Look very, very carefully. Do you see it? The tiny little ear-sproutling of a chard plant. All of the greens are coming up! It's so exciting to me. Just absolutely thrilling on a level that is hard to convey. You'd think our very survival depended on these vegetables. Maybe it's hardwired into our brains, this kind of thinking. Like the pleasure and sense of wealth I still get every day when I gather eggs. And perhaps that's how my husband feels when he hunts. That same deep feeling of need to bring home protein for the family. Here we are with our grocery stores and our technology, our ability to order food to be delivered, our restaurants, our big box stores, our endless choices of food we can bring home and store in our pantries, our refrigerators, our freezers or food that is already prepared and hot and ready for us to eat and yet- we have not come a millimeter away from the same humans who did indeed have to grow or raise or hunt their food and lest we forget- there are people all over the world who still do. Their DNA is our DNA. Both our ancestors and our living cousins.
And I guess that's why I get so damn excited when the seeds bust the dirt with green. It's a theory, anyway.
I did a bleach load this morning before I went to town and hung it on the line. Dottie came to inspect my work. Her feathers are whiter than my whites and instead of bleach and soap and water, she washes them with dirt.
Go figure.
Hank and Rachel and Jessie and Vergil and Lily and Lauren and I all met up at El Patron for our lunch and we could not remember the last time we had an all-adult lunch. It was so fun! There was hardly anyone on the patio, the weather was perfect, the Muzak was some sort of Euro Lounge Pop, Sade-like but not Sade, and our server was terrific. We ordered our food and right before it arrived on the table, Lily got a call from Maggie's school- of course. The little curly girl had a headache and needed her mother to pick her up.
Sigh.
So it always goes.
We spent well over an hour on that patio, talking, eating, talking some more. And then I swear some of us spent half an hour in the shady parking lot saying good-bye. The Southern goodbye. It's the opposite of the Irish goodbye wherein a person just leaves a place without informing anyone they are going, just disappears into the night. Nah. We have to go on and on and on. It's what we do.
I remember one time a friend came over and honestly, I was not in the mood for a visit and she was a talkative woman. Extremely. I finally thought she was leaving and I went outside with her to tell her goodbye because THAT IS WHAT YOU DO HERE and I thought I'd die when she pulled down the tailgate of her truck to sit on to TALK SOME MORE!
Obviously I'll never get over that. And today wasn't like that. None of us had any place we had to be immediately and it was a perfectly lovely day to talk with the people we love.
I went to Costco before I came home where I saw Brenda of the beautiful mermaid eyes. She told me how pretty I looked. I had actually worn eye-make today and no one had said a thing or probably even noticed that completely astonishing fact. I told her that and she said, "Well, I did!" Bless the Brendas of the world, especially that one.
I got home around three and Mr. Moon, who had been working on his tractor all day, was just coming in to eat lunch and for whatever reason, him forgetting to eat drives me insane. I guess I am deeply worried that if I died he'd never eat again. He was cranky and tired and frustrated with the tractor so I heated him up some leftovers and then he took a tiny nap in his chair and then he figured out how to do what he'd been trying to do out in the garage and now everything is better again.
I'm making egg rolls tonight and I better get to it. They are slightly labor intensive. I did a quick refrigerator clean-up/clean-out before I sat down to write this so at least I know where everything is in there. Basically. About a fourth of the space is taken up with jars of pickles and preserves. Yet another way my foremother's DNA takes me over every year as you all know.
Or I could just be crazy, not unlike what I imagine a lot of my DNA contributers were. So there is that possibility. Always.
Anyway, I am what I am.
Love...Ms. Moon
sometimes food and a short nap is all it takes to figure out the answer to a problem. all my kitchen towels need a bleach wash. and the plumber came today and the sink drains great now, even has the little whirlpool going.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Or a good night's sleep can sometimes do the job if worrying about the problem doesn't keep you awake.
DeleteHurray for plumbers who can unclog drains and crate tiny whirlpools.
My experience with bleach, aside from the art ones where I painted with it, have not been happy ones so I tend to reserve it for soaking dishes now. I guess the bleach police will just have to come get me. Open up! Bleach Police! Put your hands where I can see them. No, that's not funny, lady, that's uncalled for..
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat to have a lovely grown-up lunch, dearly as you love the kids. And how typical to get a mom call in the middle of it. I hope the Divine Miss M is okay.
The Divine Miss M. is indeed fine. I don't think there was much wrong with her to begin with.
DeleteI love bleaching clothes. I know! I know! I shouldn't use bleach! But it works so well at getting things white-ish, at least, again. The bleach police will be knocking on my door too one of these days.
Pretty close to perfect day.
ReplyDeleteYes, m'am!
DeleteI had to look up eggroll recipes, because that's just me. They're similar to the spring rolls that I make except with cabbage added. I might try them sometime and yes, they are labor intensive, although all cooking from scratch is labor intensive I find.
ReplyDeleteI walked for an hour today. Made myself go outside and walk, in my neighborhood. I felt better. Sunshine and fresh air. Jack is still having a bit of a tough time, very hyperactive and obssessed with owies. Tomorrow we go to visit his other grandma, first time I'll have seen her since Keith killed himself.
Here's a tip on making eggrolls- a bag of slaw mix with cabbage and carrots works very well as part of the ingredients. Do you guys have slaw mix in the grocery store?
DeleteSunshine and fresh air may not cure all but it helps and is always good for us. Do you think that Jack needs any therapy? I know he's so young. Bless his little heart.
I hope the visit with his other grandmother goes okay.
I'm not really sure what to do about Jack. He has a fixation with owies right now, probably because the hospital staff where asking him about owies. He's a little hyperactive but he's often very active. He doesn't want to see his mama he said but then he talked to her on a video chat this evening. I need to talk to the social worker to find out what's availabe for 2.5 year olds and therapy.
DeleteHe had a nice visit with his grandma, aunt and uncles.
I also had to look up egg rolls......they are basically what we call spring rolls here! Yummy!! (I have never made them, but have eaten them in chinese restaurants. )
ReplyDeleteI don't even know why I make eggrolls but I do and my husband loves them so much.
DeleteI think there probably is a visceral sense of satisfaction at procuring food -- for many people, anyway. I gotta say I don't think I inherited any of that! I get my visceral satisfaction from flowers!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that Mr. Moon figured out the problem after taking a break. Sometimes stepping away from a task makes a huge difference!
Well, I get a lot of joy from flowers too. No doubt about that.
DeleteYou're right about taking a step away from a problem. It's easier to think about it from a different angle then, I guess.
You are an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteFor what?
DeleteYOU are the inspiration, woman!
Ah, the Southern Goodbyes. My husband's family were just like that when his mother was still alive. Sadly, we don't see as much of each other now that she's gone.
ReplyDeleteI would only assume that you are well aware of the Southern Goodbye. I had a friend who was from NY and when she left she'd always just say, "Bye!" and leave and I had a hard time not having my feelings hurt.
DeleteThat sounds like an ideal lunch to me - but I hope Maggies is feeling better now!
ReplyDeleteShe is fine and dandy!
DeleteHow is Maggie today?
ReplyDeletePerfectly okay.
Deletethose first little sprouts of life in the garden are exciting! Here, I've given up on gardens because the critters eat them as fast as I plant. I resorted to large pots on the deck, but obviously my choices of vegetables are limited for that! Hope Maggie is feeling better........and you got to see Brenda of the mermaid eye shadow! Yeah! Of course she would notice your eyes too!
ReplyDeleteSusan M
I keep thinking that container gardening might be the way to go for us. If Mr. Moon wasn't helping in the garden, I'm not sure I'd be up to doing it all by myself. Not that size, anyway.
DeleteYou cannot beat the beauty or fun of a full clothesline of bleached whites. Why do I love them so? Jenny
ReplyDeleteYou're taking about the Irish Exit. That's when you're too drunk/done to deal with the Irish Goodbye, which is exactly the same as the Southern Goodbye, so you just sneak out without telling anyone.
ReplyDeleteLunch with the grown kids sounds so lovely. And they may not have said anything about your eye makeup because you always look lovely to them, but also, when they look at you, they just see YOU, who they love. How do you decide all the yummy things you make for dinner? I wonder if I'd be able to do it if my man didn't love to cook and take charge of that side of things? You amaze me in large and small ways. love you, woman.
ReplyDelete