Thursday, January 13, 2022

Oh, What A Lucky Man He Is


When we moved into this house, the last owners had left several pairs of beautiful lace curtains. Not the kind you buy at JC Penny's that are made out of some not-found-in-nature material, but heavy, lovely cotton. I assume. I've never found a tag on them. I think of them in my head as Irish Lace Curtains. 
I have no idea if that's true but I do know that here we are, seventeen years later (almost eighteen), and I'm still using some of those curtains. It took me quite a few years of living here before I was able to get over the fact that the last woman who had lived here was a well-known writer. She was, in fact, a sort of idol of mine. Her name was Connie May Fowler and you may have heard of her. One of her books, Before Women Had Wings, was optioned by Oprah and made into a made-for-TV movie. Oprah herself played a role in it. I always call my bathroom, "The Bathroom That Oprah Built." I loved Connie May Fowler's earlier books. She's a Florida girl who grew up in an extremely sad and dysfunctional house and so her themes and her scenes rang very true with me and truthfully, I was jealous of her talents and success in many ways. That's when I still had the dream of being a Florida author myself and I judged my own writing against hers, sometimes with great self-recrimination and sometimes with a little whisper of, "You too, honey. You too."
And then she wrote a book that I really did not fancy at all that was basically centered on a fictionalized version of Dog Island that I found ridiculous although the scene that really did me in was one in which the protagonist and her love had sex in the restroom of a restaurant which was also a thinly described real place and I've been in that bathroom fifty times at least and would never even consider having sex there. I didn't even like peeing there.
Ugh.
I don't think that book sold very well. When we moved in, there were at least a half dozen copies of it, author-signed, on the bookshelves. 
She's gone on to write a few more books, none of them garnering great success. One of them was even based on this house. 
The kicker is that she now lives in COZUMEL for god's sake and I have to wonder how it is that she and I are so entwined in such strange ways. 
At the very least, I am still using her curtains. 

One of them is hanging in Mr. Moon's bathroom. I put it there as a temporary solution to a privacy problem but knowing us, it will still be there when we die. Today there was a little anole on the window behind it and I took its picture. 


Look at those tiny toes! He's waiting patiently for a bug. That is what anoles do. 

We've felt better today. Mr. Moon actually went to town and got stuff done and I stayed here and got a few things done myself. Laundry, hen house cleaning, stuff like that. I even hung clothes out on the line, mostly for the pure enjoyment of being outside under the blue sky in the cool air. It's been a beautiful day. 


I plan on going to town myself tomorrow but I'm going to make it quick and easy. I plan on going only to my two regular stations of the cross- Costco and Publix. Of course. 

I ordered some new masks a few weeks ago when it became all too apparent that Omicron wasn't fooling around, especially here in Florida and they arrived yesterday. We've been wearing either homemade cloth masks or disposable masks, or sometimes both together but I knew that we really needed more serious protection. I was wondering how long you could wear one of them without losing the protective value of it and so I read the instructions on the back of the package where I did indeed find the answer. 


See Number 7. 
Discard the face mask when it gets quite dirty or breathing resistance increase remarkably.
I just love that. 

Okay. Yes. They are made in China. They look impressive though. And as you can see, they are certified with a certificate. 
What could go wrong? 

All right- one more thing. You want to know how lucky my husband is? I mean, aside from the obvious which is that he is married to me (deep sarcasm). When he came in from running his errands in town he was positively jubilant as he told me that he'd run out of diesel fuel in his truck a quarter of a mile from the house and had been able to coast all the way home, through the gate, and up to his usual parking spot where the truck came to a stop without the use of brakes. 

He is so obviously beloved of the gods. 
I guess I'll go make him some supper. 

Love...Ms. Moon


 

34 comments:

  1. Our school nurses have a good stock of N-95s and I've taken to wearing them. Omicron is tearing through our school, mostly because people refuse to do the right thing. It's infuriating! I stayed home today (sick) and had a rapid test done, myself. Negative, thank goodness. But I can't help but be paranoid!

    You have no reason whatsoever to envy any other writer. Your writing is just beautiful, Mary. It's a daily gift to me.

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    1. We all have good reason to worry and that is not paranoia! We cannot assume that what we have is "just a cold" or anything else and then go out into society. We owe it to others to test and make sure.
      Thank you for those sweet words, Jennifer. I mean it.

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  2. I love Mr. Moon's ride home. Perfect. And my granddaughter has Covid - yuck

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    1. Oh, no, Beverly! I hope it's a very, very mild case.

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  3. I've started using the KN95 masks also. Even though I know they aren't impervious I feel much more armored when I go out. I also have a cold (negative covid test). My sister had passed on a recipe for "liver flush" that she had cut out of a women's magazine years ago. It involves blending whole peeled oranges and 1/2 peeled lemon, parsley, a little olive oil and pinches of ginger, pepper, cayenne and cloves. I feel so healthy drinking it, although I doubt my liver is getting flushed.

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    1. Yeah. These KN95's may not be the best but they are definitely a big step up from what I've been using.
      Hmmm... on the liver flush. Yeah, I doubt your liver is getting flushed either. Are you subsisting on this drink?

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    2. HAHA - no way would I subsist on this drink. I need some protein and carbs and fat! But for somebody who is feeling coldish it felt good to drink it.

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  4. That's such a guy thing, to be thrilled about coasting and not using the brakes to stop at the right place! Too funny.
    I had a similar writer dream, too, who is my age, wrote her first, excellent, novel before she'd left the uni, went in from there. I had not managed good novels, though I wrote a couple, and wondered for ages if she was living my life. Then I found out more about her and stopped envying her! I also noted her bitter jealousy of her sister, an even more illustrious writer. We're all ancient now, yet I still remember. That, too, is funny.


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    1. You're right! My worst nightmare is running out of gas and yet I think that man are constantly playing the game of seeing just how far that needle can go down before it really means empty.
      I hear you on envying other authors. Ms. Fowler has had some truly horrible times in her life and has no children. Not that that's a bad thing but I would have been so sad not to have had mine.
      Still- we humans are jealous critters, aren't we?

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  5. I also would have been jubilant with coasting home to my usual spot.

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    1. It was hysterical! It's like the truck was a horse who knew just where to stop.

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  6. Well, my sister who lives in Florida has covid. And she's vaxed and all. Our office manager and her whole family are sick.

    Mr Moon is adorable. What a guy, coasting in to the homestead. Yeah, but if he's outa gas, then what??

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    1. I am so sorry to hear about your sister. Is she okay? Hopefully the vaccinations will prevent serious problems. I hope so, anyway.
      Mr. Moon is adorable. And he went and bought some diesel at the gas station down the road and brought it back so he's fine. He slays me.

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  7. Why did he run out of gas?

    I tried to fing that author in our local library but not luck. Oh well. Maybe I'll find that book one day. Glad you guys are both feeling better.

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    1. He ran out of gas (well, diesel) because he forgot to get any! He had a list a mile long and that just got dropped, I suppose.
      Yeah, Connie May Fowler could be more of a regional author. You may be able to find her books pre-owned on Amazon.

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  8. I laughed aloud several times reading this post. I love #5 Do not steam face mask or put in microwave oven. I especially the love the final very visual very wonderful story of Mr. Moon coasting into his domain. Thank you for bringing me joy! Bravo!

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    1. I laughed too, at #5! For some reason, I had the image in my head of someone steaming the mask with it on their face. I will be on the lookout though, for breathing resistance which becomes ridiculously increasing.
      Isn't coasting all the way home just exactly what would make a man's day? I'd be freaking out the whole time.

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  9. "Discard the face mask when it becomes quite dirty...."
    This explains why I have seen several people with masks so grubby they must be stinking. These masks are made to be discarded after one day of use, unless you have worn it for less than an hour. Imagine the bacteria it gathers as you breathe out after each breath in. Why would anyone want to keep wearing that for days or weeks?

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    1. To save money, I suppose, although in the end if you get sick from wearing a mask that's been used too often or too long that is not going to be your main concern, I would think.

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  10. Mr. Moon coasts to a glorious finish. His story and excitement in telling it delights me to no end. Perfection, Mary Moon. That's the life you live and the way to tell it.

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    1. I do believe that was probably one of the most perfectly perfect moments of his life.

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  11. You know, you are on my list of favorite authors. And not just because your sex scenes are all realistic. Although that helps.

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    1. Ha! I should write a few sex scenes! I don't why know I'm so shy. "Fooling around" is about as far as I go in descriptions.

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  12. Ah ha!! I always feel quite awkward saying" there is this blogger that I read and she said..." Now I realize I can say, and should have been all along, "there is a writer that said..."

    This is the truth and feels good flowing off my tongue. As the truth does.

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    1. Stephanie, that made me smile so big. Thank you. You really have no idea what that means to me.

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  13. Mr. Moon appears to lead a charmed life! He IS lucky to be married to you, Ms. Moon!

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    1. Well, we tell each other all the time that we are lucky. And we mean it.

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  14. Recently received N95 masks made in China and the bottom elastic strap broke almost immediately on two masks. So much for quality. We don't have anole here (Missouri) but one of my favorite memories was walking up to the back door just in time to see a blue-tailed skink run across the porch and eat a cockroach that was heading for house.

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    1. Oh no! So far the straps have all worked on ours. And they seem to do a good job of sealing snuggly to the face.
      We have skinks too! They're crazy, aren't they? They're like half snake, half lizard, all critter!

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  15. Well, I am laughing at Mr. Moon's diesel adventure.
    When I remodeled my bathroom in this house, I wove new curtains for the window. When I moved back here, I was delighted to see the new owner still had those curtains in use, in the bathroom.

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  16. We scored some N95 Masks today in the Paint section of Wal-Mart, I hadn't been able to find them anywhere else, so I bought more than I thought we'd need since, yes, Omicron is not fooling around. How Cool that a famous Author once lived in your Home and sought Inspiration there to Write published Books. Those Lace Curtains are lovely she left behind, perhaps they are Irish Linen.

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  17. OK, I know we have talked about Connie May Fowler before and you even loaned me one of those awful books (and it was awful). But did I know she was the previous occupant of your house?!?! If I knew that, I've forgotten it. I love the lace curtains. My mom always said we could never have lace curtains in Florida because the sun would rot them in no time. But then, she kept drapes for decades.

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  18. I had to laugh at your description of Mr. Moon coasting home on fumes! And I just love those lace curtains too - so pretty!

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