Wednesday, August 14, 2019

What's Your Miracle?

I slept until nine o'clock this morning which is unheard of and I swear I was still recovering from being outside yesterday. I made the probably wise decision not to walk but did some chores around here, spending as little time in the heat as I could get away with. Hank and Rachel and Lily and I had made plans to meet in town for lunch and so we did. One of our favored Indian buffet restaurants has moved into a new location and we went to try it out. Everything was brand spanking new and as I said to Maggie when we went in to use the ladies' room, it even smelled new. Which is an excellent thing, especially in the ladies' room. The old location was funky for sure. Long, long ago it had been the home of a restaurant called The Catfish Pad and I still miss that place. Fried catfish, cheese grits, cole slaw and a thick slice of sweet onion. Heaven.
Anyway, the food was good and the company was better. Rachel brought two co-workers and we all talked and talked. You know what I like about my kids and their friends? They don't make me feel like an old lady. Maggie got a little impatient and for awhile she amused herself by going through my purse until I asked her to stop and then she started putting it on her head.


It would hide her face and then she'd let it fall and quick-quick, I'd take her picture. Does the light love Maggie or does she have her own? 
Both, probably. 
After we finally decided that we all needed to get on with our day, Hank and I stopped at a Goodwill. Maggie was the winner there. I got her two things that I think she will love. One is a little wicker doll carriage which may actually be ornamental but it's completely functional and she can roll her babies around in it. The other is something she won't be able to use for months but it's an almost hideously pink fake-fur vest that's as soft as all that other stuff they make these days which is is bizarrely soft and is probably poisonous to us and the planet. 


I'll keep the carriage here and August and Levon will like it too. 

It was great to spend a little time with Hank. I really enjoyed it. We had a good time looking at the things for sale, the bizarre, the useful, the ugly, the velvet painting. Hank found a few books and a pan and I got nothing for myself but had already scored today in that the two pairs of Crocs flip flops I'd ordered arrived. These flip flops are what I wear every day and I need them. They were on sale and ended up being cheaper than one pair with free shipping which of course probably means that they're discontinuing them and I have no idea what I'll be wearing on my feet when that happens. They look like this. 

I remember distinctly the first pair of flip flops I ever got. I may have been three or four and my main memory is that of my mother going out somewhere and me being afraid that the baby sitter would not be able to put them on my feet correctly after I got up from my nap. I made sure that before my mother left she placed them so that the left shoe was on the left and the right shoe was on the right. I knew that this mattered but I did not know yet how to determine left from right myself. I've been wearing flip flops ever since. I remember when they came from Japan in the flimsiest plastic bag imaginable with a thin plastic drawstring at the top. They were all the same although they came in different colors and probably cost about fifty cents. You can still buy those, I think. 100% rubber and fairly effective for protecting feet from sand spurs and broiling hot pavement. 

Speaking of broiling hot- it still is. No rain today, either. Everyone, and I mean everyone talks about the heat here right now. Store clerks, friends, random strangers. It is our shared experience. Somehow it feels hotter than it ever has, even if the temperatures don't actually reflect that although my car told me that it was 99 degrees outside this afternoon and I believe it. I used to make fun of that heat index thing but I've become to accept the truth of it. Feels like 109. 
Yes. Yes it does. 
All I've done today outside is to walk from parking lot to building and back to car, gather eggs and cut zinnias to bring in. At this point, I'm not complaining- I am in a sort of astonishment. 

May we get rain and lots of it soon. 
In the meantime, we are talking about going to the river on Saturday although I might just actually drive down there myself tomorrow. I'll see if Lily wants to come. Life is short and the river is a miracle. It would be a sin to deny experiencing that miracle now when we need it most. 
I'll take every miracle that comes my way. 

Love...Ms. Moon


27 comments:

  1. Croc flip flops? Now that’s a kind of miracle. That story about worrying that your baby sitter wouldn’t be able to put your flip flops on properly touches my heart. And Maggie definitely carries her own light.

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    1. They are the most comfortable flip flips I've ever worn. And, as you now know, I have been wearing them for over sixty years. I would call that a fine recommendation.
      The baby-sitter story touches my own heart for little worried Mary. I was worried about everything. I had good reason to be.

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  2. yes, Maggie IS light. I love it when you can gather with people that don't make you feel old, too. ..crocs.......I learned a lesson the hard way several times over the years .....that when I work outdoors here, open toed shoes (I wear Birks normally) do not work.....I must wear sneakers. Long story and 2 injuries later, I have learned this lesson......unfortunate as it is. And that wicker stroller is divine! I wish you some cooling.....but as here in Ca.....dont think that will happen soon enough
    Susan M

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    1. When I garden or do yard work I do wear old sneakers. Mostly due to ants. We have so many and they all bite the shit out of you.
      We got a little coolness after a rain. I wish the same for you.

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  3. Does Maggie still have the enormous baby brood to care for? She surely needs the buggy. My sister wears Croc flip flops. She found them years ago. Summer, winter, all that is on her feet. I'll have to mention they may be going out of production. Before she disappears in search of more, there will be a strangled "Arrrrggghh!"

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    1. I don't know for sure that this style is going out of production. Also your sister and I may wear different styles. Croc has a few for women. But yeah, I sort of want to buy ten pairs just in case.

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  4. Maggie is light, no question about it! You have such good times with your family. Sweet sleep. All your rain is here, raining now and has done for most of the day...

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    1. Tampa must have released some of the rain. We've been getting a little. I have a friend in Winter Haven and he says it rains every day.

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  5. Most definitely the light shines from within little Maggie. That face!

    I hope your rain shows up soon!

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  6. I wear " Fit Flops". They have a thicker , contoured sole, and are so very comfortable. Maggie is so cute, as are August and Levon of course. Did I tell you that my friend has a grandson called August? They call him Augie. He was born in New York when his Dad was working there. I don't know how you survive in the temperatures that you have . I am wilting and sweating when it is 30c ( 86F) here. (30c is exceptional for this country )

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    1. What country is that? I am curious. I've heard that Fit Flops are very comfortable.

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    2. We live in Harpenden, which is a small town of some 30,000 folks about 25 miles north of London. We have been here for 40 yrs and before that we lived in NE England for 4 years. P and I were both born and brought up in Leicester, a big city in the " Midlands " . I love reading your posts as your life and where you live is so different to here. 2 of my grandkids have just arrived to spend the day with us while their Dad ( my son) goes to work. He is divorced so I get to see the kids more than I would if he was still with the ex! They are 9 and nearly 7..girl and boy.

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  7. Honey,Maggie is a beauty. So lucky to be a girl among all those boys! (or whatever gender they decide they are)

    I don't know how you do the heat. I remember my first year in Deland, Florida when I was a college freshman. My roommate and I (she was also a Yankee) lay on our beds without air conditioning with wet washcloths on our faces. It was SO HOT. And that was about eleventy million years ago.

    I raise my iced tea to you--

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    1. Did I know you went to Stetson? It was Stetson, right? Yeah, Florida colleges didn't used to air condition the dorms. No one would live in them now if they didn't. I know you and your rommate must have suffered mightily. For real.

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  8. Maggie could be a nightlight. She's a sunny one.

    I spent almost my entire childhood/early teens in UK and Germany so flip flops were not prevalent (1950s/early 60s). However, we did come back for one year when I was 6 to live in TX--a horrible year--the heat after living in UK was intolerable. But it was there that I was first introduced into what we called zorries. Never wore them again when I went back overseas. The shoe of summer there was always a slip-on canvas trainer.

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    1. I remember zorries. For sure. Yeah, where we live definitely influences what our choices of footwear will be, doesn't it?

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  9. Maggie does indeed shine. I love that baby buggy that you got for her. I would have loved that as a little girl.

    I admire the fact that you can even function in that kind of heat. I did the conversion and 99F = 37C. OMG! I don't think I could manage that. I would probably burst into flame, spontaneous combustion.

    I used to wear jesus sandals when I was younger. A thin piece of leather with no support and a strap across the top of your foot and a piece to stick your big toe into. I loved those things. I can't imagine wearing them now, no support:)

    I hope the heat breaks soon for you.

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    1. I am constantly feeling like I'm going to burst into flames. Or just melt like caramelized sugar over a flame.
      I remember those sandals! Hippie sandals for sure.

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  10. miracle and sin, isn't it funny how that language creeps in to our lexicon as though it is normal. I still say, "bless you" when some one sneezes. That Maggie child has "the THING"- She shines all over the place. Shirley has nothing on that child. I too wear flip flops , one month out of the year, it has been a coldish summer- the flip flops I like best are made of recycled yoga mats and are so comfortable I forget I am wearing them and crawl into bed with them still on. Today is supposed to be a scorcher- 79 degrees.

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    1. I've seen those recycled yoga mat flips. I bet I have never in my life forgotten to take my shoes off before bed. My feet really don't like shoes much.
      Yep- about the language. And I say, "Oh my GOD!" all the time. And of course, "Jesus Christ!"
      A scorcher. Hahahaha!

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  11. I tend to just go barefoot unless I leave the property and then I have some sandals I just step into, kinda like flip flops. still no rain here though they were saying 50% chance last night. somebody got some because around 9 PM I could smell it on the air. and still so hot here, hitting triple digits.

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    1. We did get rain last night. I hope you got some today too.
      You must not have as many fire ants as we do. I never used to wear shoes in my own yard but once I moved to Lloyd I started. We also have some sort of horrible stinging nettle that grows in the yard. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.

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  12. Wishing you rain--and that beautiful river. xo

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    1. Didn't make it to the river because of the threat of rain! Now there's a bit of irony. Still waiting for it to fall though.

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  13. How great that Hank went to the thrift store with you! Sounds like a fun outing, and you scored some cool stuff. I remember those 50-cent flip-flops too. I bet you can still get them, although now they're probably made in China rather than Japan. I remember when flip-flops began to get fancier and I got a pair with a thicker sole of layered rubber in different colors. I thought they were incredibly great.

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  14. All those former you’s are part of who you are now. Such a storied life. ❤️

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.