I haven't felt great again today but it hasn't been so bad. As the day has moved along, I've felt better and even gotten a few things done. And stayed out of bed, too!
At one point Vergil came out with the boys to drop off the meat grinder and although August and Levon weren't going to get out of the car, I pled for them to be able to and I stayed at least four feet away from them at all times which is NOT EASY TO DO! I said, "Oh, how I wish I could read you a book," and Levon who was sitting on that love seat he's on in the picture suggested that I could sit on the crack of it while each boy sat on an arm of the little sofa but I sighed and told him that probably wasn't far enough away.
But they figured out what to play on their own. My old plug-in phone was sitting there on the love seat and Levon was in charge of that while August got on one of the trikes in the room which has a good bell on it and he would ring, ring, ring and Levon would pick up the phone and say, "You have reached Toys, Incorporated. How can I get your order?"
I loved that.
And they played just like I played with my friends when I was little.
You say this and I'll do that and the script unfolds as it is played. I can remember feeling a passionate joy in that sort of play as a child. We could be princesses or soldiers or Tarzan and Jane or runaway children or stranded cowgirls in a snowstorm or anyone in the entire world and as such, we were free to act as we wanted, a continuing story of pretend and it never got old for me.
So watching the boys play like that was good for my heart and good for my soul.
Just as I was about to make Levon a requested peanut butter and honey and raisin sandwich with the crusts cut off, Daddy said it was time to go home and so they both got a banana and some juice.
Their visit was definitely the high point of my day.
I finally gave up and took the piece of fabric that has the letters of Maggie's name on it off of the backing which would not stop puckering up no matter how careful I was with it and that probably took forty-five minutes with the seam ripper, carefully taking out one stitch at a time. But it's so much easier now to embroider around the letters and I can even use an embroidery hoop which- oh gosh! who knew! makes for much more controlled and tidy stitches. Not that all of the stitches are tidy but more of them are. And when all of the embroidery is done I can resew the whole panel together and sew that onto the quilt. I've been making these things for over forty years. You'd think I would have figured it out by now but no. Not really.
While I picked stitches I listened to a podcast, sitting at the table on the back porch where the sun was shining brighter than any lamp in the house could have. It was a cheerful thing to see the sun again after so many days in a row of it hiding behind clouds as gray and dense as a thousand years of spider webs covering a window.
And when I began embroidering again I watched a movie on Netflix that I thought was going to probably be horrible but the trailer had such a sparky, funny thing going on with excellent writing and a terrific bit of acting that I thought- eh, what the fuck? I'll give it a shot.
And it was surprisingly delightful! It's called "Friendsgiving" and is on Netflix. Such movies are always formulaic, of course, and this one had elements of all of those but it popped out some definitely different storylines. So I enjoyed that. A few days ago I watched another Rom-Com-ish movie, "People We Hate At The Wedding" and I was vastly disappointed in that. The performances were okay but it was...meh.
Sometimes all's-well-that-ends-well just is not good enough.
Know what I mean?
And that's that. I've done laundry, made a loaf of bread, cleaned a toilet and a sink, picked some greens, and figured out a quilt problem. So the day hasn't been a total waste, I guess.
Onward and upward! Time to heat up the soup!
Love...Ms. Moon
Mary I don’t know if you have HBO max but if you do, Dan Levy’s new show The Big Brunch is on and it’s fantastic. Hi! XOR
ReplyDeleteYes! I have watched an episode. Looking forward to more!
DeleteI played those You do that and I'll do this sort of games when young, but it generally involved rifles and six shooters, as I was the only girl in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteAnd that must have been pretty thrilling! We did a lot of "combat" play.
DeleteMy brothers and I played forever games which we imagined would go, well, forever. I think they lasted about an hour tops. It involved all sorts of fantasy and not being able to walk on the floor (furniture was castles, floor was flood or fire) which became problematic as a forever game.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you got to visit with the boys. They are the best medicine ever.
For someone who is sick you have achieved a terrific amount.
How do we lose that innate knowledge of how to "play"? I wish they were forever games.
DeleteLike Joanne, I was the girl in the boys gang and our street games were about being secret agents! We did all the you go here and I'll go there and he'll say thus and such. All about danger and escapes and secret signals.
ReplyDeleteSecret agents! Was this something you all concocted from tales of undercover spies during the war?
DeleteWhen my brother and I were kids, we played Mass and he was the priest and I was the altar boy/congregation. Back then the Mass was in Latin and we knew all of the parts. What a crazy game to play! We were just laughing about that the other day.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are feeling better and that the boys stopped by to lift your spirits! That soup will help heal you too!
Oh my gosh! That's hysterical! Children chanting the mass in Latin! I love it!
DeleteOur favorite thing to do was to set up 'haunted houses' under the bridge down the dirt road. We did all sorts of things, hanging wet reeds from above so that it felt like wet hair brushing your face. We used an empty can to make the water burble. We used slate to make uneven walk ways. All kinds of things. We'd build our 'houses' and then lead the others through blindfolded while telling them a spooky story that we'd created to go along with it. Such fun. Such imagination. I love watching your grandsons having imaginative play. A good imagination is the best toy a child can have.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a wonderful story too! What a terrific thing to play! Haunted houses. And I love the way children come together to do these things. There has to be cooperation for it all to work. It's so beautiful.
DeleteThe only thing I did today was go to the dentist. I had no work done, this was the examination to see what needs doing visit, but it still wiped me out and I am so tired from it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you at least got to watch August and Levon play a little, even if you couldn't hug them.
Any medical appointment at all is enough to wipe me out for at least two days- the day before and the day of. AT LEAST!
DeleteThat boy of yours is such a beautiful child! I am looking forward to seeing my own grandson ( age 10) this afternoon, as I am picking him up from school. He is a delight on his own. Before covid, I used to get him and his older sister at least once a week, but the moment they got in the car they started ! G would be yelling at her because she was looking at him or some such. She has perfected the art of teasing him without appearing to over the years and he rises to it every time!
ReplyDeleteAnd this is definitely the way siblings do it. They know ALL the buttons to push. And then they push them.
DeleteI'd say I had a lazy day yesterday but I didn't. Worked on the vines and cleaned out a section of gutter over the deck but I did get to sit and read for awhile.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm glad you got some opportunity to sit and read. Those vines are like an eternal project, aren't they?
DeleteI went back to your very first posts and started reading forward, and, as I assume you know? you are some writer!
ReplyDeleteYou mention working on a novel. Is that something you finished? Continue?
I don't know that you need to write fiction--you bring us LIFE & LIGHT, telling us of your day of greens and quilting and cleaning the toilet, and how children play.
Toys Incorporated! LOVE
Oh my god. You don't want to take on THAT much, do you?
DeleteI have finished a few novels. BUT, they lay fallow in the fields.
But thank you for your very sweet words.
DeleteThank you so much for telling about that movie, "Friendsgiving", looks funny and now I have something to keep me company while I work on Katie's quilt today, an ride my bike and vacuum and wash the floors. Yay.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day. It's cold here today, the wind blew hard all night but not much snow, so that's something:) Sending hugs.
I watched "Friendsgiving" and enjoyed it so much. Thank you.
DeleteI think I may have a huge girl crush on Kat Denning who played Abby and Malin Akerman who played Molly. I was really surprised at how fine the acting was.
DeleteI'm glad you got the quilt back on track, but it must have been heartbreaking to rip out all those stitches. (Or maybe not. Maybe anyone who sews habitually will be used to that.)
ReplyDeleteI think Netflix programming is pretty good quality, overall. I can't vouch for "Friendsgiving" or "The People We Hate at the Wedding," though I love the latter title.
Well, it had to be done. I put off taking the stitches out for awhile even though I knew I was going to have to.
DeleteYes- "The People We Hate At The Wedding" is a great title. Unfortunately, it is NOT a great movie.
We just watched "People We Hate At The Wedding" also and my reaction was the same as yours. Your grandchildren are wonderful! Hope you continue to do well.
ReplyDeleteIt was surprisingly un-delightful, wasn't it?
DeleteGive "Friendsgiving" a try.