed. Nearly had the place to ourselves. The name of this FMA comes from the steady flyovers by Snow Geese every day. They were lifting off of some nearby waterbody, gaining altitude, gathering up, small groups into larger groups, it was noisy and fun.

Chicot is pronounced "Sheee-Koe" and is our largest state park, located beautifully at the interface of the pine hills with the Red River Delta with the Cajun Prairie Terrace. Lots happening, mixing and interacting.

I'm out of here. I have a on-line class to get ready for the spanking new semester.

Y'all get out and enjoy the Full Snow Goose Moon. Take your people with you, they are precious and you need to spend more time together. 

peace love possumhugs

BT