Being All Scientific and Stuff....

   It is my habit of rising at 4am which gives me plenty of time to do a few "inside" household chores before heading outside just before the sun starts to rise above the pines on the far side of the Bayou.  It is during that time that I can do my best "pondering" plus catch a few fish, shrimp or crabs for the noontime meal.  Lately, however, Mark has been overloading us with fish so I have more time to do that thinking.  A couple of days ago, that thinking turned to a full bit of memories and then turned to curiosity as so many of my ponderings do.  I have to check things out to see just how accurate the old memory is.

  The moon was just a tiny, bowl-shaped sliver of silvery white against the dark sky.  I was just admiring the beauty when I heard some of Pop's words rattling around in the memories.  He always used to call this a "dry moon" because that bowl was holding all the rain.  Hmmm...dry moon.  Well, it did seem to hold some truth because we are having a painfully dry couple of weeks.  The garden definitely needs rain.  That was beside the point just now, however, as I was more interested in that dry moon.

  Sure enough, Pop may have been onto something...at least with the name.  According to all I read, this phenomenon happens only a couple of times each year depending on where you live.  It all has to do with the moon's orbit around the earth and the earth's orbit around the sun...AND...the tilt of the earth on its axis.  Yep...scientific stuff going on there.  Anyway, most of the time we see the sliver of the moon in a crescent sort of like a C but when the orbits do their thing and the moon looks like it is heading right down to the horizon, that C becomes more like a U all because of the way the sun illuminates it.  Some folks call it a "wet moon" while other call it a "dry moon" but it is basically for the same reason.  Folklore has it that when the moon is like a bowl, it is holding the rainwater thus giving a dry spell.  So...wet moon or dry moon, that bowlful of water stays put and does the gardens no good.  Folklore can seem confusing when the tales call things opposite names for the same reason.  Still, both agree that the rainy season will come back when the moon (bowl) starts to tilt and the rain spills out and down to earth.  NOW...it makes all the sense in the world...sort of...maybe. 

  Whether any of this holds true scientifically or whether it is purely folklore is yet to be seen but it sure is dry...and Pop said it so it has to be true.  Good enough for me.  So...my ponderance for the day seemed to totally hinge upon memories from so long ago.  Who needs science when you had Pop to teach you these things?!!!

Healing Rains

    The other day, I was surprised by a sudden rain shower.   While in the garden, everything was bright and sunshiny, then a few moments later, I was being drenched.  Raindrops fell with a delightful burst of energy cooling the afternoon heat...but...that sun just kept on shining!  I was caught in the midst of a sun shower.  It felt good.  It felt refreshing.  I felt as happy as the raindrops seemed to be.

  There are a lot of weird little folktales or myths attached to sun showers.  The most commonly heard is that the devil is beating his wife.  That sounds just about right for the devil but why would it be attached to such a lovely sight as the sun shower?  Nope.  Don't like that one.  Another is that a witch is getting married.  Hmmm?  Well, I guess if she wanted to spend the time to conjure up a weather phenomenon just to be crafty on her wedding day, this would suffice but that is purely up to her, I guess.  Then, there is the belief that a sun shower is the harbinger of severe weather to come the next day at the same time of day.  Since we did not receive a bad storm the next day...rain showers...but not severe, that one is discredited, I suppose.  Most of the other tales were all connected to animals getting married...huh...especially fox.  Alrighty, then.  After digging around in the wonderful world of the internet, I finally came across a "good" thing connected to sun showers.  The rains are supposedly healing.  This...I like!

  To be honest, all rains are healing.  The water heals the earth and allows for life to continue.  Without rainfall, all would soon wither and die.  It does not take a phenomenon such as a sun shower to prove this.  There is a scientific explanation, however.  It seems that sun showers occur when a single cloud jumps the gun and moves ahead of the crowd and drops some rain. The angle of the sun is not blocked by the single cloud allowing for a sun shower.  While this is all well and good, it is not as fun as being all magical and stuff!  I think I shall keep with the healing raindrops.

Yet Another Weather Forecaster!

   There are all sorts of pieces of folklore concerning the weather.  One says that the color of the sky can predict the day's weather.  One says that the thickness of the red band on a woolly bear caterpillar tells you how cold a winter is.  Another claims that the migration of fiddler crabs can foretell a hurricane's landfall and strength.  Many others deal with drought, winter's cold, depth of snow, arrival of spring and even if rain will fall within an hour.  Just about any oddity of nature has its own tale and ties to weather.  

  This afternoon, I made a quick hike around the property.  At the bend of the path near the wild persimmon trees (and therein is another winter forecast), I noticed that the Yaupon Trees were loaded with berries.  These are the wild type that grow where they may on our hillside.  While the berries are toxic, I use the leaves in tisanes so it pays for me to leave them be.  It was those berries that took me aback, however.  In the past, the berries have not ripened until late October or even into November but here were some bright red berries. Why so early this year?  I pondered the matter and decided that there had to be some tale attached to the occurrence.

  Sure enough, when I checked "folklore about yaupon", several tales came up.  Some were tied to the toxicity of the berries and did not interest me but one did pertain to the weather.  "If Yaupon berries ripen early, it is a sign that winter will soon follow and be abnormally harsh."  Well, now!  "Abnormally harsh"...does not sound right for this far south but perhaps we are due for a winter.  Honestly, we have not had one in several years.  

  I mulled over the fact about the berries then thought of the rats that I have been battling in the greenhouse.  Why have they moved indoors and why the extreme hoarding of seeds and bedding?  The woodpeckers and squirrels have been busy, too. Mama Squirrel has added extra padding to her nest and has been pulling hickory nuts and acorns to add beneath the lining. She is going to be set for winter.  The woodpeckers have been stashing acorns in crevices of tree bark and between the slats of the garden fence. They, too, are ready to ride out some lean times.  Maybe Son and I should start gathering firewood for the old wood-burning stoves.  We have plenty of foodstuffs to tide us over if the roads get icy but heating during excessive cold depends on our woodpile.  Yep, it may be time to start laying in a stock of firewood. If we believe the berries and the attached folklore and, if, we believe the critters and their habits, perhaps we should be doing the same..  Hmmm...think I better go grab a few of the remaining persimmon seeds and see what the seeds have to say.   Those things have not been wrong yet!

Folklore...Brooms, Sweeping and Spiders!

  Throughout the years, I have be admonished by countless older folks for my sweeping habits.  I admit that I do not keep the tidiest of houses but, in all fairness, the scoldings were never about cleanliness.  I was reprimanded because of a bunch of old wives' tales that, somehow, have stuck around through the ages.  Not that any of it mattered as I find the beliefs amusing, at best.  

  1.  "Do not sweep dirt out the front door after dark!  You will be sweeping away a friendship!"

  2.  "Never sweep after dusk or you will have a stranger knocking at your door within the hour!"

   3.  "Always sweep dirt OUT the back door but use a dustpan to sweep the dirt toward the inside at the front door.  If you do it the opposite direction, you will be "sweeping" away any money that you made during the day!"

  4.  "Never step over a fallen broom as it will bring bad luck!  To bring good luck, pick up the broom and stand it upside-down!"

  5.  "Stand a broom upside-down and you will be married before the year is out!"

  6.  "If you are sweeping and someone tracks in more dirt, never beat them with your broom or you will be in jail before the week is done!"

  Ok, so several of these are more broom-related than the actual sweeping but you get the idea that I have heard a lot about my housekeeping skills.  I won't even go into the comments about dog and cat hair on the furniture.  (Hey, I have critters.  Don't like it...go home.)  

  This evening, when I was sweeping out the entry way (yes, after dark and sweeping outward not inward), I noticed a slight movement near the doormat.  This was an indoor mat so I was curious as to what was creepy-crawling inside my house. Dropping to my knees, a spider stopped to say hello!  A cute, albeit large (for this type) jumping spider greeted me and convinced me to stop my cleaning.  My very own idea says to leave spiders in the house and never squish them!  There are only a few spiders that I will actually kill.  Brown recluses and those of the widows are on that list.  I deem all others as friends that keep the pests at bay.  With all of the folklore attached to brooms and sweeping, I had to giggle that a jumping spider may have just saved me from being cursed!

  As for the aforementioned admonishments...1.  I sweep any time dirt is on the floor.  2.  Strangers (and most others) are afraid to come to the Bayou after dark.  3.  Money is not of too much importance to me.  4.  Commonsense..Stepping over a fallen broom is asking for an accident...pick it up, for goodness sake!  5.  I am already married so right side up or upside down does not matter.  6.  Beating someone with a broom is never a good idea.  Just don't do it no matter how tempted you are!

  Now a bit of folklore about spiders!  If a spider is in your house, you should never, EVER kill it!  Spiders are associated with wealth and killing it will negate the promise of good fortune.  If it is an absolute must to kill the spider, then you must beg its forgiveness prior to smashing the critter.  So forget about smacking that spider with your broom!  In fact, NEVER sweep that spider out the front door after dark with a fallen broom that you have stepped over in the process of running away from said spider!  Leave it be as it may bring untold wealth!

Drippy, Drippy, Drippy!

  Back in October, I was happily munching on the wild persimmons that grow beside the path near the marsh. These little golden blobs are sort of an acquired taste since they can be quite tart or astringent at times. To me, they are perfect.  It was. also, at this time that I cut open the seeds to see the "weather forecast" for the coming winter months.  There were spoons.  For those who are not familiar with this folklore, cut open the seeds and you will find cutlery.  A knife means stabbing cold, a spoon represents snow (or, in our case, rain) and a fork means warm.  I found spoons....lots and lots of spoons.  Nary another utensil showed.  I pondered this.

  Well, so far this winter, we have had rain...lots and lots of rain.  In fact, I think this has to be one of the wettest winters on record for the Deep South.  It has also been warm.  My old wood-burning stove has only been used a handful of times this season.  I have only burned two wheelbarrows of firewood and some of that was more for ambiance than heat.  

  As I write, it is pouring rain once again.  Our temperatures hover around the mid 60s both day and night.  When it is not raining, it is foggy.  Pea soup thick fog blankets the entire Bayou.  The humidity is a stifling to a point that we finally broke down and bought a dehumidifier for the living room.  It works great if you can get past the idea of having to empty the thing.  The "empty" alarm sounds just about every 6 hours....day and night just to keep the indoor humidity a around a 50% level in that one room.  Honestly...when you hear folks down here say "Its not the cold.  It is the humidity." or, in the summer, "It is not the heat.  It is the humidity.", believe us.  We speak the truth.

Persimmon Snacks!

  Along about this time of year, I start to keep watch on the wild persimmon trees that dot the woods around the Bayou.  Late October and early November sees the fruit starting to ripen and, if I am not quick, I will get nary a nibble even though there are dozens of trees.  The quarter-sized fruit goes fast when the possums and coons get a sniff of them ripening.  Each time the old dog and I take a hike, a good handful of the persimmons is a must-have snack. 

  This afternoon's snack provided a dozen or so seeds from the persimmons.  These were brought inside, rinsed and dried.  The seeds had a purpose!  The winter weather forecast was about to be revealed!  The seeds (when split) reveal the type of weather for the next few months...supposedly.  Each year, I carefully split seven or eight of the seeds just out of curiosity.  This is easier said than done, however.  To my imagination, splitting a persimmon seed is akin to splitting a penny.  It is hard to do!  If you are not careful, that splitting can become slicing of the finger!  So...I made things easier.  First, as I mentioned, wash and dry the seeds.  Persimmon seeds directly out of a persimmon are slimy!  Even after their bath, the things are still slippery and hard to hold.  It is a good idea to have a dish towel handy.  Now for my brilliant idea!  Use a pair of sturdy kitchen sheers to trim the edges of the seed.  This helps tremendously!  Trimming the edge gives you a flatter spot to start the knife.  After trimming, pinch the seed between the thumb and forefinger and SLOWLY, CAREFULLY begin slicing.  WATCH THOSE FINGERS!!  Trust me...It is easy to slip here!  Once you get one seed split, it is time to give up on the rest!  Nah, keep going.  You are doing great!  I did nine seeds from four persimmons.  The results show the weather forecast.  Snow?  Sleet?  Cold? Warm?  Inside the seed, you find a quite clear image of cutlery.  Spoons (snow shovels)=snow/rain.  Forks (Pitchfork)=warm.  Knife (spear)=stabbing cold.  Well....

  This year, I found all spoons.  That usually means rain, here in the Deep South, if the folklore rings true.  BUT....looking back since I have been recording this "evidence", we sure have had a LOT of spoons!  Admittedly, there have been a few knives but rarely a fork (even though, one may argue that our winters are warm compared to other folks').  Perhaps, looking at the inside of the seed, just gives us the idea whether the seed is viable.  The "spoon" may simply be the part that will eventually sprout.  This makes more sense as we sure have a lot of baby persimmon trees each year.  Those possums and coons seem to plant lots of seeds.  At least trying to get the seeds gives me a good reason to be munching the fruit!

Where Did Winter Go?

  The "Big Thaw" has come to the Bayou.  After three whole days of cold...at least cold by Bayou standards, our ice has melted and we are looking at weather more usual for the area.  Our cool spells never last more than a few days max, then we are back to rain and warm temperatures.  The ice is a novelty, however, and folks get real excited when they see it.  Most of the time, we have sleet...not snow but it will never fail to be heard "Snow!!! We are getting snow!!"  Nope...ice...we are getting sleet.  There is a vast difference.  Snow is pretty.  Ice is slippery.  Enough said.

  Like I said, the ice started melting this morning and now is a thing of the past...a mere memory that is fast slipping from the mind.  This morning, while on the pier, Mark and I found that our fishing buckets were frozen with about a three inch slab of ice.  Cool!  Ice is one of those things that intrigues me.  Take a liquid, add cold air and you have a solid. In this case, we had a solid with lots of bubbles.  The wind might have had something to do with that since the water was being churned with every gust.  Now, take that solid, add sunshine and you have the liquid back again.  The ice melted and dripped all over the pier boards.

  Tonight sees us much warmer but the rains will come again.  If you recall, my cutting of the persimmon seeds during the end of October revealed spoons...lots of spoons!  I was a tad confused by this as spoons supposedly mean rain or snow by the folklore method of predicting the coming winter.  I was beginning to doubt the veracity of my seeds.  Surely we could not be having THAT much precipitation this winter.  Well, we have.  December saw far above the average and January has exceeded that already.  Spoons do not lie...persimmon seeds do not lie.  I wonder what the rest of January and then February and March have in store for us.  Rain?  Ice?  Why not snow???

Dastardly Devil and Water Witches

  The Bayou has seen its share of precipitation over the past few days and it seems that we are in for a few more days of such sogginess.  The sky stayed dark gray except for one fleeting moment when the sun actually poked its head out to check on things.  Strange thing was that moment happened right in the middle of a heavy downpour!  To get an idea of  just how fleeting it was, by the time I grabbed my camera to get a picture, the clouds had blocked out the sun once again.  Drats! (A photographic attempt was taken through the screen door but did not show the weather phenomenon accurately.  It was that moment of brightness that struck a memory.  "The devil is beating his wife!"  Yep, it is a Southern thing.  In Deep South Mississippi, this has long been the "reasoning" behind the phenomenon of the sun shining while it is raining.  The logic behind the saying is that the evil devil was angry at God for creating beautiful, sunshiny days and, as the devil would do, he took out his anger on his wife.  Her tears fell in the form of raindrops.  So, any time the sun would shine while it was raining, folks would say "The devil is beating his wife again."  The devil's wife must suffer terribly and should consider leaving that abusive marriage!  

  The rain could not keep my cousin and me from the pier, though.  She and I went down between thunderstorms so she could fish a little before heading back to Georgia.  Her weekend here was far too short but she did end it with the catch of a fine redfish.  After she left, I made a last quick trip to the pier to check the old skiff.  It was then that I spied the Water Witches.  A whole water dance of grebes had flown into the Bayou and were hanging out for the drab day.  (Yes, a group of grebes is a water dance!)  Horned Grebes have the unfortunate nickname of "water witches" which, as far as I can tell, stems from the fact that they have red eyes.  To my way of thinking, this is a sad nickname to slap on such a sweet bird.  

  So between the rainstorms, dastardly devil and water witches, it has been one interesting, albeit drab, day.  Come the weekend, I might be wishing this weather was back as we are to see our first bout of cold air hitting the Bayou.  Brr!  Better stock up the woodpile!

Is it true?

The world is filled with myths, old wives' tales, folklore and superstitions.  Some of these are based on fact while others are merely based on fears.  Throughout the years, I have been warned, chided and otherwise advised about so many things that would fall in any one (or more) of the above categories.  At the moment with onset of what appears to be a severe winter for most of the country, I pondered a few of these folklore predictions. There is the superstition that for every foggy morning in August, there will be a snowy day in winter. Now there is a interesting idea.  I wish I would have counted the foggy days in August if there were any.  Our most memorable fogs are usually when the weather is a bit cooler than August which is perhaps our hottest part of summer.  Since I do not recall any foggy August morns, I am supposing we should not look for snow.  I do remember August as being a particularly wet month which was great for the garden!  Then we move on to the old wives' tale about pine cones.  Supposedly, the larger the cone...the colder the winter.  This is another one that we will have to chalk up as a dud.  The squirrels gnawed all of the pine cones before they were mature.  How in the world am I supposed to predict my winter without pine cones?  Early geese migration is another sign of a cold winter.  I do recall seeing a large flock of geese flying into the Bay area way back in the month of August.  At that time, it struck me as being odd.  As a rule, we do not see geese until late November but there they were!  

Now comes the tried and true method of predicting the severity of the coming winter.  Persimmon seeds!  There is a bit of folklore that mentions the cutting of seeds and the type of cutlery found within.  No, I do not mean that you will actually be able to supply your kitchen with all the silverware you need by simply chopping up some seeds but you may be able to decide if you need another blanket or two.  It seems that if you slice a persimmon seed open, there will be an image similar to a fork, knife or spoon found inside.  I decided to test at least that part.  I gathered a dozen or so seeds from under the wild persimmon tree.  With great care, I took out my sharpest knife and proceeded to carve away at that seed.  I would you to know that this was no easy task!  For you folks who have never seen a persimmon seed, they are flat.  Actually, they are about the size of a penny and I do believe they are just as hard!  Now just go try to slice a penny and you will see what I mean.  Anyway, it took several tries before I got the bright idea to trim the edge of the seed case.  Using my kitchen sheers, I snipped at the edge of the seed.  Once that was off, I was able to use the knife to slice the inner portion of the seed.  It was still quite hard so I really had to force the knife.  Finally after ruining six seeds beyond any use, I sliced one quite nicely in half!  Uh, oh.  Not good if I was expecting to be greeted with tidings of a mild winter.  This thing had a spoon shape inside.  That does not bode well for my garden!  You see, the different utensil shapes found inside the seed are supposed to indicate the weather for the upcoming winter.  A fork shows that the winter will be mild.  A knife represents a bitterly cold winter with winds that stab like knives.  A spoon represents the shovel..the kind used in scooping up lots of snow.  I cut three more seeds and found two knives and another spoon.  So, will we have a cold, snowy winter this year?  According to the persimmon seeds we had better gather more firewood!  The cold is coming!

Persimmon seed with the clear image of a spoon inside that indicates a snowy winter!

Actually, if you talk to anyone around here, they will tell you that I have been harping that we are going to have just such a winter.  How did I come up with this idea?  Earlier in the fall, I searched for Woolly Bears.  Those fuzzy red and black caterpillars that are supposed to be able to predict the severity of the winter.  These caterpillars have black bands on either end with a reddish band in the middle.  If that red colored band is narrow, the winter will be harsh.  Every Woolly Bear I found had a very thin band of red. Interestingly enough, the Woolly Bear predictions have proved to be around eighty percent accurate over the past fifty years or so. 

Dragons in the Air!

There are two small (very, very small) garden ponds at my place. They are simply ornamental ponds that serve no logical purpose other than to be a breeding place for the toads and frogs. I try to keep them as clean as possible to prevent mosquito infestation, but at the same time not interfere with other tiny life forms that might growing in there. For example, dragonfly larvae are some of the most beneficial inhabitants that I have found living in the ponds. They keep the ponds clear of mosquito larvae and then as adults, they continue to feed upon so many bugs that cause problems for any gardener.

Dragonflies are of two realms, water and air. Born in the water, they soon move to the air, and what incredible aerialist they are! They can dart quicker than the eye can follow, change direction and even go backwards. I love to see them cloaked in their beautiful colors darting about the garden. Their bodies reflect almost every color imaginable, Flying Jewels!

Folklore has as many twists and turns as the aerial acrobats themselves. Stories have them representing light and happiness, the souls of the dead and, in faerie stories, they were once real dragons that were put under spells. You choose what suits you, I'll just keep them as Flying Jewels..Dragons of the Air.