Sunday, November 24, 2013

One Of Those Posts Wherein I Really Don't Have A Point


I just dropped my iPhone down the steps on my way to put the chickens up. The cement steps. Bounce, bounce, bounce. Smack.

Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit.

I'm the crazy asshole who doesn't use a case for her phone because STEVE JOBS designed it and it's a work of art and to cover it up is nuts. Right? It wasn't cracked but no, it did not come on. But I did that trick where you hold the top button down at the same time as the little button on the screen and sure enough, the white apple glowed brightly after a few seconds.
Phew. Saved again.
All is well.

I have done pathetically little cleaning today. I dusted a few things. I wiped down a few things. It's just ridiculous. Mr. Moon looked at me as I worked with my spray bottle of vinegar and water in one hand, rag in the other, and said, "So where are you going to stop?" because the truth is, I could clean for the rest of my life and it wouldn't ever be done. As soon as I got to the end of the rooms, the beginning of the rooms would be thick-dust coated again and the mildew would have regrown. How's that for an excuse not to even start?

I got into the library and started dusting and then I started tossing books. Look- just because something is printed out on paper and has two covers does not make it sacred. Trust me. Where did I GET all of these books? I have books I have no recollection of. Not just no recollection of reading but no recollection of at all. I have how-to books that belonged to my sister-in-law and which I kept when she died. Am I really ever going to do mosaics? I have about ten Gardening In Florida books from another sister-in-law who used to live in Florida but moved. I'm never going to read those books. I bet I have two dozen gardening books in all. And every year I garden the same damn way.
Which to tell you the truth, isn't working out that well and I should probably read some of the books.
Speaking of the garden, I went out there today to dump the hay I cleaned out of the hen house and I started looking at the volunteer green bean vines which sprung up after the vines I planted had died. This is what I picked.


Are you kidding me? 
No. 

Anyway, I did finally find The Little Red Hen Makes A Pizza which our beloved Bethany sent me back a year or so ago. Maybe two years ago. I've been looking for it for yonks and finally found it today. I am so happy. I have so many children's books. And young adult books. And Owen just doesn't care about books. He tells me, "Mer, I just don't like books."
GARRRRGH!
I'm going to start paying him to let me read books to him. I swear. Whatever it takes, that's what I'll do.
Gibson is still in the stage where he wants to look at any book that has Elmo in it. Freaking Elmo! He loves Elmo. This is normal and I understand it and I'm not even going to mention his love for Barney but I have no Barney books nor will I ever. I only have Elmo books because someone gave them to me. I should have thrown those fuckers out. I mean, Elmo's a nice guy and all (is he a guy?) but he does not make for good literature.

I have books that I read to my kids and books that they read to themselves and books that I read myself as a child. I have Wind In The Willows and Little Women, of course, and The Wizard Of Oz, a beautiful edition. One of my favorite books that I own is a book called Hitty.


This was my mother's book. Her brother gave it to her for Christmas the year it was published.


She was eleven, he was sixteen or so, I think. His inscription is still as clear and sharp as it must have been 75 years ago. 


It is an exquisite book. The story is fabulous. It's about a doll, Hitty, who was carved from wood, and her first hundred years. Hitty has adventures all over the world and the illustrations are magical. I poured over them a million times as a child, even before I could read the words of the story. 



Now THAT book is sacred. I believe I found another copy and gave it to Hank because I know he read the book when he was a child. He read everything. As I had done before him. As we both still do. As all my children do, truthfully. 

And Owen and Gibson may not grow up to be passionate readers. I know that. It's just always been such a dream of mine to read the books that I loved and that my children loved to my grandchildren.

Well, life is what happens while we're busy making other plans. 
Etc. 

I've got a venison roast in the crockpot with an entire HUGE sweet onion and potatoes and carrots and garlic. And I think I'll cook some...green beans!

It's been a good Sunday with grandsons and an unexpected lagniappe from the garden and sweetness from my husband. And yeah, a little cleaning. And holding a book which conjures up the good part of my childhood- the part where I could open the pages of a book and be transported to places far away and exciting and beautiful and truer and finer than the world I woke up in every day. I think that some of us NEED books. We need them the way we need air and food and light and love. And that some of us just do not. 

It's okay. We're all wired differently. Some of us read and some of us write and some of us do both and some of us create art which can open a child's mind to the infinite possibility of experience and some of us make music and some of us dance and some of us garden and some of us design phones with which we can communicate with the entire world on and use to READ ON! and listen to music on and to light our way to put the chickens up with the flashlight app on and which, when you drop down cement steps, do not break. 

I like that about the human race. 

Night, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon









17 comments:

  1. Is vinegar and water a good substitute for awful cleaners like Pledge? How comeI left A comment on a previous post and it is not there? BTW, I did not stay up til 2 am, it was pm so the jewels must go back. Hae a peaceful night should you get this. Sweet Jo

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  2. I must say I love that Hitty book, and I feel her sentiments exactly, about her spirit and her pegs and all. I grew up reading those beautifully illustrated books from that era from my father's books and his father's. I loved Swallows and Amazons among many others. My boy didn't especially love books although he had plenty and beautiful ones too. But something happened when Harry Potter came along and he became a book nut just like me, worse even. Right now he is reading Les Miserables, in between studying for the LSAT.

    I'm glad your Sunday was good. You deserve it and Sundays should be for loving the ones we love. Based on the success of the last short contract I worked, I am starting another one tomorrow, this one for 10 months. A foundation that raises money for women's charities and projects, so worthwhile and close to my heart. Of course, I reserve the right to quit after the first day, and each day after that, if necessary.

    Thank you for keeping me company and buoying my spirits as you do, dear heart. I may feel the need to visit you tomorrow whilst in my office in the heart of the frozen city.

    *shudder*

    -invisigal

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  3. My favorite books were ones about science. My mother had one called Moths of the Limberlost that was absolutely wonderful. I am afraid that the Limberlost forest is now developed and gone.

    Cold weather here and I'm afraid it is the first frost coming.

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  4. What beautiful green beans!

    I want to read HITTY: "I floated in the quiet waters of a rock pool" ... lovely. I, too, NEED books.

    Have you ever tried to spell the word "aficionado"? I decided I'd better look it up, and good thing, because I thought it had two f's. It's a Spanish word, so the feminine would be "aficionada"...just a bit of trivia, but probably not one Hank would use on a Monday night!

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  5. Sigh. There's not much better than childhood books when your brain is wired to love the words.

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  6. I might, you never know.

    And Syd, Freckles (which takes place in the Limberlost) was one of my favorites as a child.

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  7. Believe it or not, we have that Hitty book in our school library. I had never heard of it until I came across it in the catalog about a week ago, and now you're blogging about it! Crazy.

    I completely understand your desire to turn Owen and Gibson into readers -- or at least teach them to appreciate reading. I think kids have so much competing for their attention these days it must be hard. But I am certainly thankful that I turned into a reader. It's enriched my life so much, in a way that movies and TV and video games never could.

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    Replies
    1. And here I am, more than seven years after I left the comment above, reading Hitty! Thanks for reminding me about this post and your love for that book. I must say I'm liking it much more than I thought I would.

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  8. It seems strange for kids not to like books, to me, I mean as long as they don't have to read them. I can see the problem with having to read when you're not a fluent reader. But who doesn't like stories? Well, I guess some people prefer doing things, but I don't know why it still surprises me. Have a niece like that too. Even rarer in a girl, I think. Maybe something happens in school to put them off... you see I still can't get my head around the idea :D

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  9. Not sure what the remedy is for a kid who's not really into books. I guess we lucked out in that department.
    I've been discovering books I forgot that I had since we moved back home. They're taking over, but there are so many I can't part with.

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  10. None of "my" kiddos are readers either --seriously, not one of them out of 10. What is WRONG with these kids? :) I don't know how i would have survived childhood without books. I guess I should be glad they're not seeming to need that kind of escape.

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  11. The books I love the most are the ones I read in my childhood. Anne of Green Gables and Little House and those Mossflower books by Brian Jacques. My husband wasn't a reader until he was about 16 and discovered Robert Jordan. So you never know when those boys will come around.

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  12. That "HItty" looks wonderful. I read to my kids endlessly and was a reading snob--there were books that we called "Daddy books" because I thought they were crap and only he would read them. My grandkids were never much enthralled with being read to either. What does it mean?

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  13. Sweet Jo- You still get a crown. Yes, you do. And the vinegar was being used to clean mold and black dust. It sort of works. For a moment. I don't use it on the furniture. I use Pledge.

    Invisigal- Again, I am SO PROUD OF YOU! You have jumped right out of your comfort zone and I know you are making a difference and you are enriching your own life. And I am eternally grateful for the Harry Potter books which pretty much guaranteed at least one more generation of readers.

    Syd- Books are there to open the worlds we need to visit. And isn't that beautiful? I read Girl Of The Limberlost.

    lulumarie- I did not know that! Yes, you would love Hitty.

    Elizabeth- I knew you would relate.

    Mr. Downtown- I vaguely remember reading Freckles. Maybe.

    Steve Reed- That IS crazy about Hitty. You should check that book out. It's so beautiful.

    Jenny Woolf- Well, it's just the truth. Not all humans are readers. But it is hard to understand when reading is so much delight and pleasure for some of us.

    Bob- Oh, hell. I'm throwing away text books and things like that. I can't throw away my beloveds.

    SJ- I had that same thought. About the need for escape.

    Ms. Vesuvius- I think our childhood friends are the best ones when it comes to books. You are right.

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  14. Denise- I really wasn't much of a reading snob when it came to reading to my kids. We read lots of Little Golden Books and even some Sesame St. books. Whatever they wanted. That's what I read. The dads in my life didn't read to the kids much at all.

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  15. Aw, so glad you found the pizza book! I think it was mostly likely at least two years ago. Time flies. I laughed out loud at your line about gardening the same way for years. So true. And I think it is working out fine for you, it's November and you have beautiful beans! Loved this post, loved the photos of the book, the inscription. Sweetness. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours dear MM.

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