Monday, June 3, 2019

Life In The Fast Lane On A Two-Lane Road

I went out to get the paper this morning and for some reason, I just had not really taken note of the crocosmia growing around the paper box in front of the gate.
Why?
Oh hell. Who knows?
But this is what it looks like.


I almost began to weep. 
You'll also be able to see another plant back there which is taking over and I don't even know what it is. It was here when I got here and a few people have called it a castor bean but I don't think it is because I've never seen bean one on any of them. It's gotten bigger and spread farther this year than ever before and part of that is because we never got a freeze hard enough to cut them back last winter. So they too are all over the yard, front and back. I've pulled quite a few but not nearly enough. They are handsome plants but too many is too many and there are way too many. 

Sigh. Sigh, sigh, sigh. 
The heat is relentless and oven-like. Not just regular oven-like. Brick pizza oven-like. 
I actually got out and walked a bit earlier than usual. I don't know why I bothered. I've felt flattened and limp all day. My fig tree is splayed and drooping and looks the way I feel. If we don't get rain soon, I won't be preserving one fig. But hey! They'll be dried figs on the branch! 
Oh boy. 

Jessie took August to the doctor this morning. He was still running a fever and feeling so pitiful. He got diagnosed with a sinus infection and has started antibiotics. I hope they knock it out fast. Poor little guy. I went into town to drop a key off for Mr. Moon and go by Publix and wanted to go by and see him but he was sleeping and it wouldn't have helped anything if I had. They might come out tomorrow. He can lay around here just as well as at home and I can fulfill my promise and read him all the books. Or at least all the ones he wants. I forgot to take the list I've been so carefully keeping when I left the house and so I spent my time at Publix wandering about, wondering what in hell I really needed. 
Wandering and wondering. That about sums me up today. 

I took the trash to the trash depot and look what I found!


A perfectly lovely and functional old watering can. That cheered me some although what in hell will I do with it? Water stuff? That's why we have a hose. Still, I couldn't leave it there. They'd charge at least twenty dollars for one of those in an antique store. At least. It's a handsome thing to my eye anyway. Reminds me of my grandfather. 

Mr. Moon and I are driving up to Nashville this weekend. He is going to be installed (?) in his high school's sports hall of fame. Yes. They have one. I think his sister is too. I want to go and I am going to go but the idea of the trip and attending one of his high school reunions is giving me a lot of anxiety. I've been to two of his high school reunions but not for, oh, seventeen years or so. This reunion is an all-class reunion so there will probably be lots and lots of people. I comfort myself thinking of the really good restaurants they have in Nashville. It's a nine and a half hour drive although that's when Mr. Moon drives it by himself. I have to stop more frequently than he does. Sitting for a long period of time is a special sort of hell for me. But I will read out loud to him and that's always fun. What was I reading the last time we took a trip? I can't even remember. Could this be the year we finally finish "Duane's Depressed"? One of my very favorite books by Larry McMurtry and third (I think) in the series started so long ago with "The Last Picture Show" followed by "Texasville." There are several more books which follow after "Duane's Depressed" but none of those are as good as the first three were. Still, "Rhino Ranch" is not bad. It's amusing and it's always a treat to revisit the characters that McMurtry creates. I've always said that it's like he has a magical peephole with which to view the worlds where his characters live and he opens it up and reports back to us on their doings. 
It's all about character for me. 
Speaking of which, and I'm almost embarrassed to tell you this- we re-watched Deadwood: The Movie last night. 
I think I cried harder at the end this time than I did the first. 
I was just a weepy damn mess. 

I am sort of a damn mess in general these days, weepy or not. 
But I can still cook. My shrimp salad last night was very fine and tonight I have made an eggplant parmesan. I have three eggplant plants in my garden and although they have given forth with their beautiful pale purple blossoms, I have not seen one eggplant but I think the anticipation has set my mouth to water so today I bought one of those beautiful things and sliced it up and dipped the slices in milk and egg and coated them with flour and a little panko and baked them in the oven and made a sauce with so many vegetables including carrots and spinach and zucchini. 
I think it will be good. 

Here's a story- this morning when I went to tend my chickens, I lifted the lid on the baby coop to give them fresh water and food, and little Violet who raised a clutch of eggs herself a long time ago, jumped right in there. She had not left the big coop with the other chickens when I opened their door and gave them their scratch and I could tell that she was determined to get in with those babies. Darla went nuclear though and jumped on her and Violet flew out of the coop as quickly as she could. I keep saying that Darla isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier but she sure is protective. 

Wow. My life is just unbelievably exciting, isn't it? 
Tomorrow I may announce my candidacy for president. At which point pigs will be flying out of my butt. 

Stay tuned for further developments. 

Yours truly...Ms. Moon




20 comments:

  1. I wish pigs were flying from someone else's butt as he made his way to the jailhouse. So far, no such luck...Sweet dreams to you.

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    1. I think that pigs probably do fly out of his butt.
      Your lips to god's ear in the jail thing.

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  2. I hope sweet August is feeling better soon. Poor boy...I can sympathize since I feel like hell myself, still.

    I can imagine that watering can with a bundle of flowers inside.

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    1. That would be nice wouldn't it? Maybe even dried flowers.
      Feel better, Jennifer!

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  3. You are stronger than you think- watching weepy movies at a time like this! I am like " basket of kittens , STAT", just to get through the day, Avoiding the "news", because we know...
    Sorry for the little pancake eater, hope the meds kick in quick! Miserable for MOM.

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    1. Oh well. That movie was a very good distraction from "real" life. And gave me a "good" reason to cry.
      August is still quite sick, poor little thing. He's handling it pretty well though. Mom is too.

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  4. I worked, came home, made supper, walked the dog and visited my grandson. Not very exciting, except for the last bit:)

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    1. How old is that precious boy now? I'll bet he's too adorable for words.

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    2. Oh, such a good age! But then, all baby ages are good ages, aren't they?

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  5. I'd vote for you!

    My father used to call those plants (the one that looks like a castor bean) "chicken plants." I have no idea why, and I don't think that's any kind of official nickname. When I Google "chicken plant" I don't get that. (I mostly get pictures of poultry-processing factories.)

    You've definitely put "Deadwood" on my radar. We're almost done with "Six Feet Under" so we'll need a replacement series!

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    1. Oh, and that watering can is a GREAT find!!!

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    2. "Chicken plant." Hmmmm....
      I cannot find the plant on google. I don't know what in hell it is.
      Yes! Watch Deadwood! It's terrific.
      I like the watering can too.

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  6. Darling Mary-

    I'm deep in the Poldark PBS series. It's a true bodice ripper, not Outlander, but a sincere replacement complete with the dark and tormented hero rising up out of the bracing Cornwall surf bare chested etc. And there is a 5th season so I'm slogging my way through the rest of the silliness. Good commentary of the evil ruling class (mostly) and the underdog peasants and their usually doomed uprisings...

    XXXXX love you to the moon and beyond.

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    1. I love YOU to the moon and back! How do you access PBS for streaming? There are too many damn choices these days! But Poldark sounds good.

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    2. I loved Poldark! Easy to lose yourself in that world! If definitely recommend. I watched on Netflix I believe.

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  7. I've got just about the last gardenia next to me filling my space with it's lovely scent. I despair of ever getting rid of the mexican petunia in that one spot. I think that is castor bean, my grandmother had some growing along one side of her little house but hers didn't get that big. that watering can is a great find but yeah, hoses. it would make a good planter. my sister would make a planter out of it. we just got a little rain so maybe it's headed to you.

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  8. I don't think it is castor bean, Ellen. None of the ones I've google-searched have been exactly like these are, plus- no beans! No blossoms either.
    I thought of the planter idea immediately, of course. The problem is that the hole is not very large and also, the bottom has no holes in it because it's not rusted. For right now, it's just hanging on my porch.
    I wish I had enough sun to grow gardenias. They are heavenly.

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  9. I would vote for you for President. I sure would. I think the reunion will be fun once you get there. But of course you have to contemplate getting there. Congrats to Mr. Moon!

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  10. I cannot pick out the crocosmia, unless it is that leaf that looks like my iris. I looked it up, and it's a lovely red. Your watering can is a great find. I don't know how much in a collectibles shop, but it would cost you thirty yankee dollars in a hardware store. I know. I bought one for the old house, because the hose didn't reach everywhere. Then I brought it here because the water spigot is thirty or forty feet away, and that's a lot of hose to buy and deal with, especially with a rain barrel right at the end of the porch.
    Good vibes to August, and all your little pancake eaters. And big ones, too.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.