Sunday, May 30, 2021

Slow, Sweet Sunday


Would you look at the eyelashes on that kid? I took this picture last night when we were eating supper. The chicken and dumplings were pretty good. 


This sparkle-eyed sprite enjoyed them. 

They were such good boys. We're always so behind their regular schedule here. Supper's later, bath time's later, book-reading is later, and falling-asleep time is later. Which works out pretty well because then they sleep later the next morning too. Now what happens when they go home and have to re-regulate is another story but Jessie is kind enough not to fuss at us for creating havoc with her children. 


And their diets. 
Purple cows are a must, of course. Levon said, "Eating cows is hard." Probably especially if you're trying to suck the whole mess up with your straw. 
We did indeed read "The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza." They asked me for it. This too is a must. I hope someday that all of the grown-up cousins get together and laugh about that book and purple cows at Mer and Bop's old, old house when they had sleepovers. 

They slept in until almost 7:45 which they never do at home. They sleep like little bricks on those fold-out mattresses on our floor. I just kiss them and tuck them up with the softest blankets I can find and whatever stuffed animals they want and BOOM! they are out. 

After the boys were asleep, I finished "Comanche Moon", the second book in the Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae series and actually got started on "Lonesome Dove" itself, which is the original and most well-known of the books. Lord, it's been a pleasure for me. I have no idea how many times I've read "Lonesome Dove" but I know it's more than twice. I'm so looking forward to reading it again with the just-read facts of all the characters' backstories woven together in my mind. McMurtry was a genius at that. His ability to create characters and their stories and weave in the stories of other, minor characters who then become, in some instances, main characters is nothing short of a magic trick to me. There is such a richness to the continuing ribbons of lives that he reveals with deceptive ease of the development of his stories. It's like with acting- I cannot STAND catching actors act. I don't want to be watching a movie and think, "Wow! She's a great actor!" I want to be so lost in the character of whoever the actor is playing that I have forgotten that the person onscreen is an actor at all. These are the ones who make it look so simple that often they are not given the credit I think they deserve. 
Same with writers. I want the story to be so real with the dialogue so true to the characters that I forget to think about the process of how it was written. I often say that I love to start a book and realize immediately that I am in very good hands and my only job is to follow along the journey set out so skillfully before me. 
And that's what McMurtry does. 

Well. That was a segue. 
Bottom line- I just finished an eight hundred page book that kept me enthralled every second and I am so excited to be at the beginning of an even longer one with the same characters. 

Today went smooth and easy. Boppy got up with the boys although I did get a tiny bit of snuggle time with Levon. I slept a little while longer and then got up and made the biscuits and bacon and sliced the tomato and let me tell you that August had TWO AND A HALF savory biscuits and one jam biscuit. He gobbled up those tomatoes and he loved the jam. Levon had one of each. 

There was more model-putting together and more books and matching game (you could write this yourself, couldn't you?) and we went through some books and picked out a few to take to the little take-a-book/leave-a-book library down the street. I'd gotten them a kids' book there that we really like and it was our turn to make a donation, which we did. Levon had to push the babydoll stroller with the elephant in it because...well, he just had to. 


I gave them both half a graham cracker before we left and Levon gobbled his up while August did that kid thing and made his last for the entire walk. When we came in the house he proudly showed me that he still had a half inch square left. He demonstrated how he'd been eating it which was a very interesting nibble technique. 


And Levon and Jack furthered their relationship. Believe it or not, when they're both stretched out on their tummies, they're almost the same length if you count Jack's tail. Which I do. 

After their mama came to get them I took the trash to the dump and picked some more green beans. 



And...some other stuff, as it is said in "The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza." I have got to get out the canning kettle and make more dilly beans or else borrow Lily's pressure canner and just can them plain for eating in the winter. I was not happy with the beans I froze last year at all and would like to can some and see if that works out better. You have to use a pressure canner when you're putting up non-acid things or things without a lot of sugar in them like pickles and jams. I've never used a pressure canner but I have certainly used a pressure cooker my entire life. I suppose I can do it. 

Here's what the chicks look like today. 


If I never raise another peep in the house it'll be just fine with me. It is SO much easier to let the mama take care of them. And they're just so much happier. At least they seem happier. They're so stinking cute. 

And here's a picture of Maurice who is fine and who wrestled me for my yogurt this afternoon. 


That cat's favorite foods are lunch meat, Temptations, and yogurt. But not plain yogurt. It has to be the flavored kind. She won't touch things like eggs, cheese, fish, or chicken. 

I will never not wonder what sort of childhood that cat had. 

Love...Ms. Moon

21 comments:

  1. Eyelashes from MARS!!! My god!
    I do love the photo of the boys walking down the sidewalk, Feels summery and as things ought to be always!
    Things at Mer's house are as things ought to be always- Ideal. Thanks for the slice!!

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    1. Well, things at Mer's house are not always ideal but they are pretty sweet most of the time.
      I like that picture of the boys too. I see it and know that August is nibbling his graham cracker, molecule by molecule.

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  2. I counted them--seven little chicks. The coloring seems unusual to me, ignorant of chicks as I am. But the dark grey, the light grey, the brown and the nearly brown behind that one seem unusual. How much bigger must they grow to begin to guess who the father might be?

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    1. I'd say to be truly sure, we're going to have to wait until they're full grown to see what size they are. Fancy Pants is a bantam- a small breed whereas Liberace is a big boy.

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  3. I have a broody hen again and I'm so tempted to get a peep or two, but we definitely don't have the space and I appear to have four chickens who believe themselves to also be roosters right now (i.e., the LOUDEST CHICKENS ON EARTH) so I'm doing my best to resist temptation. But it's hard.

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    1. It IS hard, isn't it? Do you think that WE get broody for them?

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  4. Of course, one day, when you and Glen have gone to the great hunting ground in the sky, the all grown up August and Levon will look back wistfully on the happy times they spent with Mer and Boppy - safe and well fed and loved unconditionally with cats to stroke, chicks to grin at and beans to pick. And this memory will be like an anchor - something to keep them steady in the turbulent sea of life.

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  5. Sweet memories! Poor Maurice, at least she has a good home now.

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    1. She does and she must appreciate it somewhat or she'd just leave.

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  6. What a lovely day for those boys and their grandparents.

    Maurice looks quite content now:)

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  7. Sounds a lovely day - and those beans and produce look fantastic too; makes me think we should grow proper veg... But I sort of know I won't - so much too do, I guess we have to make choices.

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    1. We absolutely DO have to make choices. I feel lucky that we have the option of choosing to spend the time it takes to grow stuff because I do love the process and the results.

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  8. I love those little take a book/leave a book libraries! They kept me going when Covid closed my public library for a while. I always check them out when I am on my neighborhood walks.
    Sounds like another successful sleepover.

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    1. It was a very successful sleepover.
      And I love those little libraries too. I'm sort of amazed that anyone in Lloyd put one up!

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  9. another fun day in the life of a grandparent. did I mention I'm going to be a great grannie? The boy and his girlfriend are pregnant and they are so excited. me and his mother too.

    yeah, I tried freezing green beans one year and they were nasty. never did it again. right now I have over a dozen ears of corn I need to process and freeze.

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    1. Oh Ellen! I'm so happy for you! Okay. This inspires me not to throw away the baby books and toys. Not yet. Although Owen IS only eleven so...
      I'm going to give the rest of my last year's frozen green beans to the chickens. Maybe they'll eat them.

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  10. I have never heard of a cat that won't touch fish! That blows my mind. What are Temptations?

    Look how swanky Lloyd's sidewalks are!

    I'm so glad you read "The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza." All is right with the world.

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    1. Temptations are some cat treat nibbles that obviously have crack in them. I only give her about six at a time. They're stupid expensive but I did find an alternate brand at Aldi's that's a lot cheaper and she doesn't seem to notice the difference.
      Lloyd's sidewalks are very nice. Do you remember that whole battle?
      Me too on the Little Red Hen.

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  11. August and Levon seem to have had their usual fine time, with the added bonus of sleeping later! The photos you captured of them are precious.

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