I used to take my kids to the parade because no one loves a parade like kids. For many years Hank lived in a little cottage right on the parade route and would throw a giant party for everyone to come and watch from his front yard. It looked like this.
If you want to read a report of one of those parties from 2011, you can go HERE. There were always a lot of day-drinking and merriment, queers and kids and grammas and grandpas, and just general wild behavior. Hank called it "the float that doesn't move." That party got about as many cheers from the people IN the parade as the people in the parade got from the parade-goers.
I imagine that since Hank has moved, Springtime Tallahassee is not the same but they carry on. Jessie and Vergil walked their kiddos over there and Jason brought Gibson and Maggie and I hear there were so many beads. Candy too, I bet.
I, of course, did not attend. Too many people. Parking's a bitch. Nowhere to pee.
Etc.
Etc.
Instead I stayed right here in Lloyd where I worked in the area around that rose that I almost cut back but didn't the other day. It was choked with border grass, betony, and another vine I can't remember the name of which just showed up on its own about five years ago and is one more invasive pain in my ass. I pulled and pulled until I got to a place in the back corner up against the shed that I couldn't get to without cutting more of the rose back so I just let it be.
When I was done with that, I moved to the front yard and started in on the area right behind the fence. The wild phlox and the firespike I've planted there are coming along nicely but so are a whole bunch of weeds. Mr. Moon doesn't mow that close to the fence, mostly because he knows if he does he'll cut things down that I don't want cut down. He has learned this lesson in a painful manner.
I didn't get very far with that. I got hot and sweaty and I'd worked for a few hours and decided that was enough and hauled everything to the burn pile. My hips and and back and hands are sore. I had to do some serious pulling on some of those stubborn plants. Hopefully, I'll get back to it tomorrow. A little bit at a time is better than nothing.
I didn't get very far with that. I got hot and sweaty and I'd worked for a few hours and decided that was enough and hauled everything to the burn pile. My hips and and back and hands are sore. I had to do some serious pulling on some of those stubborn plants. Hopefully, I'll get back to it tomorrow. A little bit at a time is better than nothing.
Mr. Moon did indeed FaceTime me from Dog Island. I got a little teary but not SO much. I directed him around the house and here's what I asked him to bring home:
1. A bark cloth curtain that Sue gave me.
1. A bark cloth curtain that Sue gave me.
2. A madonna hanging thing that May made me.
3. A Mexican linen cotton calendar that I have no idea where I got but I love it.
4. A picture that Jessie drew when she was a little girl and got stung by a sting ray.
3. A Mexican linen cotton calendar that I have no idea where I got but I love it.
4. A picture that Jessie drew when she was a little girl and got stung by a sting ray.
5. A picture of Keith and Mick that our partner in the house cut out of some magazine and hung on the refrigerator.
6. Three made-in-China fish made of fabric and perhaps bamboo that I got at the Dollar Store.
7. One of those spatter guards for a skillet to prevent grease from getting everywhere. Remember when I almost bought one recently? Well now I don't have to.
I think that's it.
When he got to the kitchen I looked at that funky old brown wall oven and matching stove top and wondered how in hell I'd managed to cook so many fine meals there. There's about two feet of counter-top, if that. Hell, I even used to bake bread there sometimes.
So that went okay and I feel very good about my decision not to go over there. It was fine to see the house in that virtual way and to not actually be there which would have been an overwhelmingly visceral experience.
Glen's on his way home now. He just called to ask what I'd like from My Way Seafood which is where we often stop on our way home from the beach. My sweet boy. I guess it's time for us to figure out what our next adventure will be. I only wish I were more adventurous. These days I consider it pretty adventurous to try a new restaurant in Monticello and go to Wag The Dog afterwards. I'm almost certain that doesn't count.
So that went okay and I feel very good about my decision not to go over there. It was fine to see the house in that virtual way and to not actually be there which would have been an overwhelmingly visceral experience.
Glen's on his way home now. He just called to ask what I'd like from My Way Seafood which is where we often stop on our way home from the beach. My sweet boy. I guess it's time for us to figure out what our next adventure will be. I only wish I were more adventurous. These days I consider it pretty adventurous to try a new restaurant in Monticello and go to Wag The Dog afterwards. I'm almost certain that doesn't count.
Well. I don't have to figure it out tonight.
Oh! I forgot to mention what I found today working in the rose bed.
An Easter egg from last Sunday and that little bottle. I can tell that it's not very old because it had a screw top but it will be nice for tiny bouquets. Like this one.
I found that bottle in the yard too.
As for the plastic egg with the Mini Almond Joy in it- I threw away the egg and put the candy in the refrigerator and ate it after my lunch. It wasn't very old either. I do like an Almond Joy.
Love...Ms. Moon
I remember Hank's Springtime front row parties. I see you and Mr. Moon in the picture, holding, probably, Lily and Jessie. Or, just holding babies. Should I recognize anyone else?
ReplyDeleteGood that you didn't go to Dog Island. Kept the boat from overloading on the return trip.
I think that was Shayla holding Waylon beside Glen who was actually holding Owen. I was taking the picture. That's about the whole cast of characters in that picture.
Deleteooo, almond joy, one of my favs. when my kids were little a friend at the other end of the street had kids the same age and we would take them to different parades, the rodeo and Thanksgiving mainly. I do not miss doing that. this house was built in the 50s. not old enough to find fun stuff digging in the yard. I used to find stuff in the yard of my city house though since it was over 100 years old.
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to find old things in the yard and since a hundred years ago or more, people probably burned most of their trash but had areas where I guess they dumped other things, there's just no telling what you'll unearth.
DeleteAlmond Joys and Mounds Bars are excellent candy as far as I'm concerned.
I love the list of precious things you asked Glen to bring home from Dog Island. How could you possibly live without them? Why - altogether they must be worth at least five bucks!
ReplyDeleteOh, come on! Those fish cost three dollars for the three of them! The other items are, shall we say? Priceless.
DeleteI love tiny bouquets and now you have yet another tiny container. The things you're retrieving from the old house are all connected with people, I notice. Why am I not surprised..
ReplyDeleteWell, except for the spatter guard, if I've actually NEEDED something from here I would have bought it by now. But memories cannot be bought. They are precious.
DeleteI remember one Easter from my childhood when my mother found an overlooked egg 6 months later by smell - it was a dyed hard boiled egg! It had been hidden in the hem of a curtain in the living room. She did not eat it.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had dogs they were pretty good at finding unfound eggs in the yard after Easter before things got nasty. I guess that hem in the curtain of your living room was too good of a hiding place.
DeleteThe pretty pink vase with pinkies in it- SWOON! Agree with Pudding- your list of treasures to bring home from Dog IS. - really great ,a story, many stories. Your gardening and yard work is amazing! I have to very nearly go to the hospital after simply bending over.
ReplyDeleteI love that house where Hank lived.
Isn't that little (real) vase with those roses just a treat? And the way they smell is so good. What roses are supposed to smell like. I pick that vase up and sniff it many times a day.
DeleteI don't do a lot of bending over. Mostly just kneeling.
There were (still are) five of those little brick cottages. They were called The Fives.
I clicked on the link to read the old post, your writing is quite different, more open and happier. Were you happier back then? I didn't realize how long you've been writing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got some things from the old house and your flowers are gorgeous.
Well, I was 54 instead of 69. I imagine that could explain some of the difference in my writing. I probably didn't hurt as much.
DeleteI followed the link back to read the earlier parade story and loved it. I'm glad most of your family still goes even if you don't (nowhere to pee would be a problem for me too). I love all the strings of beads and decorations. We don't do spring parades or Mardi Gras here, though Sydney does still have its annual gay pride parade which is a lot like Mardi Gras and I see some of that on the news but it isn't near as good as it used to be. Hank's Float that doesn't move was the best .
ReplyDeleteThat whole Springtime Tallahassee got its start back when other towns in Florida were vying to take over as capital. They figured that a big springtime celebration would help people to recognize how beautiful Tallahassee is. Or something like that. I guess it worked.
DeleteI remember going to the parades when I worked in D.C. and they were amazing, especially with the cherry blossom in bloom. You wouldn't catch me near something like that now. I guess it's a young person thing, isn't it!
ReplyDeleteI believe that parades can be enjoyed by people of any age but they're definitely most thrilling for children.
DeleteI loved seeing that post from 2011. Nowhere to pee would be something I’d worry about! I’d be happy finding an almond joy and going at the invasions in the garden.
ReplyDeleteMitchell- you would have loved those parade parties, I bet. I mean- grit bars! And we would have loved having you there.
DeleteI have absolutely no idea what an almond joy is - ha ha. Presumably some sort of confection? But it has not travelled over the pond as they say.
ReplyDeleteWell, here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_Joy
DeleteThere is a sort of sister candy called Mounds which are similar in tht they both have coconut but Almond Joys have almonds (duh) and light chocolate while Mounds have no almonds and are coated in dark chocolate. I love them both.
I'm glad it worked out and you will have the treasures you wanted from Dog Island.
ReplyDeleteI never last that long out in the garden! But every little bit helps I tell myself...
I lasted about an hour today. Just didn't have it in me.
Delete37paddington: Dog Island, end of an era. There will be other adventures, and there will be the memories, many of them captured here. Thank you for sharing those beautiful sunsets with us.
ReplyDelete