next door to paradise

“I saw my first porno when I was fourteen years old and all I could think was ‘how unsanitary.’”–Anonymous caller on the 105.9FM drunk dial hotline

We visited an Asian grocery in North Miami Beach on Tuesday. They were stocked up with moon cakes for the coming Chinese Moon Festival on October 3rd. Moon cakes come in a lot of varieties and are delicious. These particular cakes are red bean paste and duck egg yolk. Midge brought a bunch back from Taiwan several years ago and I’ve been craving them ever since.

I knew it, but I just needed to be reminded of it. Entropy is a bitch. After six years of faithful service, our pool pump died. We’re getting it replaced this week. Either that or start serving up 10 or 15 thousand gallons of algae soup.

They are coming to install a new AC system on our house today. Not thrilled about the expense, although there is a fairly substantial federal tax credit and energy savings that will offset some of the cost. Let’s see–pool pump, hot water heater, washer, dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, microwave, disposal, windows, roof and, now, AC. What have we not replaced? Ah, the joys of buying a 30-year old house.

Cognitive dissonance has a foothold in South Florida. I saw a couple of bumperstickers on an Eighties model beater that serve as evidence: On the left, “Don’t mess with Texas” and on the right, “Global warming is so uncool.”

I bought Midge a hard hat today, so she can pull weeds underneath coconut trees.

My Chinese-Jamaican neighbor gave me about ten pounds of longans, a Chinese relative of the lychee, in exchange for the many surplus coconuts I’ve given him. Many of those coconuts have been planted on his Lake Okeechobee property where these longans grow. Longans have a delicious flavor that is hard to describe–a little bit of white grape and pear with a slight floral taste and the tiniest hint of pearl onion. We may eat them all before the weekend is over.

Sometimes in South Florida, there is something sweet and musky in the air, a little like old leather and frankincense. You can smell it more often in the evenings and after it rains. My guess is it’s the odor of mouldering palm fronds. It always brings back memories of nights in Jamaica.

Heaven moved closer to Earth: Tijuana Flats, the excellent Mexican restaurant, now has a location within five miles of our house. On the downside, the “megajuana” refried bean chimichanga, guacamole, queso and chips I just ate may have ripped something internally.

My strange, little wife left her earrings outside in the cactus planter. Now I have one more place to check for abandoned earrings.