Wednesday, December 8, 2021

From Here To There


This nice little brown anole posed so patiently for me this morning. I have a windowsill and nook where I have small plants transitioning from rootlings to growing in dirt which I think of as a nursery and almost every time I pass it I actually take the time to look at it, to check on the green babies to see how they're doing and today's little visitor made me happy. I would rather have seen a green anole but we are seeing fewer and fewer of those lately. Here's a good article about why. 

Sigh. 
It is absolutely inevitable that the invasive Burmese Pythons which are creating such havoc in the Florida Everglades will eventually be moving north and the day I see one of those motherfuckers in the wild is the day I...
I just don't even know. Scream? Move? You know a Burmese Python can eat a chicken. Hell, they can eat DEER! 

I did go shopping with Lily today. We went to Target. Since I was there last (and I have no idea when that was but I know I've only been once since covid started), they've redone the whole place. I was already completely disoriented and having a good old fashioned panic attack and that did not help. Poor Lily. She's having a difficult go of it right now and there she was in Target with her mother melting down like the bad witch from the west after having had a bucket of water thrown on her. I wasn't helping, to put it mildly. I did my best to pull up my big girl panties and get along with things and we managed to get the kids some presents despite the fact that the toy selection has already been been cut by what looked like half. The store wasn't packed but there were several traffic jams in that particular section. 
After we checked out we went to Welcome to Moe's! otherwise known as just Moe's. It was quite obvious that the staffing shortage has hit them hard. Things were NOT running smoothly and one of the burrito makers had a slight melt-down of her own while we were there. Still, every now and then a nice Moe's burrito is a fine thing. 

It has rained here off and on since yesterday and it actually got into the eighties today. I am NOT happy about the heat. I am also not very happy about the fact that I am still feeling unwell. I should not be surprised, I suppose, seeing how the kids have kept their colds, or whatever they are, for weeks now. I feel a little achy again today and tired, my sinuses seem to be unhappy. August is still coughing but has indeed now had a chest x-ray and he does not have pneumonia. I think I may go to bed early tonight. I'm getting close to finishing the book I'm reading ("Harlem Shuffle" by Colson Whitehead- very much recommend) and can't imagine anything much better than settling down with it and a cat. 
I talked to Mr. Moon last night and he asked me if Maurice was still alive. I sent him this picture this morning and said, "Here's your kitty."


She's been sleeping with me the past few nights. Unlike Jack who seems to want to merge his cat body with my hip, Maurice is quite happy to merely sleep on the pillow next to me which is absolutely representative of our relationship. She sort of wants to be near me but she doesn't really want to get into any of that mushy stuff. A little kiss on the lips now and then, a little ear-scratching, she's good. 
And as we all know, she makes her boundaries clear. 

Oh. Today is not only the date which marks the day I married my first husband 46 years ago, it is also the 41st anniversary of John Lennon's death. If the body remembers (and I am convinced that it does), it is no real wonder that I have struggled today. Both of those things affected my life in ways that will of course never end. I think back on the woman who experienced both a marriage at the age of 21 and the death of a beloved icon at the age of 26 and I barely recognize her from this distance but she is still inside of me, just as all of the ages of Mary are. Just as all of us hold all of the ages we've ever been inside of us. 

Well. 
I just felt like listening to this. Maybe you will too. 
As always on December 8th, I think of Yoko. And Sean, that beautiful boy. 



Love...Ms. Moon

22 comments:

  1. Complicated day for you. Sorry that target was such a trigger. About the anoles, handsome Son had a little green anole, Benjie, when he was very small. He loved Benjie, handled him so gently. I got to feed the mealworms though, he couldn't quite cope with feeding live food.

    Sorry the various viruses are dragging at your family. Do you think there are longer acting viruses around this year?

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    1. I imagine that your son's pet anole was more loved and well-taken care of than 99% of the pet anoles in the world! I love that you still remember his name.
      I don't know about these viruses but they sure are lingering longer than I'd like them to.

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  2. Sad about the little green ones. They are very cute, not that the bigger brown one is not, just that it is more plain.
    My brother had a little green one- got it at the dime store in the middle of dirt wyoming, poor little thing. My brother was too curious and the poor little anole died wondering How the eff it got there.
    I think that you are very brave to go shopping in a real store.

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    1. I know. I take heart in the fact that maybe the green ones are just becoming better climbers and are still around. So sad for them. And so sad for the ones who got sold as pets. What were they thinking? Although, as with Boud's recollection, I am sure that some were treated well.
      I would not have gone shopping at Target if it hadn't been for the fact that I wanted so badly to just make Lily's life a tiny bit easier.

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  3. I am sorry you had a hard time. Going to bed early is a good idea. Sad about the anoles.

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    1. Do you still have the green ones down where you live?

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    2. Never seen one here, plenty of the others though.

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  4. Thank you for that book recommendation Ms Moon, I always seem to like the books you recommend. And I do hope you all feel better soon!

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    1. Well, I have no hesitation in recommending "Harlem Shuffle." Great writing, great characters, great story. I think you might like it!

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  5. We still have the green anoles here. And the brown ones. I don't remember the date of my first marriage but I remember the date of my divorce, Oct. 21st. I haven't bought anything at Target since they changed their clothing lines. It's really garbage now. And do you know how hard it is to find a long sleeved V-neck shirt? I did my grocery shopping Tuesday and it was like someone flipped a switch, one week most people were wearing masks and the next most people weren't. I was wearing mine.

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    1. Well, it's pretty easy for me to remember the date because of Lennon's death AND the fact that it's the birthday of a friend of mine. So...
      I do not remember the date of our divorce. Isn't that funny?
      We didn't even look at Target's women's clothes. We couldn't help but see some of the baby girl clothes though and they were so cute I wanted to have another baby of my own!
      And yeah- remember when you could go to the Gap and get a plain T-shirt that would last for years?
      A lot of people here not wearing masks. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason.

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  6. Sorry you had a bad time at Target and you are not feeling well. Good that you climbed into bed with a good book - that always helps. Hope Mr. Moon comes home soon and you recover from the illness that is dragging you down.
    I like how you wrote about all of the different varieties of Mary that are inside of you. I never thought about it that way...all of the different Ellens inside of me. Explains a lot! :)

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    1. The man will be home soon! I'm so glad.
      I've always thought about how all of our ages are inside of us. I rationalize that to explain why I can still find younger men attractive. It's not the me now, it's the me when I was twenty-seven! Right?
      Plus, other things, to be serious.

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  7. I hadn't heard about the Great Anole Replacement. I remember those little green ones from my childhood! We called them chameleons, as the article mentioned. (I also love the fact that there's an entire website dedicated to news about anoles. Ah, the Internet!)

    Sorry you're still not feeling great. At least Maurice is around to serve as your emotional support cat. :)

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    1. We called them chameleons too, Steve. I don't think I even heard the word "anole" until I was well, well into adulthood. And it tickled me that there is a website entirely about them too.
      Maurice is a good nurse cat. She truly is.

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  8. Thanks for sharing "Woman". I remember clear as crystal the morning I woke to the news that John Lennon had been killed in New York City. Then in 2002, outside The Dakota Building, a security man showed me the exact spot where he had fallen. Nobody knows what new songs he might have engendered but he always had his gaze on justice and the business of being human. I suspect there was much more to come.

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    1. I remember where and when I heard too, Mr. P. Will never, ever forget. What a horrible tragedy that was. I kept wondering, "Who will tell us how to get old now?"
      I am still wondering.

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  9. I'm still home and still full of snot, although feeling much more human today. Poor August, I know how he feels. Jack has had a cough since September I swear and I've been coughing so much, my abs are sore and feel like I've had a workout.

    It's got to be so hard have panic attacks. I've never had one, so I can't even imagine. I have a friend in Australia who is basically housebound because of her panic attacks which breaks my heart.

    Sending hugs to you. Maurice looks quite content in your bed.

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    1. I'm not coughing that much but when I do it's pretty extreme. I wonder if we have the same bug?
      Panic attacks can do really weird things to our bodies and minds. I'm always so afraid that I'm about to pass out even though I've never done that once in my life. I just sort of lose touch with everything for a few seconds. And there are other things but that's the scariest one for me.

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    2. My friend faints and it embarrasses her so much. She has a lot of health issues, including incontinence now, which probably also heighten her sense of panic.

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  10. We do the best we can. Some days that includes melting down in Target. I'm sorry you're still unwell, and the kids too. Sending love to you all, especially Lily, who somehow keeps all the plates spinning, at least that's how it looks from here.

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    1. Lily is doing a fantastic job of keeping those plates spinning but she's so close to it all that it's hard for her to see. I am so proud of her strength and dedication. Thank you for recognizing that, dear friend.

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