Thursday, May 28, 2015

From This To That And Back Home Again


Owen graduated, yes he did! And he did fabulously well! He had to announce a song and he did and he did it perfectly. The children sang songs and they were all so precious and so perfect. While they filed offstage to get lined up to get their diplomas, they showed a video with a picture of each child as a baby and what they look like now and they played music behind it. Just as Owen's picture came up, this song came on.




And if there is a recording in this world which is so immediately attached to my heart and tears, I have yet to encounter it. I sat there and cried and cried and cried and just finding the video and listening to a few seconds of it has made me cry again.
I remember when Lynn died and we had her after-party here and Shayla and I danced in the hallway together to this song and I will never forget it and fuck if I'm not just weeping now.

Hold on.

Oh, Iz. You were an angel. I wish I had known you...

Okay, okay.


Here's how happy Owen was after it was all over. Gibson was not having it though. He was DONE. It'll be him graduating from pre-K before you know it. Sheesh.

They decided not to go to Chuck E Cheese right after the ceremony and so I got out of that one. Thank you, sweet baby Jebus. Instead I went to the New Leaf and bought rosemary oil so that I can try to figure out how to make bug-spray for the garden with it. Hell, if it works on ants...
I figure I'll blend up some hot peppers, put those and a little of the rosemary oil and some soap, maybe a little oil, in water and see if that'll blast the aphids. Or whatever. It can't hurt, right? The yard-long beans are covered in them and although I've seen a few lady bugs hard at work  I'm not sure they're up to the task. Here's what the bloom of that particular vegetable looks like.


Tiny orchid-looking beauty.

Anyway, I went to the seafood market after the New Leaf. I love that place. I feel so right-at-home there. I bought shrimp for Hank's party tomorrow night (he wants shrimp salad and key lime pie) and then to the Publix where I bought the rest of the stuff I'll need.

Lily's best friend from forever ago had her baby boy today. Lily sent me this picture when she went up to the hospital to see her.


Jessie is her nurse!
The mama had a right smart labor, pretty short and all is well.
Life just keeps going on, doesn't it?
And tomorrow night we will celebrate Hank. His birthday isn't until June 10 but he's going to be in Pennsylvania when the actual day arrives so we're going to have his family party tomorrow. I'm going to go boil eggs for the salad. The shrimp salad I make is one that our Norwegian friend, Anne-Helena used to make and it is a cherished favorite. Lettuces, shrimps, Havarti cheese, red peppers, avocados, tomatoes, corn, tiny seashell pasta, hard-boiled eggs. And the dressing (goop) I make from (I swear to god) Heinz chili sauce and mayonnaise. Just like what my grandmother used to make to serve with crab legs.

There will be bread, as well.

What a day. And tomorrow will be a joy with the cooking and baking and making of bug spray, the cleaning out of the hen house, the celebrating of my boy Hank, the gathering again of this family.

Love...Ms. Moon


18 comments:

  1. Oh, all the joy! Jessie must just be the most angelic of midwives.

    Congrats to Owen. Lily is glowing all the more.

    Enjoy the garden, and the party celebrations. I was tending to my almost blooming Clematis buds by spraying the aphids with soapy water, but then my over zealous husband cut the hedge and ... sob... cut the two biggest ones off! Ain't no spray big enough...

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  2. Such sweetness, graduation and babies.

    It doesn't get much better than shrimp and key lime pie.

    I may need the recipe for the bug spray if it works, I don't have a garden, just trying to grow papayas again this year.

    Gail

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  3. May and I were discussing the fact hat I would never eat pink goop on anything but that salad, but for that it's a necessity.

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  4. Never knock a good recipe , especially one handed down through the generations! Whenever Brother Iz's over the rainbow comes on I pause and turn it right up, tears inevitably spring up...Your daughters are both full of light.

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  5. What a beautiful soulful,sad, melancholy, make you wanna cry a river song.

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  6. Beautiful,beautiful version of an old song.
    Carol

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  7. I am not kidding. I have tears in my eyes. Little Owen. It goes so fast that it takes your breath away. The thought makes me love this world so very much. You living your life surrounded by love and me living mine with just as much. And yet we are connected forever by this silly blogging life. Oh, Mary. So much love to your whole family. Tell Owen a woman in Canada sends him a hearty congratulations.

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  8. And Owen looks just like his Mama in that picture.

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  9. What a beautiful version of a old song.
    Carol

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  10. That photo of Jessie with that little baby just makes my heart melt! And yes to Somewhere Over the Rainbow provoking endless tears. I think of my Sophie every single time I listen to it -- it's always seemed to be the song that I imagine in her head.

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  11. I LOVE that photo of Jessie! That is amazing.

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  12. Congratulations to Owen! Let us know if your aphid treatment works. I am intrigued.

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  13. That song is one of those things that is so beautiful it hurts me. Congratulations to Owen! And to you, with another grandbaby on the way! Hank and I are nearly birthday twins, I'm the 11th. And I always love another Gemini. Have a beautiful time, lots of love swirling about in your atmosphere right now.

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  14. Jo- Jessie's not a midwife. She's a postpartum nurse. She takes care of the new mamas and babies. Who love her. Of course.
    And isn't Lily gorgeous? Jeez. Pregnancy agrees with that woman.

    Gail- I will let you know!

    That Hank- It's part of the whole thing. The GOOP! Pink and delicious.

    Big Mamabird- That song...my god. It's straight from heaven.

    Birdie- It's all pretty much a wonder, isn't it? I will tell Owen. He will be boggled! And he does have his mama's beautiful smile, doesn't he?

    Carol- The best. I think.

    Elizabeth- Oh, I HOPE that is the song in Sophie's head! Isn't it amazing how grown-up Jessie is? I mean, that's a stupid thing to say- of course she is. But...still...she's a real nurse and everything!

    Mwa- Me too!

    Steve Reed- I'm just too lazy to order ladybugs on the internet.
    But yes, I will let you know.

    Ms. Vesuvius- I love Gemini's. May is one too. And yes, that song IS so beautiful it hurts. I agree.

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  15. So much goodness. No wonder there were tears.

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  16. Happy birthday Hank. There is so much beauty and goodness and joy in this post, and in your life. Thank you for coming here and sharing it. xo

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  17. That version of Over the Rainbow is my favourite as well. It's hauntingly beautiful.

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  18. Owen looks so nice in his cap and gown. I never realized that there was a graduation from kindergarten.

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