Muscadines, Passing The Time, And A Serial Killer Cat

Magdaleine Pinceloup de la Grange,  1747.   Jean-Baptiste Perronneau

Doing nothing often leads to the very best of something.

― WINNIE THE POOH 

This summer in South Carolina was brutally hot. Both the garden veggies and I have been miserable. Even with all the bugs and heat, we had the most fruitful garden we ever had. We had months of tomato sandwiches, cucumbers, peppers, 30 pounds of muscadines, and two glorious watermelons. We are still waiting to harvest a bed of sweet potatoes. That'll be ready at the end of October. Our summer was filled with lots of little things. I think that's exactly how a summer should go. The most exciting thing about the garden is our new scary hunting cat, Gerri. I think it's a boy, but I'm not sure. We first saw him in May when I watched him hunt and kill a mole. We see the crime scenes on the walking path. There are feathers, blood, and bodies. We are so happy to have him patrolling the yard. I've seen him 5 times total. Isn't he cute?

The muscadine vine was here when we bought the property and it's very productive. I pick them, wash them, and freeze them in plastic freezer bags. At my leisure, I'll thaw a bag overnight to "juice." We cut each muscadine in half, remove the thick peels, scrape the seeds out, and then blend the pulps. I strain out the pulp and store the juice in the refrigerator. We splash it in our iced hibsicus tea or water. 

I can't think of a single exciting thing to share with you.  We had a really nice summer. I'll leave you with this. Remember the phrase, "passing the time?" In modern times, it's been replaced with this hyper productive, efficient, goal seeking, seize the day type thinking. Passing the time is a bunch of little things that when gathered together become a really beautiful thing. Passing the time used to be a very reasonable thing to do. My mother and I talked about spending hours playing cards with loved ones. You could also pass the time watching TV, reading a book, cuddling, watching birds, shooting the breeze, processing muscadines at the kitchen table, and listening to the local oldies radio station. Passing the time is something I don't want to forget to do. I have two regrets in my life. The first is actually the thousands of sins I've committed in my youth and all the days I spent soiling myself away from God. The second is that I wish I spent more time with my father before he passed. Life was so exciting, and it was so tempting to chase the fun. Looking back, I wish I could sit with him again and watch PBS as we passed the time together. 

I call my mother every week now. I don't want to miss out on hearing about her day and all the little things she has to share. We pass the time chit chatting for awhile. I think the overly scheduled life is a big corporate tactic. The fear is that you are going to miss out on a great life, or you are "wasting time." Life is a bunch of small simple moments spent passing the time. 

Mr. Peasant read the Blue Zones book this summer. One of the Blue Zones (longest lived people) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea called Ikaria. I think this island is the best blue zone in the book because they sleep in until 11:00 am, nap in the afternoon, eat olive plates with hummus, and don't have clocks. They aren't trapped by our modern hyper time management. It goes to show that slow living is a great way to pass the time. I hope you had a quiet beautiful summer. God bless you and thank you for stopping by! 

P.S. The pictures below are of an old historic house in our town. It was next to the alterations shop we went to. Wouldn't you love to pass the time on that porch? Or lay on the grass beyond the arch? 

I love how old houses used daylillies as a border with the lattice covered in vines.