Wild Life

I took this picture a few days ago and had forgotten to post it but I like it and so I'm posting it now. That's the sky behind the Garage Mahal and the oak tree beside it, putting out its new growth. 
This is the oak pollen season. It comes upon us like an unexpected and unwanted guest, almost a surprise every year even though we have to know it's coming. Everything, and I do mean EVERY THING outside and in becomes dusted and then coated in yellow pollen. From cars to countertops, from floors to roofs, everything becomes yellow and almost gritty to the touch. People who suffer from allergies are miserable this time of year. There is no way to escape the stuff. Doctor's offices are packed, the sale of OTC sinus and allergy remedies goes through the roof. Car washes are busy day and night. 
Everyone drives a yellow car this time of year. 

So Mr. Moon and our friend Chip are over on Dog Island, trying to get some flooring repaired. Or something like that. Something that has to do with flooring. Glen made a plan for them to leave early this morning and I had grave doubts about it actually happening because he has not used his boat in so long and there is never nothing wrong with that boat. It would have been some sort of seafaring miracle if it had just cranked up and run properly. But I didn't say a thing. And then last night, he went to hook it all up and he gave it a little dry test run and the motor ran fine but the trim and tilt did not. 
Look- you can google trim and tilt if you're that interested which I doubt you are. It has to do with the engine going up and down in order to trailer it and beach it and dock it and hell, I don't know. It's important. 
However, another friend of his who lives right across the bay from Dog Island, offered him the loan of his boat so the trip went mostly as planned. They're there now. I know it's beautiful. I hope they're getting a good sunset. 

Did you watch the State of the Union last night? As I said I would, I did. And I have to tell you that I am of the opinion that Joe Biden is the Mick Jagger of politics. Yes, he does stutter sometimes. We all know that. But his thoughts were clear, his delivery was fast and strong, and he seemed overwhelmingly delighted to be exactly where he was, doing exactly what he was doing. 
I thought it was powerful. 
Of course the MagaMinions probably weren't watching it. They have no idea of what Biden has accomplished. They have no idea that their Dear Leader Daddy nixed his Republican lapdogs from passing the immigration bill that they'd been demanding because the EgoMagaManiac did not want Biden getting the credit for that piece of legislature. And if those people did hear about it, they wouldn't believe it. 
It was just such a sensible, sane, well-written and delivered speech. Biden's speech writers should be commended and Biden should be honored for his energy and the way he directly addressed Trump, calling him his "predecessor". He hit the topic of Trump's treason head-on, he dared call out the Supreme Court, he defended women's rights, queer rights, minority rights, and how gun rights need desperately to change. 
No one is ever going to agree with everything any president says but the stark contrast between what Biden said last night and what Trump is, uh, attempting to say as his brain melts, is so stark. 
And having said all of that, I am still terrified of what the results of this next election could be. 

Moving on to that which I can control, supposedly, I spent some time outside today. It was overcast and warm and I did a little work. I checked on my beans which I had not seen even a sign of breaking ground yesterday. Here's what I found. 

No. It is not a snake sticking its tongue out. It is a bean sprout! 

Here's another one that is obviously an over-achiever. 

You go, Bean! 

Here's a picture of some blossoms of a variety of Bok Choy. 

Not as exotic and mysterious as the arugula bloom, but so very cheerful.

The bridal wreath spirea is starting to put out blooms. 

Each of those clumps of perfect blossoms are not as big around as a fifty-cent piece. For those of you who remember what a fifty-cent piece was. 

One of the things I love most about my iPhone is how I can take pictures of such tiny things with such detail. I would never have known what an arugula blossom looked like magnified if I had not taken one's picture. This is technology I love. 

I picked up some more sticks. Blah. I also decided to cut down some bamboo that escaped my notice last year in the camellia bed and which had grown to be about twenty feet tall. I am not kidding. Somehow, with my big loppers, I managed to cut the stem of two of those big things and I cut them up and hauled them to the burn pile. I also snipped some of the smaller varieties with my pruners. While I was out in the front yard, picking up some fallen branches, I noticed some dead wood in the azalea bushes and when I went to explore the situation, I discovered that it was part of a very large limb that was hiding in the dense azaleas. I'm sure it was a piece of the water oak which lost a huge limb during a big storm we had last summer and which Mr. Moon cut up and hauled away. I tried to pull out the branch I found but that's not going to happen. It's too heavy and too long. I also discovered a burrow/den at the base of that tree where some critter is living. 

I checked out the mulberry growth. 

Looks like it might be a good year. 

I swear, I despair so much over not being able to keep up my yard the way I want to, the way I used to be able to, but I do love this little piece of land where I live. So much of what grows here gives me joy, allows me to get my hands in the dirt, forces me to get my hands in the dirt, constantly reminds me of the changing seasons of the earth and of myself. It gives me reason to be outside and to notice and appreciate the world going on out there. I can curse the invasive plants and the fucking mosquitoes and yellow flies and no-see-ums and heat and I do. Regularly. As you know. 

Still. While I can, I want to be here. 

My back porch is a pretty swell place to be too. Here's another picture I took today. 

The shadow of an anole whom I could not see. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon