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I've spent a lot of time outside today because it was another perfectly perfect day. It is still beyond gorgeous. So much green against a clear blue sky, a breeze making the wisteria leaves do a little flutter dance. The birds have been so busy, singing and eating and probably taking care of babies or waiting for babies to take care of. The cardinals have been bathing in the bird bath and squirrels chitter from tree to tree, talking about whatever it is that squirrels discuss. The confederate jasmine has begun blooming and I can smell its perfume from fifty feet away.

Maurice has followed me around all day, keeping watch over me or being amused by me- I have no idea. But it simply can't be a coincidence that every time I look up from whatever I'm doing outside, the little tiger is around, being so careful not to look at me directly, not to appear interested in the least. She is good company. I remember how the chickens, too, would find me outside and often perch on the garden cart and peck through whatever I had in there to see if any of it was interesting. How I miss their soft, sturdy bodies, the flap of their wings as they fluttered down from a roost. 

I spent some time doing potted plant things. I started out by separating those tiny tomato seedlings and giving them each their own little pots. I seriously doubt that they are going to breed true. Oh well. It's worth a try, right? 

I potted some giant begonia rootlings along with some I already had in a pot and watered them well. I can put begonia pots on the ground now that the chickens are gone. They loved begonias more than almost any other food. I replaced the Swedish ivy in a hanging pot outside that froze in the winter, with more that I'd rooted. I cleared out the bed to the left of the steps off the back porch to plant another jar-full of the firespike I'd rooted over the winter. I picked up some limbs and I trimmed a palm frond that had broken and tidied up some of the hydrangeas. I also cleaned out around a tree in the front yard and the place where Elvis was laid to rest. 

Remember Elvis? God, he was gorgeous. And the best damn rooster ever. 

I pulled more croscomia but not in an orderly fashion, just some here and there. I kicked a few more bamboo and that was enough for today. 

The rose I planted in the garden is budding out beautifully. 

And look at how much my beans have grown! Can't beat those rattlesnake beans. 

We just had a surprise visit from Lily, Lauren and Ms. Magnolia June. They brought their car over for Mr. Moon to work on. It needs work  on something involving transmission fluid, I think. 
"I didn't ask him to do it," Lily told me. "So don't fuss at me."

She's so funny. 
It was sweet to see all of them, even if just for a few moments. I got some wonderful hugs. 

I read something online today that is somewhat pertinent to a subject that got raised in my post yesterday about the Jessie-Vergil family going to Wyoming which is severely politically horrible right now. 
As is Florida although Florida is possibly worse. I don't know. 
But it seems to me that we can't just boycott the states we abhor the politics of. Well, of course people can boycott them if they want. But it seems so much more complex than that. I think of the people in these states who support their families with businesses that are geared towards travelers. Trust me when I say that many of the those people are as Yellow Dog Democrat as any of us are. As left-leaning, human rights supporting as anyone can be. People who are fighting for women's rights, minority rights, LGBTQIA rights. People who love their states, not the politics of them. 

Anyway, Ron DeSantis, the evil demon, has had a hair up his ass about Disney for a long time. Now don't get me wrong. I am not now nor have ever been a big Disney proponent. In fact, I have often bemoaned the fact that the Mouse has fucked up my state in so many ways. However, one thing that I truly have appreciated about them has been their support of the queer community. They were one of the first if not THE first, huge corporation to offer insurance benefits to same-sex partners before same-sex marriage was legal. And despite DeSantis' attempts to tamp down their influence, Disney is doubling down on their support of the LBGTQIA community. 
Is this good for their business? You bet. But does it make me happy to see DeSantis outwitted? 
More than you can know. 

So anyway, that was my little rant. And meanwhile, the Jessie-Vergil family has made it to Wyoming which may have evil politics, but is going to be the place where my grandsons are going to see and experience things they never could have even dreamed of before. 

We all have to deal with these issues the best we can. I suppose that in the end, we have to follow the advice of Jiminy Cricket when he said, "Always let your conscience be your guide."

Amen. 

(God that was corny. Sorry.)

Love...Ms. Moon

Things That Are As Cute As A Speckled Pup. As We Say Around Here

Well, I tried with the Chinaberry tree. The individual blossoms are so tiny that the bloom truly does look like a cloud of pale smokey lilac. It's subtle but it is beautiful. My man keeps threatening to cut that tree down. It loses branches constantly and he has to pick them up before he mows. I won't let him though. My granddaddy had a Chinaberry tree in his front yard in Roseland and an owl would come in to roost every evening when Granny and Granddaddy sat on their front porch and watched the sunset and had their tiny coca-colas or ginger ales in glass bottles. Granddaddy would talk to the owl with whistle words and the owl would answer. It is one of my sweetest memories. 

The knee has been so much better today. My calf was actually bothering me for the first part of the day, probably because of the way I'd been walking to protect the knee, but it too has relaxed and I feel almost normal. I figured the best thing I could do was to just have a normal day with not too much walking but some, and that is what I've done. 

Tomorrow is the day that Jessie and Vergil are getting on a plane with the boys to head to Wyoming to meet up with friends and go cross-country skiing. And of course Levon came down with strep on Monday. He's on antibiotics now and feeling better and Jessie talked the doctor into sending in prescriptions for all of them because the odds are real high they'll all get it and no one wants to have to go to an urgent care in another state to be diagnosed with something they already know they have. So they'll take those with them, just in case. But I had to go see them before they left and so I took the three kid books I'd gotten at Wag over there today. August was still in school but I got to see the other three Weatherfords. We stayed outside and I did not hug them or kiss them. 
I do not want strep. It is a nasty thing.

Levon was feeling almost all better. 

Although it looks like he is hanging by his pants from a fence post, he is not. 

It was nice and cool here today and while everyone else was wearing long sleeves, that was what Levon chose to dress in. We joked about him wearing the same thing but with flip-flops, on his snow skis. That boy does not fear the cold. 
While I was there, I told Levon a story about one time when I was a child about his age and had strep throat and went on an airplane. I was actually just thinking about this the other day. It truly was a formative experience for me and I'm not quite sure why. It was rather horrific which is probably why I remember it. 
My mother had left my father and taken my brother and me down to Roseland to stay with her parents and I am not sure how long we were gone. But my father sent all sorts of affidavits stating that he had quit drinking and was going to AA and so on and so forth and he convinced my mama to take us back to Chattanooga where we had been living. 
I do not remember the details but I was sick when I got on that plane. I was miserable and I'm sure my mother was very worried. One more thing, right? 

Anyway, she had my brother sitting by her as he was the younger of us and I sat across the aisle by a man. I remember he was wearing a suit and reading a newspaper and was quite pleasant to me. This was in the days when people dressed up for flights. The flight attendant brought me some orange juice and I will never forget how that felt going down my throat. Like razors. And then...I vomited it all back up ON THE MAN and I felt terrible and was more embarrassed and ashamed than you can imagine a five-year old being capable of. I think I may have been born with more than my share of guilt and shame. 

But here's the thing- the man was so sweet about it. He did not fuss or get angry. He was calm and comforting. 
I will always remember that and be grateful for the way he reacted. 
And as soon as we got back to Chattanooga, my mother took me to the pediatrician who was a WOMAN, which was quite unusual in 1959. 

Maybe I shouldn't have told Levon that story. 
Oh well. I did. 
It's so odd to me how I feel such a compulsion to tell my grandchildren stories of when I was young. Mostly the cool, fun stuff, but sometimes the hard stuff. Not the real hard stuff, of course, but things like puking on an airplane which, if viewed the right way, could be funny, I suppose. 

I went to Publix and I got to hug Lily there. Can I just stop here and say that hugging Lily is about my favorite thing on this earth? My head fits on her bosom perfectly and I could hold those hugs all day long. I could fall asleep hugging her. I hope I made her feel that way when she was a little girl, hugging me. 
We talked about Easter. She said that she will definitely make the pineapple casserole for our dinner. Hurray! 

Here's one last picture. 

That's what my fully opened wild flame azalea looks like. Isn't it pretty? 

And oh, what the hell. Here's something else I think is pretty.

Naan bread. Last night I made the creamy cashew curried butternut and sweet potato soup that I love so much. Mr. Moon supposedly does not like curry flavor so in order to dull the pain of him being presented with a big bowl of it, I made him naan to go with it. 
He ate the whole bowl of soup and I don't even want to tell you how many naan. 

Tonight- pizza! The dough is rising as we speak. I better go chop up some vegetables. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Well, Damn

I didn't take any pictures today except for one of the bloom in the Chinaberry tree that just did not turn out well, and two of my driver's license for a business thing that Mr. Moon was doing in town. None of those are blog-worthy.

It hasn't been a terrible day but it hasn't been a great one, either. By the time I started making supper last night, I realized that I had rather fucked up my knee. Not a surprise. It was doing that thing where you feel like it's about to give out and you're about to go down. Plus pain, swelling, redness, blah, blah, blah.

Every time I woke up last night it hurt and was up to its same tricks this morning. I was so depressed about it. Not like "clinically" depressed, just sad and frustrated at this newest evidence of aging. Of course, like I said yesterday, this knee has been doing the same thing for many years but it hasn't happened in a long time. And I know there's nothing to be done for it except to rest it and ice it and all that stuff. I found my old knee brace and strapped that bad boy on and hobbled about as I did the bare minimum around here which makes me feel like a useless rag of a person not worth her salt. I kicked a few bamboo (I held on to my walking stick) and picked a few more mulberries and that was about it for the physical portion of my day except for walking out to the garden to see if my cucumbers were coming up and yes, they are! Hurray! We got so much rain last night. It just poured. And it's raining again right now. So at least watering the garden isn't necessary. 

But I will say that my knee feels better this evening than it did earlier today and I don't think it's a major deal. As long as I don't do anything stupid it'll heal up. 

I wish I had more to talk about but I really don't have it in me to discuss another school shooting or Republicans trying to protect children from drag queens while not doing one damn thing about gun control. I have thoughts. 
Trust me. I have thoughts. But you know what they are. What good is it going to do any of us for me to point out the hypocrisy of what's going on in government these days? The deadly hypocrisy. Whether we're talking gun control, or LGBTQ+ rights, or not allowing parents to get the necessary medical treatments for their trans kids, or denying abortions to women, it's about the absolute certainty of it all leading to deaths. 
And I am not talking about embryos here. 

Yeah. I can't. 

It will be interesting to hear what Pence has to say to the Grand Jury about the January 6 thing. "Thing." Haha! "Treasonous uprising" more like it. One would think that he'd be chomping at the bit to testify about a situation in which he very well could have been murdered along with his family in the US Capitol building but no, he's still too far up Trump's butt or...something. I don't know. Who can figure out a guy who's so afraid of his own demonic (I guess) sexual urges that he won't allow himself to be alone in the presence of a woman he is not legally wed to? Eh, he's probably just afraid of being accused of something he did not do which also says a lot about how much he trusts women. 
Of course he may weasel out of testifying. Does he really think that he could be the next Republican candidate for president? 
They're all insane. 

So hey! Here's two pictures from the Gibson celebration from last night that we did not attend. 

Birthday boy enjoying his birthday fancy drink. 

Two beautiful cousins.

Mr. Moon went back to town today. One of the things on his list to do was to get a haircut. I got a text from him saying, "You're husband is bald and he loves you."
Ooh boy. 
He's not quite bald. It's like I told him, "I can feel your hair even if I can't really see it."

Well, he won't have to get another haircut this summer, I'm thinking. Plus, he's still really cute. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Things That Grow In Lloyd

I decided to take a walk this morning. 
Finally. Not only do I desperately need to be more active both for my body and my soul, I also wanted to see what was blooming by the roadside and I was not disappointed. The red clover is out and it is one of my favorites. I have to be honest with you- that shot makes it look like there is an entire field of flowers but that was just the perspective. It was actually only a smallish patch. Still- so pretty. 

I was very much afraid I'd missed the wild pink azalea that grows in the woods next to a house I walk by but I did not. It was in full glory. 

I realize that it looks more like pink smoke than anything else but it's a bit distant from the sidewalk where I stood. I could have gotten closer but that would have involved walking through underbrush that can hold burrs and ticks and redbugs and I'm just as soon not get involved with those things if possible. I may, however, defy common sense and stalk through it tomorrow if I go again. It would be worth it. There are also Cherokee roses blooming but they are hard to make out in this picture. 

Okay. This made me laugh. 

I read the sign and thought to myself, "Good Lord! April 2 is going to be a very busy day!" That's a lot to fit in one single Sunday. I sure hope people bring their lunches. 

When I got home I checked the mulberry tree and thank goodness! 

I'm hoping for enough to make at least one pie and some pints of jam. I put sugar on my shopping list. I can't wait! 

After picking the mulberries, I decided to check out the bamboo situation. 
Shit fire. 
I've let it get away from me. 

Luckily, those are two of the thinner variety. One of the Big Boys had come up a few feet away and it was too big for me to kick. I kicked at least a dozen in the field by the bamboo jungle and a few more in the front yard. 

Obviously the project is not over for the year yet. 
I have noticed that the pecans are putting out their leaves which means that our winter is definitely over. The pecans are the first to drop their leaves in the fall and the last to get them back in the spring. I also noticed a few magnolias putting out buds across the street. Oh, how I am looking forward to those massive, creamy-white, lemon-scented blossoms. 

Traditionally, gardeners in this part of the world use the pecans' leafing as the signal that it's safe to put tomatoes in. Of course, this year Mr. Moon rushed that but it's turned out okay. I am hoping against hope that some of the little sprouts coming up from the pot where I stuck a few of the sugar bomb cherry tomatoes grow fast enough to be moved to the garden. 

I was thrilled to see that that they were coming up yesterday. Come on, babies! You can do this! Mr. Moon did ask me how I'm going to separate the plants when they get bigger.

"Don't worry about it," I told him. 

Of course this translates to, "I have no idea." Perhaps I should try planting a few more of the seeds in a more appropriate manner. It only took them a few days to come up. 

And so it goes in Lloyd. My left knee is not happy that I took it on a walk today and is doing that thing where it feels like it's going to go out on me. It's been doing this on and off for twenty years so I'm not too worried about it. I even have a knee brace somewhere in my closet if things become dire. Mr. Moon and I are both limping about like two old geriatric patients and laughing at how ridiculous we look. He did TOO MUCH today and is paying for it now. He had a doctor's appointment this morning for a regularly scheduled physical and after that he stayed in town "just running errands" so now he's back in his chair. We had planned on attending a family early dinner at El Patron to celebrate Gibson's birthday but he's done enough today. They'll just have to celebrate without us. It does make me a little sad to think of missing everyone being together but Easter is coming up. Remember back before Christmas and I, in my manic Christmas insanity bought a ham at Costco? It's been in the freezer ever since and I plan on bringing it out for Christ Is Risen! Day. I always hope that my collards are still in enough abundance to make a big pot of them to go with the ham on Easter and I do believe that this year they will be, especially if they are fortified with some kale. We haven't really discussed Easter yet, but hopefully everyone will be coming out here to hunt eggs and dine on delicious foods, specifically ham and challah, deviled eggs and greens. I like to pay tribute to as many faith beliefs as possible. 

Dietarily at least. 

Stay tuned for my annual Easter rant. 

Love...Ms. Moon

A Day That Will Forever Be Marked On My Calendar And Etched In My Heart

I have got to stop sleeping so late. I don't know what's wrong with me. I did stay up rather late (for me) last night. I worked some on my jig-saw puzzle and then I started a new book after I took my shower and got in bed and the next thing I knew it was almost midnight. But the dream I was having this morning definitely tells me that I'm spending way too much time in REM to be good for anyone. It was quite a complex dream involving many, many of my regular dream themes including the giant house with so many bedrooms and bathrooms, crazy amounts of laundry, many children to take care of, AND my husband was depressed because he'd had to break up with the dark-haired hussy that he has a second family with. 
In dream world. Not the real world. I hasten to assure you. 
I'm not sure why he'd had to break up with her but he was not happy. He was going to tell me all about it just as I was waking up and I was already trying to decide whether I would stay with him or not. 

So of course it took me another hour after I got up to shake that shit off and then I made a Sunday breakfast and did the crossword and so forth. Feeling useless I determined that today was as good as any to go wrestle with at least some of the crocosmia. 

Remember this?

After a few hours I got it down to this.

I probably got a fourth of that patch pulled and I am under no delusions that this is any sort of permanent remedy. But Maurice did help me. 

As insane as she is, I can't help but feel love for that silly little tiger. I often wonder what goes on in her mind when she suddenly shows up when I'm outside. Does she leave the house knowing I'm not in it and actively look for me or does she just spy me while she's on cat-patrol? Of course she never wants me to think that she's sought out my company on purpose. I always think of her as saying, "Oh. Well. Hello. I had no idea you were out here. I was just passing by. I might lay down here for a moment, have a little sun snooze. Don't mind me."

But somehow she does find me and I am always gratified to see her. It is rather a magical thing to connect with creatures not of our species, I think. And it absolutely feels like a small blessing when they seek us out for our company when they don't really need us at that particular moment for warmth or food or scratches. I have found that most cats do not want to be scratched or pet outside. Some do, but not a lot. They may twist around your ankles for a moment but if you reach down to pet them, they generally take off. 
Of course we don't let Maurice get close enough to our ankles to twist around them. If she gets that close, her mind is on drawing blood. 

So that's what I've done today. 
Dream recovery, breakfast-making (and the biscuits were very good this week), and dirt-kneeling. 
Mr. Moon is doing better every day although he rather pissed me off earlier. The trash needed taking which is usually my job anyway. I have no idea why that is. I don't recall signing a contract. But I had specifically told him that he was NOT to take it this morning because he's not supposed to lift anything weighing more than fifteen pounds and yet he did take it while my back was turned. 

I have forgiven him but I am still not happy about it. 
I remind myself that it's better than having another family on the side. 

Eighteen years ago today a very important event happened at this house. 

Billy and Shayla got married. And they let me marry them. 

I was so cute eighteen years ago!

Billy and Shayla were pretty cute too. 
That was the best wedding ever. Families by choice and families by blood were there. Little old country ladies in their church dresses holding on to their husbands wearing their JC Penny's suits. Punks, goths, Fancy Nancy wearing her short-alls and pole dancing- it was a joyous and amazing celebration. And this was before their marriage could be legal but no one worried about that overmuch. I did hear one of the older gents saying, "It was just like a real wedding!" 
"It was a real wedding," I told him. "Until they try to get on each other's health insurance." Since then, they have been married twice more, I think. Once in California when it became legal there and again in Florida when our laws got civilized. 
For that moment in time, at least. 

Billy texted me this morning to thank me for marrying them. I said "Thank you for asking me." What an honor that was. 

Here's a picture of Billy and Shayla and their boy Waylon from a few days ago. 

I love those people so much. As do many, many other people. 

The important thing, however, is that they still love each other. 

And that is worthy of celebration every day of the year. 

Love...Ms. Moon

North Florida Law Enforcement Celebrity Sighting And Oh, So Much More!

What a truly nice day it is has been. When I kissed Mr. Moon good morning I said, "I'm sorry I slept so late. Wait- no I'm not!"
And I wasn't. 

I took my time with reading blogs and the local newspaper (four new invasive species of disease-bearing mosquitoes have been discovered in Florida!) and doing the crossword. 

Mr. Moon talked about going to the coast to check on one of his boats which has been in a shop there for repairs and getting lunch and I said sure, but then he got hold of the shop guy and the boat hadn't even been looked at yet so we decided to go to Monticello and eat lunch there, just for fun and so we did. 
We ate at the Rev, the place right by the round-about that circles the county courthouse and we sat outside. It is much warmer now and very, very humid, but a good breeze was blowing and we were comfortable. I noticed a guy sitting by himself and he just looked like a regular guy but the women at the table next to him obviously recognized him. I heard them talking and they were saying things like, "We follow you on Facebook!" 
They seemed a little starstruck. 
They did finally call him by a name- Sheriff AJ. So of course I was googling before my french fries got cold. Turns out he's the sheriff of Franklin County which is where Apalachicola is and he's well-known for being so strong on crime that he arrested his own daughter for selling meth. 
See the story here.

At least I'm pretty sure that's who it was. I am so bad at facial recognition. If I was ever asked to pick someone out of a line-up, they could probably have four guys of different ethnicities and different facial hair and I wouldn't be able to identify the possible suspect unless he had tattoos all over his face or a third eye or something. 
Anyway, those women were pretty excited and got a picture with him and even paid for his lunch.
Whoa, Nelly. 

No one volunteered to pay for our lunch but that was fine. 

After lunch Glen sweetly offered to go to Wag the Dog with me and boy, did I buy some stuff! The picture above is what the store looks like when you first walk in. It seemed to me that there has been some major organization going on at Wag lately. There's still too much merchandise in too small a space but there was a lot more order to it all. 

When we did our first aisle, I found two paintings on wood that I knew were going to come home with me. They were just so me. The colors were my colors, the style was...okay, primitive. I immediately visualized them on the front porch and I hung them up as soon as we got home. 

How could I have said no? 

And then I found some salad plates that I liked and bought those. And one dinner sized plate came too that matched four of the smaller ones. 

I like that size plate because it makes a great lunch plate and is also perfect for small children's meals. Unless it's pancakes I'm serving in which case they need the large ones. But the magnolia is so pretty and the fruit and flower pattern is so cheerful and colorful.

So there was all of that and I got three kid books and a Kate Atkinson novel and Mr. Moon bought a book on woodworking,  AND I got a pretty couch pillow, as well as a little ball of yarn that I have absolutely no idea what I'll do with but it's mohair and silk and as fine and soft as a newborn babe's hair. Any ideas about what a poorly skilled knitter/crocheter could make with 25 grams of that? 

So that was my haul. 

When we got home I was going to replant my beans. As of yesterday they had still not come up and I was sure that they had died in dirt-utero by that frost we got on Tuesday. But Mr. Moon and I checked once again and guess what? 

Can you see them? 

A close-up. 

The sugar snap peas have finally started flowering. 

Could there be a more delicate and lady-like blossom? 
They will probably soon be banned in Florida as being too suggestive. Until then, I shall simply adore them. 

Here's a little yellow rose that grows in a pot by the bananas. 

Oh, my heart. 

And finally- what the native azalea buds look like today. 

So I am practically swooning now and that cannot be allowed to happen because I must make supper. Tonight will be air-fried bream and garden greens. Collards, mustards, and kale. 

I believe I may be the richest woman in the world. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Loosen Up, Woman

I am SO far behind on my regular routine this evening and as I have discussed before, I am way too rigid in my ways and days. I have got to learn to be a little more flexible. At least. Or is it time to simply accept that this is how I am and that this rigidity in routine is a crutch and a coping method? 

I don't know. 
I'm tired tonight. I've been somewhat tired and quiet all day although it was a busy day. Jessie and Vergil had to go to Jacksonville to deal with some business and so I picked up the boys from their schools and then brought them out here. The plan was that they would spend the night at Lily's house to celebrate Gibson's birthday. So they hung out here for awhile and had a snack and we read some books and then they watched a few minutes of TV while I made up our bed with the sheets I washed this morning because it's Friday and Friday is the day for clean sheets and that's all there is to it, so sayeth the Lord.

Then I took them over to Lily's where I got hugs from all her kids and Levon and August flowed into the general population there like cane syrup on a biscuit and could barely stop exploring their cousins' toys long enough to kiss me good-bye. I tried to get a picture of all of them but didn't have the heart to force them to pose for me. Maggie did let me take her photo sitting in front of the vanity her mama gave her for Christmas, so lovingly painted and glittered. 

She showed me how she had her eye-shadows and brushes and nail polish all arranged so neatly. She loves it. What girly-girl wouldn't? And as you can see, August and Levon are already plundering her things too. 
It's going to be quite an evening, I am sure. I told Lauren when I left that she and Lily were brave women to take on two extra for the night. There is a lot going on in that house. Not just the children but two cats, two dogs, and a rat habitat condominium.  
I am sure they will all survive. Well, the kids at least. I am not quite as sure about Lily and Lauren.

Mr. Moon is on his way home from the river. He took the boat out, just to cruise a little, get out of the house and into this beautiful spring world. He's had enough of sitting in his chair and I don't blame him. I know he's a happy man. 
And I will be a happy woman, sipping a martini and being grateful that my years of day-to-day child-rearing are behind me. I think even when my children were still at home, I resisted changes in my schedule whether due to ball games or unplanned events I had to attend. I feel quite certain that one of the main reasons I never did pursue my dream of becoming a midwife was because if there is anything less certain than a midwife's schedule, I do not know what it is. 

Anyway, it is definitely time for me to start our supper. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love From Your OCD Friend in Florida...Ms. Moon