Love And Other Things I Love

 That's what the sky looked like last night when I went out the kitchen door to shut the chickens up. It was eerie and beautiful and the moon, although you can't see it there, was a tiny sickle, shining in a clear spot among all the gray. 

This morning I made a fine breakfast which included air fried potatoes (that works so very well) and eggs and biscuits. At the same time I was doing that I started a loaf of sourdough and I felt quite capable and accomplished. After that, I mostly had the day to myself as Mr. Moon met up with Owen and Jason to do some sort of target shooting and the man is still not home. I've heard from him though, and they are fine. 

I was good today until I heard some very hard news from a beloved of mine. Not blood family but heart family. I feel flattened for this friend who lives far away but she has family all around her who love her beyond anything. I don't even know what to say so I'll leave this here. I am not being cryptic, or, well, I am, but only to protect privacy. She is going to be okay. I insist and proclaim this to be true. 

I spent another day being domestic. Lis is coming to visit for two nights on Tuesday (hurray!) and so I made her bed up fresh and I've made a pot of vegetable and venison soup to go with our bread tonight. I also had a bag of frozen wild blueberries in the freezer that have been there way too long and I baked a sort of cobbler-crisp with those. My topping is made of flour and ground almonds, oats, butter, and sugar. I hope it's good. The soup has a bit of everything in it including leftover salad and leftover cooked greens from last night. There are sweet potatoes and carrots, green beans and peas, onions and garlic, of course. Tomatoes and celery and corn and (shhhh...don't tell anyone) leftover white bean chili. Just a little. It's a throw-it-all-in soup and will be good on this chilly evening. 

And I took some pictures. 

Kathleen gave me that last one. I have so many living things that she gave me that remind me of her. Even my chickens, none of which are from the original batch of peeps she brought me so long ago remind me of her as I don't know if I ever would have started keeping them if she hadn't just shown up with babies and chick starter and said, "Here you go."

How I love their fluffy butts, their dinosaur stares and glares. How I love their beautiful eggs, each one as individual as a fingerprint. 

Here are the ones I gathered today. 

Eight gorgeous eggs from a dozen laying hens, one of whom is so old that she has not laid an egg since a few she laid last spring and from whom I will never get another. Little Violet. I don't even know how old she is. 

My man is home. He said they had a great time and that Owen, who is of the opinion that almost everything "is lame" these days, said several times, "This is so fun!" And it is a very good thing that he can see his dad and his mother's dad, his Boppy, being together, getting along well and joking and having fun. That family is family no matter what if love is involved. There are so many different types of love but always, love is love.

Speaking of which...

Love...Ms. Moon