Sunday, July 26, 2015

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday



Pair of old shears that Mr. Moon found under the house, rusted shut forever. 

It's Sunday and the great gaping maw of it yawns before me, the pancakes and bacon made and eaten and the kitchen cleaned up.

May I speak a bit more about how much I love my dishwasher? I run it once, twice a day! I do not wash anything by hand that could be put in there. Only my iron skillets and cutting boards sit in the dish drainer now. Did you know that seashells are dishwasher safe? I use big, flat pieces of shell for spoon rests and they go right in that beautiful machine and come out sparkling! I still hold my drinking glasses (mostly mason jars, but still) up to the light and say, "Look how clean!" No longer do my coffee mugs have permanent brown stains. My canisters have been washed free of decades of flour and sugar. Hell, I even put my flour-sifter in there last night!
I am like a child with a brand new toy and my delight is completely inappropriate but I do not care. I do not care at all.

But one cannot spend all day loading and unloading her dishwasher. No. And quite frankly, I have no idea what we're doing today. Mr. Moon is trying to reclaim his pressure washer from a neighbor in order to clean a boat and that's a good project for him. I could certainly find something to do but I feel vastly unmotivated. I have something stuck in the tough skin of my foot and when I step on it wrong, it feels as if a nail is puncturing it. I need to get a light and a pair of tweezers and see if I am bendy enough to do something about that. Go on a search and removal mission. Another thing that needs to be done today is to fashion a cat door for Maurice who has been renamed The Sleep Killer. This whole ignoring-her thing is not working. She has taken to throwing herself at the door right beside our bed when she wants out.
"What is she doing?" my husband asked me in the depths of the night.
"Trying to open the door," I said. Or perhaps she is simply trying to break through it. That's what it sounds like. I do not know. But this cannot continue.

Horrifying Fact: The other day when I was shopping with Lily and the boys I inadvertently held up a 12X's magnifying mirror to my face and almost passed out. I will never be the same. I was going to use it to show Owen what he looked like in a pair of red sunglasses (very fine!) and, as I said, I inadvertently looked in it myself, the angle being my mouth, my chin, my neck.
I'm still rocked by what I saw in that mirror. I make a conscious decision not to look in ANY mirror if I can avoid it so you can only imagine. I'm about to turn sixty-one and I can't even fathom how that's possible. And please, I beg of you- do not tell me that age is nothing but a number. My number is too high for that bullshit and now that I've actually seen the whiskered, sagging, wrinkled and cratered surface of my face that clearly, there is no way to un-see it, no way to think that, oh, I look pretty good.
For eighty. I would look pretty good for eighty.

Let's see- do I have anything else to discuss?
Ah, not really. All the chickens are fine. Even Trixie is out and about. The babies are getting their full feathering and Elvira looks so much like her grandfather. I am looking forward to their first egg-layings like a fourteen year old girl looking forward to getting her first period.
I hear a mockingbird singing and of course the crickets are buzzing. It's not as hot today, Hallelujah! and maybe I'll go weed a bit. The wild gladiola which barely blooms at all needs pulling, the garden is giving me nothing but cherry tomatoes which are growing increasingly smaller until soon they will be the size of b-b's. And peas, I'm still getting those. And zinnias. The lovely, lovely zinnias.

All right. It's one thing to waste my time, it's another to waste yours.

What are you doing today? Do you have anything planned? Oh. I hope so. Sunday's can be so fraught with angsty despair. It sounds as if someone in Lloyd has decreed this to be Drag Racing Day. Other than that...nada.

It's all right.

Be at peace.


Budding pine cone lily. 

Love...Ms. Moon

13 comments:

  1. Could you please post a new picture of Elvira? I would appreciate that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I once stood in an ikea bathroom section and contemplated buying such a mirror when my clever daughter pulled me away and said, very bad idea mum, don't go there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am dog sitting my son's two dogs today and I have two so that makes four, it is a bit hectic. I bought one of those 10x mirrors and hung it in the master bathroom, I really think it has damaged my self esteem. Gail

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my gawd - that was so funny ! My daughter and I had just decided to go to Bed Bath and Beyond today to look for a strong magnifying mirror...I was thinking I needed one as, at 65!!! , I am needing to see all those little hairs on the underside of my chin and for some masochistic reason I feel I should look at the crepey skin on my cheeks...why???
    I think now instead I will take us both out for a nice lunch as that is about the price of one of those mirrors and I no longer feel the need to flagellate myself with my over sized pores.
    Thanks for the laugh but please know that I find you divinely beautiful no matter what you think you see in the mirror x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have never seen a pine cone lily before. Beautiful.

    I have always enjoyed being a blonde, light eyed, light skinned person. Let's admit it. It had its perks between the ages of 15 and 50. But now? I have come to realize that we age more swiftly than those brown eyed girls. No amount of sunscreen is enough....especially at this altitude and dryness.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't need a 2x mirror I simply have to look in the selfie camera on my iPhone from a low angle and I am horrified. Gravity combined with years is cruel indeed. That said, I know how those close ups can be haunting but you do look good Mary Moon, you just plain as day do. That 2x mirror was a crafty devil and it LIED.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those shears are cool.

    You are having the OPPOSITE experience with your dishwasher than we have had with ours. Which means you got a good one and we...did not. (Fortunately, we're only renting it.) When it was still working it never cleaned anything very well, and now it's not even working correctly. I'm doing everything by hand at the moment and it's actually better. I agree with you, though, that a well-functioning dishwasher is a wonderful thing!

    I'm just not sure what to think about Maurice. I had cats for years and they could be annoying but they never gave me a persistent behavior problem like this one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My hubby is on a four-day Harley ride that just turned into a five-day ride. In our younger years it was no big deal for him to be working out of town for up to a month. I did the usual things and went about my business. Now, after thirty years together, I HATE that he's gone. He calls me twice a day, texts me cool pictures, and is enjoying himself with his friends. And of course I tell him that I'm doing just fine. I've gone to lunch with the family, movie and supper with a friend, and lunch today with another friend. But at night? Between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am I have picked cucumbers and tomatoes by moonlight (that was pretty awesome, actually), done laundry, ironed, scrubbed floors, shampooed carpets, scrubbed tubs and toilets, canned pickles, and rearranged cabinets and drawers (I didn't find your simmer pads either. LOL!). I'm actually applying foundation to hide the dark circles under my eyes during the day! Hubby will be home tomorrow, and I can only hope my sleep schedule improves. Oh, and it's hot and humid here!

    ReplyDelete
  9. See if there's an advice forum on Jackson Galaxy's website. He tends to recommend hearty playing in the day time that makes them satisfied and tired out at night. Get Mr M to fashion a mouse-on-a-string-on-a-stick.

    Ahem... I have a life long pore-exploring habit, and I kind of delight in my 12x mirror, but I'm wrecking my face with it. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think I'm going to start telling people that I'm 75 when they ask how old I am.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Allison- I will!

    Sabine- God. Saved by the daughter.

    Gail- Get rid of that demon glass immediately. Jesus, woman! What are you thinking?

    Liv- You're an angel. And hell yes- lunch is a much better way to spend your money than one of those horrifying mirrors.

    Ms. Peace, Thyme- Oh my god. You nailed it. Yep. We reaped the benefits, now we're paying the price. And those lovely brown-eyed beauties are still beauties. The cones of that lily will turn red. I'll be posting as they do.

    Angella- TWELVE TIMES magnification. TWELVE! And I know exactly what you mean about the selfie thing. Oh god. I am still so vain.

    Steve Reed- Yes. This is a very fine dishwasher. It is quiet, efficient, and it works a charm. As to the cat- well, if I had an entirely indoor cat this would not be happening. But I think that Maurice likes to go out and hunt in the night. She's wired that way and dammit, we've allowed her to do it. I think the behavioral problem is OUR behavior in allowing this to go on.

    Catrina- WHAT???? Oh my god. When Mr. Moon is out of town I sleep very well. Is that wrong? Bless your heart- at least you're getting a lot done. I hope that when your husband returns, that will involve getting good sleep.

    Jo- Excuse me? Maurice does not deign to such activities as playing. She is a serious cat. She hunts, she eats, she sleeps. I've tried to get her interested in more jolly activities. She will have none of that foolishness.
    My pores are best left unexplored.
    I know this.

    Elizabeth- You made me laugh. You really did.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I planned to work today and just as my day was coming to an end I was made to work more hours. So now I am slugging on the couch.

    Get a water bottle and squirt that cat when she misbehaves.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That pine cone lily is so cool. We need to learn to just let others see our beauty and not worry about it...of course some days I end up going about with smears of paint and food on my face, but that's better than thinking I must be some kind of Scandinavian troll wife,as the mirror and my ever so critical eye tells me. Oh yes, also pollen ends up on my face.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.