Saturday, July 31, 2004

Move over, moon, between the orange and the blue (see post below) we get a pushy sun burning through the early fog.

Yet another Saturday morning foraging for L’Etoile…

Is it tedious to get up at dawn every week to go to the Market?
No. (I get to see the sun rise; see photo below.)

a dramatic awakening Posted by Hello
Is it lonely walking around and around the Square with that rickety old thing that some like to call a red wagon?
No. (I meet more people at the Market than I do all week elsewhere in Madison. The Square is overrun by faculty types. Students drag in as well, but they normally get there toward the close of the morning, when my own work is done.)

Blogger "B" makes a Market appearance Posted by Hello
Do I stock up on too many fruits and vegetables when I shop for myself at the Market (a common complaint)?
No. I stock up on too many flowers. I’ve encountered a lot of purple and yellow lately and so I was tempted by the flowers pictured below. But before I could even dig into the purse, I noticed that I already was the proud owner of another bouquet. Actually three.

purple & yellow: definitely this week's colors Posted by Hello

three vases for one table? Posted by Hello
There’s also the problem of too much honey. When I was told by Ms. Bee Charmer that she now had the “champagne of honeys” (made from the black locust flower) I could not resist. It can now join the others on my cupboard shelf: acacia honey, buckwheat honey, forest flower honey, lavender honey and rosemary honey. What do I do with all that honey??? Tory, L’Etoile’s Chef de Cuisine, suggested I make honey-based vinaigrettes. Okay, that will use about a spoonful a week. Chef Odessa pushed for honey with Darjeeling tea. Too sweet! My grandmother would pour honey over all the berries she served for dessert. That’s harder to do when you’re like me, nibbling your way, all day long, through the containers of fruit in the fridge. For now, let’s just say I have a wonderful collection of honeys to show off to visitors.

Bee Charmer joins the n.c. parade of honeys Posted by Hello

Even though the lyrics say that the blue moon turns to gold* in reality the orange moon was yesterday, the blue moon is today.

Thanks to my reader pal who found for me the article in Sky & Telescope on the blue moon phenomenon –the modern definition of which is that two full moons appear in the same calendar month. It's likely that everyone but me remembered that the second of those is called the “blue moon.” [The lunar cycle is 29.5 days and so the event is rare; over the next twenty years, there will be a blue moon only 17 times. One such time is today.]

* Blue Moon,
You saw me standing alone…
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold
..