Thursday, May 25, 2023

A Day In My Life. A Life That Mattered


That's my new lady's spot in the bathroom. It's on a small shelf at the end of the clawfoot tub right next to the window. The pot was one of my grandmothers and the snake plant struggles but it has not died and it even has a small new shoot. The conch shell no doubt came from the Gulf, the mermaid mirror was given to me by a friend, and Lis gave me the little painting of the wild azaleas. And oh! Linda Sue sent me the bark cloth which the plant, the shell, and the mother and child are graced by. My bathroom truly is my favorite room in the house, not counting the porches. Are porches rooms? They are living spaces for sure but I don't know if they qualify as actual rooms. Anyway, the bathroom has the tub in it and my smallish dresser and a beautiful old piece of furniture with my Talavera sink in it, AND a shower. 
A toilet too, obviously.
There are many treasures in the room including two beautiful madonna painting reproductions, art work from Linda Sue, a very old Chinese parasol, and, well...other stuff. I would take pictures but I would need to do a good cleaning and tidying first and that is not happening right this second. I mean, it's certainly not filthy but it's one of those situations where you don't realize how much it needs cleaning until you start doing something simple like wiping down a surface and the next thing you know, it's eight hours later and you smell like you've been dunked in bleach and fried in Fabuloso.

I took a walk this morning. The most exciting thing about it was that I passed a gardenia bush in bloom and sniffed some of the beautiful blossoms. I have planted one here but as with everything else, I do not think it gets enough sun. I'll give it another year or so and then it's coming out. I would have stolen one of the gardenias but I have a powerful inability to take anything that isn't mine. Flowers in front of abandoned houses are fair game and I tell myself that even the flowers in front of a house where someone is living are probably okay to take now and then. I wouldn't mind if someone picked any of the camellias I have growing by the fence in the front yard. And these gardenias are on a small bush tucked away at the very front edge of a yard where a woman of quite advanced years lives and I have never once seen her come out of her house so I doubt she'd notice or mind either one. 
Still. I can't. 

So I took the walk and I've been fairly nonproductive the rest of the day. You know- laundry, some mending, etc. 
Mr. Moon told me that he had read on the University of Florida website that a few days before you dig up your potatoes you should cut the tops of the plants off to begin the "hardening" process. Now I have never heard this in my life and also, the damn bugs are getting rid of the tops of the potato plants for us but I told my husband that I'd cut them. He was on his way to Tom's. And I did. I do not have much hope at all for those potatoes. I just have a feeling that most of them are rotted or so bug-eaten that we're not going to get many. 
In fact, the whole garden is getting eaten up. Glen sprays with Neem oil which is supposed to be relatively nontoxic to nonbugs but it doesn't seem to be that toxic to bugs either. I ended up picking some green tomatoes today because it seems like they're all getting wormed-out before they ripen. I'm going to air-fry some of the green tomatoes tonight and we'll certainly enjoy that. I'm also going to actually pan fry some tiny river fishes that Mr. Moon caught. I mean seriously- you could put those things in an aquarium. But they are sweet and they are good. 

Here's what I picked today. Not too impressive. 


But pretty! As usual, the banana peppers are going crazy. The cucumbers are being so slow but I am not losing faith. The bees are certainly buzzing around them with the obvious intent of pollination. 

And that's all I have to say today. I have not discussed Tina Turner dying but in a way I feel like that was a sacred and private event. I can't quite explain it but somehow, even as the world rightly honors her for her strength, her voice, her heart, her soul, her courage, her LEGS, I have the image of her essence rising up in hushed silence with complete peace and joy. I hope it was that way. 
I am so grateful to have been on this planet at the same time as she was. 
And god, was she gorgeous. 


Love...Ms. Moon

26 comments:

  1. Amen to your comments on Tina, she was a marvelous woman.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tina was a true diva......and I mean that in the most divinely complementary sense. A true diva and a fierce woman. Hearing the news yesterday made me very contemplative (nostalgic).......and sad in a sense....though I believe she live the past many years exactly the way she wanted. No one could rock it like Tina!
    Susan M

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree- I saw a doc, I think, about Tina and her life after she married her husband and she just seemed so serene and happy. I think they loved each other very, very much.

      Delete
  3. I exhibited at at art show at Greenville, SC Expo Center. Then I watched Tina's caravan pull in. My first thought, we would have a tough time loading out on Sunday night. Over the weekend I passed her. I walked past Tina Turner. Actually, I stopped, smiled, said hello, and walked on. She smiled and said hello in return. She was so tiny and little and beautiful. And load out Sunday was no different than usual. Her crew was respectful of the art exhibitors space,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She was, I think, a true lady. I am so glad that you got to see her, say hello, get a smile from her. What a beautiful moment in your life.

      Delete
  4. Apparently a spray made with a shit load of garlic keeps critters at bay. Not tried it though. I eat my garlic.
    Tina was, indeed, a gift from the gods. Such an inspiration and such a wonderful woman.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. There are a lot of things that "supposedly" control bugs. Maybe they do in places like New England. Not so much in the wild places that you and I live in.
      You are right about Tina.

      Delete
  5. There have been some lovely cartoon respects paid today to Tina. Such a loved woman.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SO many people acknowledging her in all forms of media. She affected more people than she could have ever imagined.

      Delete
  6. RIP Tina Turner. I'm so glad she found happiness with her second husband, who truly did love her!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes she was, I am playing her "Simply The Best" CD right now. Your little basket of garden goodness looks impressive enough to me. I love your little bathroom shelf with the new lady on it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She was simply the best, wasn't she?
      I like that spot in my bathroom too. My eye goes right to it and I smile.

      Delete
  8. I have some bark cloth from Linda Sue too, and I treasure it! Your South American beauty looks right at home.

    We have pretty much reached a point in our garden where if bugs are eating something, the plant has to mount its own defense or they can just have it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't bark cloth so special and so beautiful? I really do love it.
      I don't want the bugs to get all of our tomatoes! I just don't!

      Delete
  9. The tops to my potato plants were dying so I dug up my disappointing little crop. Planted too late I guess and all the rain did not help one bit. I'm going to dig up my gardenia and pot it. it has been frozen for three winters now even though I cover it and when it comes out so slowly the leaves are so yellow they are almost white and nothing I add to the soil changes that. Never had much luck with them anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. I do not have a lot of hope for my potatoes. We've had some damn good years but I don't think this is going to be one of them.

      Delete
  10. That's a sweet pile of veggies! Just right for you and Mr. Moon.
    Happy Friday, Mary!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love my little harvests. And the big ones too!

      Delete
  11. Well I think your vegetables are pretty impressive - more so than anything I could grow I'm sure. It's not so much bugs as lethargy on my part - and the salt wind too, to be fair. On the other hand the thrifts and squill on the coast path are magnificent.
    P.S. Thanks for the comment on my blog; I feel I've been away too long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Salt wind requires a different kind of gardening, I think! Some plants cannot grow without it.
      You're welcome for the comment and I thank you for yours.

      Delete
  12. When I was 10 I was leaving a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game with my Brownie troop. It was after 10 pm and we walked by bars and restaurants on our way to the cars. I heard this deep soulful voice coming out of one of the bars and I actually turned around and went back to see who it belonged to. I could see a woman singing and a man next to her playing guitar, then I got drug away. A few seconds later I heard a man outside the bar yelling, ‘Come on in, folks! It’s Ike & Tina Turner! One night only!’ It was then that I became a fan. Not of Ike, may he rot in hell, but of Tina.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Everything you put in your old house seems to fit in with its character - from large items to small ones. It's so harmonious.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 37paddington: I love your image of Ms Tina rising in full power and peace. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I would say Porches ARE Rooms, and often some of the Favored ones. What you picked this day looked Impressive to me. Yes, Tina was one of the iconic greats and overcame so much in her Life.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.