Saturday, November 10, 2018

Put An Extra Quilt On The Bed Tonight, Babies. It's Going To Get Chilly

The moon is hanging pure silver, a crescent, a hooky grin hanging in the night above the pecan trees and the tea olive is blooming again which I only discovered when I smelled it this afternoon. Its molecules must be so very, very strong for such a tiny bloom to be capable of filling so much airy space with its apricot perfume.

It was a beautiful day outside, as blue as can be, and cool, too. I cleaned the hen house's poopy nests and weeded around two more roses and laid the hay I'd taken from the nests around them. I got a surprise visit from August when his daddy came by with him to get a dolly (handcart?) from the garage. They were on their way to go fill the feeder at a friend's house with deer corn but August decided to stay here with me and I was very glad to have his company for a short visit. We found an egg and looked at the baby chicks with Dearie. Not SO baby anymore. More like young chicks. And then we mostly sat on the love couch (as Owen named it) in the library and read books and I was so happy that I knew I was having one of those moments that I needed to remember forever.

Then his daddy came back and offered him a string cheese but I'd already told him I'd make him a peanut butter sandwich and that's what he wanted. So I made him his sandwich and he ate it. And then it was time for him to go home and I decided to mop the kitchen and little bathroom which hadn't been done in forever and I did that and no one in this world would ever be able to tell except for the lingering smell of Fabuloso and vinegar which, as we all know, is the smell of a clean soul as well as the smell of a clean floor.

Have you read Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books?
I have read them all and reread some of them and saw the PBS series made from one of them when it came out starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney among others. I've loved those stories which gave me a window onto a world that otherwise I never would have known existed and have read Maupin's other books too and last night as I ate my supper, I scrolled through the Netflix documentaries to find one called The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin and I watched some of it and then some more this afternoon. It's pretty dang cool. Neil Gaiman is in it along with Dukakis and Linney, Sir Ian McKellen, and Amy Tan. It is, as one online description called it, disarmingly frank as it follows Maupin's life from his Southern raising to fighting in Viet Nam, to arriving in San Francisco and reveling in his gayness for the first time in his life to the AIDS crisis which changed absolutely everything.
Anyway, I was delighted to find it and it has been delightful to watch.

I am almost finished with Levon's monkey doll. I am now at the decorating point, doing a little embroidery and sewing on buttons. His party is tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing everyone. As May said the other day, first birthday parties are the best and honestly, they are. They are so innocent. The babe has no concept of presents or years attained but is simply curious and entertained by all of the people giving him so much attention. Jessie has been working with him, teaching him to blow out a candle and say "Cheers!" which he can actually do. It will be sweet, for sure.

The chickens are shut up safely in the hen house and Dearie and her young'uns are cuddled up in the little coop in the big coop. She has her wings stretched out to enfold all of them on this night that promises to get chilly. They are at the stage now where they are getting their pinfeathers which stick out everywhere from their soft down. I wonder how long Dearie will continue to take such good care of them. Until it is time to stop, I guess, and that is a decision that she will make based on mysterious and intuitive knowledge.
I love watching this process. It is so real and so pure, somehow.

Well, that's enough nattering.

I hope that the silver moon manages to catch up all of your bad dreams with its sharp hook and leaves the good ones to find their way to you, sweet as the scent of the tea olive which blooms in my side yard, even as we speak.

Love...Ms. Moon

10 comments:

  1. Good night dear Mary. Sweet dreams when you get there.

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  2. I saw that moon, too. Such a bright sliver of silver in the purple-grey dusk. Magic.

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  3. Wishing you and your family a wonderful time tomorrow and sweet dreams until then.

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  4. Lovely things, pretty post. It was a fabulous moon in a clear sky here too.

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  5. happy Birthday to that baby! That year went by quickly! I had to look up tea olive, it does not thrive here, too cloudy. Can you actually use it for tea?
    No moon here- hardly ever- thick sky. All of the telescopes in the basement just staring up at the ceiling- rarely used for actual star gazing.
    Have a lovely day at the baby birthday bonanza!

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  6. our moon sliver is brilliant orange tonight due to smoke from the fires both north and south. But......currently no wind, and temps cooling.....so this is a relief for the moment. Happy 1st to Levon.....the wonder boy! And Dearie......she will tend to those little ones until they get too big to fit underneath her wings! And never read Armistead Maupin, but this has urged me to research him, thank you!
    Susan M

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  7. been cold here for a few days. we actually turned the heater on. supposed to get really cold, freezing cold for a few nights next week. ugh. no freezing!

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  8. Happy birthday to Levon!

    A good day was had by all, I'm glad. Take care.

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  9. cheers to one year and many more to mr. levon!

    xxalainaxx

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  10. I LOVED those Tales of the City books. I read several of them in college, but I haven't read them since and I never did finish the series. I keep thinking I'll read them again, but...so much to read! I'll keep an eye out for that documentary.

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