Sunday, November 25, 2018


A bold chick.

Today was slow and gray and Sunday. I stayed busy for most of it, primarily with making a soup out of the turkey carcass which I started boiling right after breakfast. I messed with it all day long, getting all of the meat off the skeleton, chopping garlic and onions and celery and carrots and collards and peppers. I added some of the beautiful Mexican red Recado paste I love so it is a lovely color, almost as if it had saffron in it. I will add rice when it is closer to supper time and that will be our meal. 

As I made the soup I cleared things out of the refrigerator because the new one is being delivered tomorrow. I was not exactly ruthless but I did get rid of a few things which I will never actually use in this lifetime and combined a few things, too. Mr. Moon cleaned off the top of the refrigerator which means he took everything down from it and left it all on counters for me to figure out what to do with. 
Anyone need a coozie? 
Or a bottle of fingernail polish remover? 
Or a tube of Super Glue which is no longer viable because it's solidified into Super Glue Cement? 
Dear god. 
I cleaned off the outside of the refrigerator, removing pictures and love notes, cards of the business and romantic and funny sorts. There are a few things that are going to go on the new refrigerator as soon as it's in place because I love them and I do actually look at them daily and am glad, every time. 
Perhaps the most cherished photo is not even one of a grandchild but is this one.


That's my handsome husband sitting with a man I truly loved with all of my heart and I'm not ashamed to say that. My husband loved him too. Every one did. 
Colin Rolfe. 
If you're newish here, you probably have no idea that I used to be quite active in a community theater in Monticello, Florida, and that picture is from an event held at the old Opera House where we rehearsed and performed. Colin and Glen were bartending for some event. Volunteer work, but a joy because Colin was there. I wrote a post seven years ago about him and you can find it HERE.
I just reread it and am now crying a little bit and to tell you the truth, every time I look at that picture tears well up a little. 
So. Colin and Mr. Moon will go back up on the new refrigerator. 
And probably this as well. 


My husband and I kissing at sunset on Dog Island. I have no idea when that picture was taken but it makes me happy to see it. The dress I was wearing is the same one I've worn to each of my grandchildren's births. It is tattered now and becoming quite beyond repair but it is precious to me and so is that picture. 

On a more prosaic note, I cleaned out the hen house and put fresh straw in the nests. I also filled up the waterers with fresh, clean water. Chicken care honestly takes very little time. I suppose if I was more obsessive about cleanliness it would take more time but my chickens never seem to get worms or diseases or infections so I guess the level of hygiene is acceptable. 
Knock wood.

I am noticing that the babies are venturing farther and farther from their mother these days but not far enough yet for her to not be able to hear their still-constant twittering. They are so dang cute at night, huddled up next to her in the nesting box where they roost as she makes her come-to-me-now cluck. They are no longer small enough to hide beneath her wings but they still try. Last night I was shining the flashlight on them, trying to get a count and had my face right up next to Ringo who was sitting at the front of the nest. He was a bit agitated because I was so close and he finally reached up and gave me a little peck beside my mouth. It didn't hurt and I know he was simply telling me that I was way up in his space and he did not appreciate it. I was in the wrong and I know it and I apologized to him. Whether he accepted it or not, I do not know but I did back up and he settled down. 

I just went into the kitchen to punch down the bread dough and to add the rice to the soup and I swear, that blindingly white bare refrigerator is freaking me out. 


Mr. Moon said that he feels the same way. 

I wonder what we'll find tomorrow when they move this one out of its space. Dead roaches are a given, probably desiccated lizards too. Marbles? Vitamins? The hair of dogs long in the grave? The long-lost hopes and dreams of a frustrated novelist? 
One never knows but one thing is for sure- I'll apologize for what IS there as if a good housewife would somehow always keep the area underneath her refrigerator dust and detritus-free.
Key words being "good housewife" and I certainly do not claim to be one of those. 

Love...Ms. Moon







23 comments:

  1. we got our fridge and stove on a black friday deal- it felt very grown up to be buying BRAND NEW appliances for our house! like we finally moved past that stage of getting shit people put to the curb and then you tubing how to fix it...



    xxalainaxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you, honey. At the age of 64 I am still amazed that I can buy new. And to be quite honest, I feel a little guilty about it. Which is ridiculous.

      Delete
  2. Good wife and bold chick. Those describe you perfectly I think.

    -invisigal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, thank you, dear invisigal! That was so sweet.

      Delete
  3. I love that photo of you and the Moon man kissing. Do you ever consider doing another play at the opera house? As I recall, you were a movie star too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I honestly feel like those acting days are behind me. And that brings me some sorrow. I loved those days. I really, truly did and I loved the people I got to play with. So many of them are dead now, though, that even going into the Opera House makes me sad.

      Delete
  4. I chuckled about "The long-lost hopes and dreams of a frustrated novelist". I guess that most unfulfilled dreams end up under the fridge with the spiders and biscuit crumbs. However, you created "Don't Make Me Say Goodbye". Maybe that was just practice and perhaps it's time to get that novel written. After all, you are very good with words. Chapter by chapter, I sense that you have got it in you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Mr. P.! I have written three novels (at least) and one of them got an agent and she and I went through the editing process together and she swore she was going to sell that book and, well, it never happened.
      My heart was broken. My dreams dashed.
      And so on and so forth.
      Maybe I'll take it up again though. Who knows?
      Thank you for your lovely words. I do appreciate them.

      Delete
  5. refrigerators should never be moved nor should anyone ever look at the top.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Those are lovely photos. I wonder when fridges became little family museums of everyday life!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my! Frig should never be moved, right alone with the stove, who knows what's behind there? I soon will be moving both also. I'm not looking forward to it, lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, just don't apologize when whatever is under there is revealed. JUST DON'T DO IT!
      Hello and thank you for coming by and taking time to comment.

      Delete
  8. I can't wait to hear what's under the refrigerator! :)

    I do remember your posts about Colin. Good for you for saving a couple of your most memorable photos. Love your bravely exploring chick!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dust. Dust was under my refrigerator.
      Bah.
      Colin was a very important part of my life. You would have loved him too.

      Delete
  9. My brother used to say, when he would visit, "You don't need a new frig, but you sure as hell could use another refrigerator door!"

    I read you post about your loving friend. We are all so very lucky to have such a friend in our lives......even if it is just once and only one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am going to be very slow and deliberate about what I put back up on the new refrigerator.
      We ARE lucky, those of us who have that friend. And it's mighty hard when we lose them.

      Delete
  10. Not sure what "good housewife" is, and by whose standards? I reckon is you use a dish you wash a dish- if the path through the house is too narrow, take what is yours and put it away. If I get a paycheck for doing extra work then I might consider doing the floors and windows...we all live in this house, it is everyone's responsibility...that is what I SAY! Saying and being are two different things, however. Soup sounds like an excellent idea too! It is winter today.

    ReplyDelete
  11. No pathway in my house is too narrow! And you do not stick to the floor when you walk across it. And the toilets are mostly free of stains. Sheets and towels are clean enough. What more can you ask?
    Here's a funny true tale- Mr. Moon replaced a pane of glass which had come out of a window in his bathroom and the new pane was so clear compared to the others that I did not realize at first that it had glass in it.
    But I sure can make soup.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I so remember your dear Colin. And your days as an actress at the lovely play house. I'm so grateful to have shared a bit of your life, Mary, here on these wonderful "pages." Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the warmth and laughs and beauty you've shared, all the raw honesty and vulnerability, the words, the gorgeous weaving of words.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I made soup here too. No new refridgerator though I sure wish there was. And a new stove.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You may be one of few people besides me who will find this of interest: at our dugout/slough in spring and summer, at dusk I'd hear this witch-cackling (honest to god it sounded like that one in the Wizard of Oz): EEEEE-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. Very strange. I finally found out it's some kind of duck calling her ducklings at dark. -Kate

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.