We love the honey shop in La Belle.
This year they are sporting a brand new mural on their outside wall.
The first stop we made was for some orange blossom sweetness and couldn’t resist the marmalade, a new addition this year.
It was the beginning of June and the bees were in residence, feasting on the local grape-seed. This little pipe on the outside,
leads straight into the hive on the inside,
Where the bees gather to do their work.
We have grape-seed in our garden,
which we allow friends to harvest for their parrot who loves to chew on the fruit putting him in the mood for love, or so his owner says!
“It’s that time of year when he wants to go and look for a mate…”
Shame he’s a caged bird.
“He’s very happy though,” she responds to my concern, “he chatters and preens and eats the fruit.”
He is celebrating the early summer and so am I.
Gradually the residents of Turkey Creek are leaving for cooler climes and our street is beginning to feel very sleepy.
Palm trees flourish in the Florida climate and stilted houses rest quietly behind the lush and flowering bushes staying cool in their protective shade.
I have a mango tree full of fruit that may ripen by the time we leave,
Our neighbors told us that if we wait the squirrels will get them first, so we took our fruit picker and harvested a few,
leaving them to ripen inside, which they did…
…all at once!
I later learned to put half of them in the fridge to slow the process and in the meantime I made mango salsa!
with cucumbers, onions, cilantro and lemon juice, and packaged it up into small containers to share with those who are left on the street to brave the summer heat.
It makes a fresh and tangy addition to every meal!
Our avocado tree has been pruned and I can no longer watch them ripen on the branches like I did from my office window last year. There are a few lurking high up in the leaves but there won’t be the abundance .
Bananas are everywhere though and we machete’d three large bunches off one of our trees,
after eating my fill of the creamy fruits that ripened in stages, I made some banana nut bread using my favorite recipe from The Plantation Cookbook,
and used up the over ripe fruits.
Blossoms shine lightly against the blue of the afternoon sky,
looking cool and belying the brutal heat,
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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