Oh, Life. Oh Kidney Stone. Really?

The phlox attracts so many butterflies that it's worth planting for that alone. And such gorgeous butterflies! That is a Giant Swallowtail and I'm sorry I could only catch the underside of the wing but butterflies just do like to flit and flutter from one nectar-filled throat to another. 

Here's a Palamedes Swallowtail that was sipping at the same time as the giant. 

I have seen quite a few butterflies this year between the phlox and the zinnias. It is quite gratifying. 

I wish my entire day had been about beautiful butterflies but it has not been. Last night, just about the time I was getting ready for bed, I realized that my right side where the stone has been lodged in my kidney causing me no problems at all was...twinging. 
The feeling was all too familiar and I knew exactly what it was. It has been twinging all day now, not bad pain, just there and so easily identifiable after my last stone. And of course Mr. Moon is out of town because this is how these things go. 
Sigh. 
I know that with the last stone, I suffered twinges and then real pain for at least a month, probably more. Because I am an ostrich and, as Kathleen used to say, I carry a bucket of sand around with me to stick my head in whenever I need it, I ignored it (mostly) until the pain became unbearable and that, along with the blood in my urine, let me know exactly what it was and forced me to finally deal with it. So what I'm hoping is that this stone is just making its first tentative little jolting steps towards my urethra and will not be sending me to the ER this weekend. There is no visible blood in my urine and I am taking that as a good sign. 

I have talked to Glen and reassured him that I do not need him to come home and that Lily and Lauren are not working tonight and the children will be at Jason's and they have promised that if I do need to go get help, they will take me. 

Needless to say though, this has been quite unsettling. I have been hoping that, as my urologist said, the stone might never move at all, and thus need no attention. I guess that may not be the case. And if it continues to bother me, even if I don't have to seek help for pain, I do believe I will make an appointment with the urologist and get the fucker blasted because FUCK THIS. 

And I did so want to avoid that because, as you may remember, after I got the last one lasered, it took a almost two weeks to pass the remaining grit and each of those episodes were, if not excruciating, then close enough to be real good friends. 

Am I catastrophizing? I may well be but honestly, I have some remnants of PTSD from the last stone because it was indeed quite traumatic. 

Anyway, that's what's been going on here today. I have tried to just have a normal day, going about my business the way I do. I did some laundry, I swept a floor, I made a nice breakfast, I scrubbed toilets, I picked the garden. 

I had not picked green beans in three days and due to the heat and the enormous number of beans on the vine, it took me two trips to the garden to pick them today. That was my harvest and I probably picked another basketful and a half of beans that were too big and thus, too tough to eat. Those I just tossed in the yard beside the garden, wishing that I still had chickens who would so gladly peck at them. I may start leaving the huge ones on the vine and try cooking just the inner beans or saving them for next year's planting. That would be the sensible thing to do. 

My supper last night was so good. I made salmon, cooking it in a skillet with a little olive oil, lemon juice, dill weed, salt and pepper, my favorite delicious roasted cauliflower recipe which Mr. Moon has asked me as gracefully as possible to cook when he is gone, rice, and some...LeSuer peas! For my lunch today I finished the cauliflower and the rice. It's bizarre how easy it is to eat an entire head of cauliflower when it's roasted. Not unlike spinach, as it cooks it becomes a mere shadow of itself, size-wise, at least. 

And here's a story that just amazes me and warms my heart. 

Last night, Lis called me to tell me about something that had happened at the gig they'd just done in St. Augustine. A woman was there who recognized them from my blog! She approached Lis and said, "Do you know Mary Moon?" (All too well, would have been the correct answer.) According to Lis, she's been reading here for many years, is from Ohio, I think, and never commented so I had no idea who she was but that was so gratifying. Lon and Lis are so sweet to want to let me know about this. I am so used to being asked, "OH! Do you know Lon and Lis?" that having the opposite happen is crazy. Lis even sent a picture of her and this lady which I would post but I don't have permission from B. in Ohio. But I would like to say- thank you, B. for letting Lis know that you knew her from me. I am thrilled and humbled. And aren't you glad you got to see them and meet them? Aren't they wonderful? 

I have retrieved the prescription for pain medication (not an opioid although who cares?) from the freezer that I had left over from April when I had my last kidney stone, and trust me- if any serious pain begins to happen, I will take it. Not fucking around with this. But I am hoping against hope that I will just sleep beautifully and wake up in the morning feeling fine and ready to try and take better pictures of butterflies among the flowers. 

Love...Ms. Moon